Physical-property cutoffs of tight reservoirs by field and laboratory experiments: a case study from Chang 6, 8–9 in Ordos Basin

Abstract

Tight sandstone reservoirs are generally characterized by complex reservoir quality, non-Darcy flow, and strong heterogeneity. Approaches utilized for evaluating physical property cutoffs of conventional reservoirs maybe inapplicable. Thus, a comprehensive investigation on physical property cutoffs of tight sandstone reservoirs is crucial for the reserve evaluation and successful exploration. In this study, a set of evaluation approaches take advantage of field operations (i.e., core drilling, oil testing, and wireline well logging data), and simulation experiments (i.e., high-pressure mercury injection-capillary pressure (MICP) experiment, oil-water relative permeability experiment, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) experiment, and biaxial pressure simulation experiment) were comparatively optimized to determine the physical property cutoffs of effective reservoirs in the Upper Triassic Chang 6, Chang 8 and Chang 9 oil layers of the Zhenjing Block. The results show that the porosity cutoffs of the Chang 6, Chang 8, and Chang 9 oil layers are 7.9%, 6.4%, and 8.6%, and the corresponding permeability are 0.08 mD, 0.05 mD, and 0.09 mD, respectively. Coupled with wireline well logging, mud logging, and oil testing, the cut-off of the thickness of single-layer effective reservoirs are approximately 3.0 m, 3.0 m, and 2.0 m, respectively. Depending on the cutoffs of critical properties, a superimposed map showing the planar distribution of the prospective targets can be mapped, which may delineate the effective boundary of prospective targets for petroleum exploration of tight sandstone reservoirs.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

tight sandstone reservoirs / cutoffs of petrophysical property / field operations / simulation experiments / Yanchang Formation / Ordos Basin

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 42072172 and 41772120), the Shandong Province Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. JQ201311), and the Graduate Scientific and Technological Innovation Project Financially Supported by Shandong University of Science and Technology (No. SDKDYC190313). We thank Shengli Oilfield Company of Sinopec for approving the publication. We also acknowledge the experts of Elsevier Webshop support for its linguistic assistance during the preparation of this manuscript. Three anonymous reviewers and Editorial Office were deeply acknowledged for their critical comments and helpful suggestions, which greatly improved the early version of this manuscript.

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