This paper discusses the assessment methodology of geologic probabilities of success of drillable prospects determined by petroleum exploration geologists. The commonly accepted industry standard assessment methods suggest the probability evaluation of key components of oil and gas accumulation: source rock, reservoir, seal rock and trap, and migration and timing. On the assumption that the risked events resulting in the assembly of the key components are geologically and eventalgebraically independent, the geological probability is computed as the product of the probabilities of each. Without challenging the overall correctness of the approach, this study argues that the presumed independency does not always apply. For these cases, probability evaluation of the actually and truly independent geologic and hydrodynamic processes is advised.
R.A. Howard 1966 Decision Analysis: Applied Decision Theory D.B. Hertz J. Melese Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Operational Research Wiley- Interscience New York 55 71.
P.D. Newendorp 1975 Decision Analysis for Petroleum Exploration The Petroleum Publishing Co. Tulsa, OK.
Otis, R.M., N. Schneidermann 1997: A Process for Evaluating Exploration Prospects. - AAPG Bulletin, Vol. 81, No. 7.
Rose, P.R. 1992: Chance of Success and Its Use in Petroleum Exploration. - In: Steinmetz, R. (ed.): The Business of Petroleum Exploration. AAPG Treatise of Petroleum Geology, Chapter 7, pp. 71–86.
Rose, P.R. 2001: Risk Analyses and Management of Petroleum Exploration Ventures. - In: AAPG Methods in Exploration Series No. 12.