New understandings on gas accumulation and major exploration breakthroughs in subsalt Ma 4 Member of Ordovician Majiagou Formation,Ordos Basin,NW China

Geological conditions and main controlling factors of gas accumulation in subsalt Ma 4 Member of Ordovician Majiagou Formation are examined based on large amounts of drilling,logging and seismic data.The new understandings on the control of paleo-uplift over facies,reservoirs and accumulations are reached:(1)During the sedimentary period of Majiagou Formation,the central paleo-uplift divided the North China Sea in central-eastern of the basin from the Qinqi Sea at southwest margin of the basin,and controlled the deposition of the thick hummocky grain beach facies dolomite on platform margin of Ma 4 Member.Under the influence of the evolution of the central paleo-uplift,the frame of two uplifts alternate with two sags was formed in the central-eastern part of the basin,dolomite of inner-platform beach facies developed in the underwater low-uplift zones,and marl developed in the low-lying areas between uplifts.(2)From the central paleo-uplift to the east margin of the basin,the dolomite in the Ma 4 Member gradually becomes thinner and turns into limestone.The lateral sealing of the limestone sedimentary facies transition zone gives rise to a large dolomite lithological trap.(3)During the late Caledonian,the basin was uplifted as a whole,and the central paleo-uplift was exposed and denuded to various degrees;high-quality Upper Paleozoic Carboniferous-Permian coal measures source rocks deposited on the paleo-uplift in an area of 60000 km^(2),providing large-scale hydrocarbon for the dolomite lithological traps in the underlying Ma 4 Member.(4)During the Indosinian-Yanshanian stage,the basin tilted westwards,and central paleo-uplift depressed into an efficient hydrocarbon supply window.The gas from the Upper Paleozoic source rock migrated through the high porosity and permeability dolomite in the central paleo-uplift to and accumulated in the updip high part;meanwhile,the subsalt marine source rock supplied gas through the Caledonian faults and micro-fractures as a significant supplementary.Under the guidance of the above new understandings,two favorable exploration areas in the Ma 4 Member in the central-eastern basin were sorted out.Two risk exploration wells were deployed,both revealed thick gas-bearing layer in Ma 4 Member,and one of them tapped high production gas flow.The study has brought a historic breakthrough in the gas exploration of subsalt Ma 4 Member of Ordovician,and opened up a new frontier of gas exploration in the Ordos Basin.

Progress and prospects of oil and gas production engineering technology in China

This paper summarizes the important progress in the field of oil and gas production engineering during the"Thirteenth Five-Year Plan"period of China,analyzes the challenges faced by the current oil and gas production engineering in terms of technological adaptability,digital construction,energy-saving and emission reduction,and points out the future development direction.During the"Thirteenth Five-Year Plan"period,series of important progresses have been made in five major technologies,including separated-layer injection,artificial lift,reservoir stimulation,gas well de-watering,and workover,which provide key technical support for continuous potential tapping of mature oilfields and profitable production of new oilfields.Under the current complex international political and economic situation,oil and gas production engineering is facing severe challenges in three aspects:technical difficulty increases in oil and gas production,insignificant improvements in digital transformation,and lack of core technical support for energy-saving and emission reduction.This paper establishes three major strategic directions and implementation paths,including oil stabilization and gas enhancement,digital transformation,and green and low-carbon development.Five key research areas are listed including fine separated-layer injection technology,high efficiency artificial lift technology,fine reservoir stimulation technology,long term gas well de-watering technology and intelligent workover technology,so as to provide engineering technical support for the transformation,upgrading and high-quality development of China’s oil and gas industry.

