ABSTRACT

A comprehensive mapping and 3-D earth-modeling project was initiated in June 1996 for Chevron's Main Pass 299 (MP299) field. With almost 30 years of production from over 120 wells, an ongoing drilling program is required to maintain current production levels and cash flow. To sustain this program, a better understanding of the reservoirs, and improved efficiency in the new well generation process are required. This is being achieved in part by the use of the latest workstation technology, together with an increased integration of digital data.

The GOCAD++ workstation software has been used in conjunction with both proprietary and other vendor software, to build a 3-D earth model of part of the field. The fault model and horizons were initially interpreted from 3-D seismic data. This structural framework was transferred to GOCAD++ where selected reservoirs were geostatistically populated with geological and petrophysical parameters (e.g. petrophysical facies, porosity, water saturation, permeability).

The resultant earth-model provided a more confident computation of stock tank oil originally in place (STOOIP) and confirmed three new well targets. The model provided data for reservoir simulation studies, which led to a better understanding of future production and reserve estimates.