Predicting the Effects of Faults on Fluid Flow
Knipe, R.J., Q.J. Fisher, R.K. Davies, S.D.
Harris, S. Freeman, D.T. Needham, G. Jones, A. Li, P. Jones, Rock Deformation
Research Limited,
Predicting the fluid flow behaviour of
faults is often a critical component in the exploration, appraisal and
production of petroleum reservoirs. A multi-disciplinary approach to fault seal
has proved successful in recent years. The integrated approach involves; amalgamation
of detailed microstructural and petrophysical
property analysis of fault rocks, the characterisation
of the population and distribution of sub-seismic faults from well, core and
outcrop data, and an evaluation of the seismic scale fault array attributes.
This paper will review the progress and achievements of fault
seal
analysis.
Examples where successful application has been possible will be presented and
the important uncertainties that limit application of fault
seal
prediction
will be highlighted and used to identify the challenges for future work.
Reducing the uncertainty associated with fault zone behaviour prediction is achievable if the following are recognised:
Seismic resolution places important limitations on the characterisation the fault zone architectures needed for flow modelling.
Robust databases on fault zone architectures and fault rock properties are required.
Multi-phase flow properties of faults need to be considered in reservoir simulation.
New more flexible reservoir modelling packages are required, which can incorporate the more detailed and more realistic fault property data now available.
The
calibration and validation of fault analysis ‘tools’ is needed from
well-constrained situations so that misapplication is avoided.