Effects of uranium on hydrocarbon generation of hydrocarbon source rocks with type-III kerogen

Organic-inorganic interaction exists universally and is important in the process of mineral resources formation.It is the essential reason why organic oil,gas,coal and inorganic uranium coexist,accumulate,and mineralize in the same sedimentary basins.Hydrocarbon-generating simulation experiment was conducted using low-mature hydrocarbon source rock containing kerogen type III with uranium(UO2CO3 solution)added to study the effects of uranium on the hydrocarbon generation of hydrocarbon source rocks.Experiment results show that uranium can enhance the yield of gas hydrocarbon,promote the total gas output,and increase the total hydrocarbon production(mass or volume).Uranium may lower the hydrocarbon generation threshold temperature and lead to the generation of liquid hydrocarbon in the relative low temperature of hydrocarbon source rock.Uranium can enhance the yield of saturated hydrocarbon,promote the low molecular weight hydrocarbons generating,and in turn increase the content of CH4 and the content of dry gas of the generated hydrocarbons.Uranium is one of the potential inorganic accelerating factors of the immature hydrocarbons.     

Formation mechanism and model for sand lens reservoirs in the Jiyang Sub-basin, East China

The Bohai Bay basin comprises some very important and well documented subtle traps known in China, which have been the major exploration focus and have become a major petroleum play since the 1990s. However, recent exploration showed that the oil-bearing properties of some sand lens reservoirs may vary significantly and the accumulation mechanisms for these lithological subtle traps are not well understood. Based on statistical analysis of oil-bearing properties for 123 sand lens reservoirs in the Jiyang Sub-basin and combined with detailed anatomy of typical sand lens reservoirs and NMR experiments, it has been shown that the structural and sedimentary factors, hydrocarbon generation and expulsion conditions of the surrounding source rocks, as well as the petrophysical properties of sand lens reservoirs are the main controlling factors for the formation of sand lens reservoirs. The formation of a sand lens reservoir depends on the interaction between the hydrocarbon accumulation driving force and the resistance force. The driving force is made up of the differential capillary pressure between sandstones and sources rocks and the hydrocarbon diffusion force, and as well as the hydrocarbon expansion force. The resistance force is the friction resistance force for hydrocarbons and water to move through the pore throats of the sand lens. The sedimentary environment, source rock condition and sand reservoir properties can change from unfavorable to favorable depending on the combination of these factors. When these three factors all reach certain thresholds, the sand lens reservoirs may begin to be filled by hydrocarbons. When all of these conditions become favorable for the formation of sand lens reservoirs, the reservoir would have high oil saturation. This approach has been applied to evaluating the potential of petroleum accumulation in the sand lens reservoirs in the third member of the Neogene Shahejie Formation in the Jiyang Sub-basin.     

致密油藏不同开发方式原油动用规律实验研究

致密油是重要的非常规石油资源,但由于其一次采收率低,需要开展提高采收率研究。由于致密油储层孔隙结构复杂,不同孔隙对产量的贡献差异很大,需要深入研究不同孔隙中原油的动用情况进而优化开发方式。本文采用核磁共振测试与驱替实验相结合的方法开展研究,直观反映不同注入条件下注入介质与原油的驱替过程,明确了注水和注CO₂两种开发方式不同孔隙中原油的动用规律。结果表明:水驱和CO₂驱不同孔隙区间原油动用程度随着驱替压差逐渐增大而增大;水驱和CO₂驱大孔隙中的原油绝大部分被动用,随着孔隙半径逐渐减小,原油动用的比例逐渐降低;小于0.01μm微小孔隙中CO₂驱动用效果明显好于水驱,致密油藏中CO₂更易进入小孔隙提高致密油采收率。      

Coal-generated oil in Tuha Basin

The Turpan-Harmi (abbreviated to Tuha below) Basin is a typical basin of coal-generated oil accumulation in China. The Middle-Lower Jurassic coal measures are considered the main source beds. Hence, both desmocollinite and suberinite are considered the contributors for coal-generated oil. Principal geochemical features of the crude oil in the Tuha Basin are rich in alkanes (70%—80%), high pristane/phytane ratio (6—8), abundant heavy carbon isotope (δ¹³C PDB= -26%–-23%) and absolute GP sterane predominance. The hydrocarbon generation process from the coal series is characterized by multistages, early generation and early expulsion.     

