Uncertainty

Whilst today 'uncertainty' is probably the most frequently used noun by reservoir engineers it is absent from the indices of Dake's books. That does not tell of a lack of awareness. On the subject Dake quotes Muskat, who he describes as the 'ultimate reservoir engineer';

"In its operational sense the principle of uncertainty, which is usually considered as limited to the realm of microscopoc physics, constitutes the very essence of applied reservoir engineering as a science"

and comments  -

"An excellent thought - but what can be done about it?"

Practice - p27

Of course the mathematicians have done something about it probablistic engineering is now a possibility and the impact of the things we know we don't know can be modelled. What would be Dake's view? Perhaps he would be pleased that as yet the application of Chaos Theory of which he wrote...

"This would seem to be a convenient concept to hide behinf in reservoir engineering but at the time of writing is still in its infancy - thank goodness"

Practice - p27

has not yet appeared in SPE literature

However, food for thought, what can be done about the things we don't know we don't know....which leads us on to Murphy's Law.