Integrating 4D seismic, reservoir simulation and structure models with production, temporal completions, interpreted top picks and well logs in a software application like CoViz 4D greatly improves hydrocarbon asset understanding and development, and enables better insights and decision making.
Integrated asset modeling covers the spectrum of reservoir development and ongoing operations activities. It can focus on optimization of daily production in a single well or be as expansive as making strategic portfolio management decisions. The wealth of data acquired or generated throughout a field’s lifecycle and use of multiple software tools facilitate a detailed understanding of hydrocarbon assets, careful monitoring of operations, and better overall modeling and management of resources.
Limitations of Discipline-Specific Asset Models
With respect to understanding reservoir characteristics and planning for optimized production, each of these data describes only a portion or single aspect of a reservoir:
- geologic models depict subsurface structures, lithography, faults, and potential pay zones
- well logs provide additional information regarding porosity, permeability, and horizons
- simulation models help estimate ultimate recovery and predict reservoir performance
- wellbore locations and completion strategies focus on minimizing costs and risk while optimizing recovery
Integrated Asset Modeling Requires Shared Access to Data
1. Greater Accuracy in Simulation Models
2. Integrated View of Subsurface Data Identifies Conditions Affecting Production
Visualization of fluid production (near real-time, as well as cumulative), injection volumes, pressure data, and decline curves in the context of geologic and property models, can quickly identify sources of unexpected changes that affect production such as:
- opens in a new windowgeomechanical changes in structure that impede fluid flow or petrophysical properties that improve flow to pay zones
- fines (sand, silt, clay) migration in the completion zones affecting production flows
- incursion of nearby wells confirmed by tracers
- gradual or sudden production declines that indicate mechanical problems associated with production assets, e.g., casing, valves, pumps
3. Visualize Production Over Time to Identify Opportunities
Engineers responsible for each of the areas are finding that integrated asset modeling facilitates a holistic reservoir management approach that leads to a better understanding of resources and better-informed decisions.
Integrated Asset Modeling Facilitates Better Decisions
The integrated asset modeling approach eliminates compartmentalized analysis of hydrocarbon resources. Software products such as CoViz 4D that facilitate sharing of data among individual disciplines enable significantly more efficient decision making, based on a more detailed understanding of evolving reservoir conditions. The ability to:
- easily integrate a wide range of geophysical, petrophysical, wellbore, and production data,
- apply algorithms and geostatistic formulas to better understand interrelationships among data, then
- quantitatively visualize and explore the integrated data over time facilitates an integrated asset modeling approach that promotes better interdisciplinary communication and decision-making to optimize production throughout all phases of a reservoir’s producing life.
CoViz 4D, a data visualization analytics software from Dynamic Graphics, Inc., allows all members of a reservoir management team to share data and models for a better understanding of evolving reservoir conditions. With powerful visualization and analytic capabilities teams can explore data relationships, calculate and show inferred data, and analyze how data changes over time, allowing teams to collaboratively make production decisions positively impact profit and reduce operational risk. To learn more about CoViz 4D contact our team.