Book reviews

minerals which could have been drawn upon from existing an expensive collection of rather dated course notes rather
publications. I also would question the benefit of compiling than an insight into a fundamental and challenging area of
photographs into a separate section at the end of the book, subsurface technology. Alas, the niche remains unfilled; maybe
apart from the main text. next time!
Overall, I found the book to be very disappointing, par-
ticularly in view of its high cost. I could not recommend it as a Mike Bowman
reference text for either the practising or aspiring petroleum Technology Leader Reservoir Description
sedimentologist. I was left with the impression that the book is BP Exploration, Uxbridge, UK

Stochastic Modeling and Geostatistics: Principles, Methods,

The continuing need to maximise hydrocarbon recovery from (by Journel and Coburn) giving personal perspectives, both
existing accumulations, combined with the rapid growth in academic and industrial, on the recent upsurge in geostatistics
computer technology over the past 10 years or so, has within the petroleum industry ('executive overviews'). The
challenged the traditional relationship between geoscientists first meaty section, Principles, contains four chapters covering
and petroleum engineers. Arguably one of the most important just a few, but by no means all of the fundamentals, including
benefits of this has been a wider appreciation of a field's three quite detailed and jargon-laden chapters on spatial
reservoir geology in controlling fluid flow and ultimate recov- modeling and semivariograms (Olea), sample support in per-
ery (e.g. structural framework, internal reservoir architecture meability assessment (Anguy et al.) and vertical facies varia-
and distribution of rock properties and heterogeneities). bility measures (Doveton). This section is completed by
Hence, the multi-disciplinary team is the now the norm another readable personal perspective, this time covering the
within most oil company production departments and field critical subject of upscaling from detailed geological descrip-
development units. This new working environment has not tion into numerical grids for fluid flow simulation (Mansoori).
always gone smoothly for everyone, partly since it has chal- Almost three-quarters of the book (17 of the 25 chapters)
lenged many traditional approaches to reservoir description, is contained within the section Methods and Case Studies,
not least the desire of most petroleum engineers to have a which comprises the application of geostatistical and stoch-
better appreciation of the uncertainties associated with geo- astic techniques to the quantification of various subsurface
logical interpretations or, to repeat the Editor's paraphrasing situations, including (1) three-dimensional reservoir descrip-
of Professor Andr6 Journel (Stanford University), "... it is tion and prediction ranging from fluvial (Tyler et al., Hatloy),
preferable to have a model of uncertainty than an illusion of shoreface (MacDonald and Aasen), deltaic (Bashore et al.)
reality." Enter the subject of geostatistics which, since its and aeolian (Cox et al.) sandstones, through to shelf-shoreline
introduction to reservoir geology in the mid-late 1980s, has carbonates (Chu et al.) and chalk deposits (Almeida and
become an integral part of reservoir characterisation. The Frykman), (2) integration of well and seismic data, including
days of the often frustrating two-handed geologist's traditional 3D seismic, and volumetric predictions (Chambers et al.,
reply to a reservoir engineer "on the one hand this reservoir Wolf et al., Hoye et al.), (3) fractal methods for reservoir
could be a..., but on the other hand...", are numbered. This characterisation (Hewett), and (4) impact of geological het-
book sets out to explain how and why geostatistics is so erogeneities, rock properties and permeability distribution on
important to all involved in subsurface geological description fluid flow prediction (Hohn and McDowell, Deutsch and
and prediction. Journel, Kelkar and Shibli, Murray). Many of these papers
Stochastic Modelin 9 and Geostatistics is a state-of-the-art support the earlier-stated benefits of multi-disciplinary studies
review, which represents a real landmark volume for what is and the value of being able to quantify uncertainties, but
one of the most rapidly expanding subjects within petroleum without losing sight of the basic underlying geological control.
geoscience. The book is comprehensive in its coverage, with A particularly good example of this is the paper by Bashore
contributions from many of the leading lights in geostatistics et al., who integrate geology, geophysics and reservoir engin-
and its petroleum applications. The Introduction (Srivastava) eering concepts and data, and then use stochastic models to
captures the background and recent developments in stoch- fully evaluate three different geological framework scenarios
astic methods for reservoir characterization. In a highly to consider the implications on fluid flow and hydrocarbon
readable contribution, the wide range of stochastic techniques recovery. There are many other excellent papers here which
are critically described, including both advantages and dis- can be used by the reader to observe how and why certain
advantages. The main body of the book is then divided into techniques were used. This section of the book also contains
four main sections: I Getting Started, II Principles, III copious use of colour, which not only improves the under-
Methods and Case Studies, and IV Public Domain Software standing of the subject matter (e.g. stochastic distribution of
and Bibliography. reservoir bodies and their internal rock properties) but also
The first section, Getting Started, should really be con- enhances the aesthetic appeal of the book.
sidered as part of the Introduction, with two short chapters The final section of the book, Public Domain Software and

Marine and Petroleum Geology 1996 Volume 13 Number 7 859

Bibliography, includes two very valuable contributions, one those involved in advanced (postgraduate and professional)
covering public domain geostatistical programs (all from the petroleum geoscience and engineering teaching. The latter
USA, but with costs, lists of addresses and telephone/fax group will find the case studies of particular interest since
numbers) (Clayton), and the other a carefully selected reading they nicely combine theory with practice. The quality of this
list to help the interested but inexperienced user to delve book is excellent in all respects and, given the wide use of
deeper into the subject (Yarus). colour illustrations, is not unreasonably priced at $149 ($99 for
This book fills an important gap in the literature and is AAPG members). I would certainly recommend individuals to
really packed tight with lots of information, which will be of dig into their personal pockets in order to have ready access
benefit to a wide audience, both experienced and inexperienced to this book, since the continued growth in this subject will
users of geostatistics. The very first statement in the book is make it a sound investment.
to reassure those less mathematically capable that this book
is aimed at a broad and mainly geological audience, and Howard D. Johnson
advanced mathematical knowledge is not a prerequisite for Department of Geology,
reading this book. This should not only help broaden its Imperial College of Science,
readership but, ultimately, its real usage. The most likely
users of the book are petroleum geologists, geophysicists and Technology and Medicine,
petroleum engineers, particularly those involved in multi- Prince Consort Road,
disciplinary field appraisal, development and reservoir man- London SW7 2BP, UK.
agement teams, research geoscientists and engineers (aca- Tel: 0171-594-6450. Fax: 0171-594-6464.
demic, government and industrial research laboratories) and E-mail: h.d.johnson@ic.ac.uk

860 Marine and Petroleum Geology 1996 Volume 13 Number 7