Schemes for automatic history matching of reservoir modeling: A case of Nelson oilfield in UK

Abstract

Schemes for automatic history matching of reservoir modeling are studied for the Nelson oilfield in the Central North Sea. A complete workflow of automatic history matching involves selection of reservoir variables that require modification and parameter updating schemes, automatic history matching, data analysis, and combination of the best results to obtain an ensemble of best reservoir models. Automatic history matching of Nelson field is conducted using production and time-lapse seismic data, with global single-variable approach, regional multi-variable approach and local multi-variable approach as updating schemes, net to gross, horizontal and vertical permeability as updating parameters. It is revealed that local multi-variable approach can effectively improve history matched results by reducing the number of simulation models, saving computing time and increasing the simulation precision. Global single-variable approach is only a suitable parameter updating scheme for cases where the history matching parameters are independent. Regional multi-variable approach is suitable for the cases where there is strong dependency between properties chosen for updating, and there are wells very close together with strong interaction. Local multi-variable approach is very useful when the history matching parameters are dependent but each selected region for updating is independent of others. © 2012 Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development, PetroChina.