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Oil and Gas
Sample courtesy of INIG Poland
Advanced Microscopy Techniques

Oil and Gas Research

Unlock Reservoir Insights and Optimize Recovery with ZEISS Microscopy Solutions

 

Sample Prep & Education/Routine
Powering Data-Driven Exploration & Production with an Integrated Microscopy Workflow​ Successful reservoir characterization depends on a precise understanding of the rock. Microscopy provides the essential ground truth—the direct visual and analytical data that underpins every accurate petrophysical model. ZEISS delivers a fully integrated, multi-scale microscopy workflow that allows you to analyze your reservoir rock from the core plug down to the nanoscale. From automated mineralogy that accelerates completions decisions to non-destructive 3D imaging for digital rock physics, these solutions provide the critical mineralogical, textural, and structural data needed to build predictive models, optimize recovery, and maximize the value of your asset.​
  • Accelerated Petrography​

    Digitize, automate, and scale your analysis workflow.​

  • Quantitative 2D/3D Reservoir Analysis​

    Link mineral data directly to reservoir performance.​

  • Centralized Multi-Scale Data​

    Connect all imaging data in one platform for seamless analysis and team collaboration.​

Reduce Uncertainty with Data-Driven Reservoir Characterization​

Explore the advanced microscopy workflows that drive better Exploration & Process (E&P) decisions.​

Automated Thin-Section Petrography​

Harness the power of automated petrography workflows, efficiently imaging and analyzing hundreds of rock thin sections with speed and precision. Optimize your exploration and reservoir characterization processes by delivering automated, high-resolution, multi-modal imaging that captures intricate mineral textures, structures, and compositions. Take advantage of detailed data management and interpretation, providing rapid and cost-effective surface-level mineralogical insights.

Characterize and Model Reservoir Pore Network Systems​

Identify optimal drilling locations and enhance Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) strategies by capturing essential characteristics of your drill site. Analyze pore shapes, map their connectivity and topology, and model fluid flow dynamics in any network system, ranging from conventional (intergranular) to unconventional (kerogen-hosted) reservoirs.​

Overcome Resolution Trade-Offs in Subsurface Imaging

Enhance site evaluation for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) and CO2 storage with faster, scalable imaging that reduces time-to-results. Ensure confidence in modeling porosity, injectivity, and long-term security using ZEISS Versa XRM and DeepScout reconstruction software. Together, this technology revolutionizes pore network modeling by precisely quantifying multi-scale porosity, pore connectivity, pore-size distribution, and total accessible mineral surface area (TASA).

In-situ Core Analysis

Examining reservoir rocks at the pore scale presents challenges due to the complex interplay of multiple physical processes. ZEISS solutions, such as X-ray microscopy and integrated geomechanics, provide a comprehensive platform for directly observing critical processes, including wettability changes, relative permeability, pore occupancy, mineralogical variations, and reactive processes using in situ techniques. These advanced solutions facilitate dynamic imaging and characterization, enabling the development of precise pore-scale digital rock models. As a result, you can achieve more accurate predictions of macroscopic behavior, ultimately enhancing your reservoir management strategies.

Master Your Data​.

Data Analysis & Management for Oil and Gas​

Data volumes can be overwhelming and disconnected, making it challenging to extract actionable insights. Intelligent cloud-based data storage solutions address this issue by providing a secure and scalable platform for storing, organizing, and accessing your data. This ensures seamless collaboration among teams and facilitates new discoveries by enabling quick retrieval and analysis of critical information. But don’t just store your data, utilize integrated tools for advanced analysis and visualization. Transform complex data into clear visualizations, enhancing your decision-making processes and optimizing reservoir characterization.

Recommended Products for Oil & Gas Research

  • AI-Driven Mineralogy for Repeatable Reservoir Characterization

    ZEISS Phase Identifier

    Replace time-consuming, subjective manual analysis with an AI-powered software solution. Phase Identifier uses advanced machine learning to automatically identify and quantify mineral phases from your multi-modal imaging data (SEM, XRM). This delivers fast, accurate, and—most importantly—fully repeatable results, removing user bias and providing the objective data needed for robust petrophysical models and completions design.