Geological conditions of natural gas accumulation and new exploration areas in the Mesoproterozoic to Lower Paleozoic of Ordos Basin, NW China

Based on field outcrop investigation,interpretation and analysis of drilling and seismic data,and consulting on a large number of previous research results,the characteristics of ancient marine hydrocarbon source rocks,favorable reservoir facies belts,hydrocarbon migration direction and reservoir-forming law in the Ordos Basin have been studied from the viewpoints of North China Craton breakup and Qilian-Qinling oceanic basin opening and closing.Four main results are obtained:(1)Controlled by deep-water shelf-rift,there are three suites of source rocks in the Ordos Basin and its periphery:Mesoproterozoic,Lower Cambrian and Middle-Upper Ordovician.(2)Controlled by littoral environment,paleo-uplift and platform margin,four types of reservoirs are developed in the area:Mesoproterozoic-Lower Cambrian littoral shallow sea quartz sandstone,Middle-Upper Cambrian–Ordovician weathering crust and dolomitized reservoir,and Ordovician L-shape platform margin reef and beach bodies.(3)Reservoir-forming assemblages vary greatly in the study area,with"upper generation and lower storage"as the main pattern in the platform,followed by"self-generation and self-storage".There are both"upper generation and lower storage"and"self-generation and self-storage"in the platform margin zone.In addition,in the case of communication between deep-large faults and the Changchengian system paleo-rift trough,there may also exist a"lower generation and upper reservoir"combination between the platform and the margin.(4)There are four new exploration fields including Qingyang paleo-uplift pre-Carboniferous weathering crust,L-shape platform margin zone in southwestern margin of the basin,Ordovician subsalt assemblage in central and eastern parts of the basin,and Mesoproterozoic–Cambrian.Among them,pre-Carboniferous weathering crust and L-shape platform margin facies zone are more realistic replacement areas,and Ordovician subsalt assemblage and the Proterozoic-Cambrian have certain potential and are worth exploring.

Production calculation of the second and tertiary recovery combination reservoirs under chemical flooding

Based on the analysis of the production composition of reservoirs developed by the second&tertiary recovery combination(STRC),the relationship between the overall output of the STRC project and the production level during the blank water flooding stage is proposed.According to the basic principle of reservoir engineering that the“recovery factor is equal to sweeping coefficient multiplied by oil displacement efficiency”,the formula for calculating the ultimate oil recovery factor of chemical combination flooding reservoir was established.By dividing the reservoir into a series of grids according to differen-tial calculus thinking,the relationship between the ultimate recovery factor of a certain number of grids and the recovery de-gree of the reservoir was established,and then the variation law of oil production rate of the STRC reservoir was obtained.The concept of“oil rate enlargement factor of chemical combination flooding”was defined,and a production calculation method of reservoir developed by STRC was put forward based on practical oilfield development experience.The study shows that the oil production enhancing effect of STRC increases evenly with the in crease of the ratio of STRC displacement efficiency to water displacement efficiency,and increases rapidly with the increase of the ratio of recovery degree at flooding mode conversion to the water displacement efficiency.STRC is more effective in increasing oil production of reservoir with high recovery degree.Through practical tests of the alkali free binary flooding(polymer/surfactant)projects,the relative error of the oil production calculation method of STRC reservoir is about±10%,which meets the requirements of reservoir engineering.

Simulation of pore space production law and capacity expansion mechanism of underground gas storage

One-dimensional gas injection storage building and one-cycle injection-production modeling experiment,and two-dimensional flat core storage building and multi-cycle injection-production modeling experiment were carried out using one-dimensional long core and large two-dimensional flat physical models to find out the effects of reservoir physical properties and injection-production balance time on reservoir pore utilization efficiency,effective reservoir capacity formation and capacity-reaching cycle.The results show that reservoir physical properties and formation water saturation are the main factors affecting the construction and operation of gas-reservoir type underground gas storage.During the construction and operation of gas-reservoir type gas storage,the reservoir space can be divided into three types of working zones:high efficiency,low efficiency and ineffective ones.The higher the reservoir permeability,the higher the pore utilization efficiency is,the smaller the ineffective working zone is,or there is no ineffective working zone;the smaller the loss of injected gas is,and the higher the utilization rate of pores is.The better the reservoir physical properties,the larger the reservoir space and the larger the final gas storage capacity is.The higher the water saturation of the reservoir,the more the gas loss during gas storage capacity building and operation is.Optimizing injection-production regime to discharge water and reduce water saturation is an effective way to reduce gas loss in gas storage.In the process of multiple cycles of injection and production,there is a reasonable injection-production balance time,further extending the injection-production balance period after reaching the reasonable time has little contribution to the expansion of gas storage capacity.

