To make the best investment decisions, oil and gas companies need to understand the rock formations at the heart of oil and gas reservoirs. And digital rock analysis can help with reservoir characterization by making it possible to assess the pore-scale microstructure of reservoir rock in a fraction of the time required using traditional rock analysis methods.
Using our PerGeos Software to visualize and analyze 2D and 3D digital rock imagery, geoscientists can improve their evaluation of reservoir quality and more quickly understand the static and dynamic rock properties that affect production.
Over the past few years, we have offered PerGeos software as a complement to traditional core analysis methods. And the latest version, PerGeos Software 2019.1, adds several tools to make digital rock analysis even easier.
Analyzing rock samples at multiple scales
A 2D and 3D visualization and analysis platform for the full spectrum of digital rock analysis, PerGeos Software helps geoscientists process the digital images of reservoir rock samples using automated workflows and an intuitive graphical interface.
The software enables geoscientists to visualize and analyze images of rock samples from a variety of imaging systems such as whole-core computed tomography, micro-computed tomography (microCT), scanning electron microscopes (SEMs), and focused ion beam scanning electron microscopes (FIB-SEM). Using various features, users can perform analysis of images at multiple resolutions and across multiple scales.
Using PerGeos software, geoscientists can explore rock sample images collected from a variety of instruments at multiple scales ranging from core to pore. Data courtesy of Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
Using the computerized image-analysis techniques that Pereos Software provides, geoscientists can assess the geometric properties of grains and analyze grain size distribution. They can also characterize the pore-space of a rock sample to calculate its porosity. And they can then simulate the fluid flow in the digitally characterized pore-space, calculating permeability and even multi-phase flow properties. All of this can be accomplished in far less time and at lower cost than with conventional lab processes.
PerGeos is the only digital rock analysis software on the market to offer a full-scale automated workflow that includes filtering and artifact removal, 3D exploration, segmentation, simulation, analysis, and reporting. Users can build their own automated workflows by creating customized recipes to avoid manually repeating the same steps for every sample that’s explored. They can also create breakpoints in the workflow in which they manually insert customized parameters and then push a button to continue the automated process.
Multi-scale imaging of a Middle Eastern carbonate sample. Data courtesy of Masdar Institute of Science and Technology.
Taking digital rock analysis to the next level
We recently released PerGeos 2019.1, which includes several new tools and enhancements. Among the new features in this latest version:
- Improved image processing. PerGeos Software version 2019.1 includes a ridge enhancement filter that enables users to detect, highlight, and enhance dark-to-bright and bright-to-dark transitions in an image. This filter can be used to obtain the pore and grain edges as separate phases.
- Enhanced recipe functionality. The newest version of PerGeos Software offers the ability to create a recipe from multiple output files, eliminating the need to run multiple recipes. Users can also create a recipe within a recipe, developing a subset of the workflow as a single step within the overall recipe.
- Nuclear magnetic resonance. A new nuclear magnetic resonance tool simulates the decay of the magnetic resonance (NMR) of the nuclei of hydrogen-1 atoms of the fluids in the pore-space of the rock. The tool can be used to compare the results of magnetic relaxation against the NMR logs acquired in the lab or downhole in the field.
- Heterogeneity logs. A new heterogeneity logs tool generates a number of logs based on the intensity histogram of the input grayscale image. Users can specify the number of logs to be generated, which are loaded as a single data file and displayed in the “Core Profile” workspace. The variations in the logs provide an insight into the amount of heterogeneity in the core.
- Python 3.5 support. The Python scripting API in PerGeos Software has been upgraded to Python 3.5.2 in this newest version, with support for Python 2.7 discontinued.
To learn more about what’s new in the latest release of PerGeos, watch our webcast, “PerGeos Software: What’s New in Version 2019.1” or review the full release notes.
Arash Aghaei, PhD, is a software product manager at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
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