Abstract
Reservoir engineering tools applied in development planning or operations support ranges from material balance calculations to simulation studies. The results from a full 3D complex reservoir simulation study comprise a large amount of data. To better appreciate the result of the calculations, simulation packages make use of various visualization tools such as 2D plots or 3D displays. Properties such as water cut and sweep arrays can be visualized with the 2D or 3D displays respectively. These plots enable an understanding of the result of a reservoir simulation run. In some cases the results are easy to understand and appreciate, for example increasing well count you may likely recover more oil. In some other cases surprises may be resolved by investigating the underlying principles of fluid flow through the grid blocks. Because of the complexity of some reservoir models, a systematic approach may be necessary to understand what is going on in the system.
Developing these interpretation skills require hands-on assignment of reservoir simulation problems and coaching by more experienced reservoir engineers. Some cases that give insight to strategies in understanding the simulation output and making good engineering decisions are discussed in this paper.
