de Sant Anna Pizzaro, J. O., L. W.

Lake, A simple
method to estimate interwell autocorrelation,
1999, in R. Schatzinger and J. Jordan, eds.,
Reservoir Characterization-Recent Advances,
AAPG Memoir 71, p. 369380.

Chapter 26

A Simple Method to Estimate Interwell

Autocorrelation
Jorge Oscar de Sant Anna Pizarro
Petrobras
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Larry W. Lake
Center for Petroleum and Geosystems Engineering
The University of Texas at Austin
Austin, Texas, U.S.A.

ABSTRACT
The estimation of autocorrelation in the lateral or interwell direction is
important when performing reservoir characterization studies using stochastic modeling. This paper presents a new method to estimate the interwell
autocorrelation based on parameters, such as the vertical range and the variance, that can be estimated with commonly available data.
We used synthetic fields that were generated from stochastic simulations to
provide data to construct the estimation charts. These charts relate the ratio of
areal to vertical variance and the autocorrelation range (expressed variously)
in two directions. Three different semivariogram models were considered:
spherical, exponential, and truncated fractal.
The overall procedure is demonstrated using field data. We find that the
approach gives the most self-consistent results when it is applied to previously
identified facies; moreover, the autocorrelation trends follow the depositional
pattern of the reservoir, which gives confidence in the validity of the approach.

INTRODUCTION

autocorrelation, especially, is among the most critical

of the parameters to be estimated; we propose a new
procedure to estimate it in this paper. The method
uses serial data from several vertical wells, as would
exist from wells in mature projects.

The importance of reservoir characterization methods

has been established in the last decade by reservoir
studies that are based on stochastic models that account
for the heterogeneity of the porous media.
A reliable study depends on prior quantification of
the heterogeneity of the reservoir (Srivastava, 1994).
The geostatistical approach describes the heterogeneity
through averages, variances, and autocorrelation.
Although it has several advantages, when compared
with deterministic approaches the confidence in geostatistical modeling will be a strong function of how
well the input data represent reality. The horizontal

MOTIVATION
There are several works in the literature stressing
that the estimation of horizontal autocorrelation is
important in achieving a good reservoir description.
Lucia and Fogg (1989) stated that the principal difficulty in reservoir characterization is estimating the
369

370

Pizzarro and Lake

spatial distribution of petrophysical properties

between vertical wellbores. These points also have
been highlighted (Hewett, 1986; Lemouzy et al., 1995;
Jensen et al., 1996).
Lambert (1981) calculated and tabulated DykstraParsons coefficients (measures of heterogeneity) in
both the horizontal and vertical directions from 689
wells in 22 fields. In 90% of the cases, the ratio of the
coefficients in the horizontal and vertical directions
was less than 1. This result, governed by the depositional trends observed in petroleum reservoirs, indicates a spatial dependence among these variables.
Figures 1 and 2 illustrate this idea in more detail.
The figures show an idealized cross section (x,z) that is
being penetrated by several vertical cored wells. We
can calculate two types of variances for the cross section. The vertical variance is the arithmetic average of
the variances for each individual well; the areal variance is the variance of the well averages. A cross section that is strongly autocorrelated in the x-direction
will have a small areal variance; strong autocorrelation
in the z-direction will lead to a small vertical variance.
The ratio of these two is a measure of the extent of
autocorrelation in the respective directions.
If we quantify the relationship between the autocorrelation and the variances in both directions, we will
be able to estimate one parameter from the others;
therefore, the main idea behind our method is that the
horizontal autocorrelation must depend on the ratio of
the areal-to-vertical variances and the autocorrelation
in the vertical direction. With a chart that expresses
this relationship, one can estimate autocorrelation in
the horizontal direction.

