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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Special Volumes
Abstract
A Geological Approach to
Permeability
Prediction in Clastic Reservoirs
ABSTRACT
Permeability
is a key parameter in determining the economic value of a hydrocarbon accumulation; however, our ability to predict the magnitude and range of
permeability
in undrilled areas is poor. Traditional methods of
permeability
prediction are empirical and rely on developing relationships between
permeability
and other parameters that may be predicted with greater confidence, such as porosity or lithology. These empirical methods may work well in areas where there is sufficient calibration data, but extrapolation away
from
well data is prone to large errors (often by orders of magnitude).
An alternative approach to permeability
prediction is to model the effect of geological processes such as burial and cementation on the pore structure of the rock and, hence, calculate the change in
permeability
. Through understanding the effect of various geological processes on
permeability
, it is then possible to predict
permeability
from
geological models. This approach has applications in both data-rich and undrilled areas.
The quantitative insight into which factors affect the permeability
has been provided by computer modeling, which allows us to focus in on the most important controls, such as grain size and the amount of cement or ductile grains. Our ability to predict
permeability
in undrilled areas is now more often hampered by our inability to predict the variations in these controlling factors rather than by any lack of understanding of
permeability
itself.
1 Present address: Center for Subsurface Modeling, Texas Institute for Computational and Applied Mathematics, University of Texas at Austin, U.S.A.
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