Summary

The determination of hydraulic properties of faulted clastic rocks is an important component in quantifying the effects of faulting on reservoir performance during production. Faults typically consist of fine grained comminuted and diagenetically altered material which may be difficult to sample and analyze using traditional gas permeametry and mercury injection techniques. An alternative approach is to use petrophysical techniques to measure porosity and grain size distributions of samples collected in-situ. These parameters are then used to estimate permeability and capillary pressures. A systematic description of the changes which accompany shear localized deformation allow predictions of small scale hydraulic properties which can later be upscaled to estimate their effects on reservoir performance provided that models for fault development and distribution are known.