Method for modelling the formation of a sedimentary basin using a stratigraphic forward modeling program

A computer-implemented method for modelling the formation of a sedimentary basin using a stratigraphic forward modelling program, wherein the stratigraphic forward modelling program simulates the superposition of successive layers of sediments, each layer of sediments corresponding to a determined period of time, the method comprising:

• receiving a facies log corresponding to an initial state of at least one well belonging to the sedimentary basin to be modelled, wherein the facies log comprises a succession of layers of different facies wherein each layer extends from a respective depth with a respective thickness,
• determining environmental conditions associated to at least some of the facies of the facies log to infer, for at least one environmental factor, an environmental factor log associated to the facies log,
• determining, from the facies log, a number of layers of sediments and a thickness of each layer of sediments to be simulated by the stratigraphic forward modelling program for modelling the facies log,
• determining, from the environmental factor log associated to the facies log, environmental parameters associated to the layers of sediments to be simulated by the stratigraphic forward modeling program such that the superposition of the simulated layers of sediments corresponds to the facies logs,
• wherein the environmental factor logs comprise, for each facies log, at least an environment factor log corresponding to an environment factor which is, at a given time, homogeneous over the sedimentary basin, and comprises, for each part of the facies log corresponding to a time interval, a range of values of said homogeneous environmental factor, and
• determining, from the environmental factor log associated to the facies log, environmental parameters associated to the layers of sediments to be simulated by the stratigraphic forward modeling program comprises assigning a value of the environmental factor to at least one layer of sediments to be modelled in order to represent facies layers of the part of the facies logs corresponding to the same time interval, said value being comprised in the intersection of the ranges of values of the environmental factor associated to the part of each facies log corresponding to said time interval, and
• if there is no intersection of the ranges of values of the environmental factor associated to the facies layer of each facies log corresponding to said time interval, the method comprises defining a reference facies log, and the value assigned to the layer of sediments to be modelled is chosen among the range of values of the environmental factor associated to the facies layer of the reference facies log corresponding to said time interval.

A computer-implemented method for modelling the formation of a sedimentary basin using a stratigraphic forward modelling program, wherein the stratigraphic forward modelling program simulates the superposition of successive layers of sediments, each layer of sediments corresponding to a determined period of time, the method comprising:

• receiving a facies log corresponding to an initial state of at least one well belonging to the sedimentary basin to be modelled, wherein the facies log comprises a succession of layers of different facies wherein each layer extends from a respective depth with a respective thickness,
• determining environmental conditions associated to at least some of the facies of the facies log to infer, for at least one environmental factor, an environmental factor log associated to the facies log,
• determining, from the facies log, a number of layers of sediments and a thickness of each layer of sediments to be simulated by the stratigraphic forward modelling program for modelling the facies log, and
• determining, from the environmental factor log associated to the facies log, environmental parameters associated to the layers of sediments to be simulated by the stratigraphic forward modeling program such that the superposition of the simulated layers of sediments corresponds to the facies logs,
• wherein receiving the facies log corresponding to the initial state of at least one well belonging to the sedimentary basin to be modelled comprises:
• receiving at least two facies logs corresponding to the initial states of two respective wells belonging to the sedimentary basin to be modelled, and
• determining environmental conditions associated to at least some of the facies of the facies log further comprises establishing correlations between the facies logs from the environmental factor logs established for each facies log and identifying, from the established correlations, parts of each facies log corresponding to a same time interval, and
• wherein said determining, from the environmental factor log associated to the facies log, environmental parameters associated to the layers of sediments to be simulated by the stratigraphic forward modeling program comprises inferring, from each facies log, a maximum water current velocity at water bottom associated to each transported facies layer,
• the method further comprising running the stratigraphic forward simulation model to model the formation of the sedimentary basin, thereby obtaining a simulated water current velocity at a time and location corresponding to the formation of the transported facies layer of the facies log for which the maximum water current velocity has been inferred, and
• wherein said determining, from the environmental factor log associated to the facies log, environmental parameters associated to the layers of sediments to be simulated by the stratigraphic forward modeling program further comprises:
• computing an error between the maximum water current velocity and the simulated water current velocity,
• extrapolating the computed error over the sedimentary basin, and
• computing corrected simulation values of water current velocity from values simulated by the program and the error computed over the sedimentary basin.