A hierarchical organization of heterogeneity in sedimentary systems has long been noted and this concept was explicitly built into Shell’s proprietary reservoir modeling system in the early 1990’s. The approach nested progressively finer levels of detail within parent objects and provided a mixed deterministic and stochastic technique for achieving realistic reservoir architectures at multiple levels in the hierarchy of heterogeneity. By 1999, the concept of hierarchical static modelling had been extended to basin-scale, as a means to promote consistency between local and regional data, interpretations, and models. Tangible business benefits were demonstrated for both exploration and appraisal decision making...