Release notes 2020.

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Copyright Notice

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names are the properties of their respective owners.
Petrel® is a mark of Schlumberger.
An asterisk (*) is used throughout this document to designate other marks of Schlumberger.

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such minimum specifications are merely recommendations and not intended to be limiting to configurations that may be used to operate the
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

OVERVIEW
Distribution............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

REQUIREMENTS
System requirements............................................................................................................................................................................................4
Operating systems..........................................................................................................................................................................................4
Other required software................................................................................................................................................................................4
Studio database system requirements..............................................................................................................................................................4
Licensing requirements........................................................................................................................................................................................5
Project compatibility.............................................................................................................................................................................................5
DELFI Petrotechnical Suite system requirements........................................................................................................................................... 5

NEW FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS

Geophysics.............................................................................................................................................................................................................6
Geological Interpretation.....................................................................................................................................................................................6
Wells................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Well Section Window.................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Workflow Editor.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 6
Reservoir and Production Engineering..............................................................................................................................................................6
Workover Candidate Recognition and Validation..................................................................................................................................... 6
Structural Modeling..............................................................................................................................................................................................7
Structural Framework Modeling..................................................................................................................................................................7
Gridding............................................................................................................................................................................................................7
Foundation..............................................................................................................................................................................................................7

KNOWN ISSUES
Geophysics.............................................................................................................................................................................................................8
General.............................................................................................................................................................................................................8
Seismic Well Tie..............................................................................................................................................................................................8
Geological Interpretation.....................................................................................................................................................................................8
General.............................................................................................................................................................................................................8
Well Section Window.................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Workflow Editor.............................................................................................................................................................................................. 9
Reservoir and Production Engineering..............................................................................................................................................................9
Simulation........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 9
Workover Candidate Recognition and Validation................................................................................................................................... 11
RE Extension Suite........................................................................................................................................................................................11
Structural Modeling............................................................................................................................................................................................11
Structural framework modeling................................................................................................................................................................. 11
Gridding..........................................................................................................................................................................................................12
Enriched workflows in the DELFI Petrotechnical Suite......................................................................................................................... 12
Geomechanics.....................................................................................................................................................................................................13
Reservoir Geomechanics............................................................................................................................................................................13
Reservoir Modeling.............................................................................................................................................................................................13
Property Population..................................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Exploration Geology............................................................................................................................................................................................13
Petroleum Systems Modeling.................................................................................................................................................................... 13
Petroleum Systems Quick Look..................................................................................................................................................................14
Play Chance Mapping..................................................................................................................................................................................14
GPM.......................................................................................................................................................................................................................14
Studio.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 14
Guru....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Foundation............................................................................................................................................................................................................15
Profiles .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Mapping......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 15
Function Window Scaling........................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Color Tables................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16
Printers...........................................................................................................................................................................................................16
Core....................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 16

SUPPORT INFORMATION

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 OVERVIEW

Overview

Finding, characterizing, and exploiting new and existing reservoirs is increasingly complex. To overcome these
challenges, we must continually improve and innovate the way we work. With the Petrel E&P Software Platform,
Schlumberger revolutionized the oil and gas industry by bringing disciplines together with best-in-class science in an
unparalleled productivity environment.
Our commitment to Petrel resulted in dramatic strides forward in the way we develop and deliver a software platform, and
with the Petrel 2020 Platform and update releases, we continue to deliver on our promise of better integration, deep
science, and productivity. Today we support an engineering team unrivaled in size and expertise, empowered by the
Ocean software development framework. More than ever before, we are positioned to help you develop critical insights
into reservoirs throughout the oilfield lifecycle.
With this Petrel E&P Software 2020.4 minor release, Schlumberger continues its commitment to improve and innovate the
way you work. Petrel allows multi-domain experts to co-create a shared earth model that can be continuously updated as
new information is acquired. These release notes contain short descriptors for the most significant enhancements, fixed
issues, and known limitations, as well as system requirements and recommendations.

Distribution
The Petrel 2020 release is available by download using the appropriate links on the Software Integrated Solutions (SIS)
Support Portal. A user account is required on the portal. If you do not already have a user account, you can register to
access the portal at https://www.software.slb.com/support.
The full set of Petrel 2020 documentation, and documentation for any prior Petrel release, can be downloaded from the
Software Integrated Solutions (SIS) Support Portal.

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RELEASE NOTES 2020.4

Requirements

This section contains Petrel system requirements, Studio* database requirements, licensing requirements, and project
compatibility.

System requirements
For more information on the Petrel system requirements, operating systems, and hardware selections, please refer to the
Installation Guide.

