Introduction

The carbonate Reservoir Characterization Research Laboratory (RCRL) is an industrial research consortium run by the Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at Austin. The RCRL's mission is to use outcrop and subsurface geologic and petrophysical data from carbonate reservoir strata as the basis for developing new and integrated methodologies for better understanding and describing the 3D reservoir environment.

The RCRL program has run continuously since 1987 and has produced numerous publications on carbonate reservoir characterization, sequence stratigraphy, petrophysics, geostatistics, fractured reservoirs and petroleum engineering, We provide research results to sponsor companies in the form of annual review meetings, classroom and core workshops, field trips, and through mentoring and collaboration with our industry partners.

The RCRL has maintained a membership of between 25-30 companies per year. The sponsorship has strong interests in Permian Basin, Cretaceous Gulf of Mexico and Middle Eastern carbonate reservoirs, but has worked on carbonate systems throughout the world. This enrollment, supplemented by government grants, provides support for 4-7 professional staff and varying numbers of graduate student research assistants, plus strong computer and graphics support. All RCRL staff have extensive industry experience or have worked closely with industry and are well aware of the challenges and questions facing development geoscientists and engineers. We are also very proud of our graduate student staff that includes several award-winning students, many of whom are now working in the industry.

Each year we combine industry input with our own ongoing research plans to develop a set of key geologic and engineering research topics. Our plans for this year are presented in the Executive Summary and Prospectus for 2023.