Applications of visualization in the Britannia Field, UK North Sea

Abstract

Britannia is a large gas-condensate field located 140 miles NE of Aberdeen. The introduction of new tools and workflows has enabled the subsurface team on Britannia Field to increase their understanding of a complex turbidite reservoir whilst continually planning and drilling wells. In 2002, reprocessing of the existing 3D seismic data was completed, giving much improved data quality and a number of new data volumes for interpretation. These and further attribute volumes for reservoir prediction have increased the need for 3D visualization and volume interpretation. Revised, field–wide, top and near-base reservoir picks were made in two stages. 3D volume interpretation techniques were first used to rapidly pick events in good data areas. Then difficult areas were picked and final editing completed using sections and random lines (ribbons). These surfaces were used as the framework for a rebuild of the static geological field model. Fault picking and quality control of structural interpretation has been made easier providing a much improved understanding of faulting in the Britannia field. The new tools and techniques have enabled more of the overburden to be interpreted, giving a fuller understanding of the whole geological story. Flexible well planning is a significant advantage, and visualization tools have helped considerably in well design, especially with contingency planning and communication to management and partners. A number of examples are shown. Britannia is a complex heterogenous turbidite reservoir, and visualization techniques allow greater integration of the seismic with geological models. Flattening and visualization of the results help to understand palaeobathymetry and potential sand distribution patterns. Various detailed cross sections, flattened on different events, build up a picture of sand infill history. Use of colour is particularly powerful here: detailed correlations between many wells can also be inspected more effectively. A number of different pieces of software have been used in the visualization process – no interpreter can become expert in all, but in the subsurface team enough expertise can be gained to significantly impact workflows and productivity. Supplementary material: The movies referred to in the article are available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.4812942