Characterizing connectivity in reservoir models using paths of least resistance

A method of evaluating the transmission of a property within a subsurface geologic reservoir to locate and operate a well to produce subsurface hydrocarbons from the subsurface geologic reservoir, comprising:

• i) characterizing connectivity in a reservoir model of the subsurface geologic reservoir by:
• a) providing a set of vertices representative of at least a portion of said reservoir, wherein said subsurface geologic reservoir contains a fluid and said property is a property of said fluid, said subsurface geologic reservoir, or a combination thereof;
• b) providing a plurality of edges, said edges representing property transmission paths between connected vertices within said set of vertices;
• c) associating with each edge a cost representative of the ability of said property to be transmitted across said edge from one vertex to another vertex within said set of vertices, wherein said cost is selected from a measure representative of resistance to fluid flow, or is selected from a value calculated from transmissibility, phase potential difference or phase mobility;
• d) selecting at least one source vertex from within said set of vertices, wherein said set of vertices includes reservoir vertices and well vertices;
• and
• e) determining an extremum path between said source vertex and each of at least two destination vertices that minimizes or maximizes a summed cost across the one or more edges included in said extremum path using a graph-theory single-source shortest-paths algorithm;
• ii) simulating the transmission of the property within the subsurface geologic reservoir, wherein simulating the transmission of the property includes displaying at least one of said extremum paths, at least one vertex, or at least one edge on a graphical device;
• and
• iii) locating and operating wells to produce subsurface hydrocarbons from the subsurface geologic reservoir based on the simulation of the transmission of the property.