Fractured Reservoir Discrete Feature Network Technologies

FRDFNT Home

Project Overview

Research Team

Scope of the Project

Technology Transfer Database

Site Map

Search Site

B.A., Magna Cum Laude in Geology, Amherst College, 1974.
M.S., Geology, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1976.
Ph.D., Mining Engineering, University of Wisconsin, Madison, 1980.

Since 1992, Dr. La Pointe has been responsible for the management and technical direction of reservoir engineering and characterization projects for domestic and international petroleum companies. Projects have included geological analysis, reservoir characterization and flow simulation for fractured reservoirs in Europe, Canada and the United States. Objectives of these simulations include gas delivery, ultimate field recovery, field design and production strategies. Dr. La Pointe has served as an invited industry expert to review methodology for the U.S. Geological Survey’s congressionally- mandated National Petroleum Resource Assessment. In addition, he has performed technical analyses for a variety of hazardous waste-related projects in the U.S. and abroad in which flow through rock fracture systems in a prominent concern. He is a co- teacher of workshops and short courses in fractal geometry and geostatistics for the American Association of Petroleum Geologist, the Geological Society of America, the International Society for Rock Mechanics and for private companies in the petroleum and nuclear waste industries, and has taught Golder Associates’ workshops on fractured rock mass characterization and flow modeling to major integrate oil and gas companies at their facilities in North America and Europe. He has been an author or co-author of papers and monographs in reservoir geology and engineering, and session organizer and chairman for national technical society meetings in the petroleum industry. Dr. La Pointe will serve as task investigator for Integration.

Selected Publications:

La Pointe, P. R. And J.A. Hudson (1985). Characterization and Interpretation of Rock Mass Joint Patterns. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 199, 37p.

La Pointe, P. R., (1993). Pattern Analysis and Simulation of Joints for Rock Engineering, in Comprehensive Rock Engineering, Volume 3, Rock Testing and Site Characterization, J. A. Hudson, ed., Pergamon Press, Oxford. Chapter 10. Pp. 215- 240.

La Pointe, P. R., P. C. Wallmann and W. S. Dershowitz (1993). Stochastic estimation of fracture size through simulated sampling. Int. J. Rock Mech., Min. Sci & Geomech. Abstr., Vol. 30, no. 7, pp. 1611-1617.

La Pointe, P. R., W. S. Dershowitz and P. C. Wallmann (1993). Flow and connectivity properties of fracture networks as a function of the fractal dimension, in Abstracts with Programs, Geol. Soc. America 1993 Annual Meeting, Oct. 25-28, Boston. Abstract #A-250.

La Pointe, P. R. And C. C. Barton (1994). Progress in reservoir characterization through fractal geometry, in Barton, C. C. And P. R. La Pointe, eds., Fractal Geometry and its Uses in Petroleum Geology and Earth Processes, Plenum Press, New York (in press).