Minimum Preferred

Processor Quad-core processor (best with a fast clock Dual 4 to 8 core processor (best with a fast
speed and high cache) clock speed and high cache)

Memory 16 GB RAM (32+ GB recommended) 64 GB RAM

Display The quality of the viewing experience increases with the size and number of monitors

Graphics desktop NVIDIA® Quadro® P4000 or NVIDIA Quadro NVIDIA Quadro P6000 or P5000
P2000

Graphics mobile NVIDIA Quadro P3000 or NVIDIA Quadro M2200 NVIDIA Quadro P5000 or P4000

Primary storage Fast rotational speed HDD (10K, 15K RPM) or PCIe based Flash or SSD
SSD

Secondary storage Optional SSD or Fast rotational speed HDD (10K, 15K)

• The Petrel interface is optimized for horizontal resolutions from 1280 and higher and for vertical resolutions from 1024
and higher.
• Support for VR (virtual reality) has been removed from Petrel 2017 onward.
• Windows 10 updates - Microsoft® supports semi-annual update channel (includes .NET®) - future Petrel versions will
be supported on the current channel update at the Petrel release date.
• Schlumberger continually tests the latest hardware available from major suppliers. In an attempt to minimize
unexpected problems and costs, Schlumberger often uses branded solutions such as those offered by HP®, Dell®,
Lenovo®, Intel®, and NVIDIA.

Operating systems
Microsoft Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise Edition (64-bit)

Other required software

Microsoft .NET Framework 4.7.2 or newer (Tech Alert #6858030)

Studio database system requirements

Oracle databases

Recommended

Operating system Red Hat® Enterprise Linux® 7.5 (64-bit), CentOS 7.5 (Kwin Windowing Manager)

Processor x64 processor (dual six-core) (x64 processor [dual quad-core] minimum)

Memory 64 GB or greater (32 GB minimum)

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 REQUIREMENTS

Other required software

Oracle Database Enterprise Edition 18c (64-bit)

Microsoft SQL Server databases

Recommended

Operating system Windows Server 2016 (64-bit)

Processor x64 processor (dual quad-core) (x64 processor [quad-core] minimum)

Memory 64 GB (32 GB minimum)

Other required software

SQL Server 2016 SP1 Standard Edition (64-bit)

Licensing requirements
Petrel 2020 requires the 2020.1 (recommended) or 2017 version of the Schlumberger Licensing Tool.
• Petrel 2020 will not work with an older License Server.
• All older versions of Petrel will continue to work against the 2017 or 2020.1 License Server.
• The Licensing Tool is available from the Licensing folder on the Petrel DVD.
A Petrel dongle and a valid license are required to run this release. Petrel licenses incorporate two important dates: the
maintenance expiry date and the license expiry date. You can verify the validity of your license, as follows:

FEATURE Petrel_01220255_MAAAdLyku/aUAslbsis<yyyy.mm> <d-mmm-yyyy>.<#>

Where:
• <yyyy.mm> is the maintenance expiry year and month
• <d-mmm-yyyy> is the license expiry day, month, year
• <#> is the number of licenses

Project compatibility
The Petrel platform preserves the value of your historical data. Projects saved in all earlier Petrel versions will load
directly into Petrel 2020 without any need for data migration. However, note that projects saved with Petrel 2020 will not
be backwards compatible (e.g. cannot be opened) with earlier versions.

DELFI Petrotechnical Suite system requirements

For DELFI Petrotechnical Suite system requirements, refer to the online help here.

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RELEASE NOTES 2020.4

New features and enhancements

The following content contains descriptions of new features and behavioral changes in this release, organized by domain.

Geophysics
• Seismic well tie: Fixed an issue where the Apply bulk shift icon in the Tool Palette did not account for bulk value
changes.
• AVO anisotropy: Added an Uncorrected synthetics track calculated using the Aki & Richards (3 Term) method for the
input P-velocity, S-velocity, Density logs and selected wavelet at the range of angle specified within the Synthetic
Parameters section of the Synthetic tab.
• Seismic data conditioning: A fix has been implemented to prevent an erroneous error message stating that the
Intercept & Gradient calculation only accepts angle stacks when selected for virtual volume output.
• 2D forward modeling: A fix has been implemented to prevent a crash when attempting to open the Well section
window associated with a 2D modeling session that was previously closed.

Geological Interpretation
Wells
• Export non-interpolated trajectories for single or multiple wells: You can now export the trajectories for a single well
or multiple wells without the interpolated points.
• Well data browser: General enhancements to improve stability and prevent crashes related to loading a JSON and
deleting a well filter on well tops.
• 3D Well annotation: Fixed an issue where the TWT/Z well annotations in 3D behaved incorrectly when changing from
depth/time domain.
• Log export manager: Fixed an issue where no files would be exported in some projects in Feet.
• Well tops spreadsheet: Fixed an issue where copying a line in the well tops spreadsheet and pasting it would result in
shifted columns.

Well Section Window

Well top display in inter well space: Fixed an issue where the interpreter filter was not honored when well tops sub labels
are displayed in the inter well space.

