As a follow-up to the successful workshop in the year 2013 in Dubai on Advanced Carbonate Reservoir Characterisation, the SPE Reservoir Characterisation Workshop will take place in Doha, Qatar. The aim of this workshop is to take you on a journey to address some of the key challenges in developing carbonate reservoirs. The intention is that every participant walks away with a useful toolbox of ideas, thoughts and potential solutions to some tough questions that we are presented with in today’s low oil price world. Each session addresses how reservoir characterisation ties into well, reservoir, facility management and how we can maximise recovery for each of the challenges described below.

The journey starts with “Difficult Oil” and “Difficult Gas”, where we look at how reservoir characterisation effects our perception of what difficult oil is and how it can be extracted, focusing on enhanced oil recovery techniques. “Difficult Gas” is more concerned with trying to define what difficult gas actually is, how to locate it and then to characterise it in order to see whether it is connected and can be extracted.

Moving forward, a hot topic, especially in this region is “Condensate Banking” and the ways to bank it. Reservoir characterisation is primarily understanding how much condensate there is and whether it can be extracted. The volumes of condensate impacted are huge and are a valuable contribution to any gas development. The subsequent session looks at “Production Potential” stressing on precise evaluation of reservoir characterisation to determine the productivity or injectivity of a formation in order to maximise potential.

After revealing insights to maximise productivity, we look into “Water Flooding” which nowadays is a key driving mechanism in improving oil recovery. It incorporates many challenges and issues from selecting a candidate for water flooding through to which is the best technique to optimise recovery. Finally, we take a step back and bring all these topics together in the final session on “Reservoir Management”. Here we look at factors effecting reservoir management the most, so that we develop an appropriate reservoir management strategy.

Overall, the programme has been developed so that each individual leaves with valuable tools, experiences and a support network to maximise productivity and reserves, in a safe, sustainable, and cost effective manner.