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Reservoir
Modeling of Small-Scale
Heterogeneities in Channelized Turbidite Systems: Digital Outcrop Studies of the
Ross Formation, SW Ireland*
By
Cathrine Pedersen1, John Howell2, Trond Lien1, Ellinore Bjørk Vipond1, John Thurmond1, Tore Løseth1, and Ole Martinsen1
Search and Discovery Article #40267 (2007)
Posted November 25, 2007
*Adapted from extended abstract prepared for presentation at AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California, April -4, 2007
1Hydro Oil & Energy, Bergen, Norway ([email protected])
2University of Bergen, CIPR, Bergen, Norway
Abstract
Deep-water
channelized turbidite deposits represent architecturally complex hydrocarbon
reservoirs, especially at the facies scale. Due to resolution of seismic and
core/log-data, the population of coarse flow
simulation
grid cells with
realistic and effective permeabilities is a key challenge for
reservoir
modeling.
Facies
architecture data from outcrops bridge the scale gap between seismic data and
well data. By building small (50x50x2-6m), detailed (>0.02m vertical resolution)
and accurate facies-based
reservoir
models of outcrops (“
simulation
cell
mini-models”), it is possible to bridge the gap between core/log-data and
field-scale
simulation
models (Figure 1). The
accurate representation of the facies architecture in these small-scaled models
produces a geometric framework, within which sensitivity testing can be
conducted.
The models
presented were built from the Carboniferous Ross Formation in County Clare,
Ireland (Figure 2). Photorealistic mapping was used to create a virtual outcrop model from
which the geometric data, necessary to create the structural framework for a
series of
simulation
cell mini-models, were extracted. The three-dimensional
digital outcrop was supplemented by traditional section logging techniques and
several 2-D ground-penetrating radar lines. All of the collected information has
been included into the
reservoir
models, providing detailed 3D representation of
the facies architecture within channel spillover-overbank deposits and channel
fill deposits.
The
detailed models were subsequently upscaled to one single
simulation
grid cell
using different upscaling methods, which were then compared to each other. The
results of this
study
produced effective permeability estimates and represent
improved input values for the single
simulation
grid cells in a larger-scale
flow
simulation
.
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