2019 Volume 84 Issue 1 Pages 59-70
Exploration of siliciclastic deep-water frontier areas, but also lacustrine and shallow-water carbonate systems such as the pre-salt Aptian coquinas, are back to the present. These exploratory plays have yielded large petroleum discoveries along the South Atlantic margins but are still in their infancy. Accurate sedimentary facies models are mandatory to reduce exploration and development risks, but sedimentary systems are usually poorly imaged with seismic data in such frontier areas. Thanks to the seismic and wireline data acquired over the last decades, and to the recent development of big data management technologies, it is now possible to propose high-tech solutions to create an image of the subsurface geology. However, despite their reservoir scale increasing potentialities, these approaches are not yet fully applicable to assess plays in frontier areas where only few data are available. To address these exploration challenges, we propose an innovative integrated workflow using the advanced numerical stratigraphic forward Dionisos model. Modelling the dynamics of sedimentary systems at a regional scale by simulating sedimentary processes makes it possible to bridge the gap between geophysical interpretation, geological conceptual modelling and ?eld evaluation. Stratigraphic forward modelling is a numerical and process-based approach, which aims to simulate the evolution of a sedimentary basin or system in a sequence of time steps, from the past up to the present, taking into account basin deformation, sediment production, and sediment transport. This work?ow is applied to two case studies, a deep-water clastic turbiditic system and a shallow-water rudist-rich carbonate platform. This evidences that the potential of stratigraphic forward modelling to bridge the gap between seismic data, geological concepts and play fairway analysis. Furthermore, this workflow is not restricted to regional system analysis in preliminary exploration phases; it may be extended to field development and appraisal stages either in clastic, carbonate or mixed systems to better understand reservoir sedimentary heterogeneities.
