Impact of Reservoir Properties on the Production of the Mannville Coal Measures, South Central Alberta from a Numerical Modelling Parametric Analysis

Abstract

Numerical simulations are used to investigate the impact of intrinsic and extrinsic reservoir properties on the production from coal and organic rich lithologies in the Lower Cretaceous Mannville coal measures of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin. The coal measures are complex reservoirs in which production is from horizontal wells drilled and completed in the thickest coal seam in the succession (1 m versus 3 m), which has production and pressure support from thinner coals in the adjacent stratigraphy and from organic-rich shales interbedded and over and underlying the coal seams. Numerical models provide insight as to the relative importance of the myriad of parameters that may impact production that are not self-evident or intuitive in complex coal measures.