Doctoral Dissertation Template
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UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA GRADUATE COLLEGE INTEGRATED RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION AND GEOLOGICAL UPSCALING FOR RESERVOIR FLOW SIMULATIONS OF THE SYCAMORE/MERAMEC AND HUNTON PLAYS IN OKLAHOMA A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY By BENMADI MILAD Norman, Oklahoma 2019 INTEGRATED RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION AND GEOLOGICAL UPSCALING FOR RESERVOIR FLOW SIMULATIONS OF THE SYCAMORE/MERAMEC AND HUNTON PLAYS IN OKLAHOMA A DISSERTATION APPROVED FOR THE CONOCOPHILLIPS SCHOOL OF GEOLOGY AND GEOPHYSICS BY Dr. Roger M. Slatt, Chair Dr. Kurt J. Marfurt Dr. Brett Carpenter Dr. Fuge Zou Dr. Mashhad Fahes © Copyright by BENMADI MILAD 2019 All Rights Reserved To my father, sisters, brothers, and late mother. iv Acknowledgements This document is the result of several years of research which could not have been possible without the continuous financial and technical support of my generous advisor, Dr. Roger Slatt. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr. Slatt for his continuous support of my Ph.D. study and research. In addition, Dr. Slatt plays a major role in the story of changing my career from Engineering to Geology. He brought geology to life for me. He made me study rocks not only at the labs but also in the field by applying his saying, “A bad day in the field is better than a good day in the office.” I am very grateful that he inspired me to learn geology while also applying my engineering background. If not for Dr. Slatt, none of this would have been possible and I would not be half the geologist I am today. I would like to express my appreciation to my dissertation committee members, Dr. Kurt Marfurt, Dr. Mashhad Fahs, Dr. Brett Carpenter, and Dr. Fuge Zou for their insight into my research and for their time dedicated to reviewing this document. My special thanks goes out to Dr. Kurt Marfurt and Dr. Mashhad Fahs for their professional feedback on this project. I also wish to acknowledge Dr. Fuge Zou for his insight on the Sycamore project. Special thanks and honor to the late Dr. Tom Ronald for his friendship and support. Sincere thanks to the industry consortium for its continued funding to the Institute of Reservoir Characterization (IRC) at the University of Oklahoma. This research would not be possible without the data support of Pathfinder LLC, in particular, Luis Castillo and the late Jerry Wilson. I am also grateful to AASPI consortium, Schlumberger, CGG, and EasyCore Company for providing the software that made this work possible. Special acknowledgment to the University of Oklahoma and the ConocoPhillips School of Geology and Geophysics (CPSGG) for providing the academic infrastructure and resources. v Special thanks to the CPSGG staff for various support: Robert Turner for helping with lab work; Ginny Gandy’s assistance in renting vehicles for field trips; Rebecca Fay for helping me with the Graduate College requirements and deadlines; and Ginger Leivas and Leah Moser for helping me process financial reports. I would like to thank the Institute for Reservoir Characterization at the University of Oklahoma for their positive contributions and suggestions. In particular, I would like to thank Dr. Sayantan Ghosh for his contribution to fracture study; Henry Galvis Portilla and Caleb P. Bontempi for helping me with the field work; Jing Zhang and Ifunanya “Naya” Ekwunife for assisting with XRF measurements; Daniela Becerra Rondon for geomechanic discussions; Emilio Torres for his geochemistry guidance; Dalila Jesus for helping with SEM imaging studies; David Duarte and Austin McGlannan for excellent discussions about the Sycamore project. Many thanks to Julian Chenin for his support. Thank you to my colleagues Hanna Morgan for helping with field work; Gerhard “Gerry” Heij for his assistance with the SEM analysis; and Alali Abdulmohsen for guiding me through data conditioning and seismic inversion. My gratitude to Mr. Herman Burrough for helping find outcrop locations, and Mahmoud Mohamed Aljabri, Redouane Laaroussi, and Eyad Aljishi for assisting in the field work. Especial thanks to Mr. Mohamed Suliman for helping me with running the flow simulation. I would be remiss if I did not also thank my friend Salem Naeeri and his wife, Amira Elasfer, for their incredible support and guidance, as well as their children Mahmoud, Munder, and Yazan for bringing me joy whenever I see them – they are like my second family. Finally, I would like to thank my parents and siblings for their continuous encouragement and support throughout my education. My infinite gratitude is to my late mother, Mabrouka vi Mohamed, and my father, Muftah Lahwaj. Yet again, immeasurable love and gratitude to my mother, who is a big part of my academic and life successes. May Allah protect her, bless her and grant her paradise. I am immensely grateful to CPSGG and everyone who has taken a chance on me, shaped me, and poured into my development as a geoscientist. You have inspired me more than you will ever know. vii Table of Contents Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. v List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... x List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... iv Abstract ............................................................................................................................... ix Chapter 1: Introduction ....................................................................................................... 1 References ................................................................................................................................. 3 Chapter 2: Comparison of rock and natural fracture attributes in karsted and non-karsted Hunton Group: Ada and Fittstown area, Oklahoma ............................................................ 4 Abstract ..................................................................................................................................... 4 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 5 Geological setting ..................................................................................................................... 6 Data collection (study areas) ..................................................................................................... 8 Methodology ............................................................................................................................. 9 Core facies .......................................................................................................................... 9 Core fractures .................................................................................................................... 10 Core porosity, permeability, and hardness ........................................................................ 11 Outcrop Fracture intensity ................................................................................................ 11 Fracture-size distributions ................................................................................................. 13 Results ..................................................................................................................................... 13 Core descriptions .............................................................................................................. 13 Core fractures .................................................................................................................... 17 Porosity, permeability, and hardness from core ................................................................ 18 iv Outcrops fracture orientations ........................................................................................... 18 Fracture-size distributions (histograms) ........................................................................... 19 Fracture-size distributions (cumulative-frequency plots) ................................................. 20 Discussion ............................................................................................................................... 22 Core porosity and permeability ......................................................................................... 22 Outcrop fractures .............................................................................................................. 22 Core to outcrop comparison .............................................................................................. 23 Fracture size and spacing from outcrops .......................................................................... 24 Conclusions ............................................................................................................................. 25 Acknowledgments................................................................................................................... 25 References ............................................................................................................................... 26 Chapter 3: Impact of lithofacies variations and structural changes on natural fracture distributions ................................................................................................................................