Reservoir monitoring: A multi-disciplinary feasibility study

Biondo Biondi, David Lumley, Gary Mavko, Tapan Mukerji, James Rickett
Geophysics Department
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Clayton Deutsch, Runar Gundesø, and Marco Thiele
Petroleum Engineering Department

ABSTRACT

Monitoring reservoir changes with time-lapse seismic holds the promise to significantly improve reservoir characterization and reservoir management. To relate time-dependent changes in seismic to the underlying geological description and flow processes requires input from a number of disciplines: (1) geological modeling/geostatistics, (2) flow simulation, (3) rock physics, and (4) seismic imaging. This paper documents the start of a project that brings these disciplines together. In this initial model study we have considered the forward problem, i.e., create a detailed geological truth model, perform flow simulation, relate the dynamic rock properties to seismic properties, and, finally, image the reservoir at multiple times. We document this forward modeling exercise on a single geological relization and discuss opportunities for future work.