Modelling of conductive faults with a multiscale approach

Abstract

Some of the most productive oil and gas reservoirs are found in formations crossed by multiscale fractures/faults. Among them, conductive faults may closely control reservoir performance. However, their modelling encounters numerical and physical difficulties linked with: - the necessity to keep an explicit representation of faults through small-size gridblocks; - the modelling of multiphase flow exchanges between the fault and the neighbouring medium. In the present work, a physically representative and numerically efficient modelling approach is proposed to incorporate subvertical conductive faults in single- and dual-porosity simulators. To validate our approach and demonstrate its efficiency, simulation results of multiphase displacements in representative field sector models are presented. © 2004, Institut français du pétrole.