Petroleum geological dynamics of Lower Paleozoic in the Ordos Basin, northwest China

Taking the hydrocarbon source rocks of Ordovician, Lower Paleozoic in the Ordos Basin as the main research object, the characteristics of petroleum geological dynamics about geohistory, geothermal history, hydrocarbon generation history and hydrocarbon expulsion history were studied by using the methods of basin numerical modeling dynamically and pool-forming dynamics. It is shown that the Ordovician strata had entirely undergone five stages of initial deposition, uplift and erosion, rapid subsidence, alternating uplift and subsidence, and differential uplift and erosion; that under the background of lower heat flow on the whole, the paleoheat flow of Ordovician strata in the basin could be divided into two large stages of relatively high heat flow values period before Cretaceous deposition and relatively low ones after it; that the thermal evolution of organic matters in the hydrocarbon source rocks of Ordovician had entered into high mature-postmature stage on the whole and the intensity of gas generated was greater than that of oil generated, the hydrocarbon being mainly natural gas; and that the curves of the intensity of oil and gas expulsion at each time unit showed the feature of multi-peak-type, the accumulative intensity of gas expulsion was greater than that of oil expulsion. Thus natural gas exploration potential is good.     

An approach to combined rock physics and seismic modelling of fluid substitution effects

The aim of seismic reservoir monitoring is to map the spatial and temporal distributions and contact interfaces of various hydrocarbon fluids and water within a reservoir rock. During the production of hydrocarbons, the fluids produced are generally displaced by an injection fluid. We discuss possible seismic effects which may occur when the pore volume contains two or more fluids. In particular, we investigate the effect of immiscible pore fluids, i.e. when the pore fluids occupy different parts of the pore volume. The modelling of seismic velocities is performed using a differential effective‐medium theory in which the various pore fluids are allowed to occupy the pore space in different ways. The P‐wave velocity is seen to depend strongly on the bulk modulus of the pore fluids in the most compliant (low aspect ratio) pores. Various scenarios of the microscopic fluid distribution across a gas–oil contact (GOC) zone have been designed, and the corresponding seismic properties modelled. Such GOC transition zones generally give diffuse reflection regions instead of the typical distinct GOC interface. Hence, such transition zones generally should be modelled by finite‐difference or finite‐element techniques. We have combined rock physics modelling and seismic modelling to simulate the seismic responses of some gas–oil zones, applying various fluid‐distribution models. The seismic responses may vary both in the reflection time, amplitude and phase characteristics. Our results indicate that when performing a reservoir monitoring experiment, erroneous conclusions about a GOC movement may be drawn if the microscopic fluid‐distribution effects are neglected.     

Effects of uranium on hydrocarbon generation of hydrocarbon source rocks with type-Ⅲ kerogen

Organic-inorganic interaction exists universally and is important in the process of mineral resources formation.It is the essential reason why organic oil,gas,coal and inorganic uranium coexist,accumulate,and mineralize in the same sedimentary basins.Hydrocarbon-generating simulation experiment was conducted using low-mature hydrocarbon source rock containing kerogen type III with uranium(UO2CO3 solution)added to study the effects of uranium on the hydrocarbon generation of hydrocarbon source rocks.Experiment results show that uranium can enhance the yield of gas hydrocarbon,promote the total gas output,and increase the total hydrocarbon production(mass or volume).Uranium may lower the hydrocarbon generation threshold temperature and lead to the generation of liquid hydrocarbon in the relative low temperature of hydrocarbon source rock.Uranium can enhance the yield of saturated hydrocarbon,promote the low molecular weight hydrocarbons generating,and in turn increase the content of CH4 and the content of dry gas of the generated hydrocarbons.Uranium is one of the potential inorganic accelerating factors of the immature hydrocarbons.     

