About 45 GoCad geological modeling users attended Earth Decision Sciences (EDS) EU user group. GoCad novelties include ‘YACS’ (Yet Another Channel Simulator) offering ‘revolutionary’ simulation of fluviatile environments, enhanced tools for up and downscaling of gridded models, more seismic interpretation functionality and a new cartographic display. More development too, on the statistical front – with the release of ‘ALEA’, the first in a trilogy of uncertainty assessment tools from EDS. EDS is also moving into production data analysis, offering closer integration with reservoir simulators.
Multi-scale models
CGG presented an interesting GoCad plug-in which allowed for multi-scale, multi unit representations of the earth to be stored in a single model. CGG’s technique allows for a high resolution geological model to co-exist with a seismic model in time and a coarser fluid flow model. CGG’s Stratigraphic Inversion (SI) Model ‘nests’ different scales in a single model and provides fast upscaling and downscaling to assure internal consistency at all scales. The software can also manage multiple time-depth mappings for different vintages of 4D and 4C seismics.
Total’s Data Analyzer
Total has developed a Data Analyzer plug-in for GoCad to add ‘missing’ statistical functionality. The Data Analyzer offers univariate and bivariate model fitting, data storage and manipulation and an ‘easy to use’ variogram tool. Stratigraphic objects and workflows are captured in XML. The software was developed by geostatistical specialist Arben Shtuka, of Shtuka Consulting.
Roadmap
GoCad’s roadmap includes grid math scripting and seismic filtering to enhance autopicking. Future releases will offer YACS—‘Yet Another Channel Simulator,’ and workflows for property modeling with histogram and cross-plots. The ‘InGrid’ project promises structured and unstructured gridding and 3D layer modeling. IT R&D targets infrastructure—clusters, parallel processors and archival.
Real world use
User presentations included BP’s 30 million cell velocity model of the South Caspian and Total’s complex and rapid depth conversion of the NE Bab field, Abu Dhabi.
This article was taken from an illustrated report in The Data Room’s Technology Watch series. More from tw@oilit.com.
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