Modelling the coupled heterogeneities of the lacustrine microbialite-bearing carbonate reservoir of the Yacoraite Formation (Salta, Argentina)

The Yacoraite Formation is a complex lacustrine microbialite-bearing carbonate formation whose heterogeneity is due to different sedimentary facies associations and several microbialite geo- bodies. The bi-variate plurigaussian geostatistical method is applied to simulate in parallel these two types of heterogeneity in a 3D reservoir-scale geological model. Each variable is simulated by a com- plete plurigaussian method based on geological interpretation and field observations and quantifi- cations. They are coupled through the occurrence of the microbialites within the sedimentary facies and associated into combined facies giving a one-glance representation of the reservoir heterogeneity, then used to constrain the porosity simulation.