Rock typing and facies identification using fractal theory and conventional petrophysical logs
Rock typing or subdivision of a reservoir either vertically or laterally is an important task in reservoir characterisation and production prediction. Different depositional environments and diagenetic effects create rocks with different grain size distribution and grain sorting. Rock typing and zonation is usually made by analysing log data and core data (mercury injection capillary pressure and permeability measurement). In this paper, we introduce a new technique (approach) for rock typing using fractal theory in which resistivity logs are the only required data. Since resistivity logs are sensitive to rock texture, in this study, deep conventional resistivity logs are used from eight different wells. Fractal theory is applied to our log data to seek any meaningful relationship between the variability of resistivity logs and complexity of rock fabric. Fractal theory has been previously used in many stochastic processes which have common features on multiple scales. The fractal property of a system is usually characterised by a fractal dimension. Therefore, the fractal dimension of all the resistivity logs is obtained. The results of our case studies in the Cooper Basin of Australia show that the fractal dimension of resistivity logs increases from 1.14 to 1.29 for clean to shaly sand respectively, indicating that the fractal dimension increases with complexity of rock texture. The fractal dimension of resistivity logs is indicative of the complexity of pore fabric, and therefore can be used to define rock types.