Analysis of petrophysical cutoffs of reservoir intervals with production capacity and with accumulation capacity in clastic reservoirs

Methodologies have been developed for calculating cutoffs of reservoir intervals with production capacity （RIPC） and reservoir intervals with accumulation capacity （RIAC） according to the types of pore throat structures and dynamic force by using data from petrophysical analysis, production tests and mercury injection. The data are from clastic reservoirs in the third member （Es3） and the fourth member （Es4） of the Shahejie Formation in the Shengtuo area on the North Slope of the Dongying Sag, Jiyang Depression, China. The method of calculating cutoffs of RIPC is summarized as follows： 1） determination of permeability cutoffs of RIPC; 2） classification of types of pore-throat structures according to mercury injection data and then relating porosity to permeability and determining the relationship between porosity and permeability according to each type of pore-throat structure; and 3） calculating porosity cutoffs of RIPC using established correlation between porosity and permeability according to the type of pore throat structure. The method of calculating cutoffs of RIAC includes： 1） establishing a functional relationship between oil-water interracial tension and formation temperature; 2） calculating limiting values of maximum connected pore-throat radii according to formation temperature and dynamic forces of each reservoir interval; 3） correlating permeability with maximum connected pore-throat radius and then obtaining permeability cutoffs of RIAC; and 4） calculating porosity cutoffs on the basis of permeability cutoffs according to specific correlations, suitable for the type of porethroat structure. The results of this study show that porosity and permeability cutoffs of clastic reservoirs decrease with depth. For a fixed permeability cutoff, the porosity cutoff of R1PC varies because the type of pore throat is different. At a fixed temperature, porosity and permeability cutoffs of RIAC decrease as dynamic force increases. For a fixed permeability cutoff of effective hydrocarbon accumulation, the porosity cutoff also varies with different types of pore throat.

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

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.