Basin Modelling as a Tool to Interpret Hydrocarbon Distribution and Evaluate Reservoir Connectivity from Field Scale: A Dynamic Approach

Bernard Carpentier, Isabelle Kowalewski, François Lorant, Sylvie Pegaz-Fiornet, Jean-Luc Rudkiewicz, and Muriel Thibaut
IFP, Rueil Malmaison, France

Reservoir organic geochemistry and fluid heterogeneity studies are more and more routinely used to evaluate reservoir connectivity at field scale and so to anticipate production problems. Most of these works are based on a static description of lateral changes in composition which are then interpreted in terms of oil producing impact. The problem is that these differences in fluid composition are often controlled by the filing history, dismisgration and/or secondary cracking experienced by the entrapped fluid during the burial history and structural evolution of the trap. Classical reservoir simulators are not able to take into account these burial history and structural changes and then can not be used to predict the initial hydrocarbon distribution of the field before production started.
Here we would like to show that a more dynamic interpretation approach can now be performed through high resolution and/or LGR (local grid refinement) basin modelling software using compositional description of the hydrocarbon fluid.
Indeed, recent basin modelling programs can now be used not only at basin scale for exploration purposes but also at field scale with fine description of the reservoir. Then they potentially provide a new interpretation tool for reservoir engineers. Case studies at basin and field scales will illustrate the potential use of such basin models to give valuable information for production.

AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Cape Town, South Africa 2008 © AAPG Search and Discovery