Effects of abnormally high heat stress on petroleum in reservoir

An igneous intrusion of 94m thick was discovered intruding into the Silurian sandstone from Tazhong 18 Well. The petroleum previously preserved in the Silurian sandstone reservoir was altered into black carbonaceous bitumen by abnormally high heat stress induced by the igneous intrusion. The reflectance of the carbonaceous bitumen reaches as high as 3.54%, indicating that the bitumen had evolved into a high thermal evolution level. Similar to the Silurian samples from the neighboring Tazhong 11, Tazhong 12, Tazhong 45 and Tazhong 47 wells, the distribution of C₂₇, C₂₈ and C₂₉ steranes of the carbonaceous bitumen is still “V”-shaped and can still be employed as an efficient parameter in oil source correlation. The “V”-shaped distribution indicates that the hydrocarbons from the Tazhong 18 and the neighboring wells were all generated from the Middle-Upper Ordovician hydrocarbon source rocks. However, the oil source correlation parameters associated with and terpanes had been changed greatly by the high heat stress and can no longer be used in oil source correlation. The δ ¹³C values of the petroleum from the neighboring wells are between −32.53%. and −33.37%., coincident with those of the Paleozoic marine petroleum in the Tarim Basin. However, the δ ¹³C values of the carbonaceous bitumen from the Tazhong 18 Well are between −27.18%. and −29.26%., isotopically much heavier than the petroleum from the neighboring wells. The content of light hydrocarbons (nC₁₄−nC₂₀) of the saturated hydrocarbon fraction in the carbonaceous bitumen is extremely higher than the content of heavy hydrocarbons. The light/heavy hydrocarbon ratios (ΣnC₂₁ ⁻/ΣnC₂₂ ⁺ are between 4.56 and 39.17. In the saturated fraction, the even numbered hydrocarbons are predominant to the odd numbered, and the OEP (Odd to Even Predominance) values are between 0.22 and 0.49. However, the content of light hydrocarbons in the petroleum from the neighboring wells is relatively low and the content of the even numbered hydrocarbons is almost equal to that of the odd numbered. Compared with the samples from the neighboring wells, the abundance of non-alkylated aromatic hydrocarbons, such as phenanthrenes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), such as fluoranthane, pyrene, benzo[a]anthracene and benzofluoranthene, are relatively high. Supported by the National Key Basic Research and Development Project (Grant No. 2005CB422103)     

Distribution characteristics and petroleum geological significance of the Silurian asphaltic sandstones in Tarim Basin

The Tarim Basin is a typical superimposed basin in which there have occurred multiphase adjustment and destruction of the reservoirs. The widely distributed asphaltic sandstones of the Silurian are the very product after destruction of the reservoirs. Studies show that the Silurian asphaltic sandstones distributed in both the middle and western parts on the basin are controlled chiefly by the Caledonian oil source area and by the Tazhong, Tabei and Bachu uplifts, whereas the distribution of the asphaltic sandstones on local structural belts is controlled by the reservoir's sedimentary system. Vertically, most of the asphaltic sandstones are under the regional caprock of red mudstones and the upper sandstone section of compact lithology. Due to the difference of hydrocarbon destruction in the early stage and the influence of hydrocarbon recharge in the late stage, the asphaltic sandstones and oil-bearing sandstones in the Tazhong area can be vertically divided into the upper and lower sections and they have an interactive distribution relationship as well. Asphaltic sandstones exist not only in intergranular pores but also inside the grains of sand and between the crevices, proving the destruction of early reservoirs due to uplifting. The existence of asphaltic sandstones over a large area reveals that the large-scale migration and accumulation and the subsequent destruction of hydrocarbons in the Craton area. The destruction caused a loss of the reserve resources of the Palaeozoic amounting to nearly 13.3 billion tons. Asphaltic sandstones formed after the destruction of oil and gas may serve as an effective caprock which is beneficial to accumulation of hydrocarbons and formation of the pool sealed by asphaltic sandstones in the later stage. The destruction of the early Silurian hydrocarbons depends on the stratigraphic burial depth. The deep part under the northern slope of Tazhong is an area favorable to search of undestroyed Silurian oil reservoirs.     

