Determination of Petrophysical Properties by Stereological Techniques

Abstract

SPEJ Forum articles are limited to 1,500 words including 250 words for each table and figure, or. a maximum of two pages in SPEJ. A Forum article may present preliminary results or conclusions of an investigation that the author wishes to publish before completing a full study; it may impart general technical information that does not warrant publication as a full-length paper. All Forum articles are subject to approval by an editorial committee. ABSTRACT Stereology has been defined as the study of microscopic three-dimensional systems based on the analysis of two-dimensional sections. This article describes a stereological technique for the quantitative evaluation of physical properties of sedimentary rocks such as porosity, formation resistivity factor, and permeability. The results obtained by the proposed method show a fairly good agreement with those obtained by conventional methods. INTRODUCTION Stereology may be defined as the quantitative evaluation of microstructures by means of the analysis of two-dimensional sections.1 Examples of structures that can be studied through the use of stereological techniques are organic tissue, rocks, minerals, alloys, and aggregates of particles. Stereology has found a variety of applications in disciplines such as biology, metallurgy, geology, petrology, and other related fields. In recent years, the importance of stereology has been increased considerably due to the development of new electronic devices for the automatic analysis of images. In this article, a study on the application of stereological techniques to the determination of physical properties of sedimentary rocks is presented. This is an area that has received little attention in the past. It is believed, however, that it offers good perspectives in research work and routine operations.