Systems and method for constraining 3D fracture model properties using X-ray micro-computed tomography of core plugs for naturally fractured reservoirs

A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having executable code stored thereon of drilling a well in a subsurface geological structure to a location in a subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir indicated by a natural fracture network model of the reservoir, the executable code comprising a set of instructions that causes a processor to perform operations comprising:

• obtaining a core plug from the subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir;
• obtaining an image of a sample from the core plug using X-ray micro-computed tomography;
• determining, using the image, a porosity and an effective permeability of the subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir;
• obtaining reservoir parameters representing properties of the subsurface reservoir for processing in a data processing system;
• forming a natural fracture model by processing the obtained reservoir parameters to identify the presence and extent of natural fractures at locations in the subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir;
• identifying a fluid flow path using a shear stress, a normal stress, and an aperture of a fracture;
• determining a discrete natural fracture network in the natural fracture model using the fluid flow path;
• determining a second fracture porosity and a second fracture effective permeability from the nature fracture model;
• comparing the second fracture porosity to the first fracture porosity and the second fracture effective permeability to the first fracture effective permeability;
• and
• calibrating the natural fracture model based on the comparison.

A system of drilling a well in a subsurface geological structure to a location in a subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir indicated by a natural fracture network model of the reservoir, comprising:

• a processor;
• a non-transitory computer-readable memory accessible by the processor and having executable code stored thereon, the executable code comprising a set of instructions that causes a processor to perform operations comprising:
• obtaining a core plug from the subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir;
• obtaining an image of a sample from the core plug using X-ray micro-computed tomography;
• determining, using the image, a porosity and an effective permeability of the subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir;
• obtaining reservoir parameters representing properties of the subsurface reservoir for processing in a data processing system;
• forming a natural fracture model by processing the obtained reservoir parameters to identify the presence and extent of natural fractures at locations in the subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir;
• identifying a fluid flow path using a shear stress, a normal stress, and an aperture of a fracture;
• determining a discrete natural fracture network in the natural fracture model using the fluid flow path;
• determining a second fracture porosity and a second fracture effective permeability from the nature fracture model;
• comparing the second fracture porosity to the first fracture porosity and the second fracture effective permeability to the first fracture effective permeability;
• and
• calibrating the natural fracture model based on the comparison.