METHOD OF STUDY
This section states the approach used to estimate
autocorrelation in the interwell region of a reservoir.
In the following derivation, we focus on the estimation

of horizontal autocorrelation because, in most cases, vertical wells can provide information on autocorrelation in
the vertical direction. We also restrict attention to the
estimation of horizontal autocorrelation in permeability.
The autocorrelation will be a function of the type of
model chosen to represent it. Three different theoretical semivariogram models were tested: spherical,
exponential, and truncated fractal (power-law). The
fractal model usually does not have a finite autocorrelation, but we will truncate at some upper cutoff;
hence, the use of a truncated fractal.
The way we express autocorrelation depends on the
semivariogram model being used. For the spherical
semivariogram model,
3 h 1 h 3
0h
( h) = cov(0) 2 2
1
h

(1)

autocorrelation is expressed by the range . For the

vertical direction, = z; for the lateral or horizontal,
= x. For the exponential model,

( h) = cov(0)e

(2)

we use the autocorrelation length. As before, for the

vertical direction, = z; for the horizontal, = x. For
the truncated fractal fBm model,
h 2 H
( h) = cov(0)
1

0h
h

(3)

we use the cut-off length, l. For the vertical direction,

l = l z ; for the horizontal, l = l x . We use the word
range to generically express all three autocorrelation
Figure 1. An idealized cross
section (x,z) penetrated by
vertical wells.

A Simple Method to Estimate Interwell Autocorrelation

371

Figure 2. Schematic of the

procedure to calculate the
areal and vertical variances.

measures. Because a log-normal distribution is

assumed for the permeability, all variances and averages are calculated on the logarithm of the permeability (lnk). In equations 13, cov(0) stands for the
sill, h the lag distance, and H the Hurst coefficient.
Note that the parameter expresses the autocorrelation of the permeability in all three models; however,
because the models are different, is also different
for each; for the spherical model is the range, for
the exponential model is the autocorrelation
length, and for the fractal model is the cutoff
length. We seek, in this paper, to estimate zD given
certain variances and zD.
Formally, the vertical variance is the expectation of
the conditional variances of Y(x,z) = lnk(x,z):

( [

])

2
vert
= E var Y ( x0 , z)

(4)

where var [Y(x0,z) ] indicates a z-direction variance conditioned to a fixed location x0. As suggested in Figure 2,
2vert is estimated as
2
svert
=

1
Nw

Nw

(var[Y(i , j)])

i =1

j = 1, , N l

(5)

where i and j are the indices on the x- and z-directions,

respectively. The areal variance is the variance of the
conditional expectation of Y:

([

])

(6)

I = 1, , N w

(7)

2
areal
= var E Y ( x0 , z)

It is estimated as
1
2
sareal
= var
N l

Nl

j =1

Y ( i , j )

See Jensen et al. (1996) for details on conditional variances and expectations.
Our approach consists of the generation of synthetic,
equiprobable permeability fields using stochastic
simulation and a statistical treatment of the obtained
data. There are several methods that can generate
stochastic reservoir images (Srivastava, 1994). One is
the matrix decomposition method (MDM). This
method is an averaging technique based on the decomposition of the autocovariance matrix. The present
study uses a program developed by Yang (1990) that
performs simulations based on MDM.

372

Pizzarro and Lake

The MDM can generate permeability fields for

reservoir modeling, but several statistics must be
known as input data. MDM requires that the geologic knowledge be quantified in terms of a few
parameters that can characterize the static properties
of the reservoir. In doing this, some assumptions are
necessary. The permeability distribution must be by
a single log-normal population that obeys secondorder stationarity. The log-normal assumption was
corroborated by the work of several authors, the
results of which are summarized in a paper by
Jensen et al. (1987).
The generation of synthetic permeability fields provided the necessary data to describe the relation
among all investigated parameters. Averaging results
from several realizations will provide a good estimate
for the actual value of x.

