Detailed reservoir characterisation and modelling has been an active area of petroleum technology development for several years now, but incorporating and scaling up these geologic models into fluid flow and production simulations is a major challenge. The objective of this study is to properly incorporate all relevant levels geological heterogeneity identified in a detailed outcrop reservoir description into a flow simulation of an hypothetical reservoir. We apply the "geopseudo" upscaling methodology to the geological description of a shallow marine sequence exposed in the Book Cliffs. The study identifies which features are important for field-scale fluid flow and recovery for a waterflood.A cross section waterflood flow simulation, using the geopseudo upscaling technique, was carried out on an interpreted cross-sectional panel through a portion of the Book Cliffs outcrop in Utah. The section consists of the following lithofacies: Undifferentiated Upper Shoreface deposits, Hummocky Cross Stratified sands, the Swaley Cross Stratified sands, Fluvio-Tidal Channel Sandstones and two units of Heterolithics. A grid block size of 10 metres by 1 metre was used, with two stages of upscaling to account for the effects of small-scale heterogeneities. The thin beds of shales were accounted for using vertical and horizontal transmissibility multipliers between grid blocks. Sensitivity runs were carried out to assess the relative contribution of different geological parameters to the waterflood performance.

SPE Members Abstract Detailed reservoir characterisation and modelling has been an active area of petroleum technology development for several years now, but incorporating and scaling up these geologic models into fluid flow and production simulations is a major challenge. The objective of this study is to properly incorporate all relevant levels geological heterogeneity identified in a detailed outcrop reservoir description into a flow simulation of an hypothetical reservoir. We apply the "geopseudo" upscaling methodology to the geological description of a shallow marine sequence exposed in the Book Cliffs. The study identifies which features are important for field-scale fluid flow and recovery for a waterflood. A cross section waterflood flow simulation, using the geopseudo upscaling technique, was carried out on an interpreted cross-sectional panel through a portion of the Book Cliffs outcrop in Utah. The section consists of the following lithofacies: Undifferentiated Upper Shoreface deposits, Hummocky Cross Stratified sands, the Swaley Cross Stratified sands, Fluvio-Tidal Channel Sandstones and two units of Heterolithics. A grid block size of 10 metres by 1 metre was used, with two stages of upscaling to account for the effects of small-scale heterogeneities. The thin beds of shales were accounted for using vertical and horizontal transmissibility multipliers between grid blocks. Sensitivity runs were carried out to assess the relative contribution of different geological parameters to the waterflood performance. Introduction The geopseudo method is an approach to multiphase fluid flow upscaling which attempts to incorporate successive scales of geological heterogeneity into effective flow functions, The scales used in this upscaling methods are based on the inherent geological hierarchy in sedimentary and sequence stratigraphic systems (lamina, laminaset, bed, bedset, parasequence, etc.). Pseudofunctions are generated at each scale (e.g. laminaset pseudos) and are then incorporated into models at the next scale (e.g. bedform pseudos), and so on, until the full-field model is reached. In this manner, the effects of small scale sedimentary structure may be systematically incorporated into the "pseudo" flow functions (the geopseudos) for the grid blocks in the full-field model. The effects of numerical dispersion and grid block size are also taken into account and corrected for in this method. The lack of petrophysical and geological data for assigning to 3D oil field models is a familiar problem, so that geological inference and geostatistical approaches are required to fill the model volume. Understanding which features and parameters have the greatest influence on, say. a waterflood of an oilfield is critical to this process, and is a vital stage for correctly modelling and predicting reservoir performance. We show here just how a detailed reservoir outcrop analogue can be used to assess the influence of geological heterogeneities on a field-scale waterflood model, using this geopseudo method. The objective of the study is to identify which features in the rock section affect waterflood performance for a typical waterflood, taking proper account of capillary, gravity and viscous forces. We have modelled a 45 metre thick and 1370 metre long cross-section (comprising two parasequences and one incised valley fill unit), and have, as yet, ignored possible effects of the third dimension. Geological Background Geological and petrophysical data were collected from the Cretaceous Blackhawk Formation, where it forms part of the extensive outcrop of the Book Cliffs of eastern Utah (Figure 1). This wave dominated succession forms a potential analogue for many Western Interior Basin and North Sea Brent Province reservoirs. The Blackhawk Formation developed during the eastward progradation of a broad alluvial plain into the Western Interior Basin during the Late Cretaceous. P. 845