Quantitative evaluation of reservoir fault communication using 4D seismic - An application to the heidrun field

In compartmentalized reservoir settings, it is known that fault seal properties control the fluid flow and pressure development, and strongly affect reservoir management decisions in terms of the chosen drainage strategy for field production. Fault transmissibilities inserted into the simulation model to represent the behaviour of faults are based on geological understanding and are uncertain because of the sparse nature of well data used in their estimation. Here, 4D seismic data is used to supplement and more fully resolve the spatial distribution of the fault properties. To achieve this task, inter-compartment amplitude contrast and statistics of spatial variability for the 4D signatures are considered. These 4D measures are then calibrated at the wells to the geology based estimates of fault permeability. Application of this technique to the Heidrun field provides an adjustment of the inter-compartment transmissibility factors in the simulation model. Predictions using this updated flow simulator model appear encouraging.