Hydrocarbon migration modeling through heterogeneous turbidite successions was carried out in the Iwafuneoki field, offshore Japan. The model, which uses 3D seismic data as an indicator of rock properties and employs the invasion percolation for simulation algorithm, enabled us to trace complicated migration pathways controlled by sand distribution patterns, sealing capacity of shale and hydrocarbon phase in pore spaces. It successfully predicted possible hydrocarbon distributions deductively, as well as reproducing known accumulations in much greater detail than conventional models do. It can therefore provide another practical measure to quantify the exploration risk of prospective locations, in addition to other inductive approaches like seismic attribute analyses.
