Metre-scale effective flow properties of heterogeneous fine-grained sediments

The evaluation of the effective flow properties of heterogeneous shales are key constraints for hydrocarbon and CO₂ leakage evaluation, as well as for hydrocarbon migration through source rocks and tight reservoirs. Here, we demonstrate an approach to determine effective permeability and Capillary Enter Pressure based on capturing and stochastically simulating the natural variability of shale texture. It is shown that the shale texture or spatial variability of lithology is closely related to connectivity and thus to the anisotropy of effective flow properties. We believe that the proposed approach has additional potential for the estimation of the effective relative permeability of shale volumes 1m3 and upwards.