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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 Previous HitfieldNext Hit-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 Previous HittechniquesNext Hit 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.

 

Selected Bibliography 

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Dreyer, T., 1992, Significance of tidal cyclicity for modeling of reservoir heterogeneities in the Lower Jurassic Tilje Formation, mid-Norwegian Shelf: Norsk Geologisk Tidsskrift, v. 72, p. 159-170.

Dreyer, T., 1993, Geometry and facies of large-scale flow units in fluvial-dominated fan-delta-front sequences, in Advances in Reservoir Geology: Geological Society of London Previous HitSpecialNext Hit Publications. 69; p. 135-174.

Dreyer, T., 1993, Quantified fluvial architecture in ephemeral stream deposits of the Esplugafreda Formation (Palaeocene), Tremp–Graus Basin, northern Spain, in Marzo, M., and Puigdefabregas, C., eds., Alluvial Sedimentation: International Association of Sedimentologists Previous HitSpecialNext Hit Publication 17, p. 337-362.

Dreyer, T., Falt, L.-M., Hoy, T., Knarud, R., Steel, R., and Cuevas, J.-L., 1993, Sedimentary architecture of Previous HitfieldNext Hit analogues for reservoir information (SAFARI): a case study of the fluvial Escanilla Formation, Spanish Pyrenees, in Flint, S.S., and Bryant, I.D., eds., The Geological Modelling of Hydrocarbon Reservoirs and Outcrop Analogues: International Association of Sedimentologists Previous HitSpecialNext Hit Publication 15, p. 57-80.

Dreyer, T., and Wiig, M, 1995, Reservoir architecture of the Cook Formation on the Gulfaks Previous HitfieldNext Hit based on sequence stratigraphic concepts, in Steel, R. J., Felt, V. L., Johannessen, E. P. and Mathieu, C., eds., Sequence Stratigraphy on the Northwest European Margin: Norwegian Petroleum Society Previous HitSpecialNext Hit Publication 5, p. 109-141.

Weber, K.J., 1986, How heterogeneity affects oil recovery, in Lake. L.W., and Carrol, Jr., H.B., eds., Reservoir Characterisation: Academic Press Inc., Orlando, p. 487-544.

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