Areas and Volumes

If our contour map reveals a prospect, and the geologists are comfortable about the
likelihood of a source, a reservoir, and a seal, the next step is to form some idea of
the economics of the prospect.
At the simplest level, experience in the area may suggest that the recoverable
reserves are so many tonnes of oil, or so many standard cubic meters of gas, per
cubic meter of reservoir rock (or barrels of oil, or standard cubic feet of gas, per
acre-foot of reservoir rock) . Then all we have to do is to measure the closed area
of the structure, and estimate (or guess) the reservoir thickness. Of course, in
measuring the closed area we do not know (in general) that the structure is full; all
we can do is to measure the area within the contour that passes through the spill
point, and accept that this represents a maximum.
On hand-contoured maps the area within the closing contour can be assessed with
a planimeter. Because of the risk of slippage, most interpreters like to take two or
three measurements, with different base positions; however, most interpreters
would probably allow that they are normally surprised by the consistency of the
device.
On machine-contoured maps, of course, the calculation of closed area needs no
more than the specification of the spill contour.
The volume estimated from area and thickness is only an approximation, of course.
In Figure 1(a),

Figure 1

where the reservoir is thin, we see that the estimate is

the area along structure is actually more than the area
large because the edges of the oil or gas are feathered
the spill point. However, these errors are usually minor

a little too small because

on the map, but a little too
by the horizontal contact at
compared to