An imitation stochastic model for lateral hydrocarbon migration

Abstract

Application of stochastic simulation to study of lateral migration of primary hydrocarbon pools near the roof of a collector is considered. It is shown that this approach can be used for point and interval estimations of oil accumulation in a trap and the formation of residual oil saturation.

Lateral migration of hydrocarbons as a possible mechanism of origin of their power-law distribution by mass

“…1. As in (Livshits, 2014), it is assumed that fairly large oil globules have already formed in the reservoir and the stage of hydrocarbon generation involving lateral migration from the moment of formation of primary oil accumulations in the reservoir to their entrapment is considered.…”

“…For the point of location of the accumulation, random variables simulating the reservoir porosity, permeability, and dip angle are generated. Then, the rate of motion of the globule, its new position, and the magnitude of migration losses are determined (Livshits, 2014).…”

“…More details of the simulation model are described in (Livshits, 2014;Livshits and Sharnin, 2011). Multiple repeating of this process for the same input parameters and various random fluctuations provides a set of realizations that simulate the dynamics of the migration process, and the desired characteristics and their fluctuations are statistically evaluated from this set of realizations.…”

“…In a subsequent paper (Livshits, 2014), the simulation model was refined by defining the pore fluid as a realization of a random field and determining the rate of migration of globules according to Darcy's law. However, this study focused on the effects of porosity and permeability on the time dependences of the mass of oil accumulated in traps, migration losses, and the interval estimates of these quantities.…”