Analysis of lithofacies and evaluation of effective reservoirs of member 2 of Xujiahe Formation in the Xinchang area in Western Sichuan

In the Xinchang area in western Sichuan Basin,a total of 121.12 billion cubic meters of proved reserves of natural gas are discovered in Member 2 of Xujiahe Formation,but only 7.739 billion cubic meters of proved reserves of natural gas are produced.The main reason is that sandstones in Member 2 of Xujiahe Formation in the Xinchang area are generally tight,with strong heterogeneity,only intervals with relatively good physical properties have a certain production capacity;therefore,it is very necessary and important to evaluate effective reservoirs in Member 2 of Xujiahe Formation.Through analysis of cores,with consideration of color,sedimentary texture and grain size,lithofacies of Member 2 of Xujiahe Formation in the Xinchang area can be divided into 12 types.According to data of physical properties and thin section analysis,it can be concluded that the favorable lithofacies in the upper submember of Member 2 of Xujiahe Formation are the massive medium-coarse sandstone,the medium-coarse sandstone with cross bedding,and the medium-coarse sandstone with carbonaceous fragments.On the basis of electrical characteristics,well-logging interpretation standards for favorable lithofacies are established,in addition,favorable lithofacies and effective reservoir in the Xinchang area are determined,and distribution of favorable lithofacies(effective reservoir)is identified,which lay a solid foundation for next deployment of appraisal well and development of effective reserves.

Influences of environmental factors on the modern 14C reservoir effects in Qinghai-Tibet Plateau lakes

The establishment of reliable age in the lake sediment profile mainly depends on the AMS 14C dating technique.However,the presence of the 14C lake reservoir effects(LREs)restricted for using radiocarbon dating in lake sediment,especially in dry and cold areas with a scarce plant cover in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.Hence,the discussion of influence factors of LREs is crucial.This paper selected 15 lakes(17 sediment and 3 plant samples)in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau to examine the distribution characteristics of the modern LREs and their main influencing factors.In our study area,14 lakes were all affected by the LREs.The minimum 14C year is 5900 a BP towards the deep water area,whereas the maximum 14C year is up to 7185 a BP in the margins of Lake Heihai.The maximum 14C year is up to 7750 a BP,and the minimum 14C year is present-day carbon in the 15 lakes.One further study indicated that the LRE differences in individual lake are mostly owing to the contribution of exogenous carbonate.The results displayed that the LREs tended to increase with the increase of the salinity,moreover,the LREs of saltwater lakes or salt lakes were significantly larger than freshwater lakes due to the possible supply of old total dissolved inorganic carbon with a long residence time in the lakes.Moreover,the contribution of calcite played a significant role on the LREs.Additionally,the LREs differences are affected by the source of organic matter.The lake with groundwater supply shows large LRE due to likely being influenced by crustal and ancient CO_(2) uprising.

How to estimate isotope fractionations of a Rayleigh-like but diffusion-limited disequilibrium process?

The Rayleigh distillation isotope fractionation(RDIF) model is one of the most popular methods used in isotope geochemistry. Numerous isotope signals observed in geologic processes have been interpreted with this model. The RDIF model provides a simple mathematic solution for the reservoir-limited equilibrium isotope fractionation effect. Due to the reservoir effect, tremendously large isotope fractionations will always be produced if the reservoir is close to being depleted. However, in real situations, many prerequisites assumed in the RDIF model are often difficult to meet. For instance, it requires the relocated materials, which are removed step by step from one reservoir to another with different isotope compositions(i.e., with isotope fractionation), to be isotopically equilibrated with materials in the first reservoir simultaneously. This ‘‘quick equilibrium requirement’’ is indeed hard to meet if the first reservoir is sufficiently large or the removal step is fast. The whole first reservoir will often fail to re-attain equilibrium in time before the next removal starts.This problem led the RDIF model to fail to interpret isotope signals of many real situations. Here a diffusion-coupled and Rayleigh-like(i.e., reservoir-effect included) separation process is chosen to investigate this problem. We find that the final isotope fractionations are controlled by both the diffusion process and the reservoir effects via the disequilibrium separation process. Due to its complexity, we choose to use a numerical simulation method to solve this problem by developing specific computing codes for the working model.According to our simulation results, the classical RDIF model only governs isotope fractionations correctly at the final stages of separation when the reservoir scale(or thickness of the system) is reduced to the order of magnitude of the quotient of the diffusivity and the separation rate. The RDIF model fails in other situations and the isotope fractionations will be diffusion-limited when the reservoir is relatively large, or the separation rate is fast. We find that the effect of internal isotope distribution inhomogeneity caused by diffusion on the Rayleigh-like separation process is significant and cannot be ignored. This method can be applied to study numerous geologic and planetary processes involving diffusion-limited disequilibrium separation processes including partial melting,evaporation, mineral precipitation, core segregation, etc.Importantly, we find that far more information can be extracted through analyzing isotopic signals of such ‘‘disequilibrium’’processes than those of fully equilibrated ones, e.g., reservoir size and the separation rate. Such information may provide a key to correctly interpreting many isotope signals observed from geochemical and cosmochemical processes.

A quantitative study of the scale and distribution of tight gas reservoirs in the Sulige gas field, Ordos Basin, northwest China

Gas and water distribution is discontinuous in tight gas reservoirs,and a quantitative understanding of the factors controlling the scale and distribution of effective reservoirs is important for natural gas exploration.We used geological and geophysical explanation results,dynamic and static well test data,interference well test and static pressure test to calculate the distribution and characteristics of tight gas reservoirs in the H_(8) Member of the Shihezi Formation,Sulige gas field,Ordos Basin,northwest China.Our evaluation system examines the scale,physical properties,gas-bearing properties,and other reservoir features,and results in classification of effective reservoirs into types Ⅰ,Ⅱ,and Ⅲ that differ greatly in size,porosity,permeability,and saturation.The average thickness,length,and width of type Ⅰ effective reservoirs are 2.89,808,and 598 m,respectively,and the porosity is>10.0%,permeability is>1010^(–3)µm^(2),and average gas saturation is>60%.Compared with conventional gas reservoirs,tight gas effective reservoirs are small-scale and have low gas saturation.Our results show that the scale of the sedimentary system controls the size of the dominant microfacies in which tight gas effective reservoirs form.The presence of different types of interbeds hinders the connectivity of effective sand body reservoirs.The gas source conditions and pore characteristics of the reservoirs control sand body gas filling and reservoir formation.The physical properties and structural nature of the reservoirs control gas–water separation and the gas contents of effective reservoirs.The results are beneficial for the understanding of gas reservoir distribution in the whole Ordos Basin and other similar basins worldwide.