Developing an integrated structural modelling workflow

Emma Howley and Randi Sundt Meyer present a workflow and tools that integrate fault and horizon uncertainty modelling with structural modelling and 3D gridding to enable users to quantify uncertainty more effectively. A fundamental problem in reservoir modelling today is the ability to create models – based on limited input data – that accurately represent the reality. Structural modelling is a key means of achieving this and yet, while a critical component of the reservoir modelling workflow accounting for the greatest uncertainty in terms of in-place reserves, it faces a variety of challenges and limitations. Chief among these is the rise in more geologically complex reservoirs that often come with poor quality data and the inability of today’s interpretation solutions to create a spatially accurate analysis of the field. Other challenges include the inability to input the inherent uncertainty of such fields directly into the interpretation and structural model for quantified risk analysis and improved decisionmaking. The result is that decisions are often made with limited models and only best-case estimates of faults and horizons, with the interpreter having a weak understanding of potential errors or uncertainty in the interpretation. The result is an underestimating of the actual uncertainty in reservoir volumes. This article aims to address these challenges and limitations through a new workflow and set of structural modelling tools. The workflow and tools integrate fault and horizon uncertainty modelling with structural modelling and 3D gridding to enable users to quantify uncertainty more effectively and acknowledge realistic uncertainties in the data via the building of geologically realistic scenarios. The new workflow and tools will enable users to quantify uncertainty in their structural modelling and increase their confidence when it comes to crucial decisions on where to drill, what production strategies to adopt, and how to maximize oil and gas recovery. At a time of low oil prices, this is vital.