Methods and Applications in Reservoir Geophysics

The challenges facing the industry in the early 1990s required that fields be brought on stream more quickly and that recovery be maximized. The concepts of reservoir management focused on reducing development and operating costs in addition to maximizing reserves and optimizing recovery. Reservoir Geophysics arrived on the scene when geophysical technology, which historically had been limited to exploration, was becoming part of that reservoir-management equation — finding reserves that otherwise might not have been developed and lowering costs by minimizing dry holes and poor producers. In addition, the book was published at a time when the industry and the petroleum upstream technical disciplines were beginning to appreciate the value of integration.

Reservoir geophysics, an emerging application in 1992, is now mainstream. The SEG Development and Production Committee once had to solicit papers on reservoir geophysics for the SEG annual meeting, but at the 2007 annual meeting in San Antonio, more than 30% of the technical sessions focused on reservoir applications.

As a result, the objective of Methods and Applications in Reservoir Geophysics is not simply to demonstrate the value of geophysics in reservoir management but also to provide guidance on how to apply geophysical technologies in reservoir studies more effectively. Although we hope reservoir engineers will find this book useful, the audience is meant to be geophysicists. Thus, the case studies chosen for this volume focus on the processes, methods, and techniques used in reservoir geophysics, not just the results.