Reservoir Characterization from Seismic and Well Control with Intelligent Computing Software

Mark A. Sippel, Luff Exploration Company, 1580 Lincoln Street, Suite 850, Denver, CO 80203, phone: 303-864-9734, msippel@ix.netcom.com

The Intelligent Computing System (ICS) is a set of tools for reservoir characterization from 3D or 2D seismic data and conventional well information. The software uses clustering, artificial neural networks and classical regression methods to combine seismic, geologic and engineering data for predictions of reservoir potential. The software tools have been written by Luff Exploration Company, a Denver-based independent operator, under a cooperative project with the National Petroleum Technology Office of the U.S. Department of Energy, The project team is applying these tools for analysis of carbonate reservoirs in the Red River Formation (Williston Basin). However, the software should be applicable in any reservoir setting that yields seismic attribute variation (ie: amplitude, frequency, etc.) with reservoir changes of porosity, thickness and fluid saturation. The software is available without cost and will run on modern personal computers with Windows operating systems. The tools are used to transform seismic attributes to reservoir characteristics such as thickness, porosity, permeability, and entrapment pressure. Data from wells are used as training control to transform the seismic attributes to conventional reservoir attributes. Lastly, the seismic-transformed reservoir characteristics are combined with production data through a neural network solver to describe oil-water contacts, oil-cut and producibility. Luff Exploration Company is using these tools to quantify reservoir parameters for forming waterflood units, targeting drilling locations and orientation of horizontal drill holes. Output from the software is also used for construction of computer reservoir simulation models.

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