SPE

SPE 19780
Nurturing the Geology-Reservoir Engineering Team: Vital for
Efficient Oil and Gas Recovery
K,P.Sessionsand D.H. Lehman, Exxon Co, U.S.A.
F

SPE Members

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80%. This 1s driven by the fact that new 1arge

exploratIon dlscoverles are 1ess abundant than In
previous years. Before 1975, 50% of al1 field
discoveriescontained least 1 mil1ion barrels of
oil equivalent (1S9 IuJ) each. Since 1975, only
~15% of the new field discoverieshave contained t
least 1 mi11ion barrels of oil equivalent(159
)
each.~ Oirectional1y, these trends are reflected
in how companies are assignin personnel. A 1987
survey of 17 oil companiesper!ormsd by Donahue and
Lan addressed proposed functional assignments of
emp?oyees to be hired in the 1987-1990 period.
P?oti.:ction
and reservoir engineeringdominated the
growth areas. The conclusion drawn.was that this
reflected a policy of maintaining and improving
existing assets as opposed to exploring for new
reserves,3

MSTRACI

Of an estimated 482 billion barrels (76.6 Gm3)

of in-pi ce oil discovered in the U.S., 158 billion
(25.1 Gm~) can be recoveredwith existing technology and economic conditions.1 The cost-effective
recoverythrough infil1 dril1ing and EOR methods to
recover any por ion of the remaining 343 bil1ion
barrels (51.4 Gm! ) wi11 require a thorough understandingof reservoirsand the close cooperationof
productiongeologistsand reservoirengineers.

This paper presents the concept of increased

interaction between geologists and reservoir
sngineersthrough multi-functionalteams and crosstraining between the disciplines. A discussion of
several factors supportingthis concept is covered,
including educational background, technical manpower trends, employee development, and job
satisfaction. There are several ways from an
organizational standpoint to achieve this crosstraining, with or without a formal change in job
assignment. This paper outlines three approaches,
Including case histories where each of the
approaches has been implementedand the resulting
benefitsdescribed.

Richard Morrow, chairman of Amoco, states that

with exploration pretty much in the past, the
Permian Basin will increasinglycount on exploitation, and feels the industryshould make better use
of exploitationteams, These teams would be interdisciplinarywith expartise in geology,geophysics,
and engineering, Morrow says that up to 60% of
reserve additions in the Permian Basin in the pas
five years have been through exploitationefforts.i
It seems, then, that the key to continued
resource development is to focus on areas in and
adjacent to existing fields to extend reservoir
limits, identifynew producinghorizons,and emplo:
secondary and tertiary recovery processes,
successfulrecovery of additional reserves depends
on the application of existing and new technology
and deployment of human resource allocation and
suggests that the current state of the industry
presents the opportunityto break away from traditional structure and roles, and capitalize on
increased interaction between geologists and
reservoirengineers.

lNTROSNCT3J)B
Recent trends in the domestic oil and gas
industry suggest that efforts directed toward
extensionand developmentof existing fields rather
than exploring for new fields continue to prove-up
substantialreserves, In the United States, from
1979 through 1984, 70% of total reserve additions
came from infill and extensiondrilling, and if the
offshore is excluded,the total is approximately
Referencesand illustrationsat end of paper,

.
2

NURTURINGTHE GEOLOGY-RESERVOIRENGINEERINGTEAN

SPE 19m

maximizing the cost-effective utilization and

contribution of the current staff of technical
professionalsas well as those that will be hired
into the work force.

JmDITIONAl STRUCTURE
The conventional organization within the
Production Department of Exxon, as well as some
other major oil companies, is with production
geology and reservoir engineering as separate
functions. Geologists get their training and
development through assignments and transfers
between production and exploration departments.
Reservoir engineers, at various points in their
career, are exposed to other engineeringfunctions
such as drilling, facilities, and process engineering. Very seldom does a production geologist
get in-depth experience.in reservoir engineering
and vice versa.

OrganizationalClimat?
It is evident from reading the newspapersthat
iilajor
oil companies are in a period of restructuring and downsizing in an attempt to be more
productiveand competitive in a changing economy.
Exxon announced and implemented such a change in
1986, Typically,the new organizationalstructures
are flatter, with fewer upward opportunities for
career growth when co~pared to the boom days of the
early 1980s. In addition, much of the industrys
emphasis is directed to improving efficiency and
effectivenesswith minimum investment. An emerging
problem, therefore, is how to identify and respond
to career development and productivityenhancement
needs
when organizational growth has
slowedit
a ime
.

