The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.

The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.

Date of Patent:
Dec. 04, 2018

Filed:

Jul. 29, 2016
Applicant:

The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US);

Inventors:

Markus Hilpert, Baltimore, MD (US);

Peter Anderson Geiser, Lyons, CO (US);

Bruce D. Marsh, Hunt Valley, MD (US);

Assignee:

The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD (US);

Attorney:
Primary Examiner:
Int. Cl.
CPC ...
G01V 1/30 (2006.01); E21B 43/26 (2006.01); E21B 49/00 (2006.01);
U.S. Cl.
CPC ...
E21B 43/26 (2013.01); E21B 49/00 (2013.01); G01V 1/306 (2013.01); G01V 2210/1234 (2013.01); G01V 2210/6246 (2013.01);
Abstract

An embodiment in accordance with the present invention includes a method for estimating the permeability of fractured rock formations from the analysis of a slow fluid pressure wave, which is generated by pressurization of a borehole. Wave propagation in the rock is recorded with TFI™. Poroelastic theory is used to estimate the permeability from the measured wave speed. The present invention offers the opportunity of measuring the reservoir-scale permeability of fractured rock, because the method relies on imaging a wave, which propagates through a large rock volume, on the order of kilometers in size. Traditional methods yield permeability for much smaller rock volumes: well logging tools only measure permeability in the vicinity of a borehole. Pressure transient testing accesses larger rock volumes; however, these volumes are much smaller than for the proposed method, particularly in low-permeability rock formations.


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