Workflow Editor
Use variables for well top attribute commands: You can now use variables in the Continuous and Discrete well top
attribute commands, enabling greater flexibility to fully automate model creation.

Reservoir and Production Engineering

Workover Candidate Recognition and Validation
• Economic analysis for workover candidates: The Workover Candidate Recognition and Validation workflow has been
enhanced to allow the economic evaluation of potential workover candidates. Effective workover decisions must be
driven by economic criteria, or in other words the opportunities with the highest expected economic return should be
prioritized. Economic analysis enables you to compare the economic feasibility of different workover options for a
candidate well using economic indicators such as Net Present Value and Discounted Profitability Index (DPI). You can
subsequently use the economic indicators in the candidate ranking and selection process to prioritize the
opportunities that present the highest financial value.
• Analytical forecasts in workover candidate recognition and validation: The Workover Candidate Recognition and
Validation workflow now allows you to use analytical methods to forecast the production performance of candidate
wells. This includes analytical simulation cases as well as decline curve analysis. You can also use analogous wells to
statistically estimate the expected production of your candidate wells by using type wells with decline curve analysis.

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 NEW FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS

Structural Modeling
Structural Framework Modeling
Structural scenario creation: The creation of alternate Structural framework models is accelerated through two new
functionalities: Replicate model parameters (right-click options in the Models pane) and Save model parameters (Save
button in the structural modeling process dialog boxes). Model replication assists in generating new model scenarios
from a 'base case' model. By modifying a replicated model and saving parameters, or saving parameters for a newly
created model, you can configure multiple modeling processes and automate their execution through the Workflow
editor.

Gridding
Fault property to points: Operations to convert fault properties to points have been added for structural framework and
depogrid faults. This includes the generation of weighted averages and enables further analysis of fault properties in
histogram, function, and stereonet windows.

Foundation
• White window canvases (gray border issue): Fixed the issue where using the Fit dynamic option to adjust the
visualization of white windows (Map, Interpretation, Intersection, Plot, Stereonet, for example) caused these windows
to extend partially on the display area and show a gray section at the bottom or right of the canvas.
• Web map service rendering: Fixed the issue where a web map service did not render to the maximum extent in the
window in which it was displayed. This occurred when the ratio of the window width versus height was less than 1,
and was common when using title windows in the vertical direction.
• Help documentation: A 'What's New in Petrel Help' section is now available with a summary of new and updated Help
pages for new Petrel feature and technology updates, for each Petrel 2020.x release.

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RELEASE NOTES 2020.4

Known issues

The following content summarizes known issues and limitations organized by domain.

Geophysics
General
• Mesh probes:
• There may be an error when converting a mesh probe made from multi-z data into a seismic cube. This is best
checked by playing converted timeslices through the original multi-z data to check that the conversion is correct.
• There will be an error when extracting geobodies from a volume mesh probe made from seismic horizons or
surfaces that have holes in them.
• Horizon probes: Horizon probes use an on-demand view. This is not cached when the project is saved. Therefore, on
reopening a project that contains a horizon probe, the surface or horizon must be resampled the first time the probe is
displayed. For large surfaces, this can take a considerable amount of time. You may wish to close the window that
shows the probe before you save the project, or press Ctrl when opening the project (this opens the project with no
windows open).
• Meshes: You cannot create an editable mesh from 3D interpretation data if there are gaps between interpreted points,
for example if you have interpreted on a cube with an increment greater than the survey increment. You can resolve
this by either interpolating the data or converting to a surface.
• Restrict mode: Restrict on timeslices is limited to the active timeslice. Changing the active timeslice requires restrict
mode to be switched off and on, or the timeslice to be moved to update the display.

Seismic Well Tie

Depth seismic calibration study:
• A Depth seismic calibration study with only bulk shift applied created prior to Petrel 2019.2 contains incorrect depth
correction values when the project is upgraded.
Workaround: Open the Seismic well tie Tool Palette, check bulk shift, remove it and apply the same bulk shift but with
the opposite sign.
• To get the bulk shift value added in the Well tops spreadsheet (depth correction value) after the project upgrade for all
depth seismic calibration studies created prior to version 2019.4, you must check that the Align points option is applied
on the Seismic Well Tie Editing Tool Palette.
• If the Auto save all option in the Output tab is used to create a DDR log, the Set as active DDR button is not active. To
make it active, click the save icon.

Geological Interpretation
General
• Contour lines disassociated from a surface: In some cases, when a surface is rotated, the contour lines can be
disassociated from the surface after running a workflow. This issue is currently under investigation.
• Well Data loader - user defined well attributes: User attributes loaded with the Well data loader are assumed to be in
SI unit in the source file. This can lead to data being converted incorrectly during the import process. Until the issue is
fixed, you must manually convert user attributes to SI units in the source file.

