Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Integrated approaches in the study of petroleum exploration are increasingly becoming significant in recent times and have yielded much better result as oil exploration is a combination of different related topics. The production capacity in hydrocarbon exploration has been the major concern for oil and gas industries. In the present work an integrated approach was made with seismic, well logs and biostratigraphy for predicting the depositional environment and to understand the heterogeneity within the reservoirs belonging to Valanginian (Early Cretaceous) age of Gamtoos Basin, Offshore South Africa. Objectively, the integrated work was mainly based on seismic stratigraphy (seismic sequence and seismic facie analysis) for interpretation of the depositional environments with combination of microfossil biostratigraphic inputs. The biostratigraphic study provides evidences of paleo depth from benthic foraminifera and information about bottom condition within the sedimentary basin, changing of depositional depth during gradual basinal fill during the Valanginian time. The petrophysical characterization of the reservoir succession was based on formation evaluation studies using well logs to investigate the hydrocarbon potential of the reservoir across Valanginian depositional sequence. Further, the static modeling from 2D-seismic data interpreted to a geological map to 3D-numerical modeling by stochastic model to quantify the evaluation of uncertainty for accurate characterisation of the reservoir sandstones and to provide better understanding of the spatial distribution of the discrete and continuous Petrophysical properties within the study area.

This thesis introduces a rock typing method for application in shale gas reservoirs using conventional well logs and core data. Shale gas reservoirs are known to be highly heterogeneous and often require new or modified petrophysical techniques for accurate reservoir evaluation. In the past, petrophysical description of shale gas reservoirs with well logs has been focused to quantifying rock composition and organic-matter concentration. These solutions often require many assumptions and ad-hoc correlations where the interpretation becomes a core matching exercise. Scale effects on measurements are typically neglected in core matching. Rock typing in shale gas provides an alternative description by segmenting the reservoir into petrophysically-similar groups with k-means cluster analysis which can then be used for ranking and detailed analysis of depth zones favorable for production. A synthetic example illustrates the rock typing method for an idealized sequence of beds penetrated by a vertical well. Results and analysis from the synthetic example show that rock types from inverted log properties correctly identify the most organic-rich model types better than rock types detected from well logs in thin beds. Also, estimated kerogen concentration is shown to be most reliable in an under-determined problem. Field cases in the Barnett and Haynesville shale gas plays show the importance of core data for supplementing well logs and identifying correlations for desirable reservoir properties (kerogen/TOC concentration, gas saturation, and porosity). Qualitative rock classes are formed and verified using inverted estimates of kerogen concentration as a rock-quality metric. Inverted log properties identify 40% more of a high-kerogen rock type over well-log based rock types in the Barnett formation. A case in the Haynesville formation suggests the possibility of identifying depositional environments as a result of rock attributes that produce distinct groupings from k-means cluster analysis with well logs. Core data and inversion results indicate homogeneity in the Haynesville formation case. However, the distributions of rock types show a 50% occurrence between two rock types over 90 ft vertical-extent of reservoir. Rock types suggest vertical distributions that exhibit similar rock attributes with characteristic properties (porosity, organic concentration and maturity, and gas saturation). This method does not directly quantify reservoir parameters and would not serve the purpose of quantifying gas-in-place. Rock typing in shale gas with conventional well logs forms qualitative rock classes which can be used to calculate net-to-gross, validate conventional interpretation methods, perform well-to-well correlations, and establish facies distributions for integrated reservoir modeling in hydrocarbon-bearing shale. / text

Little Cedar Creek field is a mature oil field located in southeastern Conecuh County, Alabama, in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. As of May 2012, 12.5 MMBLS of oil and 14.8 MMCF of natural gas have been produced from the field area. The main reservoirs are microbial carbonate facies and associated nearshore high energy shoal facies of the Upper Jurassic Smackover Formation that overlie conglomerate and sandstone facies of the Norphlet Formation and underlie the argillaceous, anhydritic-carbonaceous facies of the Haynesville Formation. These carbonate reservoirs are composed of vuggy boundstone and moldic grainstone, and the petroleum trap is stratigraphic being controlled primarily by changes in depositional facies. To maximize recovery and investment in the field, an integrated geoscientific-engineering reservoir-wide development plan is needed, including reservoir characterization, modeling, and simulation. This research presents a workflow for geological characterization, formation evaluation, and 3D geologic modeling for fields producing from microbial carbonates and associated reservoirs. The workflow is used to develop a 3D geologic model for the carbonate reservoirs. Step I involves core description and thin section analysis to divide and characterize the different Smackover facies in the field area into 7 units. The main reservoir facies are the microbial boundstone characterized by vuggy porosity and nearshore/shoal grainstone characterized by moldic porosity. Step II is well log correlation and formation evaluation of 113 wells. We use wireline logs and conventional core data analysis data to calculate average porosity values, permeability and water saturations. Neural networks are utilized at this stage to derive permeability where core measurements are absent or partially present across the reservoirs. Step III is building the 3D structural and stratigraphic framework that is populated with the petrophysical parameters calculated in the previous step. Overall, the integration of reservoir characterization, formation evaluation, and 3D geologic modeling provides a sound framework in the establishment of a field/reservoir-wide development plan for optimal primary and enhanced recovery for these Upper Jurassic microbial carbonate and associated reservoirs. Such a reservoir-wide development plan has broad application to other fields producing from microbial carbonate reservoirs.

