ABSTRACT
The behaviour of fractured reservoirs depends on the geometry of small-scale fractures that have to be represented by 3D models. Well data are the most important source of information about small-scale fractures. However well data are not sufficient to define the 3D fracture geometry and so cannot be used alone to predict the connectivity and size of unfractured blocks. It is proposed, therefore, that characteristic end-member fracture geometries defined from outcrops should be used as an additional source of information. Thus, well data can be used to choose between various fracture templates, which then provide the required information about the size and connectivities of the fractures. The method was applied to Triassic sandstones intersected by a deep well in the Rhine graben, France. A 3D conceptual model was simulated, which combines (1) the fracture orientation and spacing distributions defined in the well, and (2) the fracture size distribution derived from a field analogue exposed in Saudi Arabia.
