APPLYING GEOSTATISTICAL ANALYSIS TO EVALUATE PRODUCTION TRENDS IN THE PERMIAN BASIN

Due to the amount of data and its geologic complexity, maps showing the distribution of production in the Permian Basin require integrating data to understand and display its geologic and production history. This presentation demonstrates how production across an entire basin can be related to specific geologic horizons through quantifying existing data using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The Permian Basin contains geologic zones that can be more than 3,000 feet thick, often with multiple productive horizons. Traditionally, areas have been investigated through time-consuming evaluation of individual well log data. After decades of drilling, exploration, and production, the Permian provides an abundance of data on petroleum production, stratigraphy, structures, and engineering attributes to evaluate. Without the help of GIS, the process of interdisciplinary analysis would take years to analyze the 500,000 plus wells in the basin.

Using interpreted data from geologists, GIS can extend their classifications by utilizing interpreted and raw well logs to perform geostatistical interpolation across the basin. This process drastically reduces evaluation time through streamlined assessment of thousands of wells. Evaluation of the producing horizons, in addition to the geologic, petrophysical, and engineering properties will identify trends related to petroleum production and further our understanding of the relationship between variables that allow for a play to be successful. Examining the data in an integrated environment will allow for classification of trends that may otherwise be unidentified. The data density in the Permian Basin offers an opportunity to validate our methodology, which can then be applied to other basins.