Warn in case of empty SummaryConfig.keys

src/ert/config/ert_config.py

@@ -99,6 +99,18 @@ def __post_init__(self) -> None:
             else os.getcwd()
         )
         self.enkf_obs: EnkfObs = self._create_observations()
+        if (
+            "summary" in self.ensemble_config
+            and len(self.ensemble_config["summary"].keys) == 0
+        ):
+            # There is a bug with storing empty responses so we have
+            # to warn that the forward model fails in this case
+            # https://github.com/equinor/ert/issues/6974
+            ConfigWarning.ert_context_warn(
+                "Setting ECLBASE without using SUMMARY, SUMMARY_OBSERVATION, "
+                "or HISTORY_OBSERVATION most likely causes the forward model to fail."
+                "to silence this warning just add 'SUMMARY *' to your config file.",
+            )
         self.observations: Dict[str, xr.Dataset] = self.enkf_obs.datasets
 
     @classmethod

src/ert/config/observations.py

@@ -98,14 +98,21 @@ def _handle_history_observation(
         history_type: Optional[HistorySource],
         time_len: int,
     ) -> Dict[str, ObsVector]:
+        if "summary" not in ensemble_config:
+            raise ObservationConfigError.with_context(
+                "In order to use history observation, ECLBASE has to be set",
+                summary_key,
+            )
         response_config = ensemble_config["summary"]
         assert isinstance(response_config, SummaryConfig)
 
         refcase = ensemble_config.refcase
         if refcase is None:
             raise ObservationConfigError("REFCASE is required for HISTORY_OBSERVATION")
         if history_type is None:
-            raise ValueError("Need a history type in order to use history observations")
+            raise ObservationConfigError(
+                "Need a history type in order to use history observations"
+            )
 
         if summary_key not in response_config.keys:
             response_config.keys.append(summary_key)
@@ -274,6 +281,11 @@ def _handle_summary_observation(
         time_map: List[datetime],
     ) -> Dict[str, ObsVector]:
         summary_key = summary_dict["KEY"]
+        if "summary" not in ensemble_config:
+            raise ObservationConfigError.with_context(
+                "In order to use summary observation, ECLBASE has to be set",
+                obs_key,
+            )
         summary_config = ensemble_config["summary"]
         assert isinstance(summary_config, SummaryConfig)
         if summary_key not in summary_config.keys:

src/ert/config/summary_config.py

@@ -31,6 +31,7 @@ def read_from_file(self, run_path: str, iens: int) -> xr.Dataset:
         filename = self.input_file.replace("<IENS>", str(iens))
         _, keys, time_map, data = read_summary(f"{run_path}/{filename}", self.keys)
         if len(data) == 0 or len(keys) == 0:
+            # https://github.com/equinor/ert/issues/6974
             # There is a bug with storing empty responses so we have
             # to raise an error in that case
             raise ValueError(

tests/unit_tests/config/test_observations.py

@@ -113,6 +113,23 @@ def test_date_parsing_in_observations(datestring, errors):
             ErtConfig.from_file("config.ert")
 
 
+def test_that_using_summary_observations_without_eclbase_shows_user_error():
+    config_text = dedent(
+        """
+        NUM_REALIZATIONS 1
+        OBS_CONFIG observations_config
+        """
+    )
+    Path("observations_config").write_text(
+        "SUMMARY_OBSERVATION FOPR_1 "
+        "{ KEY=FOPR; VALUE=1; ERROR=1; DATE=2023-03-15; };",
+        encoding="utf-8",
+    )
+    Path("config.ert").write_text(config_text, encoding="utf-8")
+    with pytest.raises(ObservationConfigError, match="ECLBASE has to be set"):
+        ErtConfig.from_file("config.ert")
+
+
 def test_observations(minimum_case):
     observations = minimum_case.enkf_obs
     count = 10