Well Section Window

• Style tab for depogrid properties: Style tab edits for depogrid properties are not preserved if the project is opened in
2018.1. Default settings apply in Petrel 2018.1 and the Style tab is not available.
• Custom templates in the Well Section Window: Surfaces cannot be displayed in the Well Section Window when using
custom templates inside the Well Section Window.

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 KNOWN ISSUES

Workflow Editor
New Workflow editor commands: Some of the new Workflow editor commands introduced in Petrel 2020.2 and 2020.3 do
not appear in workflows when the project is opened in Petrel 2020.1. If you save the project in Petrel 2020.1, the workflow
is overwritten and is completely empty when the project is reopened in Petrel 2020.2 or later versions. Affected
commands are:
• Convert well tops to isochore points
• Add/update zone log
• Insert new well tops attribute
• Continuous well tops attribute operations
• Discrete well tops attribute operations
• Get / Set well tops attribute

Reservoir and Production Engineering

Simulation
• User edits with FM Strategy: If you have created User Edits for Field management strategy prior to Petrel 2018.1 and
they contain nodes related to region mapping, they must be updated to match the new node names.

Old (pre-2018.1) New (2018.1 and later)

RockMechanics ROCK_MECHANICS

DrainageSaturationFunction DRAINAGE_SATURATION_FUNCTION

DrainageSaturationNonDarcyFlows NONDARCY_FLOWMODEL_DEFINITION

ImbibitionSaturationFunction IMBIBITION_SATURATION_FUNCTION

Adsorption ADSORPTION_MODEL

MiscibilitySaturationFunction MISCIBLE_SATURATION_FUNCTION

LowSaltSaturationFunction LOW_SALT_SATURATION_FUNCTION

RelPermHysteresis REL_PERM_HYSTERESIS

CapPressureHysteresis CAP_PRESSURE_HYSTERESIS

RelPermCapNumber REL_PERM_CAP_NUMBER

FluidPVTModel FLUID_PVT_MODEL

FluidEOSModel FLUID_EOS_MODEL

EqulibriumEQLModel EQULIBRIUM_EQL_MODEL

EqulibriumPVTModel EQULIBRIUM_PVT_MODEL

EqulibriumEOSModel EQULIBRIUM_EOS_MODEL

• EOR Surfactant workflows: In INTERSECT 2019.1 and later, the surfactant workflow is compatible with black oil
simulation with oil, water, and gas defined.
Dual porosity, compositional, API tracking simulation, and J-function are not supported with surfactant. Refer to
INTERSECT Technical Description for a detailed compatibility list.
• Initial conditions process for depogrid: The Initial conditions process is not supported for depogrids in this release.
• Depogrid INTERSECT cases do not support PINCH: INTERSECT does not currently support the generation of
connections across pinched-out layers (PINCH keyword in ECLIPSE) for unstructured grids such as depogrids. Pre-
release testing suggests that the material impact on the simulation is limited when realistic property distributions are
used.

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RELEASE NOTES 2020.4

In a structured grid, pinched-out layers either represent layers of zero-thickness cells or represent cells that have
been made inactive because their overall cell thickness or pore volume is less than the specified threshold value. The
presence of a layer of inactive cells would normally prevent flow from crossing between the active cells immediately
above and below. So, you can turn on the option within the simulator to automatically generate non-neighbor
connections that allow fluid to flow between these active cells.
However, in a depogrid you cannot have cells of zero thickness. In addition, we tested the impact on the simulated
reservoir flows across cells made inactive with pore volume cut-off values on a selection of synthetic and client
models that contained the thin layers and flat erosions. While you can create flow barriers in synthetic examples with
constant reservoir properties, when representative property distributions were used, unrealistically large pore volume
cut-off values were required to see a material flow barrier.
• Case conversion – Convert to INTERSECT Field Management cases: The ability to convert a simulation case to a Field
Management case is an additional option that has been added to the Case Conversion dialog box. It enables you to
convert cases that use INTERSECT Development Strategies to cases that use INTERSECT Field Management
strategies. This is a pre-commercial feature, and has some limitations in this release. It can convert many cases, but
you may encounter some problems.
Most types of cases can be inserted in the Input case field. Select the type of case that you want to convert the input
case to. Where check boxes are disabled, there is no supported conversion to that case type. The selected case
types determine the new cases that result. Petrel may generate intermediate cases during conversion, but unless
these case types were explicitly requested they are deleted before conversion finishes.
Here are some hints to help you overcome the issues you may encounter:
Many cases convert without problems – if conversion errors occur, error messages appear and the case types that
you selected may not be created. You can still achieve the conversion you want by isolating the problems, making
changes to cases, and re-running the conversions.
To do this, run the conversions in stages. For example, if you are starting with an ‘imported’ case (an ECLIPSE deck
managed by a Petrel case), and you want to convert this to an INTERSECT Field Management case, Petrel does the
following conversion stages in sequence, for a single use of the Convert Case dialog box:
1. Conversion of the ‘imported’ case to a ‘modeled’ ECLIPSE case (this was called Convert to Petrel case in Petrel
2017).
2. Conversion of the ‘modeled’ ECLIPSE case to an INTERSECT Development Strategy case.
3. Conversion of the INTERSECT Development Strategy case to an INTERSECT Field Management case.
Instead, do each of these three conversions separately, using the Case Convertor dialog box each time. After each
conversion, try to export and run the case that was just created.
If you see errors at any stage, or simulation results that do not match, then try to resolve these issues first (by either
modifying the input or output case).
Where there are problems with conversion (2), it can be helpful to run the INTERSECT Migrator directly on the
exported ECLIPSE case (outside Petrel) to check if the same problems are seen.
Conversion (1) can create ECLIPSE ‘user keywords’ in the converted case, these are a common cause of conversion
problems.
Conversion (2) can create INTERSECT user edits in the converted case, these should be the INTERSECT ‘equivalent’ of
the user keywords in (1).
Conversion (3) can also create INTERSECT user edits in the converted case. These should mostly be the same as the
user edits in (2) but with some different IXF node names, caused by different naming formats between DS (ECLIPSE
format) and FM (full Petrel entity names). It may be possible to correct some types of error by editing the generated
user keywords or user edits.
Some known limitations in this release:
• Type (2) or (3) conversions are not supported for:

