Predicting Multiscale Fracture Patterns in Buried Reservoirs: the Importance of Outcrop Data in a Coherent Workflow

Fracture data from outcropping analogs are often acquired but rarely used to improve permeability predictions in buried reservoirs. To improve this we present a systematic workflow which includes i) the building of a geometric model of the investigated structure, ii) the execution of mechanical simulations to determine state of stress and strain field, iii) the use of outcrop data to populate the model and iv) develop a reservoir-scale permeability model To make full use of outcrop data, we present new acquisition and processing tools allowing able to provide a full characterization of the fracture field even when fractures are not bed-confined. A few case studies are presented to discuss this workflow in sedimentologically and structurally heterogeneous settings.