Question

statistics, probability and Fourier series its application in the oil and gas industry

Answer 1

Application of statistics, probability and Fourier series in the oil and gas industry:

• Stochastic 3D models are used to model facies and petrophysical properties in a petroleum reservoir.
• The oil and gas industry has lot of data from different sources like wells and seismic surveys. By use of good statistical methods these data can be analyzed in a manner that can strongly support decisions-making. During planning, exploration and production of a field, many of the important decisions need to be taken under uncertainty i.e. positioning of new wells and different developments scenarios of fields.

• Production data is used in order to improve the petroleum reservoir description.

• The quantification of oil reserves is based on two statistical indicators:

  (1)The volume of oil reserves (Rp), statistical indicator of moment, expressed in barrels (1 barrel = 0.1364 tons);

(2)The ratio (rp) between the volume of reserves (Rp) and the annual oil production (Qp): Qp Rp pr = (1) The indicator expresses the duration in years of existence of oil reserves, while maintaining their rate of exploitation.

• Oil and gas companies have been collecting massive amounts of information but without the ability to properly interpret geological, engineering, production, and equipment data sets, one won't be able to make informed, fast-paced decisions. Hence statisticians with knowledge of Big Data come into play.

• Most investments in the oil and gas industry involve considerable risk with a wide range of potential outcomes for a particular project. One of the most highly appreciable applications of the risk assessment is the estimation of volumetric reserves of hydrocarbon reservoirs (Monte Carlo Simulation of Oil Fields).

• Risk analysis and development of strategies to manage risk can be used to reduce potential future delays and cost overruns in oil and gas projects. Estimation of Oil and Gas reserves is done using Volumetric Estimation (which depends on Porosity, area and thickness of the reservoir) and Monte Carlo simulation which shows all the possible outcomes of the decisions and assess the impact of risk, allowing for better decision making under uncertainty.

• Fourier analysis is extremely useful for data analysis, as it breaks down a signal into constituent sinusoids of different frequencies. It is particularly useful in areas such as signal and image processing, where its uses range from filtering, convolution, and frequency analysis to power spectrum estimation.