High
resolution microscopic imaging is a tool for unconventional
resource prospecting, exploration and production, due to the nano-scale
hydrocarbon storage units and their complexity. However, balancing the appropriate
high resolution detail with a representative, large-enough field of view has
always been a challenge. Focusing on Chang-7 member of Ordos basin, Northwest
China, we use both FIB-SEM and a 2D large field of view SEM imaging as
inputs to our multi-scale numerical modeling framework. The predicted 3D rock
physical properties from FIB-SEM at nanometer pore-scale are integrated with
laboratory measurement data on mineralogy and geochemistry to enable direct
numerical simulation of petrophysical properties on 2D SEM images. The
corresponding properties at larger and facies-representative scale are computed
with nano-scale properties factored in. The systematic upscaling approach allows
us to investigate the high potential shale oil play in the prospected area in
an unprecedented timely and economic manner.
For more information, request a copy of the JNN 2016 paper.