Pressure and Fluid Contacts · Module P7
From contact to volume
A contact matters because it sets how much rock lies in the hydrocarbon column. This module carries a contact into a volume estimate: choosing which contact goes with which saturation, keeping every depth in one subsea frame, allowing for trap shape and a gas cap, building a contact range wider than the fit interval, and reading gross rock volume from a top-reservoir grid.
- Level
- Intermediate
- Position
- Module 7 of 8
- Video
- About 22 minutes, narrated
- Format
- Narrated video lesson with captions and slide reading view; with the certified option, a quiz whose pass unlocks the next module.
What the module covers
- Which contact goes with which saturation
- Moving a depth between true vertical and subsea
- Trap shape and the geometric factor
- Booking only the oil leg below a gas cap
- Contact depth as a Monte Carlo input
- Area against depth from a structure grid
Learning outcomes
After the module you should be able to:
- Carry a contact range into Volumetrics as an input, in the right depth frame.
- Explain why a volume does not change linearly with contact depth
- Build a contact range with a stated reason at each end
A short preview
Deepening a contact by 20 feet does not add a fixed slice of rock. On a dome the area enclosed at each depth grows downward, so the extra rock at the base of the column is larger than the same 20 feet near the crest. A thin column on a flat structure can change by half for a modest shift. That is why a contact range is read against an area-depth curve, and why a draw that puts the contact above the crest has to count as zero volume rather than a negative one.
Who it is for
Petrophysicists, reservoir engineers and geoscientists who screen formation pressure tests, pick fluid contacts and carry them into volumes for exploration, appraisal and development decisions.
Prerequisites: None required; working familiarity with well logs and volumetrics helps. The hands-on steps use the Pressure Analysis panel in Formation Evaluation.
Take the module in the Learning Hub
Pressure and Fluid Contacts: Specialty course, sold separately: eight modules that turn a formation tester report into fluid contacts you can defend, from screened tests and gradients to capillary entry height and a contact range in the volume. The lesson opens in the Learning Hub once the track is purchased; graded quizzes and the certificate come with the certified option.