But it must also be true that geostatistical block assignments give fairly realistic heterogeneity to the simulation model. Other work has shown that geostatistics is flexible enough to account for geologic factors not present in the original data set. Fluid Flow Insights. Possibly the oldest conundrum in oil production is why so little of the oil comes out. Even after fairly heroic efforts and many years of production most reservoirs retain more than 60 percent of the oil originally in them.
Geostatistical simulation provides a very plausible explanation.
Many of the efforts for recovering oil consist of injecting a fluid, usually water or natural gas, into a reservoir to displace the oil to production wells. Geostatistical simulations done at The University of Texas show that this rarely happens. It is far more common for the displacing fluid to bypass or channel through the oil. This type of behavior is noticed in field performance, but it is usually attributed to atypical behavior. Geostatistics shows channeling is the rule, not the exception in reservoir performance.