It seems reasonable to assume that a career

professionalin reservoirengineeringwould benefit
from an assignment in production geology learning
stratigraphy and structure.. A familiarity with
geology will give a better understanding of
producing mechanisms, recovery efficiency, and
reservoir geometry and will therefore be useful
throughouttheir career. Alon the same lines, a
career productiongeologistcou1 d better understand
reserves recovery, drive mechanisms, contact
movements,and economicsby a short-termassignment
in reservoirengineeringearly in his career.
fross.exposure
This
idea
of
between
disciplines in many instances begins prior to job
assignment. At the collegelevel, some curriculums
of geology and petroleum engineering have several
required classes in common, such as chemistry,
calculus, physics, stratigraphyand sedimentation,
structuralgeology, and geology for scientistsand
engineers.5 This shows that from an educational
standpoint the background is there. It would
therefore seem advantageous to not stop crosstraining at that point, butto continue it on to
the industrywork assignment.

kXTERNAL AND INTERNAL ENVIRON~

The current state of the industry also
supports the idea of changing our traditional
thinking and deployment regarding geologists and
reservoirengineers.

Away to address these concerns is to provide

continuedgrowth to the technical staff consistent
with the needs of the business. Growth, as used
here, can be defined as the developmentand utilization of new skills, abilities,and attitudes,and
does not necessarilyrequire promotion. Even w,?
verticalgrowth is not possible, horizontalgrowtn
is, Specifically,this growth can be chieved by
exposing and training reservoir engineers in
geology and geologists in reservoir en inuering.
This training can be achieved through te
! use of
multi-functional teams (also referred to as
interdisciplinaryteams) or by developing multiskilled individuals (also described as technical
generalists rather than specialists).
Through this type of growth, both the
organizationand employees benefit. Organizational
benefits include increased efficiency and productivity and improved quality. Personal benefits
include improved job satisfaction ~~d technical
developmentand increasedmotivation.
$ASE HISTQB.LES

DIV and Demand

Industry trends indicate the supply of
technical professionals is declining. A study
performed by Technicare Corporation looked at the
total population,the number of technicallytrained
professionals, and the production rate out of
universities, They discovered that there is going
to be a real decline on the output side of universities beginning in the second half of the 1980s
and lasting through the end of century. At the
same time, it appears that we are on an increasing
trend toward hyper-industrialization th t
is
widening the gap between sup ly and demand.! This
same conclusionwas reached Iy RoundtableGroup on
Science and Engineering Talent and the National
~~c;;; Foundation through independent studies
Natural Science and Engineeringdisciplines,~,~nWith this outlook, it becomes even more
important to ensure that we are increasing and
100

The following section describes three case

histories where the geology-reservoirengineering
relationship was promoted through both a team
approach and an individual approach. The three
cases listed were implemented by Exxon Company,
U.S.A. in their Central ProductionDivision located
in Houston. In all cases, the results were
positive, It should be noted, however, that these
same results might have been achievedthrough other
means, as well.
.
Pro.@LEwi

Amrwh

One approach is to retain separategeology and

reservoir engineering structures, but assign the
geologistsand reservoirengineersfor a given area
of responsibilitya conanonproject that requires
consnittedteamwork to accomplish. This approach
was used to develop a systematicmeans to improve
exploitation of the Conroe field, located just
north of Houston.

L
.

SPE 19780

K. P. Sessions and 1).H. Lehman

The Conroe field is a very large oil field.

