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A world leading technology company, Tracerco
has used its scientific expertise for over 25 years
in support of the oil and gas industry, providing
unique and specialised detection, diagnostic and
measurement solutions.
With facilities, knowledge and expertise located
around the world, Tracerco provides its international
customers with a first class service expected from an
industry leader. Tracerco offers a portfolio of reservoir
characterisation services based on advanced tracer
technologies and sophisticated analytical techniques.
Using our extensive multi-disciplined Research and
Development team, that forms an integral part of
the Tracerco business, and Tracerco’s expertise in
field deployment an extensive range of chemical
tracing methods for reservoir and near wellbore flow
characterisation is available.
TracercoWhy Tracerco?:: Over 25 years of expertise
:: Operational capabilities globally
:: Significant investment in Research and Development
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Tracerco Reservoir Technologies
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As the demand for hydrocarbons continues to grow,
oilfield professionals are continuously faced with the
challenge of discovering, developing and maximising
hydrocarbon reserves from more inhospitable locations
and complex geological structures.
Knowledge of subsurface fluid flow provides valuable
information to a reservoir field development team
during hydrocarbon recovery. This information can
be used to ensure effective reservoir displacement
to maximise hydrocarbon extraction efficiency.
Knowledge of what’s at the bottom keeps you on top.
More information means maximum efficiency
to meet the needs of our customers, Tracerco has
developed a range of specialist tracer technologies
that can be applied to enhance information on oil,
water and gas flows in reservoirs. The techniques are
applied in many development stages from drilling wells,
field development and in late field life to monitor the
effectiveness of tertiary recovery operations.
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Tracerco near wellbore tracer techniques provide our
customers with a reliable method of monitoring the
progress and effectiveness during a range of down-hole
operations including:
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TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Near Wellbore
:: Coring-Fluid Invasion Measurement
:: Hydraulic Fracture and Acid Stimulation In-flow
Assessment
:: Perforation Positional Flow Measurement
Gain better insight
into original
fluid saturations.
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TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
When drilling
wells it is critical
that reservoir
fluid properties
are accurately
measured. Any
interference due
to invasion of oil or water based drilling fluids during
drilling activities must be discounted during formation
fluid analysis. The Tracerco Core Invasion Measurement
technique is used to determine the level of drilling fluid
invasion into formation samples. Prior to the start of
drilling operations through a zone of interest, a specialist
oil or water compatible chemical tracer is added to
the mud system providing a constant concentration of
tracer throughout the drilling mud system.
For Core Invasion Measurement, as drilling progresses,
a series of mud samples are taken at specific drilling
depths. Interpretation of the mud sample and core fluid
tracer concentration analysis provides:
In addition, contamination of bottom hole samples can
be measured using the same technique.
Time
Con
cent
ratio
n
Time
Con
cent
ratio
n
Core Depth
Con
cent
ratio
n
% In
vasi
onMud concentration
% Sample contamination
:: A tracer/drilling mud concentration ratio at
vertical depths
:: Extracted core tracer/drilling mud concentration
at specific vertical depths
:: Percentage of drilling mud core invasion,
calculated from ratio analysis
Core Invasion Measurement
“ Use Tracerco to more accurately measure in-situ
fluid saturation, formation brine salinity and original
water saturation”
Photo: Harald Pettersen – Statoil.
Following multi-stage hydraulic fracturing or acid
stimulation of a well, it is valuable to gain a better
understanding of the overall production contribution
from each treatment stage. Historically, there has not
been any technology to verify positional fluid in-flow
other than the use of intrusive production logging tools.
In many extended reach wells, the use of a production
logging technique has been relatively inaccurate and
can be expensive.
Hydraulic Frac and Acid Stimulation In-Flow Assessment
A more cost effective and
accurate technique for
verification of fluid in-flow.
“ Gain information on overall production contribution
from each stage of a stimulation program using
Frac and Acid Stimulation tracers.”
Working with its customers Tracerco has developed
a technology to provide fluid in-flow information after
stimulation that has proven to be very beneficial,
especially in extended reach horizontal wells that are
challenging for conventional well logging.
