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AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 90, No. 2 (February 2006), P. 193-208.

Copyright copy2006. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/08250505059

A scale-independent approach to Previous HitfractureNext Hit intensity and average spacing measurement

Orlando J. Ortega,1 Randall A. Marrett,2 Stephen E. Laubach3

1Shell International Exploration and Production, 200 North Dairy Ashford, Houston, Texas 77079; orlando.ortega@shell.com
2Department of Geological Sciences, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712-1101
3Bureau of Economic Geology, John A. and Katherine G. Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78713-8924; steve.laubach@beg.utexas.edu

ABSTRACT

Previous HitFractureNext Hit intensity, the number of fractures per unit length along a sample line, is an important attribute of Previous HitfractureNext Hit systems that can be problematic to establish in the subsurface. Lack of adequate constraints on Previous HitfractureNext Hit intensity may limit the economic exploitation of fractured reservoirs because intensity describes the abundance of fractures potentially available for fluid flow and the probability of encountering fractures in a borehole. Traditional methods of Previous HitfractureNext Hit-intensity measurement are inadequate because they ignore the wide spectrum of Previous HitfractureNext Hit sizes found in many Previous HitfractureNext Hit systems and the consequent scale dependence of Previous HitfractureNext Hit intensity. An alternative approach makes use of Previous HitfractureNext Hit-size distributions, which allow more meaningful comparisons between different locations and allow microfractures in subsurface samples to be used for Previous HitfractureNext Hit-intensity measurement. Comparisons are more meaningful because sampling artifacts can be recognized and avoided, and because common thresholds of Previous HitfractureNext Hit size can be enforced for counting in different locations. Additionally, quantification of the Previous HitfractureNext Hit-size distribution provides a mechanism for evaluation of uncertainties. Estimates of Previous HitfractureNext Hit intensity using this approach for two carbonate beds in the Sierra Madre Oriental, Mexico, illustrate how size-cognizant measurements cast new light on widely accepted interpretation of geologic controls of Previous HitfractureTop intensity.

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