Gravels in the Daxing conglomerate and their effect on reservoirs in the Oligocene Langgu Depression of the Bohai Bay Basin,North China

The Daxing conglomerate reservoir has become an important exploration target in the Langgu Depression of the Bohai Bay Basin. In this paper, gravel composition, void space, poroperm characteristics and hydrocarbon productivity of the Daxing conglomerate in the third member of the Oligocene Shahejie Formation (Es3) are studied in detail to understand the impact of gravel type on reservoir quality based on cores, petrographic thin-sections, scanning electron microscope (SEM) photos, porosity, permeability and well test data. The Daxing conglomerate is composed of limestone and dolomite gravels. The void space of the Daxing conglomerate includes intragravel and intergravel pores as well as fissures. Intragravel pores are dominated by gravel type. They develop as intergranular pores, intergranular dissolved pores, intragranular dissolved pores and few intercrystalline pores in limestone gravels, whereas in dolomite gravels they develop as intercrystalline pores, intercrystalline dissolved pores, dissolved pores and cavities, few intergranular pores and intergranular dissolved pores. The analysis shows that dolomite conglomerates provide better reservoir quality than limestone conglomerates. Microscopically, areal porosity in dolomite gravels is higher than that in limestone gravels. Macroscopically, porosity and permeability of conglomerates that are dominated by dolomite gravels (dolomite conglomerates) are better than those of conglomerates dominated by limestone gravels (limestone conglomerates). The dolomite conglomerates are superior to the limestone conglomerate with regard to hydrocarbon productivity at the level of parent rock and gravel properties. Poroperm characteristics and hydrocarbon productivity of dolomite reservoirs in the middle Proterozoic Changcheng and Jixian Systems (parent rocks of dolomite gravels) are better than those of the limestone reservoirs in the lower Paleozoic, Cambrian and Ordovician (parent rocks of limestone gravels). Gravel properties, including grain structure, physical nature and dissolution velocity cause the dolomite conglomerates to have more intercrystalline pores, fissures and secondary dissolved pores than limestone conglomerates.