SPE Technical Luncheon – From 3D Pore Scale Imaging to Reservoir Inputs: Next generation reservoir characterization and description

Abstract:

Digital rock analysis, an emerging technology driven by rapid advances in 3D pore scale imaging and computation, allows an unprecedented quantitative understanding of the pore scale at which all reservoir processes operate. Digital rock projects have historically focused on applications to core analysis – characterizing details at the pore scale and ensuring that the physics incorporated is correct.  While crucial, it has been a fundamental limitation to creating widespread commercial value and real growth to date.

This lecture highlights how this technology can aid the geoscientist and reservoir engineer today — examples are given where reconciliation and integration of the different types of data from a fundamental understanding of the pore scale adds value. In particular the work is used to offer fast turnaround times, aids in our understanding of unconventional reservoir core material and explains uncertainties and trends from laboratory measurements (e.g, issues with heterogeneity, representative elemental volume, wettability, distribution of remaining oil saturation, EOR processes).

Industry is seeking the extension of this technology to reliably derive and predict petrophysical & SCAL data along continuous lengths of core material and to integrate the data to information at increasingly larger scales (log characterization, geomodels and ultimately reservoir simulators). We conclude with a discussion of further steps being undertaken to create value via methods to image larger quantities of core– defining appropriate representative scales for different rock types, compactly storing the data, and developing methods to efficiently make continuous calculations of properties – from the pore to the reservoir scale.

Presenter: Mark Knackstedt

Mark Knackstedt is Professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics at the Australian National University and advisor to FEI Oil and Gas. He is a current and past (2007-2008, 2009-2010, 2012-2013) SPWLA distinguished speaker, 2015-2016 SPE Distinguished Lecturer, was awarded the George C. Matson Memorial Award from the AAPG in 2009 and the ENI award for New Frontiers in Hydrocarbon Research in 2010.