An analysis of major scientific problems and research paths of Gulong shale oil in Daqing Oilfield, NE China

After the preliminary basic research on the problems encountered during the production period of Gulong shale oil in the Songliao Basin, NE China, and the scientific exploration, the special characteristics of Gulong shale oil in terms of reservoir space, phase distribution, flow pattern, and mineral evolution are proposed. The main results are as follows :(1) The source of organic matter, mechanism of hydrocarbon generation and expulsion, and key factors affecting shale oil abundance;(2) The types and structural characteristics of the reservoir and their contribution to porosity and permeability;(3) The mineral origin and evolution of minerals and their influence on reservoir availability, sensitivity, and compressibility;(4) The rock mechanical characteristics and fracture propagation law of Gulong shale;(5) The shale oil products, phase change law and main control factors of adsorption and desorption conversion of Gulong shale oil;(6) The mechanism of shale oil-liquid, solid-liquid gas interaction and enhanced oil recovery. Three key research suggestions are proposed to realize the large-scale economic utilization of the Gulong shale oil as follows:(1) Deepen research on the mechanism of oil and gas generation and discharge, storage and transportation, to guide the selection of geological sweet spots of shale oil;(2) Deepen research on the compressibility and fracture initiation mechanism to support the selection of engineering sweet spots and optimization of engineering design;(3) Deepen research on the fluid interaction mechanism under reservoir conditions, os us to guide the optimization of development schemes and the selection of EOR technologies. A successful development of Gulong shale oil requires global experts and scholars to contribute multidisciplinary innovative ideas and technical ideas to solve production problems.

Integrated construction technology for natural gas gravity drive and underground gas storage

Based on the mechanisms of gravity displacement,miscibility,viscosity reduction,and imbibition in natural gas flooding,an integrated reservoir construction technology of oil displacement and underground gas storage(UGS)is proposed.This paper systemically describes the technical connotation,site selection principle and optimization process of operation parameters of the gas storage,and advantages of this technology.By making full use of the gravity displacement,miscibility,viscosity reduction,and imbibition features of natural gas flooding,the natural gas can be injected into oil reservoir to enhance oil recovery and build strategic gas storage at the same time,realizing the win-win situation of oil production and natural gas peak shaving.Compared with the gas reservoir storage,the integrated construction technology of gas storage has two profit models:increasing crude oil production and gas storage transfer fee,so it has better economic benefit.At the same time,in this kind of gas storage,gas is injected at high pressure in the initial stage of its construction,gas is injected and produced in small volume in the initial operation stage,and then in large volume in the middle and late operation stage.In this way,the gas storage wouldn’t have drastic changes in stress periodically,overcoming the shortcomings of large stress variations of gas reservoir storage during injection-production cycle due to large gas injection and production volume.The keys of this technology are site selection and evaluation of oil reservoir,and optimization of gravity displacement,displacement pressure,and gas storage operation parameters,etc.The pilot test shows that the technology has achieved initial success,which is a new idea for the rapid development of UGS construction in China.

New insights into the mechanism of surfactant enhanced oil recovery:Micellar solubilization and in-situ emulsification

Reducing the oil-water interfacial tension(IFT)to ultra-low is believed the primary mechanism for surfactant-based enhanced oil recovery(EOR)process.However,field trials have shown that low concentration surfactant flooding can also improve oil recovery without ultra-low IFT.To clarify the mechanism behind,the currently-used surfactant,naphthenic arylsulfonate(NAS),was used to unravel its function during surfactant flooding from the horizon of micron-and nano-scale.The solubilization capacity of NAS micelle to petroleum fractions was evaluated through light absorbance strategy,smallangle neutron scattering,dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy.It was found that micellar solubilization plays a significant role during the surfactant flooding.In-situ emulsification was visualized in microfluidics with three types of microchips,respectively.A series of displacement tests were carried out with NAS solution pumping into oil-saturated chip.The results show that in-situ emulsification improve oil recovery mainly through blocking and entrainment effects.Results from this work aid in understanding the interaction between surfactant solution and petroleum fractions at low surfactant concentration,which is helpful for design surfactant-based displacing system for EOR process.

