Patent ID: 6408249
Filing Date: 2002-06-18
Classification: E21B

Abstract:
A method of estimating a property of a hydrocarbon-bearing formation penetrated by at least one injection well through which fluid is injected into the formation and penetrated by at least one production well through which fluid is produced from the formation, comprising:(a) periodically varying and measuring an injection rate of an injectant fluid through the injection well at substantially regular time intervals; (b) measuring the production rate of a component produced through the production well; (c) selecting a series of production well response delays &tgr;, (d) computing correlation coefficients between said injection rate and the production rate as a function of &tgr;, (e) determining the time lag, &tgr;max, corresponding to the maximum correlation coefficient from the computation of step (d); and (f) using &tgr;max to characterize a reservoir property.