Weathering of Oil in a Surficial Aquifer

The composition of crude oil in a surficial aquifer was determined in two locations at the Bemidji, MN, spill site. The abundances of 71 individual hydrocarbons varied within 16 locations sampled. Little depletion of these hydrocarbons (relative to the pipeline oil) occurred in the first 10 years after the spill, whereas losses of 25% to 85% of the total measured hydrocarbons occurred after 30 years. The C_6‐30 n‐alkanes, toluene, and o‐xylene were the most depleted hydrocarbons. Some hydrocarbons, such as the n‐C_10–24 cyclohexanes, tri‐ and tetra‐ methylbenzenes, acyclic isoprenoids, and naphthalenes were the least depleted. Benzene was detected at every sampling location 30 years after the spill. Degradation of the oil led to increases in the percent organic carbon and in the δ ¹³C of the oil. Another method of determining hydrocarbon loss was by normalizing the total measured hydrocarbon concentrations to that of the most conservative analytes. This method indicated that the total measured hydrocarbons were depleted by 47% to 77% and loss of the oil mass over 30 years was 18% to 31%. Differences in hydrocarbon depletion were related to the depth of the oil in the aquifer, local topography, amount of recharge reaching the oil, availability of electron acceptors, and the presence of less permeable soils above the oil. The results from this study indicate that once crude oil has been in the subsurface for a number of years there is no longer a “starting oil concentration” that can be used to understand processes that affect its fate and the transport of hydrocarbons in groundwater.     

The distribution characteristic and its significance of compound specific isotopic composition of aromatic hydrocarbon from marine source rock and oil in the Tarim Basin,western China

Aromatic hydrocarbons are generally main distillation of crude oil and organic extract of source rocks. Bicyclic and tricyclic aromatic hydrocarbons can be purified by two-step method of chromatography on alumina. Carbon isotopic composition of individual aromatic hydrocarbons is affected not only by thermal maturity, but also by organic matter input, depositional environment, and hydrocarbon generation process based on the GC-IRMS analysis of Upper Ordovician, Lower Ordovician, and Cambrian source rocks in different areas in the Tarim Basin, western China. The subgroups of aromatic hydrocarbons as well as individual aromatic compound, such as 1-MP, 9-MP, and 2,6-DMP from Cambrian-Lower Ordovician section show more depleted 13 C distribution. The 13 C value difference between Cambrian-Lower Ordovician section and Upper Ordovician source rocks is up to 16.1‰ for subgroups and 14‰ for individual compounds. It can provide strong evidence for oil source correlation by combing the 13 C value and biomarker distribution of different oil and source rocks from different strata in the Tarim Basin. Most oils from Tazhong area have geochemical characteristics such as more negative 13C9-MP value, poor gammacerane, and abundant homohopanes, which indicate that Upper Ordovician source rock is the main source rock. In contrast, oils from Tadong area and some oils from Tazhong area have geochemical characteristics such as high 13C9-MP value, abundant gammacerane, and poor homohopanes, which suggest that the major contributor is Cambrian-Lower Ordovician source rock.     

