Titus A Murray¹, Claudia Guargena², David Waters², Chris McKeown³

(1) Midland Valley Exploration Ltd, Glasgow, Scotland
(2) Enterprise Oil plc, London, England
(3) Midland Valley Exploration Ltd, Glasgow

ABSTRACT: A Probabilistic Fault Seal and Fault Breaching Methodology. Considering Variance in Paleo and Present Stresses, Fault Geometry, and Lithology

Conventional fault seal techniques use basic input parameters that often have considerable uncertainty and measurement error. It has been found that variance in the parameters can lead to great problems constructing deterministic faults juxtaposition, seal and leakage models in 3D. This is particularly problematic when fault displacement and lithological thickness are of similar magnitudes. A generalised fault displacement and damage-zone model will be presented. Using a probabilistic approach an assessment of the displacement, lithology and present/past stress states will be used to assess the hydraulic performance of the fault. This will include fault sealing and breaching both along the fault and across the fault. Observations pertinent to faults in transient stress and overpressured regimes will be considered. A risk based reserves model encapsulating multiple closures, reservoir and fault seal parameters will also be discussed.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90906©2001 AAPG Annual Convention, Denver, Colorado