Petroleum Engineering 617 Petroleum Reservoir Management (3-0 ...

Petroleum Engineering 617
Petroleum Reservoir Management (3-0). Credit 3
W. John Lee
Summer 2011
Revised 5/17/11
Studies of the principles of reservoir management (including resources and reserves
management) and application to specific reservoirs based on case studies presented in the
petroleum literature.
Basis for grade
20% One final written review paper on management practices on a field on which there
is a significant amount of published information (e.g., in SPE papers) on primary
performance, secondary or enhanced recovery project planning, performance,
surveillance, evaluation, modification, operating problems, solutions, etc. For students
seeking reserves certification, these management practices should illustrate resources and
reserves management specifically.
20% Oral presentation of the findings on the field used for the written report.
30% Mid-term examination on papers read and discussed in Weeks 1 to 4.
10% Written reviews of papers. Reviews must be submitted by the beginning of the
class or the grade will be zero. Late or not, all papers must be submitted or the grade at
the end of the semester will be “I.”
20% Attendance and participation. Participation, for both distance learning and
resident students, will be based on responses to study guide questions posted in the
class “discussion board.” Please post your responses prior to start of class each class
day. We will also have further discussion in class among resident students for some
assignments.
References
Reservoir Management, Reprint Series, SPE, Dallas (1998) 48.
Petroleum Resources Management System, SPE, Dallas (2007).
Thakur, G. C. and Satter, A.: Integrated Waterflood Asset Management, PennWell,
Houston (1998)
Satter, A. and Thakur, G.: Integrated Petroleum Reservoir Management, PennWell,
Houston (1994).

Papers (mostly SPE) on field project planning, implementation, surveillance, evaluation,
modification, problems, solutions. Most are in SPE Reprint Series No. 48 unless
indicated otherwise, but almost all can also be downloaded from the SPE Website.
Vista Account
Because course information will be posted on Vista regularly, I ask that you please
monitor at least once a day. To set up your Vista account for this course, please do the
following:
Go to http://elearning.tamu.edu.
Find the link TAMU. Click the link.
Use your NetID (Neo ID and password) to logon.
Click on the course name.
This should be all you need. If you have questions or problems accessing the course
material in Vista, please contact Mary Lu Epps (marylu.epps@pe.tamu.edu) or Ted
Seidel (ted.seidel@pe.tamu.edu) in the 407 office suite for help.

Petroleum Engineering 617 10B
Petroleum Reservoir Management (3-0). Credit 3
W. John Lee
Summer 2010
Revised 5/28/2010
Guidelines for Paper Reviews
It should take no more than one page to summarize a typical paper. Some papers may
require more; use your own judgment. Learn to be concise and to state briefly the
essential ideas communicated.
Usual organization of a review
Authors, title. Use the SPE standard reference style. (You can find it in the SPE
Guide to Publications, which is on the web at http://www.spe.org.)
Problem. Briefly, describe the problem the authors are trying to solve.
Solution. Describe the solution the authors propose. Did they propose a specific
method for part or all the reservoir management process? What is it?
Value. Describe the value of the authors’ solution to the petroleum industry.
Conclusions. Describe the conclusions the authors reached as a result of their
analysis
Approach. Describe what the authors did to validate their proposed solution.
Limitations. List the limitations of the work. Is it applicable to only a certain type
of reservoir or field?
Application. How would you apply the knowledge provided in this paper?
Critique. What questions did the authors leave unanswered? What could the authors
have done to make the paper better?
Objectives of reviewing papers in this class
To learn how to learn from papers (harder than textbooks, but more important in the
long run)
To learn how to identify the really important ideas in papers
To learn how to summarize ideas concisely
To learn how engineers with vastly different points of view think and how they
approach problems and their solutions

Petroleum Engineering 617 10B
Petroleum Reservoir Management (3-0). Credit 3
W. John Lee
Summer 2010
Revised 5/28/10
Guidelines for Term Projects
1. Each person in the class will prepare a written report and an oral presentation for
his/her project.
2. Each person will choose a field for discussion based loosely on these criteria: (1)
significant number of papers (at least four) published on the field; (2) field has had, in
addition to primary production, secondary and/or tertiary recovery projects; (3)
published papers include information on geology, primary performance, secondary or
enhanced performance, operating problems/solutions, special facilities; (4) clear
evidence that reservoir management of some kind has been practiced; and (5) the
final paper in the sequence will preferably have been published in the last five years
(to ensure that modern technology is included in the reservoir management process).
3. For students seeking reserves certification, the field chosen should include explicit
efforts to manage resources and reserves as part of the asset management process.
4. Your purpose is to read the literature, focusing in particular on reservoir management
decisions that have (or, sometimes, should have) been made and results of those
decisions. Refer to the early papers in the course on reservoir management
philosophy and determine whether sound, modern practices as recommended by the
authors we have read were followed – and what the consequences were.
5. Prepare an oral presentation on your field requiring about 30 minutes. Be prepared to
answer questions for another 15 minutes or so. Prepare hard copy originals of visual
aids for your presentation. Please prepare PowerPoint files for your presentation. We
will provide guidelines in class for organization and content of your oral presentation.
6. Prepare a written report on your topic, with a length about the same as a typical,
published SPE paper. Length requirements are not rigid, but it is good to learn to be
concise. We will provide guidelines in class for organization and content of your
written report.
7. Select one paper (from those you find in your literature survey) and designate it a
“key paper.” Give your key papers to me one week before your oral presentation. I
will have the paper placed on Vista (or give the class information on how to locate it
on the SPE Web site) and will ask the class to read it in preparation for your
presentation. The key paper should include information on reservoir description,
primary production, secondary or otherwise enhanced recovery projects in the field,
discussions of operating/facilities problems and, hopefully, solutions), resources and
reserves management, and other fundamentally important issues that arose in the

historical management of the field. Your talk and written paper are not limited to
these key papers, of course. All members of the class will prepare a review of each
key paper and submit (as required homework) the review on the day of the
presentation of that topic.