Adjoint Method Used in History Matching and Optimization Workflows - Phase 2: Revealing Hidden Reservoir Features not captured in Reservoir Simulation Models

The Adjoint Method is to be used to uncover reservoir properties not captured in conventional reservoir models. The user is thus given the opportunity to detect discrepancies in the model parameters and to adjust them if necessary. Porosity and permeability from borehole measurements and core data will be included in the reservoir model, as well as the reservoir geology. The aim is to develop a reservoir model that is consistent in terms of geology and reservoir technology. With an improved reservoir model, production, injection and EOR measures can be realistically predicted. An appropriately reliable reservoir simulation can make a decisive contribution to successful field development.

A secondary goal is the optimization of the "Adjoint Method" towards a lower need of computing power and time.

After the "Adjoint Method" delivered promising results for "Assisted History Matching" in the first phase of DGMK project 742, it is to be further developed beyond this application during phase 2 of the project and used in reservoir modelling and simulation. This field of application is not yet described in the literature for the mentioned method.

The project has been successfully implemented and is about to be published. Significant progress has been made in the software-supported detection of hidden structures in deposit models.

Awofodu D, Ganzer L, Almuallim H, Schellinger J. 2019. An Adjoint-based Method for Improving Reservoir Characterization during History Matching. Oil Gas European Magazine 3: OG126-OG135.

Awofodu DD, Ganzer L, Almuallim H. 2018. Revealing Hidden Reservoir Features During History Matching Using An Adjoint Method. ECMOR XVI - 16th European Conference on the Mathematics of Oil Recovery.

Awofodu DD, Ganzer L, Almuallim H. 2017. Enhancing Reservoir Understanding in Mature Fields: Adjoint-State Method Applied to a Semi-Synthetic Model. SPE Latin America and Caribbean Mature Fields Symposium (SPE-184951-MS).

Awofodu D, Ganzer L, Almuallim H. 2016. An Evaluation of Grid-block-based Optimization Methods Applied to History Matching Workflows. Oil Gas European Magazine 4: OG201-OG206.