TYPE-CURVE PROCEDURE
To perform the numerical experiments, we established the following procedure. First, we chose a rectangular cross section with 4000 blocks, 200 blocks in
the x-direction and 20 in the z-direction. The sampling
procedure represents a reservoir with 11 vertical wells
aligned in one direction having a constant spacing
between them. We later concluded that the difference
in results caused by staggered wells is small (Pizarro,
1998); therefore, the analysis can be used for irregularly spaced wells, provided the average spacing is
used as the reference distance.
The ranges input to MDM were converted to
dimensionless form to provide more generality to the
results. The dimensionless horizontal autocorrelation
was normalized by the interwell spacing; the total
thickness is the reference distance in the vertical direction. We sample the generated fields at a constant
interval to generate the estimated variances.
In the stochastic simulations, the dimensionless
ranges ranged between 0.1 and 100 in the x-direction
and between 0.1 and 2.0 in the z-direction. This range
is believed to describe the autocorrelation existing in
most petroleum reservoirs.
To make the results represent the expectations in
equations 5 and 7 accurately, several realizations were
performed. For each realization, Y values in each well
were collected in a table in which there were 11
columns in the horizontal direction (each corresponding to one well) and 20 lines in the vertical direction
representing layer values. For each well the arithmetic
average of Y was calculated in the vertical direction as
well as the variance in the vertical direction.
Once both areal and vertical variances are known,
the calculation of the ratio between them is straightforward. Because all of the variances used in equations 5 and 7 are directly proportional to the
variance, the ratio will be a function only of xD, zD ,
2
and the semivariogram model; therefore, if sareal and
2
svert are calculated, and zD is estimated from fitting a
specific semivariogram model to the vertical data,
xD can be estimated.

RESULTS
Here, we present the simulation results used to
build the type-curve charts. The procedure previously stated was implemented, and several simulations were performed.
All fields were generated for 2 = 1. This population variance is equivalent to a Dykstra-Parsons coefficient of 0.63, a value that is within the range of the
vertical VDP values tabulated by Lambert (1981) from
core. Because both areal and vertical variances are
derived from the autocovariance, their ratio is independent of 2 (Pizarro, 1998). We used the minimal
number of realizations (NR) that would provide stable
results, NR = 50 (Pizarro, 1998).
The results obtained are expressed in Figures 35
for the spherical, exponential, and truncated fractal
semivariogram models, respectively. Each figure is a
2
2
plot of sareal/svert versus z with x as a parameter.
D
D
The truncated fractal fBm plot uses a Hurst coefficient
of 0.25 because this seems to fit various types of field
data (Neuman, 1994). Each figure contains results
from 3500 MDM simulations because we calculate the
average of 50 realizations.
Validation
The overall procedure cannot be validated because
we have only analytical expressions for some limiting
cases. We would need an extraordinary amount of
field data to cover all the possible situations aside
from the limiting cases; however, some insight into
the results can be given by analyzing the available
solutions.
The first result that can be compared is for the case
when we have no autocorrelation in either the horizontal or vertical directions. This means that the permeability values are completely random, with no
spatial correlation. The central limit theorem states
that no matter what distribution a group of independent random variables are from, the sample mean of
these variables is approximately normally distributed.
So, if Y1,Y2,Y3,,YN denote independent random variables each having the same mean, , and variance, 2,

and Y equals the mean of N of these random variables,

we will obtain
Y=

Y
Y1 Y2
1
+
+ N =
N N
N
N

Yi

(8)

i =1

Applying the property that the variance of a sum of

independent variables will be equal to the sum of the
variance of each one, we obtain

( )

Var Y =

2
N

(9)

According to this procedure, the variance of the mean

2
can be approximated by the areal variance (sareal ).

Areal Variance/Vertical Variance

A Simple Method to Estimate Interwell Autocorrelation

Figure 3. Autocorrelation
chart for spherical semivariogram model obtained from
50 realizations.