The field is about 90% depleted, yet substantial
reserves remain to be recove}ed. Obviously, a
tremendous amount of production-relateddata is
availablefor a field of this size at this stage of
depletion. The.field has a large number of stacked
sands and is very complexly faulted. About
500 wells have been drilled in the field, so again
a tremendousamount of geologic data exists. With
the field in a very mature stage of depletion, it
appeared that new opportunities were harder to
find, drilling prospects were smaller, and the
workover program was becoming less profitable.
Stabilization of
production rates
required
extensive monitoring and adjustment due to the
thinnessof oil columns and movement of gas and oil
resulting from juxtapositionbetwee:,fault blocks
and sands. To counter the emerging trends, the
need for integrated information systems and
reservoirmanagementsystems was realized,
The geology members of the team took the first
steP in organizing the available information
regardingthe field by undertaking a mainframe
computer mapping effort using a computer language
that is relatively easy to learn and use, and is
extremely versatile. It allows manipulation of
data including statistical analysis, plotting,
mapping, and reporting. Geologys first step was
to set up databases containing all information
needed for generating geologic maps (listed in
Table 1), Reservoir Engineering then contributed
by incorporatingproduction and well test information in the database (also included in Table 1).
Using a mainframeto manipulatethe data in various
ways, the Conroe team developed a program library
covering numerous applications. Some of the more
widely used applicationsare listed in Table 2.
These applications are more than just a
restatementof the input data. Lets consider as
an example a structure map used to identify and
evaluate a drilling prospect. The geologist or
reservoirengineer can spot a location, input just
a few parameters, and the program will calculate
reserves recoverableby that well, Similarly, for
a workover evaluation, a structure map can be
generated for a given area by providing the well
name, reservoir,and x/y coordinatesof the area of
interest. The program will generate the map and
include production,reserves, and recent well test
informationfor all adjacentwells completed in the
target sand, Surveillancereports can be generated
and structured by any combination of parameters
input in the database. For instance, reports of
changes in oil production by meter site were
designed and are used by the field personnel to
spot-checkchanges at each meter site to ident{fy
facility problems, bottlenecks, etc.
listing AGOR(Gas Oil Ratio) by well, byRe~[~~
block, by sand, etc.,,are invaluablefor systematic
surveillanceof the ongoing gas injectionproject.
A similar report ofAGLR (Gas Liquid Ratio) can be
used by the production eng{neer to Identify gas
lift problems,

Although the above examples only touch on the

capabilitiesava{lable, they illustratethe synergism realizedby combining the efforts and information of the two disciplines. The integrated
information and analysis system developed by the
two groups working together is far superior to the
individualtools utilized prior to this effort. As
a result of developing this joint system, each
function has become more familiar with the other.
For the first time, the reservoir engineers and
geologistseach have ready access to all available
field informationand use this shared knowledge to
make better decisions about field management. The
results that have been realized are encouraging.
Reservoir management has improved as evidenced by
lower production decline rates, More work can be
performed in a given amount of time. As yet, the
quality of the work programs remains basically
unchanged, but future improvement is expected.
Table 3 contains the data used to support these
conclusions. Additionally,the technicalpersonnel
have expressed an increased interest in the:r job
assignmentsand a greater sense of accomplishment.
ti!?ased

ADrn=oac~

A second alternativeis to organize a group of

both geologists and reservoir engineers which
reports to the same supervisor. This structurecan
be incorporatedfor a task force type effort with
specific objectives to accomplish in a set amount
of time, ,aswell as a longer-term,more permanent
structure. This approachwas utilized for nanaging
the Thompsons field, located south of Houston.
This field is a large oil field currentlyabout 90%
depleted. Exxons operated portion of the field
produces about 7000 B/D (1.1 lun3/0) at 90-95%W.
The situation about two years ago was that
reservoir management was difficult due to the
inaccessibilityof detailed productiondata and the
state of current geologic maps. From a production
data standpoint, the computer-based historical
recordswere set up by Railroad Commissionzone, so
production information by individual reservoir
within the RRC zone was not readily available,
From a geological standpoint, the multitude of
producing horizons made development of
an
integrated field-wide map portfolio a manpowerintensive and challenging effort. As an alternative, individual reservoir maps were often
utilizedto analyze and justify son 130 new wells
over the past ten years, In addii I,,the field
was beginning to experience a higher-than-expected
productiondecline.

