Abstract

Deep-water channel systems can host significant natural resources. Often, their architecture has been represented as a series of sinuous, intertwined channel fills stacked in a random manner and confined within a channel belt. However, high-resolution 3D seismic-reflection data suggest that deep-water channels migrate in a systematic manner through bend expansion and downstream translation processes, which can generate bendcutoff architectures. We build a suite of reservoir models using this concept, representing a range of deep-water channel system styles, including an example built deterministically from seismic-reflection data. Through placing an injector/producer pair and running the MATLAB Reservoir Simulation Toolbox flow diagnostic tool, we show how sweep during reservoir development timescales can be controlled by bend-cutoff architectures. This has the potential to lead to significantly different dynamic heterogeneity measures and sweep behavior compared with modeling approaches that do not account for systematic channel migration and bend-cutoff architectures. Bend cutoffs between a well pair increase the variability in tortuosity and potential flow path lengths, reflected in an increase in dynamic heterogeneity. Chute channels resulting from cutoffs can act as thief zones, causing early water breakthroughs. This could result in early well abandonment and bypassed resources. Though the sand bodies are connected in three dimensions, the interaction between reservoir architecture and well geometry controls the sweep behavior over development timescales.

Citation

P. D. Morris et al. (2025). The impact of reservoir architecture on dynamic connectivity in sinuous deep-water channel systems. Interpretation v. 13, p. T607-T628.

@article{morris_impact_2025,
	title = {The impact of reservoir architecture on dynamic connectivity in sinuous deep-water channel systems},
	volume = {13},
	issn = {2324-8858, 2324-8866},
	url = {https://library.seg.org/doi.10.1190/INT-2024-0127.1},
	doi = {10.1190/int-2024-0127.1},
	language = {en},
	number = {3},
	journal = {Interpretation},
	author = {Morris, Paul D. and Sylvester, Zoltán and Covault, Jacob A. and Mohrig, David and Jensen, Jerry L.},
	month = aug,
	year = {2025},
	pages = {T607--T628}
}