Uncertainties in Facies Proportion Estimation II: Application to Geostatistical Simulation of Facies and Assessment of Volumetric Uncertainties

Geostatistical simulations of lithotypes or facies are commonly used to create a geological model and to describe the heterogeneities of petroleum reservoirs. However, it is difficult to handle such models in the framework of multiple realizations to assess the uncertainty of hydrocarbon in place. Indeed, the hydrocarbon in place is correlated with the facies proportions, which are themselves uncertain. The uncertainty model of facies proportions is not easy to describe because of closure relationships. A previous attempt was made with a nonparametric approach using the resampling technique. It has been successful in a stationary case but it is difficult to extend it to nonstationary cases. In this paper, we have applied the vectorial beta parametric model or Dirichlet model. It has provided much more realistic uncertainties on volumetrics in very different geological and geostatistical contexts.