Click to view this article in PDF
format.
Chapter from:
AAPG Memoir 71: Reservoir Characterization-Recent Advances
Edited by Richard A. Schatzinger and John F. Jordan
Copyright 
1999 by The American Association of
Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.
Memoir 71, Chapter 1: The Role of Reservoir Characterization in the Reservoir Management
Process (as Reflected in the Department of Energy's Reservoir Management Demonstration
Program), by Michael L. Fowler, Mark A. Young, Michael P. Madden, and E. Lance Cole, Pages
3 - 18
Chapter 1
The Role of Reservoir Characterization in the Reservoir
Management Process (as Reflected in the Department of Energy's Reservoir Management
Demonstration Program)
Michael L. Fowler
BDM Petroleum Technologies
Bartlesville, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
Mark A. Young
Michael P. Madden
BDM-Oklahoma
Bartlesville, Oklahoma, U.S.A
E. Lance Cole
Petroleum Technology Transfer Council
Sand Springs, Oklahoma, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT
Optimum reservoir recovery and profitability result from guidance by an
effective reservoir management plan. Success in developing the most appropriate reservoir
management plan requires knowledge and consideration of (1) the reservoir system,
including rocks, fluids, and rock-fluid interactions, as well as wellbores and associated
equipment and surface facilities; (2) the technologies available to describe, analyze, and
exploit the reservoir; and (3) the business environment under which the plan will be
developed and implemented. Reservoir management plans de-optimize with time as
technology and the business environment change or as new reservoir information becomes
available. Reservoir characterization is essential for planning appropriately scaled
reservoir management plans.