Structure of residual oil as a function of wettability using pore-network modelling

In the water flooding of mixed-wet porous media, oil may drain down to relatively low residual oil saturations (S_or). Various studies have indicated that such low saturations can only be reached when oil layers in pore corners are included in the pore-scale modelling. These processes within a macroscopic porous medium can be modelled at the pore-scale by incorporating the fundamental physics of capillary dominated displacement within idealised pore network models. Recently, the authors have developed thermodynamic criteria for oil layer existence in pores with non-uniform wettability which takes as input geometrically and topologically representative networks, to calculate realistic S_or values for mixed-wet and oil-wet sandstones [16, 21]. This previous work is developed in this paper to include (i) the visualisation of the 3D structure of this residual oil, and (ii) a statistical analysis of this “residual/remaining” oil. Both the visualisation and the statistical analysis are done under a wide range of wettability conditions, which is reported for the first time in this paper.The structure of residual oil for strongly water wet systems is well known (where residual = remaining oil) and our model agrees with this but this structure changes radically for mixed wet systems (where residual ≠ remaining) and this has not yet been visualised experimentally. We find that for more water-wet systems high final residual oil saturations are reached at relatively small amounts of water injected and this oil is present in the pores as bulk oil. On the other hand, for more oil-wet systems we find a slow decrease of the amount of remaining oil with increasing amounts of injected water. During the process, the remaining connectivity of the oil phase is increasingly provided by oil layers only, hence the slow drainage. The final residual oil saturation, only reached in the theoretical limit of an infinite amount of injected water, is almost entirely contained in large number of (relatively low volume) oil layers, which are present in pores of most radius sizes.     

Mathematical modeling of oil hydrocarbon transformations in different parts of the White Sea

The available observational data on variations of oil hydrocarbon concentrations in White Sea tributaries and in individual parts of the sea are analyzed, and the contributions of different external sources to marine environment pollution are evaluated. The results of calculations are used to determine the possible total input of hydrocarbons from additional potential sources—internal natural (production by microorganisms) and external anthropogenic (navigation and sea shipping), which are most active in the summer and autumn. The hydroecological CNPSi-model is used to reproduce the processes of pollution of nine areas in the White Sea by oil hydrocarbons and their subsequent biodegradation in the marine environment. The annual dynamics of hydrocarbon concentrations was calculated using the long-term annual observations of monthly variations of the temperature, light intensity, and transparency of water, data on the morphometry of sea areas (the squares, mean depths, and water volumes) and water exchange between the chosen areas, calculated by a hydrodynamic model. For large bays (Dvina, Kandalaksha), the calculated concentrations of oil hydrocarbons are shown to be in agreement with the available estimates (the mean and maximal concentrations). The annual variations of oil hydrocarbon concentrations; the biomasses, oxidation activity and bioproduction characteristics of oil hydrocarbon-oxidizing bacteria are characterized. The calculated internal fluxes of oil hydrocarbons (the inputs from different sources, horizontal transport, and biotransformation) were used to calculate their annual balances for individual areas and the sea as a whole, showing the balanced character of their fluxes with the total balance discrepancies for individual areas varying within 0.3–4.1%.     

裂缝-孔隙介质储层渗透率表征及其影响因素分析

含裂缝多孔介质渗透率预测是非常规油气资源勘探开发的一个紧迫问题.现有多孔介质岩石物理模型通常利用圆形孔管模拟宏观岩石孔隙空间,难以定量描述软孔隙/裂缝在压力作用下的闭合情况,缺乏裂缝/孔隙间流量交换的连通机制.本文提出含三维裂缝/软孔隙网络多孔介质模型,将储层岩石裂缝/软孔隙表示为椭圆截面微管,建立了周期性压力作用下微观裂缝流量表达式,通过网络模型和流量守恒条件,得到含有三维裂缝/软孔隙网络的多孔介质渗透率计算方法.数值算例表明,预测结果与实验数据分布范围吻合很好,能够给出不同类型岩心对应孔隙纵横比的分布图.三维裂缝/软孔隙网络模型建立了宏观可观测量与裂缝参数之间关系,能够定量分析岩石渗透率随裂缝体密度、纵横比、孔隙流体类型和围压等因素的变化规律,为复杂条件下储层渗透率预测提供了一种有效方法.     