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 KNOWN ISSUES

• Restart cases
• Cases containing Initial Condition Sets
• Cases with grids that cannot be reasonably accurately represented in Petrel EGRID format.
• Type (2) conversions for cases containing user keywords are not supported for:
• Initialization cases (in other words, no Development Strategy).
• Cases with user keywords affecting grid geometry.
• Type (3) conversions are not supported for cases that have Development Strategy schedule keyword rules
containing COMPSEG(S/L).

Workover Candidate Recognition and Validation

• Completion-level analysis: If completion-level analysis is performed in Reservoir quality vs production, then the
completion-level Reservoir quality indicator (RQI) and Production performance indicator are not displayed in the
Underperformers summary, Problem well summary, or Candidate wells summary. Only well-level information is
currently shown in the summary steps.
• Candidate wells summary: In the Candidate wells summary step of the Workover candidate recognition and validation
process, the selection made for the Selected wells only option is not persisted and defaults to the unchecked state.
The columns selected in the summary table are also not persisted.

RE Extension Suite
For a detailed list of known issues related to the plugins in RE Extension Suite, please refer to the plug-in release notes
accessible through Petrel Help.

Structural Modeling
Structural framework modeling
• Fault modeling – Running converted fault frameworks: Previous (pre-2018) structural frameworks must be converted
to new domain objects and rerun. Fault modeling parameters are converted as they are, but for some cases are used
differently, for example the fault smoothing parameter.
• Fault modeling – 2018/2019/2020 versus previous versions: Framework faults modeled with previous versions may
differ from faults modeled with the new fault framework modeling algorithm, even though the same parameters have
been used. Any derived output from fault modeling is also expected to change. To minimize such differences, the
pre-2018.1 framework fault can be converted into points and assigned as input to the new fault model.
• Fault modeling – Modeling while interpreting: Fault modeling while interpreting is not yet enabled on the new
framework faults.
• Fault modeling – Fault extrapolation distance: Depending on the fault shape and dip variations, the extrapolation
distance might not be isotropic.
• Fault modeling – Fault truncation editing: Fault patches can only be truncated when the corresponding intersection
line entirely disconnects the fault patch. A truncation rule specified in the Framework fault modeling process which
cannot be applied will not be automatically set to none. In other words, the fault relationship table will be inconsistent
with the Framework faults.
• Model construction – Filtering of stratigraphic model input data: The filtering of stratigraphic model input data could
be performed for selected faults at specific distances in the horizon modeling process prior to Petrel 2018.1. This is
now handled by filtering attribute generation in the Horizon clean-up process and attribute consumption in the Model
construction process. Bulk fault filtering (one value for all faults but for selected input) is still possible in the Model
construction process.
• Model construction – Incorrect dip-trend extrapolation along faults and at model boundary: Without enough data to
constrain horizons close to faults and the model boundary, those horizons can present an incorrect shape, for
example in narrow fault blocks where the input data has been filtered. The editing of filtering parameters (edit
attribute, reduce bulk filtering) and manual addition of new unfiltered data can reduce these effects.
• Model construction – Model faults versus Framework faults: Model faults resulting from the Model construction step
are re-meshed versions of the framework faults. Depending on the change in mesh resolution, model faults may have
a different shape and no longer explicitly match the fault tops used in fault modeling.