Experimental investigation on stable displacement mechanism and oil recovery enhancement of oxygen-reduced air assisted gravity drainage

The effects of gravity,capillary force,and viscous force on the migration characteristics of oil and gas interface in oxygen-reduced air-assisted gravity drainage(OAGD)were studied through a two-dimensional visualization model.The effects of bond number,capillary number and low-temperature oxidation on OAGD recovery were studied by long core displacement experiments.On this basis,the low-temperature oxidation number was introduced and its relationship with the OAGD recovery was established.The results show that the shape and changing law of oil and gas front are mainly influenced by gravity,capillary force and viscous force.When the bond number is constant(4.52×10-4),the shape of oil-gas front is controlled by capillary number.When the capillary number is less than 1.68×10-3,the oil and gas interface is stable.When the capillary number is greater than 2.69×10-2,the oil and gas interface shows viscous fingering.When the capillary number is between 1.68×10-3 and 2.69×10-2,the oil and gas interface becomes capillary fingering.The core flooding experiments results show that for OAGD stable flooding,before the gas breakthrough,higher recovery is obtained in higher gravity number and lower capillary number.In this stage,gravity is predominant in controlling OAGD recovery and the oil recovery could be improved by reducing injection velocity.After gas breakthrough,higher recovery was obtained in lower gravity and higher capillary numbers,which means that the viscous force had a significant influence on the recovery.Increasing gas injection velocity in this stage is an effective measure to improve oil recovery.The low-temperature oxidation number has a good correlation with the recovery and can be used to predict the OAGD recovery.

Microscale comprehensive evaluation of continental shale oil recoverability

This paper targets the shale oil reservoirs of middle to high maturity in four major basins of China,including the Permian Lucaogou Formation of the Jimsar Sag in the Junggar Basin,the Chang 73 Member of the Triassic Yanchang Formation in the Longdong area of the Ordos Basin,the Kong 2 Member of the Paleogene Kongdian Formation in Cangdong Sag of the Bohai Bay Basin,and the Qing 1 Member of the Cretaceous Qingshankou Formation in Changling Sag of the Songliao Basin.The key parameters of the shale oil reservoirs in the four basins,such as reservoirs effectiveness,oil content,crude oil movability,and fracability,have been revealed under identical experimental conditions using the same evaluation technical system,on the basis of technique development and integrated application of multi-scale spatial distribution depiction,effective connectivity calculation,movable oil assessment based on the charging effect,and simulation of fracture propagation during reservoir stimulation.This research overcomes insufficient resolutions of conventional analysis approaches and difficulties in quantitative evaluation,develops the evaluation method for resource recoverability of different types of shale oil,and gains insights into different types of shale oil via comparison.The results of experiments and comparative analysis show that there are significant differences in the endowment of continental shale oil resources in the four major basins in China.Among them,the Lucaogou Formation in the Junggar Basin has more effective shale reservoirs,the Chang 73 sub-member of the Ordos Basin has a comparatively good proportion of movable oil and the Kong 2 Member of the Bohai Bay Basin has the best fracability.These results can provide references and basis for choosing development plans and engineering techniques.

