Petroleum Resource Assessment Approach
Insight Exploration has developed a proprietary methodology to determine the likely volume of petroleum still to be discovered, or ÒYet-to-Find (YTF)Ó, in a sedimentary basin and the most likely size of the largest YTF fields. The approach is based upon a pool-size distribution and the data required are as follows;
- the initial recoverable reserves in each field (P50 but preferably with P10 & P90 estimates)
- the initial recoverable reserves in each prospect identified in the basin (P50 but preferably with P10 & P90 estimates)
- the split of reserves by petroleum-bearing reservoir in each field (stratigraphic position and facies)
- the split of reserves by trap type in each field
The approach has been successfully applied for ranking the exploration potential of sedimentary basins, regions and countries and can be applied in both newly emerging and mature petroleum provinces.
Insight YTF
The Insight YTF methodology is based upon the following assumptions;
- Field-size distribution in an under-explored conventional petroleum basin will achieve the geometry of a Òmature basin characteristic curveÓ at ultimate exploration maturity as in the example below
- The less mature basin pool-size curve can be Ôfleshed-outÕ through the insertion of ÒConceptsÓ (or dummy points), plus identified Prospects and Leads to model fields that will be discovered in the future
- The difference between the Discovered volume and the Discovered + Concept volume is an estimate of YTF
- YTF is a ÒriskedÓ estimate given it represents an ultimate pool-size expectation
