HR: 11:50h
AN: H12A-07    [Abstracts]
TI: Modeling the Permeability Anisotropy due to Reservoir-Scale Fault Damage Zones Using Dynamic Rupture Propagation: Applications to a Faulted Hydrocarbon Reservoir and the Nojiima Fault
AU: * Paul, P K
EM: ppaul@stanford.edu
AF: Stanford University, Department of Geophysics, 397 Panama Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
AU: Zoback, M D
EM: zoback@pangea.stanford.edu
AF: Stanford University, Department of Geophysics, 397 Panama Mall, Stanford, CA 94305, United States
AU: Hennings, P H
AF: ConocoPhillips Co., Subsurface Technology, 600 N. Dairy Ashford, Houston, TX 77079, United States
AB: Secondary fractures and faults associated with reservoir scale faults affect both permeability and permeability anisotropy and hence may play an important role in controlling production from a faulted reservoir. It is well known from geologic studies that there is a concentration of secondary fractures and faults in a damage zone adjacent to larger-scale faults. Because there is usually inadequate data to incorporate permeability anisotropy due to these damage zone fractures and faults into reservoir flow models, in this study we utilize the principles of dynamic rupture propagation from earthquake seismology to predict the nature of fractured/damage zones associated with reservoir scale faults. We discuss the concepts of dynamic rupture propagation and propose a workflow to model damage zones on the real field scale faults. The model we propose calculates the extent of the damage zone along the fault plane by estimating the stress perturbation associated with dynamic rupture propagation. To verify this technique we compare the modeling results of damage zone width for a reservoir scale fault with field observations. Also, we model the damage zone width associated with the Nojima Fault for the rupture that occurred in the 1996 Kobe earthquake and compare the results with the measurements on core samples from a scientific borehole drilled through the fault after the earthquake. In both the cases this technique gives a reasonable first order approximation of the damage zone width. Using fine scale simulations we show that the fractures associated with the damage zone effects the permeability distribution in both horizontal and vertical directions and defines the permeability anisotropy of the reservoir.
DE: 1899 General or miscellaneous
DE: 3225 Numerical approximations and analysis (4260)
DE: 3238 Prediction (3245, 4263)
DE: 3653 Fluid flow
DE: 4430 Complex systems
SC: Hydrology [H]
MN: 2007 Fall Meeting