Key technologies, engineering management and important suggestions of shale oil/gas development: Case study of a Duvernay shale project in Western Canada Sedimentary Basin

The Duvernay project in Canada was taken as an example to summarize the advanced technology and engineering management model of shale oil and gas development in North America.Preliminary suggestions were put forward to accelerate the commercial development of domestic continental shale oil and gas.The advanced technologies,valuable knowledge and rich experience were introduced,including the evaluation of geological target area of the project,rapid long horizontal drilling and completion,high-intensity fracturing,and well spacing optimization.In particular,the concept and connotation of the full-life cycle management of North American unconventional resource projects were analyzed.Its emphasis on early evaluation and risk management,and a highly competitive market environment have played an important role in promoting technological innovation and management innovation.In addition,the low-cost sharing system of industry-wide knowledge and experience and the management mode were applied.These management approaches are of great significance for reference in accelerating the exploration and development of unconventional resources in China.China possesses abundant shale oil and gas resources,which are an important replacement to guarantee the national oil and gas energy supply.However,due to the late start and special geological characteristics and engineering difficulties in China,there is a large gap in technology level and management mode compared with North America.According to the advanced experience and enlightenment of the shale oil and gas development in North America,a preliminary proposal to accelerate the development of shale oil and gas in China was made.

Oil oxidation in the whole temperature regions during oil reservoir air injection and development methods

The oil oxidation characteristics of the whole temperature regions from 30 ℃ to 600 ℃ during oil reservoir air injection were revealed by experiments. The whole oil oxidation temperature regions were divided into four different parts: dissolving and inflation region, low temperature oxidation region, medium temperature oxidation region and high temperature oxidation region. The reaction mechanisms of different regions were explained. Based on the oil oxidation characteristics and filed tests results, light oil reservoirs air injection development methods were divided into two types: oxygen-reducing air flooding and air flooding;heavy oil reservoirs air injection in-situ combustion development methods were divided into two types: medium temperature in-situ combustion and high temperature in-situ combustion. When the reservoir temperature is lower than 120 ℃, oxygen-reducing air flooding should be used for light oil reservoir development. When the reservoir temperature is higher than 120 ℃, air flooding method should be used for light oil reservoir development. For a normal heavy oil reservoir, when the combustion front temperature is lower than 400 ℃, the development method is medium temperature in-situ combustion. For a heavy oil reservoir with high oil resin and asphalting contents, when the combustion front temperature is higher than 450 ℃, the development method at this condition is high temperature in-situ combustion. Ten years field tests of air injection carried out by PetroChina proved that air has advantages in technical, economical and gas source aspects compared with other gas agents for oilfield gas injection development. Air injection development can be used in low/super-low permeability light oil reservoirs, medium and high permeability light oil reservoirs and heavy oil reservoirs. Air is a very promising gas flooding agent.

Molecular composition of low-temperature oxidation products of the heavy oil

Low-temperature oxidation(LTO)is the main reaction that affects fuel formation in the in-situ combustion process,which has important significance for the subsequent combustion propulsion and the successful extraction of crude oil.In this study,heavy oil was subjected to LTO reactions at different temperatures.Three types of reaction products with varying oxidation depths were characterized in terms of the number of oxygen atoms and the polarity of the molecule to reveal the low-temperature oxidation process of the heavy oil.Ketone compounds and acid polyoxides in the oil phase and deep oxidation products with a higher number of oxygen atoms in the coke were identified with increasing oxidation depth.The experimental results showed that the oxidation reaction of the heavy oil changed from kinetic-controlled to diffusion-controlled in the open oxidation system of the heavy oil as the oxidation depth increased.The oxidation reaction of the oil phase reached a maximum and stable value in oxygen content.The molecular compositions of the ketone compound and acid polyoxide did not change significantly with further increase in reaction temperature.The molecular compositions of the deep oxidation products with a higher number of oxygen atoms in the coke phase changed significantly.The coke precursor molecules with a lower oxygen content and condensation degree participated in the coke formation,and the oxidation reaction pathway and the complexity of the oxidation product component also increased.

