Use of Emulator to estimate the best time to acquire 4D seismic data

• Grant number: 13/02250-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Doctorate
• Start date: April 29, 2013
• End date: July 28, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Probability and Statistics - Applied Probability and Statistics
• Principal Investigator: Denis José Schiozer
• Grantee: Carla Janaina Ferreira
• Supervisor: Michael Goldstein
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica (FEM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Durham University (DU), England
• Associated to the scholarship: 10/12162-7 - Methodology to Estimate the Chance of Success of a 4D Seismic Project from the Reservoir Engineering Perspective, BP.DR

Abstract

4D seismic provides unique information regarding the properties of the reservoir between and beyond the wells; it can be used to locate bypassed oil, to identify not drained compartments or to mitigate risks such as an unexpectedly early breakthrough of injected fluids. The integration of geophysics and engineering information increase the predictive capability of reservoir simulations, and hence has positive impacts on field management. The estimation of the best time to acquire seismic data has a major impact on reservoir management since, depending on the acquisition period, seismic may not be able to identify important variations in the reservoir dynamic properties, important changes may no longer be detected, well history matching can be able to identify properties, and it can be too late for effective action in field management. The challenge is to estimate the best time based on the field uncertainties at each of the field production stage. The best time is related to the value derived from 4DS information and it might comprise: (1) meaningful changes detected by seismic survey; (2) impact on field management decision making; and (3) improvement of the reservoir model and fluid flow understanding.To consider all the scenarios generated from the field uncertainties in the estimation of the best time, a reliable statistical procedure must be used. Based on this need, a scholarship is being requested to perform the statistical research at the Department of Mathematical Sciences in Durham University. (AU)