SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PERFORMING TIME-LAPSE MONITOR SURVEYING USING SPARSE MONITOR DATA

摘要

Techniques are disclosed for performing time-lapse monitor surveys with sparsely sampled monitor data sets. An accurate 3D representation (e.g., image) of a target area (e.g., a hydrocarbon bearing subsurface reservoir) is constructed (12) using the sparsely sampled monitor data set (11). The sparsely sampled monitor data set may be so limited that it alone is insufficient to generate an accurate 3D representation of the target area, but accuracy is enabled through use of certain external information (14). The external information may be one or more alternative predicted models (25) that are representative of different predictions regarding how the target area may change over a lapse of time. The alternative models may, for example, reflect differences in permeability of at least a portion of the target area. The sparsely sampled monitor data set may then be processed to determine (23) which of the alternative models is representative of the target area.