Towards the Uncertainty Quantification of Fractured Karst Systems: Reactive Transport and Fracture Networks: Where Numerical Modeling Meets Outcrop Observations

Society relies on large amounts of energy to progress and allow for a high standard of living. The recent severe climate changes require advanced technologies related to cleaner energy resources. One such technology beneficial for accelerating this current energy transition is geothermal energy. This type of energy is often found in fractured...

Fracture characterisation in carbonate reservoirs for geothermal production

Subsurface energy projects carry high risk due to the lack of data available to accurately model reservoir characteristics. There is a need for high level analysis to extrapolate subsurface data from a single point (i.e. a well). The focus of this study will be on fracture characterisation in a carbonate reservoir located within the Geneva Basin...

An Advanced Discrete Fracture Methodology for Fast, Robust, and Accurate Simulation of Energy Production From Complex Fracture Networks

Fracture networks are abundant in subsurface applications (e.g., geothermal energy production, CO₂ sequestration). Fractured reservoirs often have a very complex structure, making modeling flow and transport in such networks slow and unstable. Consequently, this limits our ability to perform uncertainty quantification and increases...

Fracture Network Prediction in the Geneva Basin: A Geothermal Case Study

The aim of this study is to reduce the risk of the ongoing Geothermal exploration effort in Geneva Basin by estimating the influence of the natural fracture on the reservoir properties. A Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) was generated to resemble the fracture network in the Lower Cretaceous carbonate reservoir. The DFN modelling approach is using...

Fast and robust scheme for uncertainty quantification in naturally fractured reservoirs

The main objective of this study is to perform Uncertainty Quantification (UQ) using a detailed representation of fractured reservoirs. This is achieved by creating a simplified representation of the fracture network while preserving the main characteristics of the high-fidelity model. We include information at different scales in the UQ...

Large-scale natural fracture network patterns: Insights from automated mapping in the Lilstock (Bristol Channel) limestone outcrops

The Lilstock outcrop in the southern Bristol Channel provides exceptional exposures of several limestone beds displaying stratabound fracture networks, providing the opportunity to create a very large, complete, and ground-truthed fracture model. Here we present the result of automated fracture extraction of high-resolution photogrammetric...

The impact of natural fractures on heat extraction from tight Triassic sandstones in the West Netherlands Basin: A case study combining well, seismic and numerical data

The positive impact that natural fractures can have on geothermal heat production from low-permeability reservoirs has become increasingly recognised and proven by subsurface case studies. In this study, we assess the potential impact of natural fractures on heat extraction from the tight Lower Buntsandstein Subgroup targeted by the recently...

Regional Geology and Fracture Network Characterisation of the Southern Chotts and Jeffara Basins, Central Tunisia: Implications for Petroleum Reservoirs

The Southern Chotts and Jeffara Basins are situated within the Saharan Domain of Central Tunisia, North Africa. The Southern Chotts Basin hosts reservoirs within the Triassic, Permian and Ordovician units that contain significant hydrocarbon accumulations whilst the Jeffara Basin contains outcrop analogues of the same hydrocarbon­bearing...

Characterization of a Fracture-Controlled Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) in the Trans-Mexican-Volcanic-Belt (TMVB): Predictive Mechanical Model for Fracture Stimulation in an Enhanced Geothermal System Context (EGS)

In 2020, as the world Energy demand keeps on rising (International Energy Agency (IEA), 2019), and with the global climate warming a reality (The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), 2020), reducing our societal impact on Earth is of utmost importance. Energy and Climate have always been intrinsically related. Therefore...

A Computational Workflow for Flow and Transport in Fractured Porous Media Based on a Hierarchical Nonlinear Discrete Fracture Modeling Approach

Modeling flow and transport in fractured porous media has been a topic of intensive research for a number of energy- and environment-related industries. The presence of multiscale fractures makes it an extremely challenging task to resolve accurately and efficiently the flow dynamics at both the local and global scales. To tackle this challenge,...

Morphology and topology of dolostone lithons in the regional Carboneras Fault Zone, Southern Spain

Dolostones in a Neogene strike-slip fault zone are described. Two main types of structural features are recognised: (i) Background deformation in the form of a network of bedding-perpendicular and hybrid conjugate fractures, barren fractures and bedding-parallel stylolites. (ii) Fault-related features include breccias and cataclasites....

An integrated workflow for stress and flow modelling using outcrop-derived discrete fracture networks

Fluid flow in naturally fractured reservoirs is often controlled by subseismic-scale fracture networks. Although the fracture network can be partly sampled in the direct vicinity of wells, the inter-well scale network is poorly constrained in fractured reservoir models. Outcrop analogues can provide data for populating domains of the...

Fluid flow from matrix to fractures in Early Jurassic shales

The potential of shale reservoirs for gas extraction is largely determined by the permeability of the rock. Typical pore diameters in shales range from the μm down to the nm scale. The permeability of shale reservoirs is a function of the interconnectivity between the pore space and the natural fracture network present. We have measured the...

Inter-well scale natural fracture geometry and permeability variations in low-deformation carbonate rocks

Regional natural fracture networks often show variations on a scale below that captured by seismic reflection data. This variability is not considered in most reservoir models, but likely impacts uncertainties in permeability. We quantify this uncertainty using a database of 13,000 fractures in nine outcrops digitised in the carbonate...

Statistical analysis of 2D trace-line maps of fracture networks in carbonate rocks of the Jandeíra Formation in Brazil

The fracture network of the Jandeíra Formation in the northeastern part of Brazil is controlled by two main (paleo-) stress fields. The first stress field, characterized by a NS-oriented compression, occurred from the Campanian to the Miocene. The second occurred from the Miocene to the Quaternary as an EW-oriented compression. In the western...

Analysis of fracture network geometries and orientations within a fold-and-thrust structure in the Northern Apennines, Italy

This research focuses on fracture networks in sedimentary rocks within the Umbria-Marche fold-and-thrust belt in the Northern Apennines, Italy. The aim of this research is twofold, namely to correlate the geometry of fracture networks with tectonic position and lithology and to correlate the orientation of fracture networks with the origination...

Multi-scale Fracture Analysis from an Outcrop Analogue: A Case Study from the Cambro-Ordovician Sequence in Petra, Jordan

Natural fractures occur over several orders of size magnitude. Accurately predicting the three-dimensional and multi-scale distribution of fractures in subsurface reservoirs is very difficult. Direct observations are limited to large-scale faults visible on seismic data and high-resolution, mostly small-scale, measurements of fractures...

The Sensitivity of the 3D Connectivity in a Multi-Scale Fracture Network to Variations in Distribution Parameters: A Case Study from Petra, Jordan

The behavior of naturally fractured reservoirs is very different from that of conventional reservoirs. In order to develop a successful production strategy it is important to understand this behavior. Golder Associates developed a software package to model heterogeneous and fractured rock masses. FracMan generates three-dimensional fracture...