Hydrocarbon accumulation in network and its application in the continental rift basin

The concept of hydrocarbon accumulation in network was presented on basis of the overall analysis of the formation and evolution characteristics of the continental faulted basin and of the systemic re-search on the major controlling factors on the hydrocarbon accumulation. The hydrocarbon accumu-lation in network can be defined as hydrocarbon accumulation in a three-dimensional network system which is constituted by the hydrocarbon migration passages under multiple dynamics,following the hydrocarbon generation from source rocks. The research shows that the hydrocarbon accumulation in network is composed of four elements,i.e.,hydrocarbon source (source rock kitchen),hydrocarbon accumulation terminal (trap),network pathway connecting source and terminal (transporting system),and network potential driving hydrocarbon migration in the network pathway (migration dynamics). Compared with other networks,hydrocarbon accumulation in network has three basic characteristics: the irreversible geological process of material and information flow in the network; the loss of material and information in the flow process in the network; the multiple dynamics in the flow process. Interac-tion of all the elements in the geological process can be called hydrocarbon accumulation in network. There are three basic models for hydrocarbon accumulation in network,that is,hydrocarbon accumu-lation in the network source area,hydrocarbon accumulation in the network pathway,and hydrocarbon accumulation in the network terminal. The key in the application of the hydrocarbon accumulation models in network in practice is to confirm the major accumulation stage and the function range of the four elements controlling the hydrocarbon firstly,to predict the profitable accumulation region by su-perposition of the favorable areas confirmed by four elements consequently,and to evaluate the oil-bearing property of the trap as well as confirm drilling targets. This paper takes the Dongying De-pression in the Bohai Bay Basin as an application example.     

Conduit system and formation mechanism of heat fluids in diapiric belt of Yinggehai basin, China

The conduit system of heat fluids in diapiric belt of Yinggehai basin is dominantly vertical faults and fractures. Detailed research on the formation mechanism and their occurrence features shows that the faults and fractures can be classified into three types: intrastratal dispersive hydrofracture, puncturing fault and upwarping-extensional fault. The development of the fault and fracture system not only resulted in the changes of the temperature and pressure fields in the basin, but also affected the hydrocarbon migration in the overpressured system. These faults and fractures constituted the main pathways for vertical hydrocarbon migration, and opening and closing intermittently led to episodic expulsion of overpressured fluid compartment. Thus there formed the pool-forming model of multi-source mixing and ploy-stage migration and accumulation for hydrocarbons in the Yinggehai basin. Project jointly supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China (Grant No.95-Pre-39) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 49732005), and A Hundred Excellent Researchers Foundation from the Ministry of Land and Resources.     

Velocities of compressional and shear waves in limestones

Carbonate rocks are important hydrocarbon reservoir rocks with complex textures and petrophysical properties (porosity and permeability) mainly resulting from various diagenetic processes (compaction, dissolution, precipitation, cementation, etc.). These complexities make prediction of reservoir characteristics (e.g. porosity and permeability) from their seismic properties very difficult. To explore the relationship between the seismic, petrophysical and geological properties, ultrasonic compressional‐ and shear‐wave velocity measurements were made under a simulated in situ condition of pressure (50 MPa hydrostatic effective pressure) at frequencies of approximately 0.85 MHz and 0.7 MHz, respectively, using a pulse‐echo method. The measurements were made both in vacuum‐dry and fully saturated conditions in oolitic limestones of the Great Oolite Formation of southern England. Some of the rocks were fully saturated with oil. The acoustic measurements were supplemented by porosity and permeability measurements, petrological and pore geometry studies of resin‐impregnated polished thin sections, X‐ray diffraction analyses and scanning electron microscope studies to investigate submicroscopic textures and micropores. It is shown that the compressional‐ and shear‐wave velocities (V_p and V_s, respectively) decrease with increasing porosity and that V_p decreases approximately twice as fast as V_s. The systematic differences in pore structures (e.g. the aspect ratio) of the limestones produce large residuals in the velocity versus porosity relationship. It is demonstrated that the velocity versus porosity relationship can be improved by removing the pore‐structure‐dependent variations from the residuals. The introduction of water into the pore space decreases the shear moduli of the rocks by about 2 GPa, suggesting that there exists a fluid/matrix interaction at grain contacts, which reduces the rigidity. The predicted Biot–Gassmann velocity values are greater than the measured velocity values due to the rock–fluid interaction. This is not accounted for in the Biot–Gassmann velocity models and velocity dispersion due to a local flow mechanism. The velocities predicted by the Raymer and time‐average relationships overestimated the measured velocities even more than the Biot model.     

