Visualizing Production and Pressure Histories with Spacetime Maps

Richard L. Brownrigg¹, Martin K. Dubois², and W. Lynn Watney2. (1) Neotopia, Lawrence, KS 66049, (2) Kansas Geological Survey, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66047 [email protected]

The term Spacetime Map refers to a graphical paradigm for visualizing dynamic geographically referenced data. In this scheme, geographical data are depicted above a planar map in standard cartographic fashion, with the axis perpendicular to the map representing time. The result is a three-dimensional display world, a visual metaphor for the physicists' notion of spacetime, in which dynamical data are depicted as a trajectory through time over space. Such visualizations are an alternative to map animations, differing in that the full temporal and spatial context of the data is visually manifested.

Two applications are presented that employ Spacetime Maps to visualize production histories of hydrocarbons. The first depicts oil and gas production from leases in Kansas. We have found it a useful data-exploration tool for sifting through data for upwards of several thousand leases at once, over spatial extents ranging from field size to spans of several counties. Production trends are clearly evident and anomalous high or low production can readily be spotted. Because the temporal dimension is explicitly displayed, the historical pattern of development of the fields is evident, and production-decline characteristics can be inferred. The application provides highly dynamic interaction and navigation through the three-dimensional display world, facilitating large-scale aggregate views of the data or inspection of individual leases.

The second application was developed to facilitate the study of pressure variations within the Hugoton and Panoma gas fields in Kansas and Oklahoma. A high-density dataset of wellhead shutin pressures provides the basis for interpolating field pressures over time and space, creating a volumetric dataset. An isosurface of constant pressure is then drawn through this volume, the shape of which depicts spatial differential depletion over the fields. A user interactively adjusts the isosurface value, dynamically Òsweeping throughÓ the pressure variation as it existed through time. Comparing temporal and spatial relationships of reservoir pressures of the two fields has provided visual support for the conjecture that they are in physical communication. Comparing pressure variability with spatial geologic variables has yielded insights into the mechanisms of communication.