What's the most effective reservoir simulation software for planning infill drilling in a reservoir with uncertain pressure support?

There isn’t one universally “best” reservoir simulator for infill-drilling planning under uncertain pressure support. The most effective choice is usually the one that fits your reservoir complexity, data quality, history-match requirements, and uncertainty workflow.

Good options, depending on the problem

1. ECLIPSE / INTERSECT (SLB)

• Very widely used in field development planning
• Strong for black-oil and compositional simulation
• Good history matching and forecasting workflows
• Better choice if you need robust industry-standard support and integration

2. CMG (IMEX / GEM / STARS)

• Excellent for more specialized physics:
  • IMEX for black-oil
  • GEM for compositional/gas/volatile oil
  • STARS for thermal/EOR
• Strong if pressure support uncertainty is tied to gas injection, aquifer behavior, or EOR processes

3. tNavigator

• Very fast and popular for iterative scenario analysis
• Strong uncertainty/optimization workflows
• Useful if you need to run many infill cases quickly and compare pressure-support scenarios

4. Petrel RE

• Good integration with geologic modeling and reservoir workflows
• Useful if infill decisions depend heavily on static model updates and geocellular uncertainty

What matters most for your case

For a reservoir with uncertain pressure support, the key capability is not just the simulator itself, but whether it can handle:

• history matching
• ensemble/uncertainty modeling
• aquifer or boundary support representation
• fast scenario screening
• well interference and depletion forecasting

Practical recommendation

• If you want a safe, broadly accepted industry choice: ECLIPSE/INTERSECT
• If you need many scenarios and fast turnaround: tNavigator
• If you need advanced fluid/thermal physics: CMG
• If geology uncertainty is dominant: Petrel RE paired with a simulator

If you tell me:

• reservoir type (oil/gas/condensate)
• drive mechanism
• number of wells / size of model
• whether you need compositional or black-oil
• whether uncertainty is geological or pressure-support related

…I can recommend the best specific package and workflow.