Characteristics and accumulation mode of large-scale Sinian-Cambrian gas reservoirs in the Gaoshiti-Moxi region, Sichuan Basin

The Sinian-Cambrian formations of the Sichuan Basin have favorable hydrocarbon accumulation conditions,but the exploration for large-scale gas fields is quite challenging due to old strata and multiple tectonic movements.Since the Weiyuan Sinian large gas field was found in 1964,the largest monoblock gas field(Anyue Gasfield)was discovered in the Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation of the Moxi region in 2013 with proven gas reserves of 440.1×109 m3.Total proven,probable and possible reserves exceed one trillion cubic meters in the Sinian Dengying Formation and the Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation of the Gaoshiti-Moxi region.The natural gas components,light hydrocarbons,reservoir bitumen abundance and other evidences prove that the dry natural gas was mainly derived from oil-cracking,with methane(a content of 82.65%-97.35%),ethane(a content of 0.01%-0.29%),nitrogen(a content of 0.44%-6.13%),helium(a content of 0.01%-0.06%),and hydrogen sulphide(0.62-61.11 g/m^(3)).Gas reservoir pressure increases gradually from the Sinian normal pressure(a pressure coefficient of 1.07-1.13)to high pressure(a pressure coefficient of 1.53-1.70)in the Cambrian Longwangmiao Formation.The temperature of the gas reservoir is 137.5-163 ℃.Gas reservoir traps are divided into three categories:tectonic type,tectonic-formation type and tectonic-lithologic type.The large-scale enrichment of the Sinian-Cambrian natural gas results from effective configuration of the large stable inherited palaeo-uplift during the Tongwan tectonic movement,wide distribution of ancient source rocks,high-quality reservoirs with vast pore-cavity,crude oil cracking of large palaeo-reservoirs and favorable preservation conditions.According to the palaeo-structure pattern prior to crude oil cracking of the palaeo-reservoirs,and bitumen abundance as well as the distribution characteristics of current gas reservoirs,the accumulation patterns of the cracking gas reservoir can be classified into three types:accumulation type,semi-accumulation and semi-dispersion type,and dispersion type.This understanding will play an important role in guiding the exploration of the Sinian-Cambrian natural gas exploration in the Sichuan Basin.

Study on the supercritical phase behavior of Yaha condensate gas reservoir in Tarim Basin

Yaha condensate gas reservoir is condensate gas reservoir developed by gas injection in the Tarim Basin.The practice of gas injection in condensate gas reservoir shows that the key to improve gas injection effect is to control gas channeling.Dynamic monitoring shows that there is no instantaneous miscibility between dry gas and condensate gas during gas injection.Based on the principle of entropy increase and mass transfer kinetics,the phase behavior of condensate gas and dry gas in reservoir is analyzed theoretically.The new technique to improve condensate recovery is adopted for condensate gas field.By using the density difference and seepage characteristics of dry gas and condensate gas,the injected dry gas cap is formed at the top of the gas reservoir,and the three-dimensional displacement is realized by the expansion of dry gas cap.Gas injection gravity assisted flooding technology is to realize vertical displacement of injected gas through the expansion of dry gas cap by using gravity differentiation caused by gas density difference.This technology can keep the front edge of gas injection advance evenly and solve the problem of gas channeling in the process of cyclic gas injection.

Time-Lapse 3-D Seismic Wave Simulation via the Generalized Multiscale Finite Element Method

Numerical solution of time-lapse seismic monitoring problems can be challenging due to the presence of finely layered reservoirs.Repetitive wave modeling using fine layered meshes also adds more computational cost.Conventional approaches such as finite difference and finite element methods may be prohibitively expensive if the whole domain is discretized with the cells corresponding to the grid in the reservoir subdomain.A common approach in this case is to use homogenization techniques to upscale properties of subsurface media and assign the background properties to coarser grid;however,inappropriate application of upscaling might result in a distortion of the model,which hinders accurate monitoring of the fluid change in subsurface.In this work,we instead investigate capabilities of a multiscale method that can deal with fine scale heterogeneities of the reservoir layer and more coarsely meshed rock properties in the surrounding domains in the same fashion.To address the 3-D wave problems,we also demonstrate how the multiscale wave modeling technique can detect the changes caused by fluid movement while the hydrocarbon production activity proceeds.