1.6
Spherical Model

z = 1.0

373

1.2
0.8
0.8
0.5
0.4

0.3
0.1

0.0
0.1

10

100

Areal Variance/Vertical Variance

Dimensionless Horizontal Range

2. 5

= 1.0

2. 0

0.8

1. 5

0.5

1. 0

0. 3

0. 5

Exponential Model

0. 1

0. 0
0.1

Areal Variance/Vertical Variance

Figure 4. Autocorrelation
chart for exponential semivariogram model obtained
from 50 realizations.

3. 0

1
10
Dimensionless Horizontal Correlation Length

100

Figure 5. Autocorrelation
chart for fractal semivariogram model obtained from
50 realizations.

1. 0
Fractal Model (H = 0.25)

0. 8

zD

= 1. 0
0. 8

0. 6

0. 5
0. 4
0. 3
0. 2

0. 1

0. 0
0. 1

1
10
Dimensionless Horizontal Autocorrelation Upper Cutoff

Hence, the above relation states that, for the case of an

uncorrelated field (x = z = 0), the areal variance
D
D
should be equal to
2
areal
=

2
Nl

(10)

When the number of layers (Nl) equals 20, the above

2
expression gives areal = 0.050. In the numerical experi2
ments with MDM, we obtained sareal = 0.047, a good
approximation.

100

Another way to validate the results is to make use

of an analytical expression that describes the relationship between variances of properties measured at different scales. Several authors, including Neuman
(1994), Lasseter et al. (1986), and Haldorsen (1986),
have reported the effect of the scale on the measurement of heterogeneity. One of the strong points of geostatistics is its ability to represent this behavior. For
instance, the permeability of a well can be measured
from a series of core measurements representing
blocks of a certain size, shape, and orientation. As the
size of these blocks increases, the variance of the mean

374

Pizzarro and Lake

value within the blocks gets smaller, although they

may have the same mean.
Kriges relationship (Journel and Huijbregts, 1978)
can be adapted to the present application. If a mining
deposit (D) is split up into blocks (V), the variance of
the properties of these blocks will be called the block
2
variance and be denoted by (V/D). The variance of
2
point grades (O) within a block is expressed by (O/V).
This relationship states that these variances can be
related to the variance of point grades within a
2
deposit ( (O/D))

(2V D ) = (2O D ) (2O V )

(11)

using the definition of the autocovariogram, cov(h),

the areal variance could be calculated by

(2V D ) =

1
V2

cov(h)dvdv

(13)

vv

where h stands for the distance between any two

points in the volume V, and the integrals represent an
integration over a volume; however, the amount of
effort to be spent in these integrations is excessive,
which motivated us to adopt the numerical approach
using MDM.
Discussion

In our application, the block represents a well, the

point grades will be core samples within each well,
and the deposit will correspond to the reservoir. With
this analogy, Kriges relationship will be
2
2
sareal
+ svert
=2

(12)

Figure 6 illustrates how each variance behaves with

x increasing from 0.1 to 100. When 2 equals 1, an
D
exponential model is used and z = 0.8. The sum of
D
2
2
sareal and svert is constant and equals the value expected
from Kriges relationship for all values of x . The
D
agreement between equation 12 and the numerical
response is very good. The good agreement between
analytical (equation 11) and numerical (equation 12)
results in Figure 6 indicates that the dependence of our
results on sample size is small. Equation 11 applies for
essentially infinite sampling, whereas the terms in
equation 12 must be estimated from finite samples.
2
The chart in Figure 6 reveals, also, how both sareal and
2
svert behave with increasing x . As described, for small
D
2
2
x , sareal reaches a maximum and svert a minimum. As
D
2
2
x becomes greater than 1, sareal declines, while svert
D
rises. For very large values of x , the horizontal autoD
2
2
correlation is so large that sareal tends to zero, while svert
2
approaches the population variance ( ).
Kriges equation also provides an alternative way to
develop the relationships expressed in the charts of
Figures 35. Knudsen and Kim (1978) showed that,
1.2

Figure 6. Analytical validation (exponential model, z

D
= 0.8, and 50 realizations).

