What in the reservoir is geostatistics good for?

Geostatistics provokes strong reactions. There are champions who believe the application of geostatistics adds value in almost any reservoir modelling situation. There are skeptics who do not think that a geostatistical model will have a meaningful impact on reservoir management decisions. The majority of engineers and geoscientists, however, are seeing an increasing use of geostatistics and are not sure when geostatistics should be used and how the results affect reservoir decisions. There are three specific cases where geostatistics can provide valuable support for decision-making: 1) calculating maps of uncertainty over large areas to support resource calculations and well placement; 2) reconciling well and seismic data into high resolution reservoir models; and, 3) constructing representative models of heterogeneity to provide input to flow simulation and support reservoir forecasting. These three cases are developed without excessive theoretical detail. Realistic examples are presented without getting lost in the details of a particular reservoir. Limitations and pitfalls are discussed. 3D be to or of the