Fragmented low-porosity limestone in Kazakhstan

A national oil company assigned e4sciences|Earthworks to determine the effects of fracturing on production in low-porosity limestones in a Pennsylvanian-age reef complex. The interpretation was complicated by the presence of bitumen in the fractures. e4sciences|Earthworks first described the effect of porous fabric on the behavior of the intact-rock frame. The effect of fractures was described not by perturbations but by fragmentation, which correlated to fracture-density measurements. The calculations included fluids with nonzero shear stiffness like bitumen. The algorithm quantified the effects of fragmentation and fracture systems irrespective of the pore fluid.