How to Maximize smartSECTION’s Performance and Increase the Speed and Accuracy of your 3D Geologic Model and Interpretations

In the Petroleum Industry, sound geologic interpretations including accurate well-log correlations are paramount to the success of any prospect or horizontal well/geosteering project. How you interpret the well data is crucial to your success in hydrocarbon production, therefore it is important that you have the best interpretation, mapping and geomodeling tools available.

smartSECTION® is GeoGraphix’ cost effective 3D geomodeling and  well log correlation software that supports high volume geologic interpretation. smartSECTION is used by LMKR customers and allows them to do the following:

• Surface-based interpretation within a robust 3D geomodel
• Dynamic depth-converted seismic backdrop
• Deep structure forecasting with conformance mapping
• Fault gapping for structural analysis workflows
• Unconformity gapping to support sequence stratigraphic workflows
• Horizontal well correlation tools supports geosteering

Combining the industry’s best log correlation capabilities with advanced tools for 3D surface modeling, sequence stratigraphy, structural analysis, horizontal well correlation and geosteering, smartSECTION enhances interpretation productivity greatly.

One of the most frequently asked questions from smartSECTION users is the following:

How do we maximize performance and increase the speed and accuracy of our 3D geologic model and interpretations?

Before you build cross sections for correlation and geosteering wells in smartSECTION there are six basic steps you can take to maximize the efficiency of your smartSECTION interpretation workflow. These steps can significantly increase the speed of your interpretation, and are often overlooked by the new user. Performing these tasks at the onset of your interpretation can save you significant time and can also result in a more accurate geologic model.

The six steps to managing and increasing the speed of your smartSECTION interpretation workflow include:

1. Filter your well data set so that you are working with a workable number of wells for efficient correlation. It is best to work with hundreds rather than thousands of wells, and if working with smartSTRAT to plan a horizontal well, one can create an excellent 3D model with fewer than 10 wells. Filters of the desired well data can be created from your GeoAtlas maps, and accessed by going to        Edit > Interpretation Options in your main smartSECTION application window. Select the filter and click OK, and the number of wells used to generate the 3D geologic model will equal those in the filter. This results in a better-constrained contour map and increases the speed at which you can make and interpret cross sections.

2. Select and display only those GeoAtlas layers that are necessary to assist in your correlations. Re-drawing and updating unnecessary layers can take up valuable time.

3. Use only those sources that are pertinent to your work. Do not use a Public Source Manager list if it included tens of data sources that you do not consider important. It is best to go to Source Manager and create a user-defined source list that contains only the two or three sources of importance. This act alone can speed up your 3D model significantly. It also reduces the number of errant data points that can skew the accuracy of the 3D geologic model. Enter your source options in Source Manager and smartSECTION will automatically use the active Source Manager to determine the source of the picks. In addition, go to Edit > Saved Source, in the main smartSECTION application window and establish what source new picks should be assigned to.

4. Make sure the current stratigraphic column is in chronostratigraphic order. We suggest making a “User-Defined Stratigraphic Column” to avoid modeling formations that are not pertinent, and most importantly this enables you to quickly check if the formations are in accurate chronostratigraphic order. It also prevents others from altering the stratigraphic order of your Strat Column Manager.

5. When selecting the formation tops to be modeled in the GeoSurface Model Properties dialog box, only select and model those formation tops that are immediately relevant to your current correlation task. Turning on large numbers of formations take increasingly more and more computation power, so selecting only those tops that are relevant will greatly increase the speed of generating the 3D geologic model.

6. Finally, be sure to save all the above settings in a smartSECTION Interpretation, so that you can quickly enter your project and get to work with the knowledge that all your performance-enhancing tasks have already been completed! To do this, go to File > Save As Interpretation from the main smartSECTION menu.

In conclusion, performing the tasks outlined above is key to the success of using smartSECTION and efficiently interpreting your study area. Once these quick-to-accomplish tasks are taken care of, you can move on to the business of exploration, well-planning and drilling for hydrocarbons.