Petrel TIPS&TRICKS from SCM

Knowledge Worth Sharing

TruncatedGaussianAlgorithm
Rocksthattransitionfromonefaciesorfaciesassociationtothenextinaspecificorderarecommon.Examples
include:
Glacialdeposition

From:SignificanceoftransitionbetweenTalchirFormationandKarharbariFormationinLowerGondwana
basinevolutionAstudyinWestBokaroCoalbasin,Jharkhand,India,byHNBhattacharya,Abhijit
Chakraborty,andBiplabBhattacharya,inJ.EarthSyst.Sci.114,No.3,June2005,pp.275286.

ProgradationalParasequencySets

From:USCSequenceStratigraphyWeb(http://strata.geol.sc.edu/logstacking.html)

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Reefs

BuildingmodelsthatreplicatethisorderlyfaciestransitionhasbeendifficultinPetrel.Analgorithmcalled
TruncatedGaussiansimulationallowstheseorderedtransitionstobemodeledeasily.Thediscussionbelow
demonstratestheuseofthisalgorithmontheAfricantrainingdatasetandondatarepresentingapinnaclereef.
TheauthorshaveusedTruncatedGaussiansimulationonacoupleprojectsandfounditsimplertousethanthe
TruncatedGaussianwithtrendsalgorigthm(availableinpreviousreleasesandstillavailable)andthatit
producedbetterresultsthantheotherforthatdata.Becauseofthelimitednumberofprojectstheyhave
workedusingthistool,theauthorsarenotexperts,butfeltatipsandtricksarticlewasimportanttomakeall
awareofthenewtool.

TruncatedGaussiansimulationTheAlgorithm
TruncatedGaussiansimulationisastochasticalgorithm.Thismeansthatitusesaseedand,iftheseedis
allowedtovary,willproduceadifferentresultuponreexecution.
Primaryinputinclude:

Faciesdataasapropertymodelupscaledfromafacieslog
Thefaciestobemodeled
Theorderthefaciesaretooccur(adjacencyinthemodel)
Onevariogram(usedforallfacies)
Theglobalfractionofeachfacies(tendstobedominatedbyTrendsiftheyareused)

Optionalinputdatainclude:

VerticalfaciesproportionsfromtheDataAnalysisprocess.
Trend(3D,2D,or1D)foreachfacies
Smoothingandwhetherdataarehonoredduringsmoothing

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Figure:ParametersavailableontheTruncatedGaussiansimulationdialog.

Thealgorithmbasicallymodelstheprobabilityofthefaciesinnormalscorespaceandthenconvertsthat
modeledprobabilitybacktoafaciescode.Althoughtheauthorsdontunderstandexactlyhowthealgoirthm
works,wehavebeenabletopickupenoughfromthedocumentationtoeffectivelyusethetool.Our
interpretationofthemodelingprocessgoessomethinglikethis(seefiguresbelow).GivenWells1and2and
threestacksofcellsinbetweenthem,theprogram:
1. Checkstheprobabilityofeachfaciesandbuildsacumulativeprobabilityfunctionthattotals100%(0
10=green,10.01to40=red,and40.01to100=yellow).Actuallynormalscorevaluesof0to1are
usedbutpercentsareusedinthisexample.
2. Assignstoeachfaciesthepercentatthecenterofitsportionoftheprobabilityfunctionandtheseare
thevaluesthatareusedtomodelthatfacies(5forgreen,25forred,and70foryellow).
3. Buildsacontinuousmodelfromtheinputdata(probablyusingSGS).
4. Convertsthemodeledprobabilityvaluesbacktofaciesspacebycomparingthevalueinthecellto
theprobabilityrangeandassigningtothatcellthefacieswhoseprobabilityrangeitlieswithin.

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Figure:Wellswithmidpointprobabilityvalues(displayedas%)thatarepassedtothemodelingprocess.Stacks
ofcells(,,andofwaybetweenwells)withcontinuousprobabilityvaluesmodeled(displayedas%).The
probabilityvaluesareconvertedtofacies(color)basedonwhichfaciesprobabilityrangeitsvaluefallsin.

Thisexampleisbasedononlyoneprobabilitynumberforeachfacies,thatis,notrendsorverticalproportions
wereused.Theprocessgetsmorecomplexastrendsetc.areaddedbutthegeneralapproachissimilar.

