Events

Speakers:  Dr. Mike Myers, Associate Professor, and Dr. Lori Hathon, Assistant Professor - Department of Petroleum Engineering at The University of Houston

Title of Seminar: “Multi-Scale Imaging for Upscaling Rock Properties”

Abstract: “Looking at rocks” has evolved over the decades since Archie first coined the term “petrophysics” and emphasized its importance.  We have used modern tools including a scanning transmitted light microscope, micro-CT, and SEM to look at rocks as a function of the amplitude of the applied strain to assess their rock properties.  The first goal is to segment the image for the magnitude of the porosity, the distribution of mineral phases, and the identification of grain contacts.  This allows a calculation of permeability.  In addition to the grain contacts and the volume of phases present, their distribution and detrital versus authigenic origin are also used to determine the small strain properties such as velocity.  We then go on to discuss the large strain amplitude properties such as compressibility.  The tools used, software developed and models for these parameters are discussed.

Biographies:   

Dr. Michael Myers received his bachelors in physics in 1974 from Michigan Technological University, his masters in 1976 and PhD in 1981 both from the University of Michigan.  He then joined Shell and immediately took an assignment working for Shell California Production Incorporated as a Petrophysicist.  After close to two years of operating company experience he returned to the Bellaire Research Center in Houston where he spent the rest of Shell career.  His research interests are understanding the dielectric constant of shaley sands, carbonates and shale gas, compressibility of unconsolidated sands and the prediction of rock properties from thin section and micro-ct data.  After 30 years of experience in laboratory petrophysics working for Shell he moved to the University of Houston where he has assumed the position of Associate Professor. 

Dr. Lori Hathon received a bachelor’s degree, with honors, in Geological Sciences from Michigan State University in 1984, and a PhD in 1991 from the University of Missouri.  Upon graduation, she joined Amoco Production Company in Houston, Texas working as an Operations Geologist in the Asia/Far East Region.  Subsequent to that she moved to Regional Studies in East Africa, Exploration on Australia’s North West Shelf, and finally, to the Technology Organization as a Sedimentary Petrologist/Aqueous Geochemist.  In 1997 she moved to Shell International E & P where she spent nearly 20 years in Shell’s research organization. Her research interests include forward modeling of reservoir properties in conventional reservoirs, modeling pore volume compressibility and acoustic properties in conventional reservoirs, and upscaling pore scale imaging and image analysis results in shale reservoirs to the whole core and log scale.  After 26 years in the industry, she moved to the University of Houston where she has assumed the position of Assistant Professor.