Integration of depositional, petrophysical, and petrographic facies for predicting permeability in tight gas reservoirs

AbstractUnderstanding the linkages between grain mineralogy and diagenetic and sedimentary processes enhances the reliability of petrophysical models to predict reservoir deliverability from permeability. Petrographic data within well-defined depositional facies reveal the diagenetic evolution of porosity-permeability relationships. Formation evaluation methods relying solely on petrophysical rock typing are seriously limited when predicting ultimate reservoir performance in complex pore structures. The Almond Formation, Wyoming, is characterized by three depositional facies associations — shoreface, deltaic (bay head and flood tide), and fluvial-coastal plain — which present three distinctive porosity-permeability trends. Textural features resulting from depositional processes, such as grain size and sorting, vary little between facies associations, yet permeability can vary by up to four orders of magnitude for the same porosity value. Differences between petrophysical facies are primarily driven by dia...