This one-day awareness course is designed to help attendees to understand every geological aspect of the decision trees involved in clastic reservoir pore system analysis. The course covers the controls on pore system evolution from deposition to present day, contrasting the roles of depositional attributes and diagenetic processes, with a special emphasis on predictability. Pore system degradation pathways will be discussed and visualised with the help of representative diagrams and photomicrographs. The final session will provide further opportunity for re-enforcing the understanding with a series of case studies.

Session 1: Reservoir quality analysis – what it is and how to approach it?
• What is reservoir quality analysis?
• Introduction to clastic rock pore systems
• What controls the reservoir quality of clastic systems?
• Commonly used analytical tools and new developments
• Work flow and decision trees

Sessions 2-3: Controls on Reservoir Quality – from deposition to present day
• Depositional controls on reservoir quality
– depositional environment and reservoir quality
– texture and fabric; their influence on porosity and permeability
– matrix, pseudomatrix and organic matter
– effects of detrital composition on early diagenesis and compaction
• Burial and compaction
– mechanical and chemical compaction
– what to learn from compaction analysis?
• Early diagenetic processes
– environmental control on early burial geochemistry
– early cement phases
• Burial diagenesis: cementation and dissolution
– authigenic mineralogy; common cement phases and grain replacements
– secondary porosity formation by dissolution
– hydrocarbon charge and its effects on diagenesis
• Pore system evolution and the predictability of porosity degradation