--> ABSTRACT: Application of High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy to 3-D Visualization and Modelling of Hydrocarbon Reservoirs, by Simon Knight, Andy Heath, Stephen Flint, John Walsh, Juan Watterson; #91020 (1995).

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Application of High Resolution Sequence Stratigraphy to 3-D Visualization and Modelling of Hydrocarbon Reservoirs

Simon Knight, Andy Heath, Stephen Flint, John Walsh, Juan Watterson

Accurate geological models for fluid flow simulation require full 3-D representation of the inter-well volume in terms of genetic sediment bodies and their associated permeabilities and should incorporate the effects of seismic and sub-seismic faults on connectivity. Commercially available cellular modelling systems tend to rely on continuous grids, which give rise to problems in representation of discontinuous phenomena such as faults or channel sands. Statistical, object-based systems may produce unrealistic stratigraphic patterns which do not honour the well data.

A high resolution sequence stratigraphic approach has been adopted for the time-stratigraphic correlation of a Carboniferous fluvial-coastal plain succession (subsurface Alaska) and Cretaceous shallow marine strata (Book Cliffs outcrops, Utah). Mapping of flooding surfaces and widespread lowstand erosion surfaces provide a robust framework for confidence in correlation of reservoir units. Predictably, differences in sandbody geometries and shale permeability barrier distributions are controlled by systems tracts within each high frequency sequence and by position within the low order "background" sequence set.

The newly developed reservoir modelling package "FaMOUS" (Fault Modelling Of Uneven Stratigraphy) has functionality permitting modelling of any sedimentary architectural element, seismic and sub-seismic faults and well/seismic data. FaMOUS has been used to build high resolution cellular reservoir models to visualize the reservoirs in 3-D and to calculate depositional connectivity per systems tract. The introduction of seismic and sub-seismic fault populations into different stratigraphic models allows quantitative assessment of both fault and sedimentary compartmentalisation.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91020©1995 AAPG Annual Convention, Houston, Texas, May 5-8, 1995