In the hopes of resolving these problems, a

combined Geology and Reservoir Engineering group
was formed, The group was placed under the
directionof a geology supervisorand includedfive
geologists and two reservoir engineers, Other
members, such as productionengineers,were used on
an as-needed basis. The group was given the
responsibility of supporting operations through
workover and drilling prospect tdenttficatlonwith
an emphasis on reversing the production decline,
In addition, the group was assigned the task of
Improving the status of the field-wide geologic
maps and developinga geologic/engineering
database
to assist in the modernization of map Ing and
surveillancetechniques. The benefits o/ setting

.
4

NURTURINGTHE GEOLOGY-RE RVOIR ENGINEERINGTEAM

up such a group were that both geologists and
reservoir engineers would share common goals and
priorities and that they could maintain better
communication with each other since they were
phys~cally located together. Additionally, with
one supervisor to both geology and W:u;rvo::
engineering, the approval process
simplified.
Working together toward a common goal,
progress on developing a comprehensive set of
field-wide maps was made. A defined set of
geologic markers was agreed upon to facilitate
mapping consistency, Log digitizationefforts were
intensified utilizing these new markers, and a
computer-basedmapping effort was undertaken. For
the first time, a field-wide stratigraphiccross
sectfon was developed. Concurrentwith structural
mapping efforts, the team reorganized production
informationbased on individualperforation intervals. In addition to greatly improving reservoir
management,this work led to the identificationof
the need for a concentratedeffort on stratigraphy
mapping, and a subsequentteam was formed to pursue
that task.
Numerous benefitswere realized as a result of
this six-month effort. The entire group dedicated
one day each week solely to workover identification. The team generated 60workovers during the
period, which was an 81% inc~se from the prior
period, w~th a corresponding 40% increase in
buildup and profitability. This was achieved
largely through the Top of Sand program.
The reservoir sands at the Thompsons typica;::
contain numerous layers of shale laminations.
usual practice had been to perforate low In the
sand initially and recomplete upwards to avoid
by-passingoil. As the team studied and analyzed
the interrelationship between different depositional environments and by-interval production
data, they found areas of cleaner, channeldeposlted sands. For these sands with no vertical
permeability barriers, perforations were made at
the top of sand, This method increased production
by 750 BOPD (l19m3/ ), decreased water production
8
by 5000 BOPD (795m/D),
and will contribute to
lower future workover costs.
From an organizational standpoint, the team
has disbanded and members now report to their
respective functional supervisors.
From
a
relationship standpoint, the team still works
closely together and, in so doing, has been able to
continue the arrest of the previous production
decline and to increase the activity and profitability of the field work program. The results of
this work effort are Illustrated by a plot of
productionversus time (Figure 1).
Multi.Skilled Jndivi~
This approach.goes a step beyond integration
of reservoir engineers and geologists under one
supervisor. Instead, one person handles the
responslbllltlesfor both functions. This approach
was used for field management of the Clam Lake
field, located on the Texas Gulf Coast, This field

SPE 1

is considerably smaller than fields cited in the

previous case histories. The situation about a
year go was that the field produced about 500 BoPD
f
(79 m/D)
and was believed to have more potential.
At the time, a reservoir engineer and a geologist
were each assigned to the fteld on a part-tine
basis. It was felt that a better approachwould be
for one person to manage the f~eld on a full-time
basis. Utilizing this approach would enable one
person to beco~ndvery familiar with both reservoir
description
producing mechanisms and,
therefore,integratethat data for a better understanding of field-specific situations. Theoretically, productivity should increase due to less
duplication of effort. Finally, any miscommunication or misunderstandingof data between the
reservoir engineer and geologist would be
eliminated.
In this instance, the geologist was selected
for this task for several reasons. The field was
relativelysmall and, therefore,manageable by one
person. The geologic structure is a piercement
salt dome, containing numerous stacked sands and
highly complex faulting. There was limited surveillancerequired from a regulatory and landowner
relationsstandpoint since the field was comprised
of only two leases. If, on the other hand, th.
field had been more straightforwardgeologically
but complex from a reservoir engineering standpoint, it may have been more appropriateto assign
the reservoirengineer to handle the field.
In this instance, little formal training fn
reservoirengineeringwas provided to the geologist
due to an already good working knowledge and
on-the-job support from other reservoir engineers.
From an organizationalstandpoint,this individual
reported formally to a geology supervisor and
additionally reported informally to the reservoir
supervisor.
By having one person very famillar with both
the geology and reservoir engineeringaspects of a
field, a better understanding of total field
managementwas realized. The geologist started the
effort by completely remapping the entire field.
This was followed by his developinga comprehensive
wellbore utility plan for each well in the field,
not an easy task for a field with over
100 reservoirs.
Based on this total knowledge, an Increased
level of drilling and workover activity was
proposedand undertaken. All wells (seven)drilled
in the 1987-1988 time frame were successful. This
fieldsdrilling program showed the highest profitability of any program drilled In 1988 by this work
unit. The workover program was 82% successful,
higher than the dlvls{on avera e, Booked reserves
were increasedby 45% during tI Is same time frame.
Overall production from the field has increased
since implementation of this approach, and the
trend fndlcates continued improvement. This trend
is presented in Figure 2,

102

*rb

.. .

