Associating subsurface data with geological rules: on some new methods to address structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological uncertainties.
Guillaume Caumon and Marion Parquer and Gabriel Godefroy and Jonathan Edwards and Pauline Collon. ( 2018 )
in: Closing the Gap III: Advances in Applied Geomodeling for Hydrocarbon Reservoirs, CSPG, Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada
Abstract
In subsurface studies, the amount of available data is often orders of magnitude smaller than what would be required to make reliable forecasts. This is typically true in reservoir studies, where risk in decisions and reserve evaluations is best addressed by considering several possible scenarii about reservoir heterogeneities and behaviour. To help geomodellers generate such scenarios, we propose several methods that focus on the association of subsurface data using geological rules. In particular, we discuss methods to: 1) Generate many possible associations between sparse fault observations to generate compartmentalization scenarios; 2) Stochastically generate chronostratigraphic time lines between several wells; 3) Associate paleo-channel fluvial evidence and build several channel and point bar evolution models. These approaches produce models of variable geometry and connectivity, which is likely to significantly impact fluid flow forecasts. A practical challenge of dealing with data interpretation uncertainty to is to keep the computational burden tractable. However, the proposed methods alleviate non-reproducibility issues in data interpretation and could also help discussing interpretations by casting some geological concepts into explicit mathematical rules. We finally discuss some perspectives these methods open to capitalize on computational techniques to advance geological analysis.
Download / Links
BibTeX Reference
@INPROCEEDINGS{, author = { Caumon, Guillaume and Parquer, Marion and Godefroy, Gabriel and Edwards, Jonathan and Collon, Pauline }, title = { Associating subsurface data with geological rules: on some new methods to address structural, stratigraphic and sedimentological uncertainties. }, month = { "oct" }, booktitle = { Closing the Gap III: Advances in Applied Geomodeling for Hydrocarbon Reservoirs }, series = { Gussow }, year = { 2018 }, location = { Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada }, organization = { CSPG }, abstract = { In subsurface studies, the amount of available data is often orders of magnitude smaller than what would be required to make reliable forecasts. This is typically true in reservoir studies, where risk in decisions and reserve evaluations is best addressed by considering several possible scenarii about reservoir heterogeneities and behaviour. To help geomodellers generate such scenarios, we propose several methods that focus on the association of subsurface data using geological rules. In particular, we discuss methods to: 1) Generate many possible associations between sparse fault observations to generate compartmentalization scenarios; 2) Stochastically generate chronostratigraphic time lines between several wells; 3) Associate paleo-channel fluvial evidence and build several channel and point bar evolution models. These approaches produce models of variable geometry and connectivity, which is likely to significantly impact fluid flow forecasts. A practical challenge of dealing with data interpretation uncertainty to is to keep the computational burden tractable. However, the proposed methods alleviate non-reproducibility issues in data interpretation and could also help discussing interpretations by casting some geological concepts into explicit mathematical rules. We finally discuss some perspectives these methods open to capitalize on computational techniques to advance geological analysis. } }