Pore throat characteristics of tight reservoirs by a combined mercury method: A case study of the member 2 of Xujiahe Formation in Yingshan gasfield, North Sichuan Basin

Abstract The complex pore throat characteristics are significant factors that control the properties of tight sandstone reservoirs. Due to the strong heterogeneity of the pore structure in tight reservoirs, it is difficult to characterize the pore structure by single methods. To determine the pore throat, core, casting thin sections, micrographs from scanning electron microscopy, rate-controlled mercury injection, and high-pressure mercury injection were performed in member 2 of Xujiahe Formation of Yingshan gasfield, Sichuan, China. The pore throat characteristics were quantitatively characterized, and the distribution of pore throat at different scales and its controlling effect on reservoir physical properties were discussed. The results show that there are mainly residual intergranular pores, intergranular dissolved pores, ingranular dissolved pores, intergranular pores, and micro-fractures in the second member of the Xujiahe Formation tight sandstone reservoir. The distribution range of pore throat is 0.018–10 μm, and the radius of pore throat is less than 1 μm. The ranges of pore radius were between 100 and 200 μm, the peak value ranges from 160 to 180 μm, and the pore throat radius ranges from 0.1 to 0.6 μm. With the increase of permeability, the distribution range of throat radius becomes wider, and the single peak throat radius becomes larger, showing the characteristic of right skew. The large throat of the sandy conglomerate reservoir has an obvious control effect on permeability, but little influence on porosity. The contribution rate of nano-sized pore throat to permeability is small, ranging from 3.29 to 34.67%. The contribution rate of porosity was 48.86–94.28%. Therefore, pore throat characteristics are used to select high-quality reservoirs, which can guide oil and gas exploration and development of tight sandstone reservoirs.

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Quality grading system for tight sandstone reservoirs in the Quantou 4 Member, southern Songliao Basin, Northeast China

Interpretation ◽

10.1190/int-2017-0067.1 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. T503-T522 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Wenbiao Huang ◽

Shuangfang Lu ◽

Salad Hersi Osman

Keyword(s):

Contact Angle Measurement ◽

Angle Measurement ◽

Grading System ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Tight Sandstone ◽

High Quality ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Mercury Injection ◽

Quality Grading ◽

Sandstone Reservoirs

A grading system for tight sandstone reservoir quality is needed to predict tight oil enrichment areas and assess the resources. To explore the establishment of the grading system, a variety of research methods, such as rate-controlled mercury injection, conventional mercury injection, contact angle measurement, and the mechanical equilibrium principle, are integrated to determine the upper and lower limits of the porosity, permeability, and pore-throat radius of tight sandstones and to establish a quality grading system. Based on the porosity [Formula: see text], permeability [Formula: see text], and pore-throat size [Formula: see text] properties of the studied samples from the [Formula: see text] Member, five sandstone classes have been identified. Three of these classes are tight sandstone reservoirs and include (1) high-quality tight sandstone reservoirs ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text]), (2) effective tight sandstone reservoirs ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text]), and (3) low-quality tight sandstone reservoirs ([Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text]). Sandstones with [Formula: see text], [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] parameters higher than the high-quality tight reservoirs are deemed to be conventional reservoirs, whereas those with parameters lower than the low-quality tight sandstone reservoirs are considered as nonreservoir sandstones. It is also noted that oil saturation of the tight sandstone reservoirs correlates positively with the throat radius rather than with the pore size. High-quality tight sandstone reservoirs are usually developed in the distributary channel sand bodies near faults and/or fractures, and they are capable of producing more petroleum.

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An improved method to characterize the pore-throat structures in tight sandstone reservoirs: Combined high-pressure and rate-controlled mercury injection techniques

Energy Exploration & Exploitation ◽

10.1177/0144598720920729 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 38 (6) ◽

pp. 2389-2412

Author(s):

Wenkai Zhang ◽

Zejin Shi ◽

Yaming Tian

Keyword(s):

High Pressure ◽

Size Distribution ◽

Great Influence ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Tight Sandstone ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Thin Sections ◽

