Petrophysical Characterizations of Carbonate Reservoir Rocks
Abstract
Petrophysical properties of rocks at reservoir scales are of great importance to the oil and gas industry, particularly for exploration, production and recovery purposes. However, running field-scale tests are expensive and time-consuming. Accordingly, the continuum scale is frequently used to represent the heterogeneous structure of rocks. This study points out several techniques that together can be used for improved characterization of carbonate rock plugs, with application to larger-scale domains. An Indiana Limestone plug was examined using micro-tomography imaging at high resolution. 3D images were then exported for pore network geometry analysis to derive the pore network of the sample and to estimate the permeability and capillary pressure curve. In addition to imaging, mercury intrusion and extrusion porosimetry curves, resistivity tests under varying pressures, capillary pressure saturation curves and NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) T2 distribution were also measured to detect heterogeneity at the small sample scale. The latter was treated to obtain the cumulative porosity as a function of pore radii. The derived pore size distributions and measured formation factor, in combination with percolation theory, were used further to theoretically estimate the permeability. Theoretical estimations and pore-network simulations were subsequently compared with experimental data.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2019
- Bibcode:
- 2019AGUFMMR13C0092L
- Keywords:
-
- 1859 Rocks: physical properties;
- HYDROLOGY;
- 5104 Fracture and flow;
- PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ROCKS;
- 5114 Permeability and porosity;
- PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ROCKS;
- 5139 Transport properties;
- PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF ROCKS