Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

In this paper we consider the use of, time-domain electromagnetic, DC electrical and injection-production data in isolation and in combinations in order to investigate their potential for monitoring spatial fluid saturation changes within reservoirs undergoing enhanced oil recovery. We specifically consider two scenarios, a CO2 EOR within a relatively shallow reservoir, and a water flood within a deep carbonate reservoir. The recognition of the signal-enhancing role that electrically high conductivity steel well casings play makes the use of EM data possible in both these scenarios. The work has demonstrated that reservoir fluid saturation changes from EOR processes produce observable changes in surface electric fields when surface-to-borehole (deep reservoirs), and surface-tosurface (shallow reservoirs) configurations are used and the steel well casings are accurately modeled. Coupled flow and TDEM data inversion can significantly improve estimate of fluid saturation levels and location compared to inversion of flow data only. The inversion of surface time-domain electric fields, including DC fields can resolve volumetric and resistivity differences that can distinguish between various water flood scenarios. Coupled flow and DC data can resolve the size and orientation of elongated fracture zones within limits that are considered a significant improvement over estimates made with traditional data.