2
2
sareal
+ svert

1.0

Variance

Here, we discuss the results and interpret some

features of the type charts. The differences in results
among the three semivariogram models are related
with the degree of autocorrelation that each model
2
2
incorporates. As sareal/svert represents a ratio between
two variances, the effect of the autocorrelation
model will depend on which of the variances controls the final result. One way to illustrate this effect
2
2
is by plotting the dependence of areal/ vert on the
Hurst coefficient for the truncated fractal model.
This parameter represents the degree of autocorrelation
among data.
2
2
Figure 7 shows how sareal/svert can vary with H and
x for z = 1. For instance, considering a reservoir
D
D
strongly autocorrelated in the horizontal direction (x
2
2 D
= 100), the larger the H, the smaller will be sareal/svert.
When dealing with smaller values of x , however, the
D
behavior of the vertical variance will control the ratio
2
2
2
2
sareal /svert ; therefore, as H increases, sareal /svert also
increases.
2
2
The charts in Figures 35 also show that sareal/svert
increases when z is greater than 0.1; however, in the
D
2
2
horizontal direction, sareal/svert decreases very slowly
with the vertical autocorrelation until x reaches 1.0.
D
This behavior is the same for all three semivariogram
models and shows that a field with x = 1 will behave
D
similarly to an uncorrelated field in this direction. This
2
result is a consequence of the fact that sareal depends
strongly on horizontal autocorrelation only for ranges
greater than the interwell spacing. Ranges smaller than
2
1 have only a slight effect on sareal. This observation also

0.8
2

0.6

sareal

Numerical Result
Analytical Solution

0.4
2
vert

0.2
0.0
0.1

1
10
Dimensionless Horizontal Correlation Length

100

A Simple Method to Estimate Interwell Autocorrelation

Areal Variance/Vertical Variance

0. 7

xD = 1. 0

0. 6

Figure 7. Estimation of
2
2
sareal /svert sensitivity to the
Hurst coefficient for different
truncated ranges.

Fractal Model z = 1
D

375

0. 5
0. 4
10

0. 3
0. 2

100

0. 1
0. 0
0. 0 0

0. 0 5

0 . 10

0 . 15

0. 2 0

0. 2 5

0. 3 0

0 . 35

0.4

Hurst Coefficient

illustrates that, as expected, it is impossible to estimate

ranges smaller than the well spacing (xD < 1).
One limitation of this method is the variability of
2
2
sareal/svert among the 50 realizations. Figure 8 expresses
how the results for zD = 0.1 and 0.5, obtained from the
exponential model, vary with xD. The figure shows the
average of 50 realizations and also curves representing
plus or minus one standard deviation about the mean.
The standard deviation band shrinks slightly when lateral autocorrelation (as expressed by zD) is large. The
band is considerably smaller at zD = 0.1 than at zD =
0.5. A fact that is equally important because the curves
become more horizontal for smaller zD is that the error
at a fixed variance ratio becomes quite large when lateral autocorrelation is small.

APPLICATION

Areal Variance/Vertical Variance

We chose data from a particular field to demonstrate how the procedure works. The results represent
an illustration of the method rather than a comprehensive analysis of the reservoir. A complete analysis
requires additional effort and integration among geologists and reservoir engineers to interpret the results
in the light of all the knowledge about the field.
We applied the procedure to the El Mar field,
located in the Delaware basin of west Texas and New
2. 0
1. 6

