To maximize the production and total recovery of hydrocarbons, oil companies must have a complete understanding of the reservoir rocks and fluids present in their producing fields. Core Laboratories is the only global provider of services that characterize the porous reservoir rock and all three reservoir fluids.


Our Reservoir Description technologies measure rock properties and the ways that reservoir fluids behave when a reservoir is being produced. For wireline and seismic data estimates to be used effectively in reservoir optimization, they must be calibrated with precisely measured petrophysical and fluid datasets such as those provided by Core Laboratories.


We begin by analyzing samples of reservoir rocks for their porosity to determine reservoir storage capacity and for their permeability to define the ability of the rock to permit fluid flow. We then combine these basic measurements with advanced rock properties analyses to provide detailed input for log calibration, saturation distribution, and fluid flow parameters. We also perform formation damage analysis to provide detailed solutions to wellbore and production impairment problems and support investigation of stimulation and treatment effects.


The ability of Core Laboratories to combine all aspects of reservoir characterization allows us to develop critical input for the development of reservoir simulation models that are central to the appraisal and development of any hydrocarbon accumulation. Core’s fundamental and basic measurements provide the foundation for determining how much oil and gas are present in a reservoir and the rates at which the hydrocarbons can be produced. The more completely the properties of your oilfields’ reservoir systems are understood, the more oil and gas these fields will ultimately produce.


From the Reservoir to the Refinery


To identify and understand the type of crude oil in the reservoir and how it will interact with the natural gas and water as the field is being produced, the three reservoir fluids must be characterized to evaluate fluid-phase behavior properties. These data sets are critical elements for attempting to produce the maximum quantities of oil and gas daily and over the life of the field. Since the reservoir fluids change composition over the producing life of the field, the methods by which the field is produced need to change also. Core provides reservoir fluids data from separator and subsurface oil and gas samples that will help you decide what changes to make to optimize production and field recovery rates. The value of the crude oil and natural gas is related to the hydrocarbon’s composition. So, in addition to our evaluation of the fluids as they leave the reservoir, we provide inspection, crude oil assay, distillation, and sophisticated sampling services to determine the value of the crude oil and its derived products as they are transported to the refinery. Crude oil value is directly related to the quantity of gasoline that can be refined from it. Natural gas value is tied to its British Thermal Unit (BTU) content; the higher the BTU content, the higher the value of the gas. Core provides data sets to help determine the value of oil and natural gas. These values are then used to calculate the return on investment the oilfield development project may yield the operator.

Core Laboratories’ data describing the reservoir system are used by engineers, geologists, and geophysicists worldwide to enhance hydrocarbon production so that it will exceed the 40% average oilfield recovery factor. Two productionenhancement methods commonly used are hydraulic fracturing of the reservoir rock to improve flow and flooding the field with water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or hydrocarbon gases to force more oil and gas to the wellbore.


The most effective means of enhancing production is controlling formation damage, the leading cause of underperforming wells worldwide. No one can do more than Core Laboratories to identify, remediate, and minimize the damage to producing formations that can occur during drilling and completion of a well.


Hydraulic Fracturing


Hydraulic fracturing is typically achieved by pumping a proppant material in a gel slurry into the reservoir zone at extremely high pressures. This forces fractures to open in the rock and “props” the fractures open so that reservoir fluids can flow to the production wellbore.


Unfortunately, less than 50% of hydraulic fractures result in optimum production. A thorough understanding of the reservoir system is necessary for success. And Core provides patented and proprietary completions diagnostics technology to help you achieve it.


By coupling our data on rock types and strength you can ensure that proppants are placed as they were intended in the stimulation design, enabling you to significantly increase hydrocarbon production.


In addition, Core’s testing indicates whether the gel slurry is compatible with the reservoir fluids so that the porous rock network is not damaged.


Field Floods


An oilfield can yield additional quantities of hydrocarbons when an operator floods the producing zone with water, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or a miscible gas. When Core’s reservoir description datasets are combined with dynamic flow tests run in Core’s laboratories, a field flood program can be implemented to maximize hydrocarbon recovery. We conduct dynamic flow tests of the reservoir fluids through the reservoir rock, at actual reservoir pressure and temperature, to realistically simulate the actual flooding of a producing zone.


The success of a flood design can be bolstered by using our proprietary fieldflood tracer technologies to track the movement of the flooding agent. This enables you to identify injection flow patterns and pinpoint fluid breakthrough paths; so it helps eliminate costly remediation that is required when the fieldflooding agent prematurely breaks through to producing wells.


Formation Damage


Formation damage limits daily production and severely reduces the ultimate recovery from the field by up to 25%. These economics make the avoidance and mitigation of formation damage a top priority. To ensure the maximum return possible, you frequently have to stimulate the reservoir to yield additional production. The reservoir rock and fluid data dictate the most effective way to complete the well and stimulate the formation. If it is completed improperly, the producing formation will be damaged; and hydrocarbon flow to the wellbore will be impaired.


Core provides well completion perforating gun systems specifically designed to minimize formation damage while maximizing the communication, or transmissibility, between the producing formation and the wellbore. Core is in the best position to recommend patented and proprietary perforating systems and prepare the reservoir for stimulation.


Reservoir production is significantly enhanced whenever formation damage can be controlled. Formation damage is a multi-billion-dollar/year problem for the oil and gas industry; and no one can do more to identify, remediate, and minimize formation damage than Core Laboratories.

Lowering finding costs is critically important for any E&P company, and maximizing production from existing reservoirs is generally recognized as the most cost-effective way to achieve this goal.


The Reservoir Management group focuses on specialized projects to help Core Laboratories’ clients optimize their oil and gas exploration and exploitation programs. An example is our Tight Gas Sand Fracture Stimulation and Optimization Program (A Systematic Approach to Improved Well Performance). This is a complete evaluation package that profiles the geological, petrophysical, and geomechanical properties of tight gas sand reservoirs to enhance well performance. Increasingly, operators are recognizing that costeffective, real-time, permanent well monitoring systems enable them to “see” how their reservoirs are performing and are critical to the successful implementation of any reservoir management, production enhancement, or enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project.


Core Laboratories makes continuous real-time measurements of reservoir temperature, pressure, and flow. Our permanent downhole monitoring systems provide our customers with “eyes to the reservoir” to improve well productivity, reduce operating costs, and understand reservoir performance on a real-time basis. Our unique surface and downhole instrumentation systems are designed to be reliable, flexible, and easy to use – whatever the application.


While accurate data generation is important, understanding how to use the data is critical. Core Laboratories is expert at generating, compiling, and interpreting reservoir data. Through regional geological and petrophysical studies that integrate detailed seismic, geological, petrophysical, and well production information, we provide you with a multi-disciplinary approach to complete reservoir characterization.


And to help you manage your field optimally, Core offers integrated teams of engineers, geologists, petrophysicists, and geophysicists to apply our unparalleled knowledge of reservoir systems and our proprietary completion and production enhancement techniques to reservoir management projects worldwide.