Aspects of petroleum migration modelling

Significant recent progress has been made in modelling multi-phase hydrocarbon migration processes in sedimentary basins: while 2D and map-based tools have been available for some time, the first commercial full 3D applications have now been released and the method has rapidly reached a degree of applicability and processing efficiency that enables it to be used for analyses of quite complex problems. While various modelling methods are being applied, all of them must be able to handle certain basic aspects of petroleum systems modelling. These aspects can be subdivided into two key groups: the dynamics of the processes, and the scaling of the data and models. The key criteria are therefore: (a) how well does a method take the dynamics of the processes into account, and (b) how well can a method handle the typical scaling problems in basin models? In the presentation, several migration-modelling techniques are reviewed and each one is related to the key criteria of dynamics and scaling according to their current development stage and potential. Hybrid methods which combine various migration modelling techniques are then introduced, and their current status, benefits, limitations and perspectives are discussed using case histories. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.