--> Abstract: An Integrated Approach to Deep-Water Reservoir Prediction, by T. R. Garfield, D. C. Jennette, F. J. Goulding, and D. K. Sickafoose; #90923 (1999)

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GARFIELD,TIMOTHY R., DAVID C. JENNETTE, Exxon Production Research Company; FRANKLIN J. GOULDING, and DONALD K. SICKAFOOSE, Exxon Exploration Company, Houston,Texas

Abstract: An Integrated Approach to Deep-Water Reservoir Prediction

Accurate pre-drill predictions of deep-water reservoir facies, architecture and producibility are fundamental to the economic success of high-cost exploration and development projects in deep-water settings. Exxon has improved its success in reservoir prediction by using an integrated approach that is collaboratively supported by research and business-unit staff. Key facets of this approach include: (1) a readily accessible, proprietary global database of subsurface and outcrop analog studies, (2) experimental and numerical process-response modeling, (3) seismic and sequence stratigraphic analysis, and (4) 3-D seismic attribute and facies analysis.

Underlying the reservoir prediction effort is a global analog database populated with exploration and production analogs from a variety of settings and a comprehensive suite of closely studied outcrops.Analog selection is aided by relating numerical and experimental models of physical processes and associated depositional responses to basin-specific controls on reservoir development such as provenance (sediment texture and volume) transport distance and basin physiography. Sequence stratigraphy provides a framework for reservoir analysis and can be used predictively to related inferred changes in shelfal accommodation and sediment supply to vertical and along slope variations in reservoir properties on the slope and basin floor. 3-D seismic attribute analysis performed within a tightly constrained stratigraphic framework yields a detailed understanding of vertical and lateral variations in reservoir properties of genetically related strata.When fully integrated, these data are the basis for more accurate characterizations of deep-water reservoirs in the subsurface and provide new insights into the complexities of deep-water sedimentation.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90923@1999 International Conference and Exhibition, Birmingham, England