No description available.

This thesis discusses Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques for formation evaluation in well log analysis for the oil/gas industry. We present the standard ingredients for NMR data processing and interpretation, and develop a methodology that extends the determination of surface relaxivity from the laboratory to the well site. The methodology consists of a processing algorithm for diffusion editing data, which enables surface relaxivity determination for conditions close to those found in well logging (regarding data availability and noise levels). At moderate noise levels, lower relaxivity values (below 10μm/s) can be determined solely from NMR diffusion data, while higher values (∼30μm/s) can be separated from intermediate ones. Application for actual logging data still requires some noise reduction techniques such as stationary measurements downhole or data stacking among different depths. However, it provides a way of converting T2 distributions into actual pore size distributions even for downhole acquisitions, before the samples get to the laboratory for routine analysis. Besides the logging analysis, we also developed a theoretical approximation to the diffusion equation with partial absorptive contour conditions, by calculating appropriate transition rates between cells in an arbitrary grid, allowing a simple methodology for obtaining the NMR data based on pore imaging. Calculated rates can in principle be used for modeling/understanding different diffusion phenomena, such as exchange between pores or relaxation sites. / Neste trabalho são discutidas técnicas de Ressonância Magnética Nuclear (RMN) aplicadas à avaliação de formações por meio da perfilagem de poços pela indústria de óleo e gás. São apresentados os conceitos básicos para processamento e interpretação dos dados de RMN, e desenvolvida uma metodologia para determinação da relaxatividade superficial em poço. O método consiste em um algoritmo de processamento de dados de diffusion editing, que permite a obtenção da relaxatividade superficial em condições próximas as encontradas na perfilagem de poços de petróleo (em relação à disponibilidade de dados e nível de ruído). Para níveis moderados de ruído, as relaxatividades mais baixas (menores que 10μm/s) podem ser determinadas através das medidas de difusão por RMN, enquanto valores mais altos (∼30μm/s) podem ser separados dos intermediários. Aplicações em dados de perfilagem ainda requerem técnicas de redução de ruído como aquisições estacionárias em poço ou empilhamento de dados ao longo de um intervalo de profundidades. Entretanto, o método possibilita uma forma de converter as distribuições de T2 em distribuições de tamanhos de poros ainda em poço, antes que as amostras sejam enviadas para o laboratório em análises de rotina. Além da perfilagem, foi desenvolvido também uma aproximação para a equação de difusão com condições de contorno absortivas, através de equações de taxas. A forma das taxas de transição permite o desenvolvimento de metodologias simples para obtenção dos dados de RMN através de imagens dos poros das rochas. As taxas de transição podem ser utilizadas também para a modelagem de outros fenômenos que envolvam difusão, como fenômenos de troca entre poros ou entre sítios com diferentes valores de relaxação.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-03T16:15:54Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Miriam Rezende Mendes.pdf: 1064619 bytes, checksum: b6da2aaa8db44ffb76705c6f0541f442 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-03-15 / This research present itself in a qualitatively perspective, with an ethnographic character. It analyzes the evaluative practice movement of the teachers who participated in the course about Avaliação numa perspectiva construtivista (Evaluation in a constructivist perspective). Initially, it discusses the hypothesis of non-changing related to the evaluative practice. In a reflexive way, that analyze pass to be inspired in the studies of Michel de Certeau, for not to surrender to the supremacy of the cultural products imposed by a dominating social order; in not to restrict itself to the perspectives of the theories about learning evaluation. The aim of this present research directed itself to the action of the consumers of this products the teachers when appropriating themselves of such theories, they do on their own way, re-measuring, and re-signifying them, with astuteness, creativity, inventiveness. When we understand that such professionals, in situations less privileged in the social structures of the constitutive power, have an intelligence that generates a multiplicity of interpretations, we open our eyes to the surprises, possibilitating various ways to the appreciation that trace the evaluative practice of the teachers. However, if we elect a single patter of reference to the daily actions analyze, we could close ourselves into only two conclusions: obedience or resistance. We opted, however, for approaching ourselves of Certeau, and to believe, as he does, in intelligence, and creativity also present in the actions of the more weak in the social organizations, who are the consumers of the cultural products. We created, so, new opportunities so that the crowd acquire life, turning clear the diversity of the evaluative practices of a group of teachers, focusing the concrete actions from real teachers analyze. / presente pesquisa apresenta-se em uma perspectiva qualitativa, de cunho etnográfico. Analisa o movimento da prática avaliativa de professores que participaram do curso sobre Avaliação numa perspectiva construtivista. Inicialmente, discute a hipótese de não-mudança em relação à prática avaliativa. Em uma trajetória reflexiva, a análise passa a ser inspirada nos estudos de Michel de Certeau, ao não se render à supremacia de produtos culturais impostos por uma ordem social dominante; ao não se limitar à perspectiva das teorias sobre Avaliação da aprendizagem. O foco da pesquisa direcionou-se à ação dos consumidores desses produtos os professores que, ao se apropriarem de tais teorias, o fazem à sua maneira, redimensionando-as e as resignificando, com astúcia, criatividade, inventividade. Ao entender que tais profissionais, em situações menos privilegiadas nas estruturas sociais de poder constituído, possuem uma inteligência que engendra uma multiplicidade de interpretações, abrimos nosso olhar para surpresas, possibilitando a apreciação de variados caminhos que delineiam as práticas avaliativas dos professores. No entanto, se elegêssemos um único padrão de referência para a análise das ações cotidianas, poderíamos nos fechar em apenas duas conclusões: obediências ou resistências. Optamos, todavia, por aproximarmo-nos de Certeau, e acreditar, como ele, na inteligência e criatividade também presentes nas ações dos mais fracos nas organizações sociais, que são os consumidores dos produtos culturais. Criamos, destarte, nova oportunidade para que a multidão adquira vida, evidenciando a diversidade de práticas avaliativas de um grupo de professores, focalizando a análise em ações concretas, de professores reais.

