FEI (Nasdaq: FEIC) and Weatherford Laboratories have entered a joint agreement to offer advanced reservoir characterization services to the oil and gas industry, according to a news release.

The two companies will work together to create new workflows that integrate Weatherford’s traditional core analysis and FEI’s digital rock imaging, modeling and interpretation. These integrated solutions will address challenges associated with enhanced recovery, formation damage, multiphase fluid property prediction and wettability characterization, the release said.

The agreement will create several complementary workflows in which traditional lab tests are integrated with digital rock analysis and modeling to predict fluid flow properties. The strength of digital rock modeling lies in its ability to provide valuable data earlier in the decision-making cycle, so E&P operators can initiate field development plans soon, according to the release. Subsequent integration and calibration of traditional and digital special core analysis data then enables E&P operators to evaluate the quality of their data and extend their predictions to multiple scenarios, such as different rock types, variable initial saturations, fluid types and wettability sensitivities.

In addition, traditional core analysis coupled with high-resolution digital imaging and analysis modeling solutions can enable operators to gain new insights into the pore-scale recovery and damage processes that control the reservoir production potential, the release said.