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• Model construction – Spikes or bubbles in non-refined horizons: Non-refined horizons extracted from the stratigraphic
function can in some cases present spikes or bubbles. These artifacts can often be related to inconsistent
stratigraphic input data (very noisy interpretation, omitted faults, competing data, and other anomalies). Such
inconsistencies are not necessarily present in the input data corresponding to the horizon where those artefacts are
observed. These inconsistencies may be derived from any other input data for the affected conformable sequence.
• Model Construction – Enable air interpretation input data option: Fault activity has an impact on the behavior of the
Enable air/ground interpretation option. Air interpretation input data will not be taken into account across fault activity
limits.
• Model refinement – Degradation of refined versus non-refined horizons: Where the non-refined horizons (from the
Model construction process) are far away from the corresponding input data, issues can occur during the refinement
of those horizons. In a setting where one or more refined horizons are snapping to the input data, but intermediate
horizons do not have any input data to snap to (for example, well-based horizons), refined horizons may cross even
when the Enforce consistent zone thickness option is activated. Where the horizon input data contains uninterpreted
areas, models will snap to the data where interpretation is present and not in those areas where no interpretation has
been generated. This scenario may also result in horizon irregularities.
• Model refinement – Keep only blocks: The Keep only blocks with input data option in the Model construction process
is not compatible with the Depospace calculation process and with the Structural gridding process when using the
stratigraphic layering type.
• Depospace calculation – Overlapping zones or gaps in depospace: Unbalanced structural models due to inconsistent
fault/horizon cut-off lines can result in overlapping areas or gaps in depospace view. Overlaps can be seen in the
mesh view of the zones.
• Depospace calculation – Optimization: Depospace performance optimization per conformable sequence (pre-2018.1)
is currently not compatible with the underlying stratigraphic function structure and depogrid, and has therefore been
disabled.
• Depospace calculation – Geodesic distances: The current depospace calculation uses a vertical mapping step to
flatten the conformable horizons, and consequently geodetic distances may not be preserved in certain cases.
• Depospace calculation – Isolated fault blocks: Zones identified as isolated fault blocks are not handled in Depospace.
To remove isolated fault blocks, at least one data point must be added into each block.
• Operations – Convert horizon to surface: The conversion of model horizons to surfaces has been removed.
• Workflow editor using processes with saved parameters: When parameters are saved but not run in the structural
framework processes, they are correctly consumed by the corresponding Workflow editor steps. However, modified
parameters in the Workflow editor are not synchronized back with the main process. When replicating models from a
base case, also consider that the following parameters will revert to default values: the Fault Activity tab in the Model
construction process and the vertical extent and apply boundary conditions sections in the Depospace calculation
process. A manual initialization may be required in cases where these parameters are modified from the default.

Gridding
• Depogrids in multi-sequence models: For depogrids built from structural models including non-conformable horizons
(erosion, base, or discontinuity), small gaps or interpenetrations may be observed locally between grid cells across
the unconformity. These may create small-scale localized artifacts. The impact on downstream property modeling,
volume computation, and reservoir simulation has been assessed as low.
• Depogrids with a lateral resolution different from the parent structural model: It is recommended to build a depogrid at
a similar lateral resolution to the parent (refined) structural model. Issues may be observed when those resolutions
significantly differ. In particular, small-scale localized mismatches between the depogrid horizons and the structural
model horizons may be observed when the grid resolution is finer.
• Depogrid layering issues in certain cases of high aspect ratio cells: The distribution of the layers within a zone may
not strictly be proportional in certain cases of grid cells with a high aspect ratio. The extreme case is self-intersecting
cells that may locally be observed in the grid (close to faults or unconformities).

Enriched workflows in the DELFI Petrotechnical Suite

Fracture modeling: The Oda and Oda corrected methods are available for Discrete Fracture Networks. The Flow based
method is not available on Petrel PTS.

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Geomechanics
Reservoir Geomechanics
• VISAGE INTERSECT coupling: The pore volume updating of the fracture model can be unstable for large pore volume
changes causing convergence issues in the INTERSECT simulation. In this case, you are advised to turn off the pore
volume updating of the fracture model.
• Quick MEM: Does not support LGRs.
• Mud weight predictor: Does not support LGRs.
• Geomechanical grids: LGRs are not supported for grids that contain bad cells.

Reservoir Modeling
• Data analysis settings in MIP objects: Currently only single variogram structures and global facies fractions are
captured in MIP from data analysis. Proportion, probability, and transformation curves are not stored in MIP.
• MIP object unit dependency with RPT: It is not possible to transfer MIP objects between projects if the XY and Z units
if the Working and Background projects are not the same.
• Uncertainty and optimization - Trend modeling: 2D discrete Trend modeling process is not restored in the Uncertainty
and optimization process when its output is used as input in a process defined in a case. Only discrete 3D trend
modeling is listed in the Uncertainty and optimization workflow. 2D trend models can be added to the workflow
through Edit workflow in Unceratinty and optimization process.