This thesis discusses Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques for formation evaluation in well log analysis for the oil/gas industry. We present the standard ingredients for NMR data processing and interpretation, and develop a methodology that extends the determination of surface relaxivity from the laboratory to the well site. The methodology consists of a processing algorithm for diffusion editing data, which enables surface relaxivity determination for conditions close to those found in well logging (regarding data availability and noise levels). At moderate noise levels, lower relaxivity values (below 10μm/s) can be determined solely from NMR diffusion data, while higher values (∼30μm/s) can be separated from intermediate ones. Application for actual logging data still requires some noise reduction techniques such as stationary measurements downhole or data stacking among different depths. However, it provides a way of converting T2 distributions into actual pore size distributions even for downhole acquisitions, before the samples get to the laboratory for routine analysis. Besides the logging analysis, we also developed a theoretical approximation to the diffusion equation with partial absorptive contour conditions, by calculating appropriate transition rates between cells in an arbitrary grid, allowing a simple methodology for obtaining the NMR data based on pore imaging. Calculated rates can in principle be used for modeling/understanding different diffusion phenomena, such as exchange between pores or relaxation sites. / Neste trabalho são discutidas técnicas de Ressonância Magnética Nuclear (RMN) aplicadas à avaliação de formações por meio da perfilagem de poços pela indústria de óleo e gás. São apresentados os conceitos básicos para processamento e interpretação dos dados de RMN, e desenvolvida uma metodologia para determinação da relaxatividade superficial em poço. O método consiste em um algoritmo de processamento de dados de diffusion editing, que permite a obtenção da relaxatividade superficial em condições próximas as encontradas na perfilagem de poços de petróleo (em relação à disponibilidade de dados e nível de ruído). Para níveis moderados de ruído, as relaxatividades mais baixas (menores que 10μm/s) podem ser determinadas através das medidas de difusão por RMN, enquanto valores mais altos (∼30μm/s) podem ser separados dos intermediários. Aplicações em dados de perfilagem ainda requerem técnicas de redução de ruído como aquisições estacionárias em poço ou empilhamento de dados ao longo de um intervalo de profundidades. Entretanto, o método possibilita uma forma de converter as distribuições de T2 em distribuições de tamanhos de poros ainda em poço, antes que as amostras sejam enviadas para o laboratório em análises de rotina. Além da perfilagem, foi desenvolvido também uma aproximação para a equação de difusão com condições de contorno absortivas, através de equações de taxas. A forma das taxas de transição permite o desenvolvimento de metodologias simples para obtenção dos dados de RMN através de imagens dos poros das rochas. As taxas de transição podem ser utilizadas também para a modelagem de outros fenômenos que envolvam difusão, como fenômenos de troca entre poros ou entre sítios com diferentes valores de relaxação.