Screening Methods

Abstract

This chapter examines the elements of screening that are required to make progress with decision making. Three screening styles must usually be combined to take a calculated decision of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The first one, conventional screening, is the one most engineers are familiar with, and it is usually carried out by comparing average reservoir properties with data in a look-up table that contains validity limits for each parameter considered important. Geologic screening is a way of looking at the reservoir type in terms of heterogeneity, connectivity, and other geologic characteristics that have been found to be important in managing risk or that correlate with process performance. If a field or reservoir under consideration presents enough commonalities with field experiences in the same area or elsewhere. If the answer is positive, then the likelihood of finding referential information as to what the course of action was in similar reservoirs can be investigated; if, on the other hand, the reservoir under evaluation turns out to be an exceptional case with no comparable field conditions in EOR, care must be exercised to avoid excessive risk in the application of an EOR process.