Aarwv

--

w------

----

-.

. . .

--------

EEmEKEs
1,

Committeeon EnhancedOil Recovery,Enhanced

Oil Recovery, National Petroleum Council
Report, June 1984, p. 9.

2.

Fisher, W. L, Can the U.S. 011 and Gas

Resource Zone Support Sustained Production?
June 26, 1987, PP. 1631-1636.
w,

3.

Oonahue, D.A.T. and Lang, K. R. Technical

Personnel Development in a Period of Scarce
Resources and High Uncertainty, paper SPE
16822 presented at the 1987 62nd Annual
Technical Conference and Exhibition of the
SPE, Dallas, Texas, September !7-30,1987.

4.

Associated Press: PermiansFuture Tied to

Recovery,Drilling Technology,Houston Post,
March 12, 1989, p. A-22.

5.

Bulletin of the MississippiState University,

January 1989, pp. 162-127,208-209.

6.

Personnel AdministratorStaff: Money Isnt

the Best Tool for Motivating Technical
Professionals,Personnel ~,
June
1985, pp. 63-78,

7.

Government - University - Industry Research

Roundtable:
Nurturing
Science
and
:$~;neeringTalent, a discussionpaper, July
.

8.

National Science Foundation: The Science

and Engineering Pipeline, PRA Report 87-2,
April 1987.

9.

Hall, D. T. Project tlorkas an Antidote to

Career Plateauing in a Declining Engineering
Organization, Wn
esource
*
Fall 1985, pp. 272-292.

10.

Alster, N. What Flexible Workers Can Do,

m,
February 13, 1989, pp. 62-66.

Development and extension of existing fields

is a key to future additionalreservesdevelopment.
Along with new technology, informationmanagement
and analysis is becoming, more and more, a key to
successfulexploitation. Nurturingthe interaction
between geologists and reservoirengineers and the
associated sharing of skills and knowledge should
he. recognized as a key to tmproved information
managementand analysfs and appropriateapplication
of new technology, By crossing traditionalboundaries and integratingthe two functions,new ideas
are generated, previously accepted solutions and
answers are challenged, and new theories are
tested. Additionally,teamwork improves in trying
to achieve common goals, and a more complete sense
of ownership an~ control of field management
occurs.
Theory supports the premise that this
relationshiphas the potential for enhancing the
work efforts and, therefore, the profitability
associatedwith production operations. Under the
traditional major oil company structure, this
relationshipmay be underutilized. Experiencehas
shown that developing this relationshipresults in
improvementsin several areas:
.
.

Quality of work products

Quantity of work performed
Enhanced reserves recovery
Technicaldevelopmentof employees
Flexibilityof personnel
Job satisfaction

Capitalizing on this relationship and the

associated benefits is relatively easy to accomplish from an organizational standpoint. This
relationshipshould be nurtured and promoted to the
extent that it becomes the new tradition,

--lua
. ..

.
NURTURING THE GEOLOGY-RESERVOIR

ENGINEERING

SPE197

TEAM

Table 2 - Program Library

Applications

Table 1 - Database Input

Base map
StructuremaD
Isopachmap
Cross sections
Juxtapositionmap
Completionmaps
Contact maps
Productionreports
Reserve updates
Prospect areas
Workover/D&Cspot maps
BHP, GOR, %/SW, etc. maps

Geology:
- Basic well data
- Reservoirtops
- Cartographicdata
- Perforations
- Core analysis
- Faults
- Surveys
Engineering:
- Productiondata
- Log contacts
- Well tests
- BHP data

.,

Table 3 - Activity and PerfonaanceParameters

Yri9~g. YTD Through May

1989
Annuql Average ProductionDecline,%

19

13

Gas injectionRequired,MCF/D (MIn3)

60 (1.7)

55

E;;A9YE
10

(1.6)

50 (1.4)

Number of Geologists

Number of ReservoirEngineers

2.5

10000 ~.
1000
\
000

B
B
p
D

\
400..

200. .

~
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