Relevant reservoir characterisation: Recovery process, geometry and scale

In this paper, we consider the role of reservoir description in the context of the specific improved oil recovery process which is of interest. Three types of representation of reservoir structure are considered - stochastic correlated fields, stratified layer-cake, and deterministic structured bedforms. The relevance of different features of these representations are then considered for a variety of secondary and tertiary recovery fluid displacement processes. In some processes, detailed structure is insignificant. In others, it is more important than hitherto supposed. There is no panacea for reservoir characterisation and the critical reservoir properties must be determinedby considering both the fluid recovery mechanism and the interaction of this mechanism with the specific type of model representation of the reservoir system.