Duration - 01/07/2005 - 30/04/2009
Funding -A multi-company project brokered by ITF, Aberdeen
Co-ordinator - Fault Analysis Group, UCD
Research Partners
Basic Aims
Recent results of our FIFT research project have highlighted a variety of requirements for modelling faulted deep-water turbidites. These modelling capabilities go beyond conventional methods, using, for example, stochastic shales or sands, which fail to incorporate fundamental measures of sequence architecture and therefore often provide models that, in important respects, differ from the architectures observed in high quality turbidite reservoir analogues. Conventional models of thin-bedded turbidite sequences can, for example, be characterized by more permissive and homogeneous model architectures, within both bed-scale and upscaled models, than are justified by observational constraints. These shortcomings are compounded in faulted reservoirs where faults, including those which are sub-seismic, can have a more profound impact on sandbody geometries than is reflected in poorly upscaled models. Significant uncertainties associated with fault flow properties only serve to exacerbate potential errors associated with model generation and further diminish the value attached to both history matching and production forecasting studies. A novel approach to faulted turbidite modelling has been developed in our earlier FIFT project which provides a means of modelling the flow response of faulted turbidites and provides a basis for generating properly upscaled properties for inclusion in full-field reservoir production models. The FIFTII project will develop a more comprehensive modelling approach for faulted turbidite reservoirs combined with appropriate upscaling methodologies. It will expand the existing quantitative constraints on fault and turbidite sequence architectures and will test newly developed methods on faulted turbidite reservoirs.
Contact: Tom Manzocchi
Tel: +353 1 716 2611
Email
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