Reservoir Simulators Comparison

[reservoirengineer]

Hello RE Experts,

Last time, Yeengineer started very interesting thread: Well Testing Software Comparisson.

[link Point to another website Only the registered members can access]
I am very keen to hear about your opinions for Reservoir Simulation software.

(1) Schlumberger Petrel/ eclipse family
(2) Landmark VIP Nexus
(3) CMG IMEX, Stars
(4) JOA/ Sensor
(5) Merlin
(6) Exodus
(7) etc.

I will not include Saudi aramco, Shell, Conoco, Chevron in-house softwares in this list because it wasn't available to purchase.

If you have to buy for your own use (company), what would be your choice? You will have to pay for the full amount.

I would like to hear about your selection based on
- technical aspects
- user friendliness
- cost/ benefit
- Simulation time
- industry standard
- reliability, etc.

Thanks.

[Shakespear]

I have been brought up on just one, ECLIPSE so my opinion is suspect to start.

Schlumberger has bought up the best peripheral software to build the simulation model run by ECLIPSE for the widest set of problems commonly run in the industry. PETREL being one of the the "recent" BIG purchases.

On the ease of use, well here I heard that SHELL supposedly had something good in this department. However this is hear say. ECLIPSE is a sophisticated tool and requires a high knowledge from its user. The peripheral programs also have fairly steep learning curves. Hence it takes at least a year to close the build cycle regarding using the software (I saw this with pure novices). To get to expert level will take many years and will depend on the type of problems you work on.

Development of ECLIPSE is done by top people that SLB can hire. I suspect they do not cut costs here. This is bread and butter for GEOQUEST.

ECLIPSE is frequently a requirement for Development Projects farmed out by oil companies to consulting firms. So it is a Industry Standard Simulator.

[jan]

I partly agree with Shakespear. I have worked above 10 years using Eclipse and 2 years using Petrel. According to me Eclipse has first place among simulators which were listed above. I utilized VIP, CMG, Merlin and Eclipse so far. Based on my experiences Eclispe is the best from them. Obviously work on Eclipse is a bit complicated but for people who know reservoir enginering and a bit mathematic it should not be a problem. I recommend Eclipse simulator with connection to Petrel.

[sammy12345]

Hi,
I am a student at the University of Tasmania and I am currently studying Bachelors of Marine and Offshore Engineering.
My final year research thesis is regarding CO2 Enhanced oil recovery method and to analyse my case I need to purchase a basic reservoir package, possibly Eclipse 300 or any other related software through which I can analyse only CO2 Enhanced oil recovery case and through this I want the answers of the following:
What would be production profile before and after injection
How much potential recovery is expected to increase using CO2 injection
What is the economics of the CO2 method, expenses versus potential revenue
I will be highly obliged if you can kindly let me know about the price of the software, how can I purchase it and also which sofware will be best suitable for me because I am a first time user and I am only an undergraduate.

[06pg22]

Sammy,

In my view VIP-COMPOSITIONAL is the best one for CO2 Flooding simulation. Reference is World's Largest Miscible Flood Project employed VIP-Compositional for its simulation study.

Hi,
I am a student at the University of Tasmania and I am currently studying Bachelors of Marine and Offshore Engineering.
My final year research thesis is regarding CO2 Enhanced oil recovery method and to analyse my case I need to purchase a basic reservoir package, possibly Eclipse 300 or any other related software through which I can analyse only CO2 Enhanced oil recovery case and through this I want the answers of the following:
What would be production profile before and after injection
How much potential recovery is expected to increase using CO2 injection
What is the economics of the CO2 method, expenses versus potential revenue
I will be highly obliged if you can kindly let me know about the price of the software, how can I purchase it and also which sofware will be best suitable for me because I am a first time user and I am only an undergraduate.

[sammy12345]

Hi Moderator,

many thanks for your reply, I saw your are from Pakistan, I am from Pakistan too and I am currently studying here in Australia, please let me know where can I get the software which you just mentioned, since I am a student can I get an Original and free software..because I only want the reservoir software for my research in Enhanced oil recovery using CO2 injection and through my research I want to prove a few points to my course coordinator, which are:

1.What would be production profile before and after injection
2.How much potential recovery is expected to increase using CO2 injection
3.What is the economics of the CO2 method, expenses versus potential revenue

regards,
Azeem.