Mexico (Figure 9). This unit is currently operated by

Burlington Resources Company.
The El Mar
This field is located 30 km north of Mentone, Texas.
The entire field covers approximately 40 km2, with twothirds of the field located in the western portion of Loving County, Texas, and the remainder in southwest Lea
County, New Mexico. In this study, we investigated
only the data from the El Mar (Delaware) unit, which
covers an area of 5 8 km and contains 175 wells.
The primary producing layer is the Ramsey sand,
which is composed of an upper A sand and a lower
B sand separated by shale laminae. These sandstones
were deposited in deep water, probably by submarinefan complexes formed by turbidity-current deposition
during lowstands of sea level. Dutton et al. (1996) discussed this and other alternative models of Delaware
sandstone deposition. For the purposes of this paper,
the most important detail in Figure 9 is that the source
of the turbiditic sands lies approximately north-northeast of the El Mar unit. The Ramsey formation lies at an
average producing depth of 1500 m, and the formations weighted average porosity and permeability are,
respectively, 23% and 22 md. A description of other
petrophysical properties of the Delaware formation can
be found in Jenkins (1961). The difficulty in estimating
Figure 8. Variability
(expressed as 1 standard
2
2
deviation) of sareal /svert
among the 50 realizations.

Exponential Model

0. 5

zD

1. 2
0. 8
0. 1
0. 4
0. 0
0. 1

1
Dimensionless Horizontal Correlation Length

10

376

Pizzarro and Lake

Figure 9. Map of the Delaware basin (from Dutton et al., 1996).

the water saturation caused a large number of cored
wells to be taken. This made it possible to find several
cored wells aligned in the orthogonal directions of the
field, leaving it in a favorable condition to perform the
present analysis. We selected six wells aligned in the
north-south direction and two more in the east-west
direction, for a total of three east-west wells.
We selected the data from the eight wells and built
a vertical semivariogram of Y for each. Because the
core sampled unit A indiscriminately, it is highly
likely that the data are from multiple turbidite facies.
Most of the data analyzed were from unit A because of
the predominance of this unit in this part of the field.
Our approach was to separate the data from both units
because they seem to have different petrophysical
properties. We performed the analysis only for Ramsey A because the amount of data for Ramsey B was
less; only two wells, 1814 and 1824, have data that
include core samples from both units A and B.
The goal here was simply a practical demonstration
of the method; therefore, we assumed that there were no

problems concerning data acquisition, and the further

analysis was based on the semivariograms constructed
with primary data. We also did not consider the possibility of nugget effects in the semivariogram fitting.
The procedure outlined was performed to calcu2
2
late the average values and the sareal and svert for each
set of data. To calculate z , the experimental semiD
variograms must be fitted by a theoretical model. The
difficulties and the importance of this step are well
described in the literature by several authors, including Journel and Huijbregts (1978), Isaaks and Srivastava (1989), and Olea (1994).
Estimating x

We tested three different semivariogram models,

trying to find the one that best described the experimental data.
The spherical semivariogram fit was considered
poor. The second model tested was the truncated fBm
fractal or power-law model. For the fitting, a value of

A Simple Method to Estimate Interwell Autocorrelation

H = 0.15 gave a better adjustment than the value of H

= 0.25; therefore, a new set of curves for the fractal
model, analogous to those in Figure 5, was generated
for H = 0.15. The final result was better than the
spherical fitting for most wells. The exponential
model gave a fit close to that obtained with the fractal for most wells, and reproduced a similar response
for the ones in which the spherical model worked
better. The results are summarized in Table 1 for the
east-west section and in Table 2 for the north-south
section.

377

model. The results shown in Table 3 for the spherical,

exponential, and fractal are, respectively, zD|EW = 1.2,
1, and 3 and xD|NS = 4, 2, and 6.
The results show anisotropy in the autocorrelation
pattern of the El Mar field, at least along the directions
indicated. The permeability range in the north-south
direction is at least twice that in the east-west direction. This behavior roughly coincides with the depositional characteristic of the field because the major axis
of the turbidite channel is aligned with the northeastsouthwest direction (Figure 9).
A less rigorous approach would be to group the
data from both units A and B together, instead of performing the analysis only for unit A. Additional data
from two wells (1814 and 1824) must be considered.
Because the wells in the east-west section do not contain the Ramsey B sand, only results from the northsouth section will change. The main difference is that
2
the value of sareal changes from 0.23 to 0.36, making