AfricanModel
TheAfricandataset,commonlyusedfortraining,showshowthealgorithmworks.Themodelisfirstbuiltusing
SequentialIndicatorsimulationandthenusingtheTruncatedGaussiansimulation.
Figure:ThesamedatamodeledwithSequentialIndicatorsimulation(left)andTruncatedGaussiansimulation
(right).Thevariogramsweremadeasalikeaspossible(sphericalleftandgaussianright).

Notethehaloofyellowfaciesaroundtheredfacies.TheorderthefacieswereinputtotheTruncatedGaussian
simulationalgorithmwasGrey,Yellow,andRedandthisistheorderthefacieshadtostayinwhenmodeled
becauseofhowthealgorithmworks.Becauseitisastochasticalgorithm,youwillstillgetanumberoffacies
bodiesthatareunsupportedbydatabutthedatawillbehonoredinallcases.

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Figure:parametersusedtobuildtheAfricanmodelwithTruncatedGaussiansimulation.

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Thelargerthenuggetthemorefuzzyistheboundarybetweenthefacies.
Figure:Modelbuiltwithnugget=.001(left)andnugget=.1(right).

PinnacleReef
InthepastithasoftenbeensaidthatPetrelisnotfriendlytomodelerstryingtobuildcarbonatemodels.Forthis
reason,wehavebuiltaPinnaclereefmodelsimilarinstyletopinnaclesseenintheMichiganBasin.Sincewe
didnthavedataforPinnaclereefswestudiedtheliteratureandmanufacturedourown.

StructuralFrameworkandtheMentalGeologicModel
Thehorizonsmodeledfromtopdownaresummarizedinthetablebelow.Belowarecrosssectionand3Dviews
showingthehorizongeometry,pinnacleform,andlayeringusedinthemodel.Normallythereis40%to60%
compactioninthecarbonates(littleornoneintheevaporates)whichcreatesadrapingeffectoverthe
pinnacles.Wedidnottakethetimetobuildthiscompactionformintothemodelasitwasnotthegoalofthis
study,althoughthedrapewouldhavecreatedamoreelegantandaccuratefaciesmodelatboundariesbetween
reefandevaporite.LayeringwasmadeproportionalintheA2CarbonateandLowerNiagaraandmadeto
followthetopintheotherzones.
Theshapeofthehorizons,thelayering,andtheapproachusedtomodelfacieswerealldictatedbyourmental
imageofhowthereefshouldlookandthedistributionoftherocksinthatmentalimage.Thementalmodel
usedtoguidethisworkwasderivedfromworkdonebyK.J.Mesolella,K.D.Robinson,L.M.McCormick,andA.R.
Ormiston,1974,CyclicdepositionofSiluriancarbonatesandevaporatesinMichiganbasin:AAPGBulletin,v.58,
P.3462.Modelnumber3fromthispublicationwasused(twoperiodsofgrowthseparatedbyevaporate
deposition.

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Figure:Section(left)throughthehorizonsmodeledforthePinnaclereefstudy.ReefisfoundintheNiagaraand
A1Carbonatezones.A3DviewofthetopNiagarawiththecrosssectioncuttingitisshownintherightview.

Figure:Sectionshowingthelayeringusedtoguidethecorrelationsineachzone.

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Table:Listofhorizonsmodeledanddescriptionofrocklyingbeloweachhorizon.

Horizon
A2Carbonate
A2Evaporite
A1Carbonate
A1Evaporite

Niagara

TopLowerNiagara

BaseLowerNiagara
(topClinton)

Zonerockdescription
Coarsegrained,densecarbonate,unfossiliferous.
Halitewithoccasionalthindolomitebedscappedby
fewfeetofdenseanhydrite
Densefinegrained,unfossiliferous,argillaceous,
thinbeddedcarbonates.
Clear,coarselycrystallinehalitethinlyinterbedded
withanhydriteanddolomite,commonlycapped
withafootortwoofanhydrite.
Denseargillaceous,micriticcarbonate,rangingfrom
massivetandolomitetograymicriticcrinoidal
limestonetolightgraynodularlimestone.
SameastheNiagarabutwithouthavinganyreef
development(zoneaddedtoseparatethelower
nonreefNiagarafromtheupperreefbearing
Niagara.
Baseofmodelsonorocksmodeledbeneath.

