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INTEGRATED RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION

Overview
The ultimate goal of any exploration and production (E&P) effort is to
increase hydrocarbon reserves while ensuring their efficient and economical
recovery. Gaining detailed knowledge of reservoir geometry, rock properties,
and productive capacity is the first step toward reservoir optimization.
Integrated reservoir characterization combines all geological, geophysical,
and engineering data pertinent to understanding fluid flow and reservoir
behavior, and uses the data to produce a 3D-earth model that can be used in
all phases of field development. In this way, it differs from traditional
reservoir characterization projects, which tend to focus on geologic and
engineering analysis of proposed enhanced recovery projects, as well as
drilling, production engineering, and reservoir simulation.
Geologic data comes from well logs, rock samples, outcrops, maps, cross
sections, stratigraphic studies, structural studies, geochemical studies, and
petrophysical studies.
Geophysical information may include gravity data, magnetic data, and
seismic data, as well as other types of data. Seismic data, in particular,
encompasses a wide spectrum of information from 2-D, 3-D, or 4-D surveys,
plus vertical seismic profile (VSP) studies, cross-well information, and seismic
attribute analysis.
Engineering data includes petrophysical, well test, production/injection,
pressure, and fluid analysis information, as well as any relevant stress field
and fracture data.
These data can be integrated to overcome the limitations inherent in any
single data domain. For example, 3-D seismic data can sample a large areal
extent of a particular reservoir, but it provides only limited vertical
resolution. Core data on the other hand, provides extremely fine vertical
resolution, but samples only a minute portion of total reservoir volume.
However, correlating specific 3-D seismic attributes to important core
properties (porosity, for example) combines the advantages and minimizes
the disadvantages of both data types.
Integrated reservoir characterization is generally an interdisciplinary,
interactive team effort. A team is usually divided into three main disciplines:
Geology, Geophysics, and Engineering. Successful interaction among these
disciplines generally involves two approaches:

In the first approach, team members from each discipline integrate all
pertinent data and construct preliminary models. The team members then
compare models with the others, and refine, then integrate with models
produced by the other disciplines.
The second approach integrates all data from an early stage and continually
updates and refines the result as more analyses are performed and more
information is accumulated.
These two approaches are each appropriate under different circumstances.
Where very little initial information exists, it may be easier to construct an
integrated model early, and then progressively update it as new data are
acquired. For a field in which large amounts of data are available, developing
discipline-specific models as a first stage effort may be the only practical
way to ensure that all relevant information is included.
Integrated reservoir characterization results in a three-dimensional
description of a complex, heterogeneous volume of rock in the subsurface.
No matter how concise and numerically constrained the final model may be,
it will always be an approximation of the reservior. There are never enough
data to fully represent the details of reservoir structure and internal
architecture; the precise lateral and vertical distribution of rock and fluid
properties; or the exact configuration of fluid pathways, barriers, and
contacts.
Integrated reservoir characterization produces an integrated earth
model
(sometimes
called a shared earth
model) that is designed to
describe the static and
dynamic factors that affect
fluid flow (Beamer et al.,
1998). Such a model is
properly viewed as a work
in
progress,
open
to
improvement at any stage
of its development. A
critical test of any model is
to drill new wells or launch
new
(e.g.
enhanced)
recovery programs. This in
turn yields new data that
reveal weaknesses in the
existing
reservoir
description. The new data
can be then incorporated to refine the model.

At an early stage, the shared earth model should be accurate enough to


support a preliminary field development and management plan, reduce the
number of appraisal wells needed, optimize their locations, and determine
specific data requirements. The refined model incorporating these data
should then be sufficient to guide the actual drilling or recompletion program
during the main phase of development. Data from the development phase of
activity will in turn be used to further refine the model, so that during
subsequent stages of production decline, the unswept portions of the
reservoir can be identified and the accuracy of reservoir simulation can be
enhanced.
Advances in software technology have greatly aided the process of building
and updating shared earth models. Such advances make it possible to
integrate geologic, geophysical, and engineering data in three dimensions at
individual
workstations
(Figure 2
:
Complex,

Figure 2

interdisciplinary modeling of reservoir intervals was able to show the threedimensional distribution of sands having temperatures above a certain
specified limit, reflecting the influence of continued steamflooding; Ginger et
al., 1995). This development has helped to decrease the size of reservoir
characterization teams while greatly improving their efficiency. Commercial
3-D modeling software packages commonly employ well log and seismic
information as base data, which various mapping algorithms and

geostatistical procedures render into representations of reservoir geometry,


stratigraphy, structure, and rock property distribution.
Geostatistics has come to play an increasingly important role in estimating
reservoir property values at unsampled locations (Figure 3 : Geostatistical
porosity cross section through a carbonate mound reservoir, based on a 15layer
model;
data
courtesy
Tom
Chidsey,
Jr.).

Figure 3

More sophisticated capabilities for seismic data processing and "quick look"
reservoir simulation enable models to be built, tested, and refined on an
ongoing, almost daily basis. Research into these and other capabilities will
inevitably open new improvements for onscreen, digital reservoir
characterization.
Improved 3-D software modeling, with the capability to rapidly synthesize
vast amounts of diverse data, plays an important role in the future of
integrated reservoir characterization (Uland et al., 1997; Beardsell et al.,
1998). At the same time, however, digital modeling - no matter how
sophisticated - cannot reproduce the subsurface exactly. Advances in
computer technology have not eliminated the central role of the interpreter.
Many uncertainties exist in every case of data visualization, because of

frequent instances involving limited seismic markers, core data, well log
coverage, or well test information. In the end, integrated reservoir
characterization means creating the most accurate, useful earth model with
the data available at any particular stage of field development.

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