Fault Seal Terminology
Faults as seals and conduits
Faults are expected to act as seals and conduits in a number of ways during the exploration to production life cycle, they:
Act as conduits for hydrocarbon charge from deeper kitchens
Are a source of movement to generate fracture enhanced permeability prior to charge
Act as a lateral seal to hydrocarbons in 3 way dip closures
May reactivate once the reservoir has charged, thus breaching the lateral seal
In certain situations, faults can act both as seals and conduits. This appears to happen with well-cemented or sealed faults that are subsequently reactivated. In this case, fluids are ’dammed’ against the seal and ’vented’ beside the fault.
The process of faulting can also result in secondary fracture networks that run parallel to the fault. In this situation, the fault acts as a chimney, breaching the reservoir.
Research has focused on the present-day and palaeo-stress states around faults to assess the likelihood of the faults reactivating and generating fractures.
May leak during production time at small reservoir scale
In particular, breach and seal behaviour is observed in basins where residual oil fields are encountered.
The study of breach and seal is vitally important in the radioactive waste industry.
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