Permeability of fault rocks in siliciclastic reservoirs: Recent advances

A poor correlation exists between clay content and fault rock permeability, which is easily explained by the application of a simple clay-sand mixing model. This emphasises the need to gather fault permeability data directly from the reservoir of interest. The cost of such studies could be significantly reduced by screening core samples using a CT scanner so that only samples that are likely to impact fluid flow are analyzed in detail. The stress dependence of fault permeability identified in this study is likely to be primarily caused by damage generated during or following coring. So it is probably not necessary to take into account the impact of stress on fault permeability in simulation models unless the faults of interest are likely to reach failure and reactivate.