Scientists Turn to PerGeos for Digital Rock Analysis

Edited on 03.27.20
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 Thermo Scientific™ 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 versions of PerGeos Software, add 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 PerGeos 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 Software 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.