Prediction of Porosity and Permeability Alteration Based on Machine Learning Algorithms

The objective of this work is to study the applicability of various machine learning algorithms for the prediction of some rock properties which geoscientists usually define due to special laboratory analysis. We demonstrate that these special properties can be predicted only basing on routine core analysis (RCA) data. To validate the approach, core samples from the reservoir with soluble rock matrix components (salts) were tested within 100+ laboratory experiments. The challenge of the experiments was to characterize the rate of salts in cores and alteration of porosity and permeability after reservoir desalination due to drilling mud or water injection. For these three measured characteristics, we developed the relevant predictive models, which were based on the results of RCA and data on coring depth and top and bottom depths of productive horizons. To select the most accurate machine learning algorithm, a comparative analysis has been performed. It was shown that different algorithms work better in different models. However, two-hidden-layer neural network has demonstrated the best predictive ability and generalizability for all three rock characteristics jointly. The other algorithms, such as support vector machine and linear regression, also worked well on the dataset, but in particular cases. Overall, the applied approach allows predicting the alteration of porosity and permeability during desalination in porous rocks and also evaluating salt concentration without direct measurements in a laboratory. This work also shows that developed approaches could be applied for the prediction of other rock properties (residual brine and oil saturations, relative permeability, capillary pressure, and others), of which laboratory measurements are time-consuming and expensive.