A Fracture Characterization Study For A Carbonate Reservoir

Fractures play an important role in reservoir production,since they can act either as barriers or conduits for fluid migration.They are also one of the key factors to be considered for drilling trajectory design.However,it is very challenging to delineate fractures due to the limitation of seismic resolution.The objective of this study was to conduct fracture characterization for one of the carbonate reservoirs in Abu Dhabi,using a recently acquired 3D seismic survey as well as integrating geological,well logging,drilling and well testing data.First of all,structural evolution and regional paleo including current principal stress orientations were investigated.Three major tectonic events were identified,and they are the main contributors to the development of fractures in the study area.Secondly,seismic data was processed based on an objective-driven processing sequence by integrating well logs and core data.Three fracture volumes were generated and five sets of fractures were interpreted.They were validated against BHI interpretation,mud losses and well test data.The findings on fractures in the study area are critical in field development plan and drilling efficiency.