Petrographic Studies

McLeay Geological has an extensive track record in the detailed evaluation of core, cuttings and thin-section samples. With the participation of several petrographers in our group, we provide a full range of analytical services that helps to maximise the information we can get out of the valuable rock samples.

Our petrographic services are tailored to meet the specific needs of our clients and are offered as a routine stand-alone project, or integrated with sedimentology and core analysis, or as independent studies to address specific objectives such as reservoir quality, formation damage or diagenesis.

McLeay Geological offers the following services to address some of the problems specific to core and cuttings evaluation:

Macroscopic Investigation serving as a preliminary classification and with the use a just a few tools often giving a number of information needed such as rock type, hardness of rock and/or minerals, structure, size and shape of grains, laminations, crystalline nature, etc.

Binocular lithological description of core and cuttings to determine (just to name a few):

• Colour and colour variations
• Constituents
• Grains size, shape and sorting
• Mineral content
• Type of cement and type of clay
• Volume of cement and volume of clay
• Hydrocarbon evaluation
• Structural features
• Porosity and permeability estimation

Reservoir Quality

Digital Photography using powerful quality Zeiss and Leica microscopes coupled with very performant high-resolution cameras in order to enable our petrographers to identify on images various petrographic features and measurements.

Thin section petrography forms an important part of every diagenetic study. Qualitative descriptions of texture, mineralogy, and porosity, at various levels of detail are provided as well as quantitative characterisation of detrital and authigenic mineral components, classifying pore types, assessing of grain size, sorting, etc.

Heavy oil core analysis and depth correction