Interpretation of the data in conjunction with overall well
production information enables:
:: A comparison to be made of relative
hydrocarbon flow from each stage
:: Highlight areas of high, low and zero flow
(somewhat similar to a production log)
:: Confirm flow through downhole tools such as
bridge plugs
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
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TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
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Tracers are displaced deep into the formation.
Tracers contact reservoir oil and gas and partition into the hydrocarbon.
Tracerco applies oil or gas compatible tracers at the leading edge of each stage.
Presence of tracers confirms production from each stage.
Samples analysed to determine tracer presence and quantity.
Samples are taken at the surface during well clean up and first production.
“ Tracerco’s Perforating Tracer technology provides a
proven technology to assess perforated zone backflow
confirmation for cemented liner completions.”
Perforating Tracers
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This allows confirmation that each zone is contributing
to overall production from the well. Information can be
used to enhance the data set of the production well test.
Benefits of the perforation tracers:
:: No additional rig time/rig space
:: Low cost
:: Chemical tracer materials used
:: None intrusive confirmation of
zonal flow
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
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Unique tracers are located at specific perforation locations in the wellbore.
During the detonation process, tracer material is forced into the formation where it bonds to the perforation tunnel walls.
Sampling production fluids during back flow of the well during clean up and first oil allows a flow profile of each tracer to be established and verifies flow from specific zones.
Specialist chemical tracers are secured to a number of scallops of the perforating guns before they are run in-hole.
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Water/Oil In-flow Measurement
Reduce routine well
intervention activities and
associated costs.
“ Determine the location of water and oil in-flow
with zero well intervention using low cost, zero
risk Tracerco technology as part of long term
reservoir monitoring.”
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Flow ProfilingTracerco Flow Profiling technologies provide a reliable
and cost effective method that can be applied with:
:: No additional rig time
:: No changes to well completion design
:: No changes to well stimulation operations
:: Zero safety risk
The measurement of produced water and oil fluid in-flow
characteristics in extended reach or multi-lateral wells
during clean up and long-term production is essential.
It allows a better understanding of reservoir sweep and
assists in diagnosing well inflow performance problems
prior to well remediation operations.
The ability to collect in-flow profile data at first oil as well
as mid-field life without the need for well intervention
enables our customers to significantly reduce routine
well intervention activities and associated costs especially
when using subsea wells during a field development.
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
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Customer cost efficiency is maximised by:
:: Tracer material optimisation
:: Extremely low limits of detection (ppb and ppt)
:: Tracer design and application
Prior to running a completion string, a number of unique
chemical tracer materials are incorporated as part of the
completion design. Tracers selected are designed to be
oil or water soluble. Their chemical and physical design
is customised for a specific project allowing them to be
released quickly providing an indication of oil or water
in-flow contribution during first clean-up of a well,
or very slowly allowing water or oil fluid in-flow to be
determined over a significant period of time. A number
of unique tracers can be added not only to an individual
wellbore but can be spread across a number of wells
or multi-lateral wellbores. This is particularly important
in the identification of the source of oil and water
production from individual wellbore positions.
Sampling is carried out during well clean up and first
production if using a relatively short release tracer
design or routinely alongside other sampling activities
if extended release tracers have been applied.
The presence of a specific tracer and its concentration
in production fluids allows a fluid in-flow profile to be
generated at a given point in time.
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Interwell
Optimise ongoing field
design and maximise
hydrocarbon recovery.
“ Enhance your understanding of reservoir
connectivity by adding a Tracerco Interwell Tracer
Study to your reservoir surveillance tool kit.”
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Tracerco has developed a range of specialist tracer
technologies that allow measurement of interwell
flow of injected water, gas and enhanced oil
recovery chemicals. The technology is commonly
applied in new field developments that use
waterflooding or gas injection as part of their initial
recovery mechanism, as well as more mature
reservoirs where enhanced recovery programs are
used to extract incremental oil remaining within the
field. A Tracerco Interwell Tracer Study is typically
used alongside other reservoir surveillance tools
to refine or validate computer flow simulators
to optimise ongoing field design and ultimately
maximise hydrocarbon recovery.