Property Population
Depogrid support workflows: The following property modeling processes/methods/options are not available for
depogrids:
• Zone correction option in Well log upscaling.
• Multi-point simulation with patterns object method for discrete properties.
• Create variograms from properties in Settings.
• More tab for continuous properties.
• User-defined object for 3D depogrid properties data type.
• Store and populate the contact option in the Contacts process.

Exploration Geology
Petroleum Systems Modeling
• 2D extraction from 3D model: When you display a property, and show the default or more cell boundaries (horizons
and vertical lines), and then turn on a different property, the cell boundary lines are no longer visible.
Workaround: Rotate the model to make them reappear.
• Import 3D input model from PetroMod to Petrel: Take care when importing models that contain layers which were
completely deposited and eroded because the number of sublayers (at present day) does not match the number of
created horizons.
Workaround: The top horizon of a layer, which was completely deposited and eroded, must be assigned manually in
the Create 3D model process after importing the model. Note that the naming convention of that horizon differs
between Petrel and PetroMod.
• Extract and export 2D interpretation from seismic lines: Extract and export 2D interpretation from seismic lines does
not support cropped lines. Workarounds:
• Use the uncropped line for the extraction and export.
• Convert the cropped line to 2D seismic (right-click on the line, then select Convert to 2D seismic in the shortcut
menu) and right-click the resulting 2D seismic line to access Extract and export to PetroMod.
• Create 3D model Map-based mixing: Map-based mixing does not work for models that contain erosion events when
facies are assigned from the table. If lithology mixing ratios are defined from grid properties and erosion is to be

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modeled at the same time, the simulator reports that some elements have no lithological information. This is because
the mixing ratio property is not defined for the missing elements (due to erosion).
Workaround:
1. Export the model to PetroMod.
2. Convert cube data to maps.
3. Fill in any undefined values using the map editing tools in PetroBuilder 3D.
4. Simulate the model.

Petroleum Systems Quick Look

Petroleum Systems Quick Look lithologies not available to petroleum systems modeling outside of PSQL: Petroleum
Systems Quick Look (PSQL) lithologies are generated by default in a main folder. Note that lithologies located in main
lithology folders are not merged with PetroMod. Therefore, the simulator does not have access to them, and they cannot
be assigned in a Facies definition table in PetroMod or in Petrel.
Workaround: If you want to use PSQL lithologies for petroleum systems modeling outside of PSQL, you must copy them to
a sub- folder.

Play Chance Mapping

Play Chance Mapping Coordinate reference system (CRS) conversion possible with wrong results: If you work with Play
Chance Mapping (PCM) in the Reference project tool, after a coordinate reference system (CRS) conversion the resulting
surface may be distorted or have a rotation angle. The reason is that the master grid may no longer be orthogonal, which
is mandatory for PCM to work properly.
Workaround: Specify the master grid after the CRS conversion and run PCM again.

GPM
If the GPM simulation name given during the Run sedimentary simulation process includes a special character (space,
underscore, hyphen, and so on), the resulting GPM input object retains the complete GPM simulation name but the name
of the resulting GPM result object does not include any special characters (for example, GPM_3D_Model will become
GPM3DModel).
Workaround: Do not use special characters in GPM simulation models.

Studio
• Project data table delete functionality: When deleting a microseismic folder and the associated data and geopolygons
in the Project data table, if the Search dialog box is open, or if it was opened and then closed, you may receive an
error message. As a workaround, avoid opening the Search dialog box when deleting this data type, or delete objects
from the Input pane.
• Transfer of seismic logs sampled in depth from Petrel to Studio: The SRD definitions for the seismogram logs are not
populated during the upgrade to 2020. They assume the SRD of the receiving project, and can be subsequently
reassigned. When sent back to Studio, the SRD information is correctly retained.
• Updating merged point well data attribute: When the attribute data from a source point well data is merged into a
target, the source is deleted, and the link between the source point well data attribute and the target is lost. Any
updates made against the source point well data attributes are not preserved in Studio. You must delete the source
point well data in a Petrel project before a transfer from Studio.
• Editable triangle mesh: Performance test statistics during transfer of Editable triangle mesh from Petrel to Studio can
run indefinitely if the number of triangles exceed 40M. This is caused by a limitation in the current binary serialization
format to store this type of geometry shape data in Studio Database 2020.1.
Workaround: You can resample the editable triangle mesh. Right-click the editable triangle mesh, select Simplify mesh
and enter a value in New maximum number of triangles to match the surface 2D nodes and make the transfer to
proceed.

