Events

Speaker:  Dr. Yashar Mehmani, Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University

Title of Seminar: “Multiscale imaging of unconventional rock properties”

Abstract: The potential of petroleum source rocks as a dependable energy resource has been realized by the petroleum industry in the past decade. The production of clean natural gas from these resources and their potential for utilization as carbon storage sites (in adsorbed state) are also aligned with efforts towards mitigating climate change. Optimizing development and production from these resources requires reliable geologic characterizations that feed into field-scale models. In this talk, I will discuss a general framework for mapping the spatial distribution of petrophysical properties of organic-rich shales at high resolution over cores that can span several hundred feet in depth. The focus here will be on the thermally immature oil shale of the Green River Formation, USA. I will first demonstrate how optics and near-infrared (NIR) imaging can be used to map kerogen content at micron resolution over an entire core, and then discuss how similar maps of thermal conductivity can be obtained by combining the foregoing with electron microscopy and lab measurements. The outcome is essentially an ultra-high resolution well log.

Biography:  Yashar Mehmani is a postdoctoral researcher at the Energy Resources Engineering department at Stanford University working within Prof. Hamdi Tchelepi’s group. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin and his B.Sc. from Sharif University of Technology, Iran, all in petroleum engineering. His current research is on unconventional resource characterization, computational fluid physics for rapid screening of EOR protocols, and bioremediation of organic contaminants. He is involved in the Stanford Total Enhanced Modeling of Source rock (STEMS) and the Stanford University Petroleum Research Institute for Reservoir Simulation (SUPRI-B). His dissertation focused on understanding flow and reactive transport in geologic carbon storage and miscible flooding.