Our technology provides measurement of water, gas
or steam flow from each injector to production wells
allowing the determination of:
:: First injection water or gas breakthrough
:: Reservoir interlayer connectivity
:: Detection of fault block communication
:: The presence of high flow permeable channels
:: Measurement of flood wide reservoir preferential
flow trends
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Accurate measurement
of SOR within a mature
reservoir using Tracerco
chemical tracer technology.
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Alongside dynamic flow information, the use of
specialist tracers allows additional information to be
gained concerning the effectiveness of enhanced oil
recovery applications such as:
:: High permeable channel blocking
:: Release of immobile residual oil in-flow paths
between wells
For cases of channel blocking, tracer can be
used to determine sweep extent and timing
prior to the blocking chemical addition and then
repeated afterwards. Data generated alongside the
measurement of incremental oil production can be
used to validate its effectiveness.
For mature reservoirs, tracers can be used to
benchmark residual oil saturation levels prior to a
tertiary recovery treatment. Subsequent measurement
of changes to residual oil within the formation allows
the effectiveness of a treatment to be determined.
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Reservoir tracer analytical support
Onsite or offsite,
specialist tracer
laboratories.
“ Specialist tracer analysis provided through
local service provision.”
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Our global team of experienced production chemists
allows us to offer both onsite and offsite monitoring.
If using one of our fully equipped mobile laboratories
we are able to offer immediate results at the well site.
We also have a number of fixed laboratories containing
more sophisticated analytical equipment that can be
used if enhanced analytical sensitivity is required or
sample logistics is not an issue.
Tracerco laboratories are strategically located around
the world backed by a dedicated multi-discipline team
at our headquarters. This enables us to offer a full range
of standard and customised analytical and diagnostic
techniques to meet your specific requirements.
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Tracerco laboratories
provide you with a full
range of analytical and
diagnostic services.
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Through extensive training of specialist staff around
the world, we offer local project design, tracer material
handling, in-country support, regional analytical
capability and tracer data interpretation.
Our global experience in reservoir tracing projects,
combined with cutting edge chemical tracer
technology and modern facilities, place Tracerco at
the forefront of reservoir tracer application.
TRACERCO RESERVOIR CHARACTERISATION
Time
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cent
ratio
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Time
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cent
ratio
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Core Depth
Con
cent
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n
% In
vasi
onMud concentration
% Sample contamination
Time
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cent
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n
Time
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cent
ratio
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Core Depth
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cent
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% In
vasi
onMud concentration
% Sample contamination
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Billingham, UK Tel +44 (0) 1642 375500
Aberdeen, UK Tel +44 (0) 1224 650650
Alblasserdam, The Netherlands Tel +31 (0) 78 890 7640
Villefontaine, France Tel +33 (0) 4 74 94 79 88
Milan, Italy Tel +39 02 90989971
Bergen, Norway Tel +47 55 36 55 40
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Oldenburg, Germany Tel +49 (0) 441 36 11 09 0
Baku, Azerbaijan Tel +994 (0) 12 5141619
Abu Dhabi, UAE Tel +971 (0) 2 5541672
Muscat, Oman Tel +968 9270 7498
Singapore Tel +65 6336 3377
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Maharashtra, India Tel +91 22 27401427/428 Extn: 321
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Perth, Australia Tel +61 (0)8 9209 3905
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Sarnia, Canada Tel +1 519 332 6160
Edmonton, Canada Tel +1 780 469 0055
For all email enquiries please contact: [email protected]
Tracerco offer a range of other award winning products and services to the oil and gas industry:
Tracerco
:: Analytical Services, offering a full
range of standard and custom
analytical and diagnostic technologies
to meet all reservoir requirements
:: Process Diagnostics
:: Radiation monitors/detectors
:: Subsea services
:: Instrumentation
:: Product Assurance
:: Radiation Protection Advice
www.tracerco.com/reservoir-characterisation
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Benefit from over 25 years of global experience.
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Tracerco Limited is a subsidiary of Johnson Matthey Public Limited Company,5th Floor, 25 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4AB.Registered in England No. 4496566. Tracerco is a trading name of Tracerco Limited.Tracerco is a trademark of the Johnson Matthey group of companies.