Facies study and architectural elements for analogue modeling of reservoirs

• Grant number: 17/00849-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2017
• End date: December 25, 2018
• Field of knowledge: Physical Sciences and Mathematics - Geosciences
• Principal Investigator: Liliane Janikian Paes de Almeida
• Grantee: Michelle Cristina Souza Freitas
• Host Institution: Instituto de Ciência e Tecnologia (ICT). Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP). Campus São José dos Campos. São José dos Campos , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 17/23336-5 - Study of faces and architectural elements for modeling of reservoirs analogs using light detection and ranging: LIDAR technology, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

The study of outcrops as hydrocarbon reservoir analogues has been largely applied by modelers in the oil and gas industry as it is a powerful tool for the estimation of subseismic data, thus enabling building detailed analogue models of reservoirs at different scales. Geological models in outcrops enable the determination of the dimension and geometry of sedimentary bodies and their spatial relations, as well as the characterization of the typical sedimentary facies and structures and tectonic discontinuities, which cannot be imaged through seismic reflection surveys or observed in well profiles due to their respectively low vertical and horizontal resolutions. This type of study brings valuable information about the distribution of heterogeneities at the macro-scale (architectural elements and geometry of larger sediment bodies) and the meso-scale (facies and facies associations), which vary greatly in any particular reservoir. Together with micro-scale heterogeneities (porosity and permeability distribution in samples), these data are necessary to build predictive models of fluid percolation in reservoirs, enabling better planning of well location in different stages of the production of the oil field. This research proposal predicts the study and characterization of the geometries of outcrop-scale architectural elements, as well as the corresponding facies and facies associations, in sedimentary successions of fluvial and eolian systems exposed in three outcrops in the Parnaíba Basin (Northeastern Brazil), of the Ipu and Jaicós formations, applying photogrametry techniques. The study and modeling of these sedimentary successions, formed in a intracratonic sag basin, will bring important information regarding the possible similarity of the architectural elements and facies associations in these different units, focusing on the comparison of geometries, dimensions and inter-relations of the different architectural elements. The main goal is achieving macro and meso-scale parameters for the prediction modeling and production planning in hydrocarbon reservoirs similar to the studied successions. (AU)