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Diagenetic Tipping Points in the Permeability Evolution of Carbonates

Rachel Wood¹, Cees van der Land¹, Keijan Wu², Rink van Dijke², Dimas Dias Brito³, Adriana Perretti³, Ricardo Bogado^4,², and Patrick Corbett²
¹University of Edinburgh, UK
²Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
³UNESP, Rio Claro, Brazil
⁴Petrobras, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Carbonate rock typing methods aim to associate texture with petrophysically similar rocks. Here, we use 2D thin sections to create 3D pore space models and then extract pore networks to obtain multiphase flow properties using flow models. This novel rocktyping method is applied to an ooid grainstone, of which multiple 3D realisations were obtained. Based on knowledge of the major pore-occluding and porosity-enhancing diagenetic processes, we created a series of synthetic images of the former states of the rock (a process here called ‘diagenetic backstripping’). For each stage in the paragenetic sequence, flow properties were calculated. When upscaled to flow units in reservoir models this method then has the potential to identify ‘diagenetic tipping’ points during the evolution of carbonate reservoirs during burial.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #120034©2012 AAPG Hedberg Conference Fundamental Controls on Flow in Carbonates, Saint-Cyr Sur Mer, Provence, France, July 8-13, 2012