Updating Reservoir Models; Auditing, Updating and Rebuilding

As time passes our understanding of a reservoir changes, more information becomes available. Our original ideas about the geology, the fault compartments and the ultimate recoverable volume of oil or gas are modified by the acquisition of additional information about the reservoir. Our expectation is that as we collect more data, our uncertainty about the reservoir is reduced. As we know more about the reservoir our expectation is that our predictions for the recoverable hydrocarbons will become more accurate. This paper considers the dilemma of deciding how to incorporate new information into the model. Most of the time, it appears that there is no consistency or clarity in the strategy. More worryingly, it appears that not all data is considered equally.