Digital Petrographic Approach to Carbonate Reservoir Evaluation in MATLAB
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17794/rgn.2026.4.1Keywords:
digital petrography, image analysis, carbonate reservoir characterizationAbstract
Porosity is a crucial parameter in the characterization of carbonate reservoirs, as it directly influences fluid storage and flow behavior. Conventional techniques for porosity assessment, such as core analysis and well logging, are often labor-intensive, time-consuming, and costly. This study proposes an automated method for porosity estimation through petrography and image analysis techniques using MATLAB. Thin-section photographs of carbonate rocks are processed through image segmentation, feature extraction, and classification procedures to quantitatively determine porosity. The estimation process relies on RGB-based image analysis, in which variations in color intensity between the rock matrix and pore spaces are used to distinguish pore regions accurately. The RGB image analysis approach in MATLAB achieves an accuracy of 60.9% when compared with Routine Core Analysis (RCAL) data, indicating a strong correlation between the estimated and measured porosity values. This digital petrography method demonstrates higher accuracy and consistency than conventional manual image analysis, which is often influenced by human interpretation and subjectivity. By automating the image processing workflow, the method enables objective, rapid, and cost-effective porosity estimation. Despite the absence of complex computational algorithms, the MATLAB-based digital petrography technique provides a reliable and efficient alternative for preliminary carbonate reservoir characterization, especially when laboratory or well-log data are limited.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Nita Ariyanti, Sugeng Sapto Surjono, Salahuddin Husein, Marsha Khairia Alfany, Firman Syaifuddin, M. Irfan Mashudi
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