Specialists in the analysis of complex rock types : Ingrain

Ingrain was organized in 2007 by Amos Nur, Ph.D. and Henrique Tono, Ph.D. Officially, Ingrain is just a few years old but the science, the technology and the business concept are based on intellectual property created during 30 years of groundbreaking work in rock physics by Dr. Amos Nur at Stanford University.

Ingrain specializes in the analysis of complex rock types in a much shorter time-frame than has ever been possible. The company helps clients identify high potential zones, or “sweet spots”, and maximize production of their reservoirs. Ingrain has provided rock characterization technology services for over 130 companies including supermajors, national oil companies, independents, government agencies and service companies worldwide. Ingrain’s financial backers include Energy Ventures, a leading venture capital firm specializing in upstream technology.

An insightful peek into Rock Physics

Rock physics is the linkage between geophysics and the information known about the reservoir — characterization (physical properties) and monitoring (fluid flow). Rock physics can be used to improve well placement, to achieve better recovery rates, and to improve wellbore management. Physical measurements of rock properties are slow and cumbersome to conduct. Most importantly, physical measurements are often sparse due to high cost and long turnaround time. As the oil and gas industry moves increasingly to use advanced reservoir simulations, digital rock physics offers a rapid, cost-effective solution for populating the simulation with rock properties information.

The multi-scale approach:

• Helps clients considerably reduce economic risk
• Determines reservoir quality for better productivity and net pay identification
• Provides accurate rock characterization in a significantly reduced time-frame
• Allows sensitivity analysis for more effective completions and recovery
• Gives better insights into pore-scale rock properties
• Provides critical zone comparisons for lateral placement decisions
• Can provide valuable reservoir quality information from drill cuttings when core samples are unavailable

Prominent Services

Ingrain’s CoreHD Suite provides early visibility into the critical properties of whole core through continuous, high-resolution rock property logs in relevant timeframes.

CoreHD: Ingrain’s approach starts with the CoreHD suite which provides early visibility into the critical properties of whole or slabbed core through dual energy high resolution 3D imaging. Computations of separate logs for bulk density (RhoB) and photoelectric index (PEF) provide quantitative measures to help discriminate lithology, porosity, rock facies, and depositional sequences in an unmatched timeframe.

CoreHD Plus: Ingrain also combines spectral gamma logging with RhoB and PEF to deliver further petrophysical information such as mineralogy, organic matter and brittleness at a very high resolution. The millimeter/centimeter scale resolution of CoreHD^® analysis is a key part of the crucial upscaling path between micro- and nano-scale image analysis and the well log or reservoir model scale.

A facies classification is performed on the high resolution log data, based on simultaneous multi-variate cluster analysis within datasets using a proprietary machine learning technique. This analysis will indicate which facies are most likely to be high quality reservoir.

Optimized Shale Characterization

Ingrain has developed a workflow that begins with the whole core (CoreHD) and systematically classifies the rock to ensure the work at each sampling scale is representative of the prior volume as it progresses through analysis - from the meter to the centimeter to the nanometer scale and back. For shales, the nanometer scale tells about the matrix and pore system and is the target for obtaining rock property data. Systematic selection techniques are used to ensure representative rock samples, including whole core facies analysis, plug CT heterogeneity evaluation, and pore correlation statistics. DRP is used to obtain rock property data such as porosity, permeability, TOC, porosity associated with organic matter (HC filled porosity), and conversion ratio. Sufficient number of samples are selected and analysed to establish physical and empirical trends (usually 10-15 samples per facies).

Powerful Applications for Complex Conventionals

The heterogeneities of reservoir rocks make it difficult to quantify the hierarchy and connectivity of the pore space and to integrate and interpret core analysis data with well logs. Ingrain has developed fast, cost-effective workflows designed to improve characterization in complex conventional reservoirs.

Ingrain’s advances in 3D imaging technology provide oil and gas companies with comprehensive and accurate measurements of reservoir rock properties including porosity, absolute permeability, electrical conductivity, elastic properties and relative permeability. The Ingrain team includes experts in rock physics, geology, geophysics, mathematics, software engineering, geocomputing, and reservoir engineering. With offices/labs in Houston, Abu Dhabi, Colombia, and Rio de Janeiro, Ingrain now has over 150 employees and continues to expand its client base internationally.

Usher in Marcus Ganz, Chief Executive Officer

Marcus Ganz joined Ingrain after 29 years of international experience at WesternGeco and Schlumberger. Ganz’s experience spans many countries and regions around the globe. As a member of the executive team managing WesternGeco over a period of four years he was VP of the Land product line and later the VP & Regional Manager responsible for all activities in South America. From 2006 to 2008 he was the General Manager of Schlumberger Oilfield Services for Argentina and Chile. During this period he served on the Schlumberger Ltd. Business Conduct Group, a rotating team of senior managers responsible for the worldwide implementation and monitoring of the Schlumberger Code of Ethics. Ganz holds a BSc. in physics from the University of Southampton, UK.

“We will conduct our business professionally adhering to our code of conduct in a manner that is both safe for our employees and sensitive to the environment.”