Estimating z

Using the z values given in Table 1 for the approD

2
2
priate model and the ratio sareal/svert for each direction,
2
2
we enter the charts and interpolate sareal/svert as shown
in Figure 10. This represents the autocorrelation in the
x or lateral direction, the autocorrelation being
expressed through an exponential semivariogram

Table 1. Summary of Results for the East-West Cross Section of the El Mar Field

Average of ln(k) in vertical direction

Variance of ln(k) in vertical direction
Vertical correlation range with spherical model
Vertical correlation length with exponential model
Vertical truncated upper cutoff with fractal model (H = 0.15)

1514

Wells
1513

1512

1.15
1.96
0.21
0.09
0.35

2.25
2.44
0.18
0.07
0.26

2.17
2.81
0.17
0.08
0.34

Average
1.86
2.40
0.19
0.08
0.32

Table 2. Summary of Results for the North-South Cross Section of the El Mar Field

Areal Variance/Vertical Variance

Average of ln(k) in vertical direction

Variance of ln(k) in vertical direction
Vertical correlation range with spherical model
Vertical correlation length with exponential model
Vertical truncated upper cutoff with fractal model (H = 0.15)

0.25

= 0.1

Wells
1514 1524 1534 1532 1814

1824 Average

1.15
1.96
0.21
0.09
0.35

1.58
1.71
0.24
0.11
0.30

1.89
1.47
0.20
0.08
0.28

2.37
0.46
0.23
0.12
0.30

Exponential Model

0.20
0.08
0.15
East-West
North-South

0.10
0.05
0.00
0.1

x = 2
D

10

Dimensionless Horizontal Correlation Length

100

2.40
2.09
0.20
0.09
0.34

1.85
4.00
0.22
0.11
0.42

1.87
1.95
0.22
0.10
0.33

Figure 10. Determining x

D
for the north-south and the
east-west sections of the El
Mar field.

378

Pizzarro and Lake

Table 3. Summary of the Results from

Autocorrelation Analysis of the El Mar Field
Summary

North-South

Areal variance
VDP areal
Vertical variance
VDP vertical
Ratio areal/vertical variances
x (spherical model)
D
x (exponential model)
D
x (fractal model)
D

0.23
0.46
1.95
0.75
0.12
4
2
6

East-West
0.37
0.46
2.40
0.79
0.15
1.2
1
3

sareal/svert = 0.18 instead of 0.12. This change leads to the

conclusion that the ranges are similar in both directions, in conflict with the depositional pattern. This
illustrates the importance of prior geological analysis
of the data to be used in making the estimation.
Final Remarks

Ratio of Vertical to Population

Va r i a n c e

The autocorrelation analysis of the El Mar field shows

that results obtained by using different semivariogram
models can be different. These results were expected
because each model expresses the autocorrelation in a
1.0

Figure 11. Differences

between the vertical (sample)
and population variance
caused by autocorrelation.