    Explore Phase Idenitifier

    Choose Phase Identifier if you need:

    • Accelerated, Unbiased Results: Use AI to rapidly deliver quantitative mineralogy, freeing up your expert petrographers for higher-value tasks while eliminating user bias for more consistent analysis.
    • Comprehensive Data Integration: Fuse data from your SEM, X-ray microscope, and slide scanner to build a complete, multi-scale understanding of your rock's properties and their impact on performance.
    • Streamlined Petrophysical Workflow: An intuitive interface designed for geoscientists ensures rapid adoption and efficient analysis, turning complex imaging data into actionable insights faster.

  • Automate and Scale Your Petrography with High-Throughput Slide Scanning

    ZEISS Axioscan 7
    LSM 990

    Unlock the vast potential of your physical thin section archives. The Axioscan 7 is a high-throughput system designed for unattended, 24/7 operation, digitizing up to 100 slides per run. It automatically captures multiple polarization images (PPL, XPL) to create a high-quality digital rock asset. This enables global team collaboration and provides the foundation for powerful, AI-driven petrographic analysis at a scale never before possible.

    Explore Axioscan 7

    Choose Axioscan 7 if you need:

    • Unattended High-Throughput Digitize up to 100 thin sections per batch with multiple polarization techniques, maximizing data extraction with minimal operator time.
    • AI-Ready Data Generation Create perfectly coregistered, high-resolution images that serve as the ideal input for automated mineral classification and texture analysis with AI software.
    • Seamless Collaboration and Correlation Generate a shareable digital database that enables remote analysis and provides a direct link for correlating petrographic data with SEM and EDS results.

  • High-Fidelity Imaging and Analytics for Challenging Reservoirs

    ZEISS GeminiSEM

    When analyzing challenging, uncoated samples from unconventional reservoirs, image quality is paramount. The ZEISS GeminiSEM excels at high-resolution, low-voltage imaging, allowing you to visualize the finest nanopore networks and delicate rock textures in shale without charging or sample damage. It serves as a powerful and stable platform for a full suite of analytical techniques, enabling you to seamlessly correlate imaging with EDS and EBSD data on the exact same area.

    Explore GeminiSEM

    Choose GeminiSEM if you need:

    • Unrivaled Low-kV Performance: Obtain crisp, high-resolution images on beam-sensitive and non-conductive samples, revealing critical details that other SEMs miss.
    • Streamlined Analytical Workflow: An intuitive user interface automates common tasks, enabling users of all experience levels to get from sample to actionable data faster.
    • Ultimate Analytical Flexibility: Create a fully integrated analytical hub. The platform supports a wide array of detectors (EDS, WDS, EBSD, CL) that can be used concurrently for comprehensive sample characterization.

  • High-Resolution 3D Imaging for Predictive Reservoir Modeling

    ZEISS Versa

    The ZEISS Versa is the cornerstone of the modern digital rock workflow. It provides non-destructive 3D imaging of your core plugs and cuttings, allowing you to characterize critical features from large-scale fracture networks down to sub-micron pore throats—all on the same instrument. This powerful multi-scale capability preserves your valuable samples while providing the high-resolution data necessary to build accurate models for fluid flow simulation and permeability prediction.

    Explore Versa

    Product features

    • True Multi-Scale Analysis: Image an entire core plug at one resolution, then seamlessly zoom to a region of interest for sub-micron detail without ever cutting the sample.
    • Accelerated Digital Rock Workflow: Eliminate time-consuming mechanical prep. Go directly from core to high-quality 3D data, dramatically reducing the time needed for analysis.
    • 4D and In-Situ Ready: The non-destructive nature and stable platform enable advanced studies, including observing fluid flow dynamics inside the rock in 3D over time.
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ZEISS Research Essentials

  • Efficiently Screen Cuttings and Core Fragments

    ZEISS Discovery.V8​
    Product image of ZEISS SteREO Discovery.V8

    Quickly identify key lithology, grain size, and textural details with an impressive 8:1 zoom range. The Discovery.V8's modular design adapts to various sample types, from wet cuttings to core chips, while its ergonomic construction ensures user comfort during high-volume analysis.​