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• User attribute deletion: When a user attribute is deleted, the well top time stamps are not updated but the attribute is
now missing from the project. Performing a right-click Retrieve all from Studio will transfer the missing attribute but it
will be empty because the time stamp for the well top in Petrel is equal to the one in Studio and these objects are not
transferred.
Workaround: If you have deleted an attribute in Petrel and want to retrieve it again from Studio with data values, you
must modify the individual well-related objects in either Petrel or Studio to register an update in the timestamp or
remove the well-related objects from Petrel so that there is no counterpart and retrieve it again from Studio.
This behavior is not limited to well top attributes but also the attributes of point well data, wells, and checkshots.
• Horizon interpretation attribute SRD label: When a horizon interpretation with attributes is sent to Studio from a
project with SRD A and is subsequently retrieved to a project with SRD B, any attribute with an elevation time
template will have its SRD information incorrectly labeled as the receiving project SRD B. In this scenario, the SRD
label will be visually incorrect but can be safely ignored.

Guru
• Quality Reporting Screen Capture workstep does not support georeferenced images: When using the Screen Capture
workstep within a workflow, if the option to output the image as a georeferenced image is selected, an image will be
created in the Input pane. However, this image is not spatially referenced as required by georeferenced images.
Workaround: Spatial information can be entered manually in the Settings dialog box of the georeferenced image.
• Any comments added to Guru pages in previous versions are not retained: If you added comments to any Guru pages
in previous versions of Petrel, these are not retained in 2019.
• Quality Reporting Add to reference list does not support horizons from a 3D grid: When using the Add to reference list
workstep in a workflow, if 3D grid horizons are added to that reference list then any operation that is run on that
reference list will not recognize them (a message appears saying the reference list is empty).
Workaround: Use the For all icons in workstep to loop through all horizons within a 3D grid or provide the horizons
manually to the Set reference list workstep.
• Custom company logos are not retained if a page is repackaged: If a new page is created in the Guru Editor and
packaged with a new company logo, if the page is packaged a second time all the information is retained except the
company logo (it will revert to the Schlumberger logo).
Workaround: Add the company logo during each packaging process.
• Blank guided workflow window opens if two Petrel instances are open: If there are two instances of Petrel open,
accessing Guru or running a guided workflow will result in a blank Guru window opening.
Workaround: Close one instance of Petrel and Guru will function correctly.

Foundation
Profiles
• Tools repeated in search: Multiple tools exist for some functions, such as creating windows and opening dialog boxes,
and some tool names therefore appear more than once. This is an area of active development.
• Tools missing from search: Some tools, such as drop-down menus, may not appear in the search results in the Profile
editor dialog box.

Mapping
Geopolygons do not display in the correct position in the map viewport when using large-sized plot windows: When using
a plot window with a large size and two or more map viewports are displayed at the bottom and top right, if you visualize a
geopolygon with the corresponding polygon counterpart for reference, the geopolygon will shift position when you
reduce the zoom display.

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Function Window Scaling

Function lines: The display of a function line in a Function window shifts when you use extreme zoom and the proximity to
points defined the function. This is a product of the current minimum scaling limitation.

Color Tables
• Surface display updates: Specific surface display updates (contour lines off and solid display set to specified) can
cause the color table's histogram to disappear when opening and displaying an object in a new black window. The
workaround is to switch off and on the histogram by right-clicking the top of the color table display.
• Workflow editor commands: Some of the new Workflow editor commands introduced in Petrel 2020.2 and 2020.3 do
not appear in workflows when the project is opened in Petrel 2020.1. If you save the project in Petrel 2020.1, the
workflow is overwritten and is completely empty when the project is reopened in Petrel 2020.2 or later versions. The
affected commands are:
• Use local color table
• Use global color table
• Set color table limits

Printers
Unsupported printers: The printer HP Designjet 1055CM (model number: C6075A/system requirements: Windows 9x;
Windows 3x; Windows NT) is not supported. When printing a plot window, clicking Properties in the Petrel printing dialog
box results in an unhandled exception which causes Petrel to fail and close. This affects all versions of Petrel from 2017
onward. As stated in its systems requirements, the printer does not support the operating systems in which Petrel is
certified (Windows 10 Professional or Enterprise Edition (64-bit)). The printer also causes issues with other applications.
Workaround: Uninstall the printer's driver and report the issue to HP.

Core
Live collaboration: The Live collaboration feature has the following limitations:
• The list of supported data when creating a collaboration session and searching for objects can be incomplete.
Supported objects that are missing from the list can be directly added to the session using the blue arrow.
• It is not possible to delete an active collaboration session. You can only delete your own session if nobody else has
joined.
• It is possible to specify collaboration administrative rights to users in the collaboration.config file so that they can
delete any non-active session. Note: User names are case-sensitive.
• It is not possible to join a session that contains a seismic horizon with only read-only access to the folder where the
Petrel project is stored.
• Live collaboration and its workflows are not currently supported in the DELFI Petrotechnical Suite.

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Support information

Use the Software Support Portal to access technical support for Schlumberger products.
• Contact support for assistance.
• Download product documentation.
• Review product training options.
• Learn about exploration, development, production, and DELFI product and service offerings.

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