Mercury Injection ◽

Rate Controlled ◽

Sandstone Reservoirs

The pore-throat size determines the oil and gas occurrence and storage properties of sandstones and is a vital parameter to evaluate reservoir quality. Casting thin sections, field emission scanning electron microscopy, high-pressure mercury injection and rate-controlled mercury injection are used to qualitatively and quantitatively investigate the pore-throat structure characteristics of tight sandstone reservoirs of Xiaoheba Formation in the southeastern Sichuan Basin. The results show that the pore types include intergranular pores, intragranular dissolved pores, matrix pores, intercrystalline pores in clay minerals, and microfractures, and the pore-throat sizes range from the nanoscale to the microscale. The high-pressure mercury injection testing indicates that the pore-throat radius is in range of 0.004–11.017 µm, and the pore-throats with a radius >1 µm account for less than 15%. The rate-controlled mercury injection technique reveals that the tight sandstones with different physical properties have a similar pore size distribution (80–220 µm), but the throat radius and pore throat radius ratio distribution curves exhibit remarkable differences separately. The combination of the high-pressure mercury injection and rate-controlled mercury injection testing used in this work effectively reveals the total pore-throat size distribution in the Xiaoheba sandstones (0.004–260 µm). Moreover, the radius of the pore and the throat is respectively in range of 50–260 µm and 0.004–50 µm. The permeability of the tight sandstones is mostly affected by the small fraction (<40%) of relatively wide pore-throats. For the tight sandstones with good permeability (>0.1 mD), the larger micropores and mesopores exert a great influence on the permeability. In contrast, the permeability is mainly influenced by the larger nanopores. Furthermore, the proportion of narrow pore-throats in tight sandstones increases with reducing permeability. Although the large number of narrow pore-throat (<100 nm) makes a certain contribution to both reservoir porosity and permeability, they have contribution to the former is far more than to the latter.

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Microscale Pore Throat Differentiation and Its Influence on the Distribution of Movable Fluid in Tight Sandstone Reservoirs

Geofluids ◽

10.1155/2021/6654773 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-7

Author(s):

Fengjuan Dong ◽

Xuefei Lu ◽

Yuan Cao ◽

Xinjiu Rao ◽

Zeyong Sun

Keyword(s):

Ordos Basin ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Tight Sandstone ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Thin Sections ◽

Small Pore ◽

Sandstone Reservoir ◽

Sandstone Reservoirs ◽

Classification Evaluation ◽

Better Than

Tight sandstone reservoirs have small pore throat sizes and complex pore structures. Taking the Chang 6 tight sandstone reservoir in the Huaqing area of the Ordos Basin as an example, based on casting thin sections, nuclear magnetic resonance experiments, and modal analysis of pore size distribution characteristics, the Chang 6 tight sandstone reservoir in the study area can be divided into two types: wide bimodal mode reservoirs and asymmetric bimodal mode reservoirs. Based on the information entropy theory, the concept of “the entropy of microscale pore throats” is proposed to characterize the microscale pore throat differentiation of different reservoirs, and its influence on the distribution of movable fluid is discussed. There were significant differences in the entropy of the pore throat radius at different scales, which were mainly shown as follows: the entropy of the pore throat radius of 0.01~0.1 μm, >0.1 μm, and <0.01 μm decreased successively; that is, the complexity of the pore throat structure decreased successively. The correlation between the number of movable fluid occurrences on different scales of pore throats and the entropy of microscale pore throats in different reservoirs is also different, which is mainly shown as follows: in the intervals of >0.1 μm and 0.01~0.1 μm, the positive correlation between the occurrence quantity of movable fluid in the wide bimodal mode reservoir is better than that in the asymmetric bimodal mode reservoir. However, there was a negative correlation between the entropy of the pore throat radius and the number of fluid occurrences in the two types of reservoirs in the pore throat radius of <0.01 μm. Therefore, pore throats of >0.1 μm and 0.01~0.1 μm play a controlling role in studying the complexity of the microscopic pore throat structure and the distribution of movable fluid in the Chang 6 tight sandstone reservoir. The above results deepen the understanding of the pore throat structure of tight sandstone reservoirs and present guiding significance for classification evaluation, quantitative characterization, and efficient development of tight sandstone reservoirs.

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Characterization of Microscopic Pore Structures of Rock Salt through Mercury Injection and Nitrogen Absorption Tests

Geofluids ◽

10.1155/2018/9427361 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2018 ◽

pp. 1-7 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Jianwen Chen ◽

Erbing Li ◽

Jin Luo

Keyword(s):

Pore Structure ◽

Pore Size ◽

Rock Salt ◽

Dominant Role ◽

Injection Rate ◽

Pore Channel ◽

Nitrogen Absorption ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Mercury Injection

Microscopic pore structure of rock salt plays a dominant role in its permeability. In this paper, microscopic pore structure of a set of rock salt samples collected from Yunying salt mine of Hubei province in China is investigated by high pressure mercury injection, rate-controlled mercury penetration, and nitrogen absorption tests. The pore size distribution is further evaluated based on fractal analysis. The results show that pore size of rock salt varies from 0.01 to 300 μm with major concentration of pore size smaller than 1.00 μm. The pore’s radiuses are mainly distributed within a range between 15 and 50 nm. The research further reveals that the pore channel size of rock salt is randomly distributed, but the distribution of pore throat radius fits very well with fractal law. By analysis of permeability, it is found that the maximum and medium radius of the pore throat have significant impacts on permeability. Porosity is not apparently related to the permeability of rock salt. The higher the fractal dimension is, the higher the impacts on permeability of the small throat are detected and the lower the influence on permeability of the big throat is exhibited. It indicates that the small throat determines majorly the permeability of rock salt. The findings obtained from this study provide an insight into understanding the characteristics of microscopic pore structure of rock salt.

