Scales of Geologic Heterogeneity of a Deep-Water Sand Giant Oil Field, Long Beach Unit, Wilmington Field, California

Deep-water sands form economically important hydrocarbon reservoirs in many parts of the world. Although they have been studied extensively from a traditional, somewhat qualitative perspective, quantitative reservoir characteristics are poorly understood, and often are not described in a format suitable for reservoir engineering applications. Like other types of sands, heterogeneities of deep-water sand reservoirs can be described at four scales (terminology after Krause et al., 1987): microscale (grains and pores), mesoscale (near well bore), macroscale (interwell), and megascale (field-size).