    Explore the ZEISS SteREO Discovery.V8

  • Reliable Thin Section Analysis for Reservoir Quality​

    ZEISS Axiolab 5
    Product image of ZEISS Axiolab 5 for materials

    The Axiolab 5 is engineered for the demands of routine petrography. It streamlines the entire workflow, from capturing crisp, color-accurate images of your thin sections to generating integrated, shareable reports. ​

    Explore the ZEISS Axiolab 5 for Materials

  • Unlock Complex Rock Properties with Advanced Microscopy​

    ZEISS Axioscope
    Product image of ZEISS Axioscope for Materials

    Go beyond routine petrography to precisely characterize the intricate rock microstructures that control reservoir behavior. Its advanced optics deliver exceptional clarity, essential for detailed diagenetic studies and identifying subtle microporosity. The fully modular design adapts to a wide range of analytical techniques, from standard polarized light to advanced fluid inclusion analysis.​

    Explore the ZEISS Axioscope for Materials
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What are the key microscopy techniques and applications for reservoir characterization?​

ZEISS provides an integrated suite of microscopy solutions to address the key challenges in oil and gas exploration and production, including:​
  • ZEISS offers a variety of microscopy techniques critical for optimizing exploration and production (E&P) in the oil and gas industry.
    • Light Microscopy: Provides rapid and essential analysis of rock fabrics and mineralogy from core samples and cuttings. The ZEISS light microscope portfolio enables crucial petrographic workflows that inform lithology, diagenesis, and initial reservoir quality assessments.
    • Electron Microscopy: Delivers high-resolution imaging essential for understanding unconventional reservoirs. This technique allows you to directly visualize nano-scale pore networks, characterize kerogen maturity and distribution, and identify pore-clogging clays that directly impact permeability and production.
    • FIB-SEM Microscopy: Uncovers the 3D structure of your rock at the nanoscale, enabling advanced digital rock analysis. By milling away layers of the sample, you can reconstruct precise 3D models of pore systems, which are critical for accurately modeling fluid flow and predicting reservoir performance.
    • X-ray Microscopy: Offers non-destructive 3D imaging of core plugs and larger samples. This allows you to investigate internal structures like fracture networks and analyze pore distribution across large volumes—all while preserving the integrity of your valuable samples for further testing.​

    These techniques form a comprehensive, multi-scale workflow to reveal the critical rock properties that govern your reservoir, enabling data-driven decisions that reduce risk and maximize asset value.

  • ZEISS solutions provide critical data that reduces uncertainty and enhances decision-making from exploration to production.​

    • Accelerate Completions and Geosteering Decisions: Get essential mineralogy and geochemical data in hours, not days. Automated SEM platforms deliver rapid, quantitative mineral maps to identify geohazards like swelling clays and inform wellbore stability, accelerating your decision-making cycle.
    • Enable Accurate Digital Rock Modeling: Visualize and quantify pore and fracture networks in 3D without damaging your core. Non-destructive X-ray microscopy provides fundamental data on porosity and permeability pathways within the intact rock, allowing you to build more accurate reservoir models.
    • Automate Reservoir-Wide: Digitize your entire thin section library for standardized, on-demand analysis. High-throughput slide scanning creates a digital database of your assets, enabling global teams to collaborate and apply AI-driven analysis for consistent, quantitative interpretation.
    • Power a Complete Petrophysical Picture: Integrate data from every scale to build a comprehensive understanding of your reservoir. Correlative workflows link rock texture, mineralogy, and 3D pore structure, providing the ground truth needed to calibrate well logs and optimize field development.

  • Yes. We have a wide range of application notes, customer stories, and webinars that demonstrate how our integrated microscopy workflows solve real-world challenges in the oil and gas industry. Here are a few examples relevant to reservoir characterization:

        Explore these and other resources on our website to see how you can apply these techniques to your specific E&P challenges.

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