Mechanism of Overpressure Formation in Deeply Burial Sandstone

2013 ◽  
Vol 295-298 ◽  
pp. 2736-2739
Author(s):  
Hai Yan Hu

Overpressure is often encountered in the Jurassic tight and the overpressure is closely associated with gas generation. The pressure transfer from the over-pressurized mudstones to adjacent tight sandstones might occur through overpressure induced-fractures. The fine-grained coal containing Jurassic sandstone is sensitive to compaction, and the porosity decreases dramatically with the increase of overlying load. As gas migrates into the tight sandstones, it must overcome the capillary pressure which is greater than the hydrostatic pressure. The gas charging pressure in the tight sandstone must be higher than the capillary pressure, resulting in an overpressure buildup within the tight sandstones. Gas shows, low permeability and strong diagenesis in the overpressure of the tight sandstone system have been observed. Additionally, capillary seals are identified as playing an important role in the mechanism of the overpressure formation in tight sandstone reservoirs. Overpressure might be a driving force to create induced fractures in the interval, which has applications for crossing-formation migration and gas accumulation.

Capillarity ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 11-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ying Li ◽  
Haitao Li ◽  
Jianchao Cai ◽  
Qirui Ma ◽  
Jianfeng Zhang

2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (5) ◽  
pp. 1022-1039 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yingchun Guo ◽  
Licai Song ◽  
Xinxin Fang ◽  
Kaixun Zhang

Tight gas accumulations, commonly characterized by low permeability, low porosity, and complicated pore structure, are widely distributed in the Sichuan Basin. Recent exploration in the Chengdu Sag, Western Sichuan Basin has proven that Jurassic tight-sandstone reservoirs attach significant gas potential. However, long distance migration between source and reservoir intervals entangles understanding of the tight-gas accumulation mechanism. It is unclear whether producible gas in Jurassic intervals is either from “simple sweet-spots in a continuous accumulation” or “conventionally trapped accumulations in low-permeability reservoir rocks”. To identify the regionally active gas system and characterize the charging pattern, a geochemical study was performed by interpreting the gas molecular and carbon isotope compositions in Jurassic and conducting gas–source correlations as well as gas migration distance calculation with the relationship among δ13C1 vs. Ro vs. H (burial depth). Research results indicate that the Jurassic tight gases in Majing-Shifang areas are coal-derived dry gases generated by the primary cracking of kerogen. Gas/source correlation and gas migration distance calculation reveal that gases are mainly sourced from the Upper Triassic humic source rocks (T3 x5, the fifth member of the Xujiahe Formation). Gas accumulations in the Jurassic Penglaizhen Formation were formed with an original vertical migration of about 2–3 km and then a long-distance lateral migration within tight sand layers, which is verified by the decreasing δ13C1 and the general increasing iC4/ nC4 in the Penglaizhen Formation. The Jurassic tight-sandstone reservoirs in Majing-Shifang areas occur in low-porosity and low-permeability reservoir rocks in conventional lithological traps, which are not continuous-type gas accumulations or basin-centered gas systems. The faults in Majing area serve as dominant vertical conducting pathway and the relatively permeable intervals within Jurassic and microfractures play an important role in the development of the conventionally trapped natural gas accumulations.


2018 ◽  
Vol 49 (10) ◽  
pp. 1043-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mi Liu ◽  
Ranhong Xie ◽  
Hongjun Xu ◽  
Songtao Wu ◽  
Rukai Zhu ◽  
...  

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 702
Author(s):  
Wisnu Widjanarko ◽  
Paul Welton ◽  
Daniel Leòn Echeverría ◽  
Lina Hartanto ◽  
John Scott ◽  
...  

The design and application of a chemical EOR pilot for a complex, low-permeability waterflood will be presented. Our focus has been on developing appropriate field application options, allowing flexibility of operation against a background of reservoir complexity and uncertainty. Australia’s Barrow Island Windalia reservoir, the nation’s largest onshore waterflood, was developed in the late 1960s. Cumulative oil production to date is over 288 MMSTBO. Planning a chemical EOR scheme needs to address the following reservoir and production characteristics: highly heterogeneous, very fine grained, bioturbated argillaceous sandstone, high in glauconite; high porosity (0.28) but low permeability (5 mD with 20 mD+ streaks); production and injection necessarily stimulated by induced fractures highly saline and hard brine; and, large waterflood pattern volumes (10 MMbbl at 20 acre well spacing). Initial screening recommended that polymers be considered for sweep improvement and conformance control, although reservoir complexity presented a challenge. In this paper, we summarise the subsurface studies, and subsequent petroleum engineering and facilities design, which lead to the successful pilot start-up in May 2009. In particular, we discuss the implications on design and operation of a pilot in a Class A nature reserve. Results from the proposed polymer pilot flood will allow assessment of further chemical EOR applications and potential field-wide scale-up.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lijun Guan ◽  
Wei Zhang ◽  
Ping Zhang ◽  
Yuqing Yang ◽  
Weiping Cui ◽  
...  

Abstract Tight sandstone reservoirs characterization and evaluation is very difficult based on conventional well log data owing to the extremely low porosity and permeability, and strong heterogeneity. The main accumulation spaces of conventional reservoirs are intergranular pores, and the pore size is the main controlling factor of permeability. However, besides intergranular pores, fractures play much greater important role in accumulating hydrocarbon, improving the pore connectivity and pore structure in tight sandstone reservoirs. Hence, it should be accurately predicted the pore structure dredged by fractures to improve the characterization of tight sandstone reservoirs. Generally, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logging is an effective method to evaluate formation pore structure. However, it cannot be well used in fractured reservoirs because the NMR T2 spectra has no any response for fractures with width <2mm. The borehole electrical image log is usable in characterizing fractured reservoirs. The pore spectrum, which is extracted from the borehole electrical image log, can be used to qualitatively reflect the pore size. Hence, it will play an important role in fractured reservoirs pore structure characterization. In this study, based on the comprehensive analysis of the pore spectra, the corresponding mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) data and pore-throat radius distributions acquired from core samples, a relationship that connects the 1/POR and capillary pressure (Pc) is proposed. Established a model based on formation classification to transform porosity spectrum into pseudo capillary pressure curve. In addition, a Swanson parameter-based permeability prediction model is also developed to extract fractured formation permeability. Meanwhile, to verify the superiority and otherness of borehole electrical image and NMR log, the model that evaluated reservoirs pore structure from NMR log is also established. Based on the application of the proposed method and models in actual formations, the evaluated pore structure parameters and permeabilities from two types of well log data are compared. The results illustrates that in formations with relative good pore structure, the predicted pore structure parameters and permeabilities from these two types of well log data agree well with the drill stem testing data and core-derived result. However, in low permeability sandstones with relatively poor pore structure, the porosity spectra can be well used to evaluate the pore structure, whereas the characterized pore structure from NMR log is overestimated. With the comprehensive research of reservoirs pore structure and permeability, the fractured tight sandstone formations with development value are precisely identified. This proposed method has greatest advantages that the pore structure of fractured reservoirs can be characterized, and the contribution of fractures to the pore connectivity and permeability can be quantified. it is usable in tight sandstone reservoirs validity prediction.


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