Training image analysis for three-dimensional reconstruction of porous media

In order to obtain a better sandstone three-dimensional （3D） reconstruction result which is more similar to the original sample, an algorithm based on stationarity for a two-dimensional （2D） training image is proposed. The second-order statistics based on texture features are analyzed to evaluate the scale stationarity of the training image. The multiple-point statistics of the training image are applied to obtain the multiple-point statistics stationarity estimation by the multi-point density function. The results show that the reconstructed 3D structures are closer to reality when the training image has better scale stationarity and multiple-point statistics stationarity by the indications of local percolation probability and two-point probability. Moreover, training images with higher multiple-point statistics stationarity and lower scale stationarity are likely to obtain closer results to the real 3D structure, and vice versa. Thus, stationarity analysis of the training image has far-reaching significance in choosing a better 2D thin section image for the 3D reconstruction of porous media. Especially, high-order statistics perform better than low-order statistics.

Iterative static modeling of channelized reservoirs using history-matched facies probability data and rejection of training image

Most inverse reservoir modeling techniques require many forward simulations, and the posterior models cannot preserve geological features of prior models. This study proposes an iterative static modeling approach that utilizes dynamic data for rejecting an unsuitable training image(TI) among a set of TI candidates and for synthesizing history-matched pseudo-soft data. The proposed method is applied to two cases of channelized reservoirs, which have uncertainty in channel geometry such as direction, amplitude, and width. Distance-based clustering is applied to the initial models in total to select the qualified models efficiently. The mean of the qualified models is employed as a history-matched facies probability map in the next iteration of static models. Also, the most plausible TI is determined among TI candidates by rejecting other TIs during the iteration. The posterior models of the proposed method outperform updated models of ensemble Kalman filter(EnKF) and ensemble smoother(ES) because they describe the true facies connectivity with bimodal distribution and predict oil and water production with a reasonable range of uncertainty. In terms of simulation time, it requires 30 times of forward simulation in history matching, while the EnKF and ES need 9000 times and 200 times, respectively.

Reservoir lithology stochastic simulation based on Markov random fields

Markov random fields(MRF) have potential for predicting and simulating petroleum reservoir facies more accurately from sample data such as logging, core data and seismic data because they can incorporate interclass relationships. While, many relative studies were based on Markov chain, not MRF, and using Markov chain model for 3D reservoir stochastic simulation has always been the difficulty in reservoir stochastic simulation. MRF was proposed to simulate type variables(for example lithofacies) in this work. Firstly, a Gibbs distribution was proposed to characterize reservoir heterogeneity for building 3-D(three-dimensional) MRF. Secondly, maximum likelihood approaches of model parameters on well data and training image were considered. Compared with the simulation results of MC(Markov chain), the MRF can better reflect the spatial distribution characteristics of sand body.