[reservoirengineer]

If you are a student, your University may be able to provide you with a license. You may also ask the software vendors.

CMG: Strategy Central (

[link Point to another website Only the registered members can access] Eclipse: Try to find a Schlumberger Account Manager in Linkedin
May be worth asking to try ResAssure.

Hi,
I am a student at the University of Tasmania and I am currently studying Bachelors of Marine and Offshore Engineering.
My final year research thesis is regarding CO2 Enhanced oil recovery method and to analyse my case I need to purchase a basic reservoir package, possibly Eclipse 300 or any other related software through which I can analyse only CO2 Enhanced oil recovery case and through this I want the answers of the following:
What would be production profile before and after injection
How much potential recovery is expected to increase using CO2 injection
What is the economics of the CO2 method, expenses versus potential revenue
I will be highly obliged if you can kindly let me know about the price of the software, how can I purchase it and also which sofware will be best suitable for me because I am a first time user and I am only an undergraduate.

[reservoirengineer]

If you are a student, your University may be able to provide you with a license. You may also ask the software vendors.

CMG: Strategy Central (

[link Point to another website Only the registered members can access] Eclipse: Try to find a Schlumberger Account Manager in Linkedin
May be worth asking to try ResAssure.

Hi,
I am a student at the University of Tasmania and I am currently studying Bachelors of Marine and Offshore Engineering.
My final year research thesis is regarding CO2 Enhanced oil recovery method and to analyse my case I need to purchase a basic reservoir package, possibly Eclipse 300 or any other related software through which I can analyse only CO2 Enhanced oil recovery case and through this I want the answers of the following:
What would be production profile before and after injection
How much potential recovery is expected to increase using CO2 injection
What is the economics of the CO2 method, expenses versus potential revenue
I will be highly obliged if you can kindly let me know about the price of the software, how can I purchase it and also which sofware will be best suitable for me because I am a first time user and I am only an undergraduate.

[vergatario]

Gentelmen,
all the black oil simulators do the same basic tasks. The only difference is the way they handle the input and output information. May be Eclipse has several options that other simulators do not have, but it is because it has been an industry standard for long time and the options have been included by request and help of clients.
Regarding thermal simulator, it seem that Stars from CMG have better reputation than the others. E300, GEM and VIP are the compositional simulators that people use for compositional simulations. They work in the same way. First you find the EOS and later, run the simulation

[reservoirengineer]

Gents,

Thank you all for sharing your experiences. It is really valuable. I agreed some points with Shakespear for industry standard, functionality, etc.

But if you have a limited fund, will you choose Eclipse option to drain all your resources? It is a matter of resource allocation.
As everyone said, someone will need for Eclipse:
- years of experience to work on Eclipse model
- more than 1 dedicated reservoir simulation engineer to build model, QC, history match, etc.
- a single full field model how much time you will need to spend?

On the other hand, more user friendly, cheaper (non- Eclipse) simulator will accomplish some of the task. A single RE can do multiple full field simulations. And it will cost less than half of Eclipse?

I am sure accuracy is important but simulation is garbage-in/ garbage-out.

If it is exploration work, there is less data and you will have to work with analogous data and uncertainties.

Then what will be your decision?

[Shakespear]

Yes, I see what you mean. If you have limited resources then a cheaper simulator could be used for a "good enough" simulation. There is a lot of them around and one even comes with some books.

I once worked for a small company on a project where there were only 4 wells, and 2 were producers. Limited data and limited budget. Did I need eclipse? NO !!! I used a simple simulator for $400 and an a Nodel Analysis package to get results which were close enough the future production of the wells that were to be drilled. When the wells went on production the results were within +- 10%.

Maybe luck? Maybe simple reservoir? Don't know, but in this case Top of the line software would not have given any better answers in my opinion.

[reservoirengineer]

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