Play analysis, play assessment, play fairway and play fairway mapping are all well known concepts in the petroleum industry. Analysis and understanding of the petroleum play is recognized as essential to strategically focused and successful exploration ventures. Many commercial groups offer courses, tools and consultancy and independently solicit methodologies to assist exploration teams in assessing plays.

Assessment of plays is routinely used throughout the petroleum industry as a tool for screening and ranking areas and high grading and estimating the Yet-To-Find (YTF) potential of areas, regions and provinces. Assessment of unconventional resource plays is a new area where application of play assessment is the key to delineating sweet spots. There is, however, little communication and open discussions about actual techniques used highlighting the pros and cons of various approaches. Some play assessment methodologies are purely qualitative and offer delineation and high grading of areas within a play; some methodologies are more or less quantitative and offer, in addition to delineation and high grading, assessment of play risk with or without an assessment of the total resource potential as well as the Yet-To-Find resource potential of the play.

See more