z = 0.1
D

0.8
0 .3
0.6

0 .5
0 .8

0.4

Exponential Model
2 = 1

0.2
0.0
0.1

Vertical Dykstra-Parsons
Coefficient

slightly different manner. For example, the spherical

model (Figure 3) cannot be used to estimate z values
D
of less than 1, meaning that the spherical model contains
no information about autocorrelation if the range is less
than the well spacing. The exponential model, however,
is discriminating to z values less than the well spacD
ing (Figure 4). Although this seems a little strange at
first, it may not have a great effect on a simulated flow
response. Indeed, Fogg et al. (1991) referred to a study in
which two ranges of 120 and 390 m caused significantly
different permeability patterns, but practically identical
cumulative oil recoveries and water-oil rates, when
these values were used in simulation.
When calculating the data to construct the charts in
Figures 35, we also derived a chart to correct the vertical variance measured at the wells to the value that
should be used in conditional simulation studies.
Recall that the vertical variance measured at the wells
would be equal to the population variance only when
there was no autocorrelation. Figure 11 shows how
2
sareal/2 varies with z and x . The more vertically
D
D
autocorrelated the permeability field is, the more the
2
2
svert is different from .
Figure 12 shows an analogous result, but it is
expressed as the Dykstra-Parsons coefficient instead of
the variance. To express the variance in terms of the
VDP, the chart is no longer general and depends on the
population VDP. Figure 12 considered a VDPpop of 0.9.

1
10
Dimensionless Horizontal Correlation Length

100

0.9

Figure 12. Differences

between the vertical (sample)
and population VDP caused
by autocorrelation.

z = 0.1
D

0.3
0.8

0.5
Exponential Model
0.8

VDP

pop.

= 0.9

0.7
0.1

1
10
Dimensionless Horizontal Correlation Length

100

A Simple Method to Estimate Interwell Autocorrelation

These charts can be used to correct data for input

into stochastic simulation. For instance, from Figure 12
2
we can conclude that a sample VDP of 0.85 (svert = 3.6)
calculated from a reservoir with z = 0.3 and x = 1.0,
D
D
given by the exponential model, will have a population VDPpop = 0.9 ( 2 = 5.3).

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

We developed a set of charts for estimating autocorrelation in the horizontal direction based on the ratio of
areal-to-vertical variances, the vertical autocorrelation,
and the type of semivariogram model used.
The procedure was partially validated through a
comparison of results; analytical solutions were
available for some limiting situations. A field case
was analyzed to demonstrate how the method could
be applied. Data from eight wells in the El Mar field,
Ramsey A sand, were used to estimate horizontal
autocorrelation for two directions of the field.
Results from the El Mar analysis point out the
anisotropy in the permeability distribution of this field.
The autocorrelation ranges in the vertical direction
were found to be between 0.1 and 0.3 of the sampled
interval, depending on the type of model used. The
horizontal range in the north-south direction ranged
between two and six times the mean well spacing,
being at least twice the autocorrelation in the east-west
direction. These results can be used in conditional simulations to generate the expected permeability pattern
of this field.
The present approach seems to be an effective tool
to be used, along with the geological knowledge of the
facies continuity, for estimating the autocorrelation for
the interwell region between vertical wells.

NOMENCLATURE
a
cov
D
E
h
H
k
Nl
Nr
Nw
O
s2
V
VDP
var
Y

= semivariogram range
= covariance
= mining deposit
= expectation value
= distance lag
= Hurst coefficient
= permeability
= number of layers
= number of realizations
= number of wells
= point grades
= estimation of the variance
= volume of a block
= Dykstra-Parsons coefficient
= variance
= natural logarithmic of the permeability
= autocorrelation range (general)
= range (spherical model)
= correlation length (exponential model)
= truncated upper cutoff (fractal model)
= population mean

2
2
areal
2
vert

379

= population standard deviation

= population variance
= areal variance
= vertical variance
Subscripts

D
O/D
O/V
pop
V/D
x,y,z

= dimensionless variable
= point grades within a mining deposit
= point grades within a block
= population values
= blocks within a mining deposit
= Cartesian coordinate directions

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors acknowledge the Enhanced Oil Recovery Research Program of the Center for Petroleum and
Geosystems Engineering at The University of Texas at
Austin for partial support of this work. Jorge Pizarro
thanks Petrobras S.A. for financial support during his
stay at The University of Texas. Larry W. Lake holds
the W.A. (Monty) Moncrief Centennial Endowed
Chair. We thank I.H. Silberberg for his editorial comments and John Barnes with Burlington Resources for
supplying the core data on the El Mar (Delaware) unit.

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