Advances in the Study of Fractured Reservoirs

Naturally fractured reservoirs constitute a substantial percentage of remaining hydrocarbon resources; they create exploration targets in otherwise impermeable rocks, including under-explored crystalline basement; and they can be used as geological stores for anthropogenic carbon dioxide. Their complex behaviour during production has traditionally proved difficult to predict, causing a large degree of uncertainty in reservoir development. The applied study of naturally fractured reservoirs seeks to constrain this uncertainty by developing new understanding, and is necessarily a broad, integrated, interdisciplinary topic. This book addresses some of the challenges and advances in knowledge, approaches, concepts, and methods used to characterize the interplay of rock matrix and fracture networks, relevant to fluid flow and hydrocarbon recovery. Topics include: describing, characterizing and identifying controls on fracture networks from outcrops, cores, geophysical data, digital and numerical models; geomechanical influences on reservoir behaviour; numerical modelling and simulation of fluid flow; and case studies of the exploration and development of carbonate, siliciclastic and metamorphic naturally fractured reservoirs.
Characterizing discontinuities in naturally fractured outcrop analogues and rock core: the need to consider fracture development over geological time
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Published:January 01, 2014
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CiteCitation
S. R. Hencher, 2014. "Characterizing discontinuities in naturally fractured outcrop analogues and rock core: the need to consider fracture development over geological time", Advances in the Study of Fractured Reservoirs, G. H. Spence, J. Redfern, R. Aguilera, T. G. Bevan, J. W. Cosgrove, G. D. Couples, J.-M. Daniel
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Abstract
This paper reviews aspects of the procedures for characterizing rock masses from outcrop mapping and core logging. It is argued that current definitions of discontinuities and joints are too simple and too coarse to deal adequately with the range of geological features that are found in the field and that range from open fractures through to incipient joint traces. A generic approach is proposed that differentiates between discontinuities on the basis of relative tensile strength compared to the intact parent rock. Examples are provided of how fracture frequency and extent vary with degree of weathering and erosion, and it is suggested that the concept of dynamic development of geological discontinuities needs to be appreciated by geotechnical engineers and structural geologists when analysing fracture networks. This concept has major implications for the use of rock mass classifications to zone the rock mass into engineering units.