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Influence of different pore structure types on the occurrence features of movable fluid in Chang-10 reservoir in Wuqi–Ansai Oilfield

Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology ◽

10.1007/s13202-021-01128-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (4) ◽

pp. 1609-1620

Author(s):

Yong-li Gao ◽

Pan Li ◽

Teng Li

Keyword(s):

Pore Structure ◽

Water Movement ◽

Ordos Basin ◽

Pressure Curve ◽

Type I ◽

Type Ii ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Type Iii ◽

Mercury Injection

AbstractChang-10 reservoir in Wuqi–Ansai oilfield of Ordos Basin is restricted by its strong microscopic heterogeneity, complicated microscopic pore structure and unclear oil–water movement rules. The technology of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is an excellent method to quantitatively evaluate the reservoir fluid of different pore structure types, and the microscopic experiments such as cast thin slices, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and high-pressure mercury injection were also used to analyze the differences in the occurrence features of fluid of different pore structure types and their influencing factors. The experimental results show that the sandstone types of Chang-10 reservoir in Wuqi–Ansai Oilfield are mainly medium-fine arkose and lithic arkose. The pore types are mainly intergranular pore, feldspar pore, turbiditic zeolite pore and cuttings pore. The combination type of pore-throat belongs to mesopore–micropore and microlarynx–microlarynx. By mercury injection experiment analyzed the characteristic of capillary pressure curve, Chang-10 reservoir in Wuqi–Ansai Oilfield pore structures is classified into Type I, Type II, Type III and Type IV due to the different movable fluid occurrence features. The occurrence features of movable fluid are obviously controlled by the pore-throat, and the orders of control effect from strong to weak are from Type I, Type II, Type III to IV The saturation of movable fluid gradually becomes low when the pore-throat radius decreases.

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Difference of Microfeatures among Diagenetic Facies in Tight Sandstone Reservoirs of the Triassic Yanchang Formation in the Midwestern Region, Ordos Basin

Mathematical Problems in Engineering ◽

10.1155/2021/5611786 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Jian Shi ◽

Xiaolong Wan ◽

Qichao Xie ◽

Shuxun Zhou ◽

Yan Zhou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Pore Space ◽

Ordos Basin ◽

Water Flooding ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Tight Sandstone ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Yanchang Formation ◽

Fluid Saturation ◽

Sandstone Reservoirs ◽

Diagenetic Facies

Based on the background of sedimentary characteristics, a large amount of core and thin section analysis, taking Chang 6 reservoir of Yanchang Formation in the central and western Ordos Basin as an example, through the application of scanning electron microscopy, high-pressure mercury injection, nuclear magnetic resonance and microscopic water drive oil model, and other experimental test methods, the diagenetic facies types and microscopic pore structure characteristics of tight sandstone reservoirs are discussed and analyzed in depth. The results show that the average porosity loss rate caused by early diagenesis compaction in the study area is 50.62%, which is the main reason for reservoir compactness. The cementation further causes porosity loss, and the later dissolution increases the reservoir space in the study area to a certain extent. Different diagenetic facies reservoirs not only have obvious differences in porosity evolution characteristics but also have significant differences in pore throat radius distribution characteristics, movable fluid occurrence characteristics, and water drive oil characteristics. The pore throat distribution with radius greater than R50∼R60 determines the permeability. The difference in movable fluid saturation mainly depends on the connectivity of the relative large pore space corresponding to the relaxation time greater than the cut-off value of T2. The size of pore throat radius has a good control effect on water flooding efficiency.