FaciesModeling
Thefaciesmodeledarelistedinthefigurebelow.Notallfacieswerefoundineachzone.Infactitwasnecessary
tomodeleachzoneseparatelysothatfaciesfromonezonewouldnotblurintoazonetheydidnotbelongin.
OneofthemostimportantaspectsofusingtheTruncatedGaussiansimulationalgorithmistousehorizonsor
someothermeanstorestrictthemodelingareastohavejustthosefaciesthatmatchthestyle(adjacencyorder)
ofthealgorithm.TheWellsectionbelowshowsthefaciesdistributionineachwellandzone.Basedonthe
distributionandrelationshipofthefacies,thefollowingalgorithmswereusedtomodeleachzone:
A2Carbonate
A2Evaporite
A1Carbonate
A1Evaporite
Niagara
LowerNiagara

TruncatedGaussiansimulation(limestoneanddolomite)
SequentialIndicatorsimulation(saltandanhydrite)
TruncatedGaussiansimulation(reefandcarbonate)
SequentialIndicatorsimulation(saltandanhydrite)
TruncatedGaussiansimulation(reefandcarbonate)
Assignvalue(Interreefmud)

TheA2CarbonatecouldhavebeenmodeledwitheitherSequentialIndicatororTruncatedGaussianequally
wellastherewereonlytwofaciesinthezone.

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Figure:LinecutbytheWellsectionthroughthewells(topleft),listoftheFaciesthatarebeingmodeled(top
right),andtheWellsectionwithfacieslogdisplayed(bottom).

DataAnalysisverticalproportionswereusedonallzonestoassistindistributingtherock.2DTrendgridswere
usedtoforcefaciestobepositionedlaterallywithrespecttothereefintheproperpercents.Thesetrendswere
madetorangeinvaluefrom0to1.0.Althoughthetrendsshouldsumto1.0,noeffortwasmadetoforcethis
(someplacestheysummedto.5,someplacesto1.0otherplacesto1.5).Whenaparticularfacieswasnt
positionedcorrectly,itstrendwasadjustedtoincreaseordecreaseitsproportioninthatarea.Theauthorshave
foundthattrendsaretheprimarytoolforpositioningtherockandcreatingthedesiredgeologiceffectwhen
workingwiththisalgorithm.Inmostcases,2DGridsworkfinebutinsomecases,speciallybuilt3DGridsare
neededtocreatethedesiredeffect.
Becausethewellswerepreferentiallydrilledintothereefthepercentofeachfaciesinazonedidnotmatchthe
modeledpercent.Thiswasexpected1)becausethemodelcoveredbothreefandnonreefareas,2)vertical
proportionswereusedwhichsometimesforcethedistributionstovaryabitfromthewells,and3)trendswere
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usedwhichdramaticallyimpactthepercentofeachfacies.Needlesstosay,themodelwasworkeduntilits
geologicfeatures(faciesdistributions)lookedacceptable,andmatchedthementalimageofthegeology.
Figure:DataAnalysisdialogforthetworeefzones(remember,layeringissettofollowtop).

Figure:TrendsusedtomodeltheA1Carbonate(toprow):ReefRock,ReefTalus,Dolomite,Limestoneand
Niagara(bottomrow):ReefRock,ReefTalus,andInterreefMud.

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Figure:FaciesmodelingparametersusedtomodeltheA1Carbonate.

Figure:Jindexsectionwitha1:1verticalexaggerationshowingthefinalfaciesmodel.

Figure:Iindexsection(topleft,5:1),Jindexsection(topright,5:1),Kindex(bottomleft,throughA1
Carbonate),and3Dviewofreefrockandtalus(bottomright5:1),allshowingthefinishedmodel.

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Experiments
Someexperimentsweremadetoseewhattheeffectwouldbeiftrendswerenotused,iftheSequential
Indicatorsimulationalgorithmwasusedwiththesametrends,andifthereefsandtheintermediateevaporate
wereallmodeledasonezone.Thefiguresbelowshowthesescenarioscomparedtothebestcasemodel.It
wasfoundthatforthisdata,SISandTGScouldbothbeusedtoproduceacceptableresultsbutthatthetrends
weremorerigorouslyfollowedwithTGS.
Figure:ModelsbuiltwithTruncatedGaussiansimulation:withouttrends(left)andwithtrends(right).

Figure:Modelsbuiltwithtrends:SequentialIndicatorsimulation(left)andTruncatedGaussiansimulation
(right).TrendstendtobehonoredmorerigorouslywithTruncatedGaussiansimulationbutbothproduce
acceptableformswiththisdata.

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