Microporosity is commonly assumed to be non-connected porosity and not commonly studied in geoengineering industry. However, the presence of micropores plays a key role in connecting macropores and it can contribute significantly to the overall flow performance. In this study, targeted CO₂ storage carbonate fields in Southeast Asia have significant amounts of microporosity ranging from 10 to 60% of the total measured porosity. Microporosity can only be seen in high resolution images. To study the unresolved and the resolved microporosity, Middle Miocene carbonate samples from CO₂ storage candidate fields were scanned using lower resolution micro-computed micro-tomography (micro-CT) and higher resolution synchrotron light source to understand the pore scale structure of the carbonate sample at different length scales. This paper proposes a proof-of-concept upscaling method that integrates multiscale 3D imaging techniques and trendline analysis to establish porosity-permeability relationships with microporosity insight. After image acquisition and processing, the images were divided into smaller sub-volumes. Pore-scale modelling was conducted to predict the permeability using Darcy-Brinkman-Stokes (DBS) model. Then, a nano-scale porosity-permeability transform is generated using natural log trendline fitting based on simulation results. The porosity-permeability transform is further extended to three cases to cover the low case, mid case, and high case of datapoint fittings and is further validated with laboratory measured data. The established porosity-permeability transforms in this study have been applied to compare with petrophysical derived porosity-permeability transforms with better performance (higher R² value) for low permeability datapoint. The multiscale imaging upscaling workflow has integrated machine learning during image segmentation with pore-scale modelling and trendline fitting during the upscaling study. It emphasises the importance of seeing the unseen (unresolved microporous phase) to understand the internal texture and microstructure of a rock sample in order to understand the connectivity of the overall flow performance in a carbonate rock.

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The fossiliferous Eocene carbonate reservoir interval of the offshore Hasdrubal Field has a diagenetic history in which dolomitisation of micrite-rich facies has significantly enhanced reservoir quality. Using published information on the diagenetic evolution, digital textural representations of the limestones and dolostones are created using the Multi-Component Architecture Method (MCAM). This technique allows integration of images at different length scales (e.g., SEM, micro-/nano- XRT) which provide different forms of information about the pre-dolomitisation rock, including textural and compositional factors, and the arrangements of preserved components. These digital representations of the dolostones, together with their now completely overprinted precursor micritic limestones, permit exploration of the impact on porosity and permeability of uncemented, partly cemented and biomoulds Nummulites, their number per unit volume, and their orientation (i.e., uniformly or randomly orientated) allowing investigation of the petrophysical consequences of different distributions, orientations and abundances of the matrix and fossiliferous components. Viable diagenetic pathways, which were identified by thin section analysis as well as data available in the literature, are linked to petrophysical property evolution. In this way MCAM permits investigation of earlier stages of the diagenetic processes which were overprinted by later diagenetic processes.

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The Eocene El Garia Formation in the offshore Hasdrubal Field was originally a nummulitic limestone in which subsequent burial dolomitization has significantly enhanced permeability. Identification of the reservoir's petrophysical property distributions requires knowledge of the spatial extent of its dolomitization, in turn requiring understanding of the processes that caused the dolomitization. Some of this understanding can be derived from measurements but others need to be simulated. In this study, the former are used as guides and we focus on the latter, evaluating the character of the dolomitizing fluid's movement and temperature patterns by using basin modelling to develop heat-flux simulations to represent the time of dolomitization. Basin modelling reconstructs the region's geology at the time of dolomitization, while heat-flux simulations recreate the appropriate conductive and convective heat and mass transport through these systems. Potential key drivers are rock mass and fault-zone permeability, and the position and shape of any salt domes. The results suggest that salt dome shape and position is the dominant control, the salt dome localizing convective systems which also use convenient faults so that hotter upwelling fluids pass through the Hasdrubal reservoir and are instrumental in the development of burial dolomitization.@en

Basin modelling tools are widely used to predict reservoir charging but, unfortunately, their application to carbonate reservoirs is far from straightforward. For carbonates, the relationships between porosity/ effective stress/depth, must be addressed before a reliable basin model can be produced. We propose using a synthetic diagenesis approach, where Pore Architecture Models (PAMs) are used to generate representative porosity values for the different diagenetic (backstripped) stages that are recognised from cores or thin sections. The synthetic diagenesis approach is then used to inform more conventional basin modelling. The viability of this method is the topic of this contribution.@en

Carbonate reservoirs have petrophysical property distributions largely controlled by a combination of the depositional, diagenetic, and structural (burial/uplift) histories of the reservoir itself and also of the basins that contain them. Carbonates are very prone to diagenetic alteration; porosity and permeability can be strongly affected by the thermal state, fluid-pressure and pore fluid chemistry through their geological history. We use a novel workflow, adapted from basin modelling, to investigate how the burial/uplift history of an offshore carbonate reservoir and its basin, taken as a system, can have controlled the fluid and heat movement within, into and out of the reservoir. The reservoir rock properties and diagenetic history are assessed, as is the local and regional geological evolution for potential contributory factors to the diagenesis. A model of the potential basin system is developed, observed reservoir diagenetic history being added to the normal basin modelling constraints. This model provides good estimates of geometry and property evolution, and of fluid transport, through geological time. Since fluid and heat fluxes are important in the diagenetic evolution of the carbonate pore system, these results are complemented by simulating the movement of heat and brine in the reservoir using finite element-finite volume simulations. These simulations capture the complex geological structures, especially fault-fracture systems, and better represent the flow physics and chemistry that control reservoir diagenesis. Results from these simulations will later be returned to the basin model to improve the calibration of the timing, depth, and rates of diagenetic events. This new workflow is applied to a Lower Eocene offshore carbonate reservoir with a complex diagenetic history which seems to have a strong basin evolution influence. Importantly this workflow is generic and can be applied to any carbonate reservoir to enhance the link between geological models at the basin scale and reservoir scale models.@en