Evaluation of The Seismic Time-Lapse Acquisition Period In Reservoir Monitoring

Abstract

Time-lapse seismic is an important tool for reservoir management, assisting in the mapping of flooded areas, injection fronts and faults identification. This technology enables a better understanding of the geological model and the fluid flow and is another data source for reservoir management. Several published cases report the successful use of this technology in reservoir management to increase production efficiency; however, in order to gain commercial advantage, it is necessary to identify the moment at which to start the seismic monitoring project. This moment cannot be too early, because the seismic may not be able to identify variations in the reservoir dynamic properties and it cannot be too late because major changes may not be detected and it can be too late for effective action in field management. However, the quantitative assessment of the 4D seismic value is based on simulation models, used to predict the production, with and without seismic acquisition, and there are many uncertainties in the forecasting process in the field development phase. Therefore, in order to ascertain the period of 4D seismic acquisition that allows for an increase in production efficiency and reduces field uncertainties, a study was done to show the effect of 4D seismic at different production times for a simple synthetic case aiming to illustrate the concept of 4D seismic evaluation. Synthetic seismic data were generated from a reference model for several production times and performed the history matching of the simulation model (base model) with production and 4D seismic data.