Method for establishing a computer-aided tomography index for the improvement of petrophysical properties

1 . A method for characterizing an oil/gas, or water well comprising:

recovering a core sample from a borehole of the oil/gas or water well;

performing a computer-aided tomography scan on the core sample;

obtaining measurements of petrophysical properties relating to the oil/gas or water well;

deriving a computer-aided tomography index from the computer-aided tomography scan;

correcting the measurements of petrophysical properties as a function of the computer-aided tomography index;

obtaining cement phase elemental concentration values from the subterranean formation via borehole geochemical logging tools;

generating a trendline that correlates the cement phase element concentration values with the computer-aided tomography index;

receiving cement phase elemental concentration data for a further oil/gas or water well without an available core sample via the borehole geochemical logging tools;

predicting, via the trendline, a computer-aided tomography index from the cement phase element concentration data for the further oil/gas or water well;

developing a model of a subterranean formation using the measurements that were corrected; and

performing reservoir management activities within the subterranean formation using the model of the subterranean formation,

wherein the measurements of petrophysical properties that are corrected comprise grain density, porosity, permeability, storage capacity, or any combination thereof, and wherein the reservoir management activities comprise altering reservoir models, adjusting estimated reservoir volume, adjusting projected flowrate, optimizing wellbore design, altering a depletion plan, preemptively correcting reservoir issues within the subterranean formation, or any combination thereof.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the borehole geochemical logging tools comprise an elemental capture spectroscopy device, a pulsed neutron spectroscopy device, and any combination thereof.

3 . The method of claim 1 ,

wherein performing reservoir management activities within the subterranean formation uses the measurements of petrophysical properties in combination with the model of the subterranean formation.

4 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising receiving reservoir fluid data measured within the subterranean formation, wherein the reservoir fluid data is used in correcting the measurements of petrophysical properties.

5 . A system comprising:

a scanner operable to perform a computer-aided tomography scan of a recovered core sample from a subterranean formation;

a geochemical logging tool operable to obtain cement phase elemental concentrations within the subterranean formation; and

an electronic device in communication with the scanner, the electronic device comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable medium storing machine-readable instructions, which, when executed by the processor, cause the electronic device to:

receive the computer-aided tomography scan;

generate a computer-aided tomography index of the core sample using the computer-aided tomography scan;

calculate corrected petrophysical properties for the subterranean formation and an associated reservoir from the computer-aided tomography index;

generate a trendline which correlates historical cement phase element concentration data with computer-aided tomography index data including the computer aided tomography index of the core sample;

obtain cement phase elemental concentration data for a further oil/gas or water well without an available core sample via the geochemical logging tool;

predict, via the trendline, a computer-aided tomography index from the cement phase element concentration data for the further oil/gas or water well; and

perform reservoir management utilizing the corrected petrophysical properties,

wherein the measurements of petrophysical properties that are corrected comprise grain density, porosity, permeability, storage capacity, or any combination thereof, and wherein the reservoir management performed is an element selected from a group consisting of alteration of reservoir models, adjustment of estimated reservoir volume, adjustment of projected flowrate, optimization of wellbore design, alteration of a depletion plan, a preemptive correction of reservoir issues, and any combination thereof.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the machine-readable instructions further cause the electronic device to: receive reservoir fluid data from downhole samples,

wherein the reservoir fluid data is used to calculate the corrected petrophysical properties for the subterranean formation and the associated reservoir.

7 . The system of claim 5 , further comprising a database storing the historical values of the computer-aided tomography index and cement phase elemental concentrations.

8 . The system of claim 7 , wherein the machine-readable instructions further cause the electronic device to: add the additional cement phase element concentration and the computer-aided tomography index to the database.

9 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the computer-aided tomography index is generated based upon a porosity of the core sample, a ratio of diagenetic phases with higher or lower density cements present within the core sample, a representative grain density value, or any combination thereof.

10 . A method for characterizing an oil/gas, or water well comprising:

recovering a core sample from a borehole of the oil/gas or water well;

performing a computer-aided tomography scan on the core sample;

obtaining measurements of petrophysical properties relating to the oil/gas or water well;

deriving a computer-aided tomography index from the computer-aided tomography scan;

correcting the measurements of petrophysical properties as a function of the computer-aided tomography index;

generating a trendline that correlates historical cement phase element concentration data with computer-aided tomography index data;

obtaining cement phase elemental concentration data for a further oil/gas or water well without an available core sample via a geochemical logging tool;

predicting, via the trendline, a computer-aided tomography index from the cement phase element concentration data for the further oil/gas or water well;

developing a model of a subterranean formation using the measurements that were corrected; and

performing reservoir management activities within the subterranean formation using the model of the subterranean formation,

wherein the measurements of petrophysical properties that are corrected comprise grain density, porosity, permeability, storage capacity, or any combination thereof, and wherein the reservoir management activities comprise altering reservoir models, adjusting estimated reservoir volume, adjusting projected flowrate, optimizing wellbore design, altering a depletion plan, preemptively correcting reservoir issues within the subterranean formation, or any combination thereof.

11 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising: predicting, via the trendline, a cement phase element concentration from a computer-aided tomography index derived from a computer-aided tomography scan.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the computer-aided tomography index is derived based upon a ratio of diagenetic phases with higher or lower density cements present within the core sample, a representative grain density value, or a combination thereof.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the core sample includes a patchy cement phase distribution in a rock matrix.