Print this pageIncorporating Lateral Deformation and Modeling Fault Impact in Quantitative Petroleum Systems Evaluation
Accounting jointly for lateral deformation and fault properties on fluid flow when modeling petroleum systems in sedimentary basins is highly expected by E&P companies subsurface exploration teams. Such a capability would significantly enhance the quality of the evaluation in moderately faulted sedimentary basins. It would simply make quantitative modeling possible in complex structural environment such as fold and thrust belts, or extensive settings. IFP group is currently elaborating an industrial solution combining the development of a new basin simulator and innovative methodologies to incorporate kinematic models in forward simulation.
Most advanced structural modeling technologies give access to a continuous description of 3D geometries evolving with time. The IFP’s new generation basin simulator, Arctem, is developed with the objective of using these 3D evolving geometries in a forward simulation coupling kinematics, geo-mechanics and fluid flow. When compared to conventional basin simulators, Arctem’s main added value relies on its ability to (1) handle unstructured meshes made of hexahedron or tetrahedron cells (2) model fluid flow along & across fault (3) account for horizontal stresses. Preliminary results on real and synthetic two and three dimensional models already show very promising capabilities.
AAPG Search and Discover Article #90100©2009 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition 15-18 November 2009, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil