Permeability updating of the simulation model using 4D seismic data

In this paper we present a practical methodology for updating the reservoir simulation model by incorporating permeability derived directly from time-lapse seismic data. The proposed method builds new permeability distributions by integrating the prior 3D simulation model with 2D permeability maps from the time-lapse seismic results. Application of this approach to a West of the Shetland Isles turbidite field under waterflood shows that the misfit to the water cut data can be improved. The updates using this procedure appear to provide a good alternative to those obtained using a conventional gradient based history matching tool on its own. The main advantage of our methodology is the ease of implementation but also that the largely uncertain petroelastic model can be avoided when history matching to the time-lapse seismic data. Copyright 2009, Society of Petroleum Engineers.