ErSE Seminar: Fractured Reservoirs – Data, Models, Limitations and Uncertainties by Professor Sebastian Geiger, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburg, UK

​Abstract: Naturally fractured reservoirs are ubiquitous in the subsurface and, in the form of hydrocarbons and geothermal heat, they contain the bulk of the planet's conventional energy that will provide the base load of our energy supply for decades to come. Characterising, modelling, and simulating naturally fractured reservoirs remains a major challenge for the energy industry: Subsurface data on fractures are sparse, fracture networks are multi-scale in nature, fracture apertures are difficult to constrain, and there are generally major uncertainties when characterising fracture properties. Fractures are also difficult to incorporate in conventional reservoir modelling and simulation workflows. This challenge is exacerbated by the fact that many of the key concepts to represent fractures in reservoir simulation models are decades old; indeed, it is frequently acknowledged that these concepts have major limitations. Yet, our limitations to reliably quantify the impact of fractures on reservoir flow processes greatly impacts our ability to harness vital energy resources more effectively.

This presentation will introduce some new and innovative concepts for modelling multi-phase flow processes in naturally fractured formations. Robust quantitative methods now allow us to develop a better understanding when fractures can be upscaled and represented by effective properties or when they need to be represented as explicit features in the reservoir model. Fast screening methods based on flow diagnostics enable us to quickly estimate how different fracture properties could impact reservoir performance, which allows us to select reservoir models that appropriately represent geological uncertainties and need to be studied further using detailed reservoir simulation. These reservoir simulation models can now employ novel concepts to represent the first-order physics for fluid exchange between fracture and matrix. Through a series of example applications, we will demonstrate how our perception of reservoir performance will change when these new modelling approaches are used.

Bio: I joined the Institute of Petroleum Engineering (IPE) in 2006 as a lecturer. I was promoted to senior lecturer in 2009 and as full professor in 2010. In 2017 I became the Director of IPE. Before joining IPE, I was a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich from 2004 to 2006.

I obtained my PhD degree in computational geosciences from the ETH Zurich in 2004 and hold an MSc degree in geosciences from Oregon State University. I was a visiting researcher at Aramco Services Company in Houston in 2015, at the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College in 2006, and was a visiting fellow at the Department of Mathematics at Australia National University in 2001.

I am a member of the technical committe for the Oil and Gas Geoscience Division of the European Association of Geoscientists and  Engineers (EAGE) as well as a founding member of EAGE's Reserves Committee. I am a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE), for which I have chaired panel discussions (e.g. 2013 RSCS or 2014 ADIPEC) and serve on technical conference committees (e.g. 2016 ATCE, 2011 and 2013 RSCS, 2017 RSC).

In the past, I was an elected council member and chair of the awards committee for the Interpore Society, for which I received the Interpore Rosette for outstanding contributions to the society. I am also a regular member of the  American Geophysical Union (AGU), Geological Society of America (GSA) and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG). I co-convened the 2012 joint AAPG-SPE-SEG Hedberg Research Conference on Fundamental Controls of Flow in Carbonates in France.

I have provided consultancy to the energy industry on some major technical issues, for example on the links between gas production and subsidence in the Wadden region, Netherlands. I also teach regularly CPD courses to the energy industry, for example at ENI Corporate University on applied reservoir simulation.

 

Event Quick Information

Date
18 Apr, 2018
Time
04:15 PM - 05:15 PM