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Characteristics of microscopic pore-throat structure of tight oil reservoirs in Sichuan Basin measured by rate-controlled mercury injection

Open Physics ◽

10.1515/phys-2018-0086 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 16 (1) ◽

pp. 675-684 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Xinli Zhao ◽

Zhengming Yang ◽

Wei Lin ◽

Shengchun Xiong ◽

Yunyun Wei

Keyword(s):

Sichuan Basin ◽

Pore Radius ◽

Oil Reservoirs ◽

Tight Oil ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Tight Sandstone ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Mercury Injection ◽

Rate Controlled ◽

Tight Oil Reservoirs

Abstract Based on the results of rate-controlled mercury-injection experiments, the microscopic pore-throat structure characteristics of tight sandstone in Sha-1 Section and tight limestone in Da’anzhai Section of Sichuan Basin were quantitatively characterized. The results show that the pore radius distribution characteristics of tight oil reservoirs are similar. The main distribution is between 100~190 μm, and the average pore radius is 160 μm. While the distribution of the throat radius of tight sandstone and limestone is quite different, the distribution of the throat of sandstone samples is relatively concentrated, and the distribution of the throat of limestone samples is relatively sparse. There is a good positive correlation between the average throat radius and permeability, but the correlation between fractal dimension and permeability is not obvious. This indicates that the permeability is mainly affected by the radius of the throat. The pore-throat ratio in tight oil reservoirs is relatively large, and the resistance to seepage is greater during development. Therefore, during the development of tight oil, measures should be taken to increase the radius of the throat, reduce the ratio of pore radius to pore-throat radius, and improve the seepage capacity of the reservoir, thereby improving the development of tight oil.

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Study on Pore Structures of Tight Sandstone Reservoirs Based on Nitrogen Adsorption, High-Pressure Mercury Intrusion, and Rate-Controlled Mercury Intrusion

Journal of Energy Resources Technology ◽

10.1115/1.4043695 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 141 (11) ◽

Cited By ~ 16

Author(s):

Xinli Zhao ◽

Zhengming Yang ◽

Wei Lin ◽

Shengchun Xiong ◽

Yutian Luo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

High Pressure ◽

Nitrogen Adsorption ◽

Pore Throat ◽

Tight Sandstone ◽

Throat Radius ◽

Mercury Intrusion ◽

Study Results ◽

Significant Difference ◽

Rate Controlled ◽

Sandstone Reservoirs

Pore–throat size is a key parameter for the assessment of reservoirs. Tight sandstone has the strong heterogeneity in the distribution of pores and throats; consequently, it is very difficult to characterize their distributions. In this study, the existing pore–throat characterization techniques were used jointly with scanning electron microscopy (SEM), low-temperature nitrogen adsorption (LTNA), high-pressure mercury intrusion (HPMI), and rate-controlled mercury intrusion (RCMI) technologies to highlight features of throat sizes and distribution of pores in tight sandstone reservoirs of the Y Basin in China. In addition, full-scale maps (FSMs) were generated. The study results show that key pore types in reservoirs of the Y Basin include residual intergranular pores, dissolved pores, clay mineral pores, and microfractures. LTNA can effectively characterize the distribution of pore–throats with a radius of 2–25 nm. HPMI test results show that tight sandstones contain throats with a radius less than 1000 nm, which are mainly distributed in 25–400 nm and have a unimodal distribution. RCMI tests show that there is no significant difference in pore radius distribution of the tight sandstones, peaking at approximately 100,000–200,000 nm; the throat radius of tight sandstones varies greatly and is less than 1000 nm, in agreement with that of HPMI. Generally, the pore–throat radius distribution of tight sandstones is relatively concentrated. By using the aforementioned techniques, FSM distribution features of pore–throat radius in tight sandstone can be characterized effectively. G6 tight sandstone samples develop pores and throats with a radius of 2–350,000 nm, and the pore–throat types of tight sandstone reservoirs in Y basin are mainly mesopores and macropores.

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Tight Sandstone Reservoirs Classification from Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP) Data in the North Ordos Basin

Advanced Materials Research ◽

10.4028/www.scientific.net/amr.1010-1012.1387 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 1010-1012 ◽

pp. 1387-1390

Author(s):

Xiao Lei Wei ◽

Xin Li ◽

Rui Xu ◽

Ling Ling Zhi

Keyword(s):

Pore Structure ◽

Capillary Pressure ◽

Ordos Basin ◽

Morphological Characteristics ◽

Tight Sandstone ◽

The North ◽

Mercury Injection ◽

Sandstone Reservoirs ◽

Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure ◽

Structure Evaluation

It is of great importance in classifying reservoirs and establishing the relationship of pore structure and productivity for formation evaluation and reserves estimation. In this study, based on the morphological characteristics and the difference of pore structure evaluation parameters acquired from mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) data, which were obtained from the experimental results of 20 core samples drilled from Chang 6 tight sandstone Formation of north Ordos basin, the Chang 6 formation is classified into three types, and the corresponding average MICP curves of every types are obtained. These were usable in determining the potential target formation and predicting the productivity in tight sandstone reservoirs.

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