Instructor: Michael Fahy, Consultant

Includes: refreshments, class notes, and PDH certificate

Topics to be Covered:

Fracture networks are present in most reservoir rocks and can significantly affect reservoir performance either positively or negatively. Beyond determination of the presence or absence of fractures, techniques are available to estimate fracture network parameters in order to characterize the reservoir.

Goals of this course include:  determine the presence/absence of fractures; learn the limitations and uncertainty of these fracture indicators; understand the environment of deformation for fractured reservoirs; identify the characteristics of fractures (natural or induced); assess the probability and distribution of fracture network parameters and integrate techniques to improve your probability of success for exploitation.

The Instructor: Michael F. Fahy is a consulting geologist specializing in fractured reservoirs. His work in industry includes research for exploration in fractured reservoirs for both ARCO and Conoco, and employment as an exploration geologist/geophysicist and team leader for Strata Energy, and then Florida Exploration. His exploration areas have been the California basins (Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Santa Maria), Rocky Mountain basins (the overthrust belts of Wyoming and Montana), Basin and Range, Williston Basin, Colorado fracture basins, and Texas (Offshore, Pedernales thrust belt, and Austin Chalk.)

During his period of government employment from 1988 to 2010 as a geoscientist, he worked at U.S. Bureau of Reclamation as an engineering geologist and at the Yucca Mountain Project for Reclamation. He was subsequently employed at the USGS doing fracture mapping (surface and underground), hydrologic testing (fractured volcanics), and fractured bedrock modeling for the US Forest Service at the Arrowhead Tunnel Project, San Bernardino Forest. He retired from the USGS in 2010.