Improved Interpretation of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance T1 and T2 Distributions for Permeability Prediction: Simulation of Diffusion Coupling for a Fractal Cluster of Pores

NMR relaxometry is a powerful tool for inferring porosity and permeability data. In practice, measured magnetization decay curves are inverted for relaxation time distributions. Subsequently, one presumes a linear relationship between the pore radius distribution and the T ₁ and T ₂ distribution, for longitudinal and transverse magnetization, respectively. The fundamental equations used are based on a pore model, in which pores are assumed to be isolated from each other with respect to the NMR process and have smooth walls. The present study is based on a geometrical pore space model with connected pores and structured pore walls. The physical processes of surface relaxation, irreversible dephasing of magnetic spins and diffusive proton exchange between pores, are described by a system of differential equations. The solution yields a set of exponential functions representing the relaxation time distribution. We describe the difference between the distributions obtained for diffusion coupling and for isolated pores. With diffusion coupling on, the spectral width of the T ₁ distribution is strongly reduced, which indicates that the influence of large and small radii according to the T ₁-pore radius relationship is mixed to some extent. For a fractal pore space structure, where large pores are surrounded by adjacent minor pores, the T ₁ distribution does not resolve these substructures. Nevertheless, permeability values calculated from the logarithmic mean relaxation time T _1,LM are quite the same for diffusion coupling and for isolated pores. The T ₂ distribution for diffusion coupling is little constricted and gives a better resolution of the pore wall structures than the corresponding T ₁ distribution. The permeability values from T ₂ distributions agree with the values from longitudinal magnetization, provided that we use a corrected relaxation time T _2,corr, accounting for the dependence of the surface relaxivity ρ ₂ on pore radius. The study shows that radius distributions calculated from a T ₁ and from a T ₂ distribution differ from one another and both present an altered image of the true pore radius distribution. In practice, this has no serious influence on estimating permeability of medium- to high-permeability sandstones with the currently applied methods. The presented methodology of calculating the NMR response of pore space models with diffusion coupling may facilitate understanding porosity-permeability relationships of different rock types such as carbonate rocks with micro-porosity.     

Impact of chlorites on the wettability of tight oil sandstone reservoirs in the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation,Ordos Basin,China

Wettability is an essential property of reservoirs that is of great importance for enhancing oil recovery(EOR) and oil migration. The wettability of reservoirs is generally believed to be strongly affected by mineral compositions but it is not always the case. An integrated study of petrography and wettability was carried out to determine the impact of chlorite minerals on the wettability of the sandstone reservoirs in the Upper Triassic Yanchang Formation. Chlorites are found to be commonly present in the reservoir sandstones as detrital grains, rim-shaped cements, and biotite-chloritized forms with the pore peripheries being largely coated by chlorite, which is the main mineral in direct contact with pores. At pore scale, the wetting state of chlorites can either be oil-wet or water-wet in the tight sandstone reservoirs depending on wettability alteration by oil charge. Chlorites in contact with pores occupy a large of proportions of oil-wet pore walls and are crucial for the formation of oil-wetting state of reservoir sandstones. At core scale, the contents of chlorites in direct contact with pores do not correlate well with the AmottHarvey index due to other factors such as heterogeneity, oil-bearing degrees of samples.