About This Item

Share This Item

The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database

AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 90, No. 7 (July 2006), P. 1003-1029.

Copyright copy2006. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/02070605112

Best practice stochastic facies modeling from a channel-fill turbidite sandstone analog (the Quarry outcrop, Eocene Ainsa basin, northeast Spain)

Oriol Falivene,1 Pau Arbueacutes,2 Andy Gardiner,3 Gillian Pickup,4 Josep Anton Muntildeoz,5 Lluiacutes Cabrera6

1Geomodels-3D Geological Modeling CER-Group of Geodynamics and Basin Analysis, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain; [email protected]
2Geomodels-3D Geological Modeling CER-Group of Geodynamics and Basin Analysis, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
3Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh), Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
4Institute of Petroleum Engineering, Heriot-Watt University (Edinburgh), Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom
5Geomodels-3D Geological Modeling CER-Group of Geodynamics and Basin Analysis, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
6Geomodels-3D Geological Modeling CER-Group of Geodynamics and Basin Analysis, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

ABSTRACT

Using data from an outcrop characterization of a sandstone-rich turbidite channel fill (the so-called ldquoQuarry outcroprdquo in the Ainsa basin), several stochastic facies models were constructed at bed-scale resolution (cells 2.5 m [8 ft] wide and 0.05 m [2 in.] thick). Several industry-standard reservoir-modeling algorithms were employed: truncated Gaussian simulation, sequential indicator simulation, multiple-point geostatistics, and object-based methods with varying degrees of complexity. The degree of similarity (i.e., realism) between realizations and the outcrop characterization was quantified through the use of several responses: (1) static connectivity, (2) effective permeability, and (3) recovery efficiency from waterflood simulations.

Differences in the responses measured from the outcrop and facies models were observed: these are mostly algorithm related, instead of caused by soft data or different stochastic realizations. Differences increase greatly when the permeability of the heterolithic packages and mudstone beds (Ht-M) decreases and reflect the methods' ability to model the inclined and undulating Ht-M packages and beds that occur in the outcrop. These packages and beds can drape scours and sandstone beds with depositional topography and pinch-outs, producing sandstone thinning and dead ends.

Object-based methods capable of introducing highly undulating Ht-M beds provided the most realistic models. Variogram-based and simple object-based methods failed to capture and reproduce the whole length of undulating beds. Multiple-point geostatistics provided realizations with responses intermediate between variogram-based and simple object-based methods and the more successful advanced object-based methods. The conditioning-to-hard-data capabilities of multiple-point geostatistics are higher than those of the object-based methods, which give them an added advantage.

Pay-Per-View Purchase Options

The article is available through a document delivery service. Explain these Purchase Options.

Watermarked PDF Document: $14
Open PDF Document: $24

AAPG Member?

Please login with your Member username and password.

Members of AAPG receive access to the full AAPG Bulletin Archives as part of their membership. For more information, contact the AAPG Membership Department at [email protected].