Microscopic pore characteristics of andesite and implication from mineral content:A case study in Huoshiling Formation of Changling fault depression,Songliao Basin

In order to study the microscopic pore characteristics of andesite reservoir and the effect of mineral content on the andesite pore,this study takes the andesite of the Huoshiling Formation in Longfengshan of Changling fault depression,Songliao Basin as a subject.The andesite reservoir space was discerned through the observation of cores and casting thin sections.Besides,the pore size distribution of andesites and their mineral contents were quantitatively characterized by high-pressure mercury injection,nitrogen adsorption and XRD,respectively.The results show that:(1)There are various types of reservoir space in andesites,including vesicles,amygdule,intergranular pores,matrix dissolution pores and dissolution pores of amygdala,and three types of fractures including dissolution,structural and explosion fractures.(2)The pore size distribution of andesite is complex.The main pore size of andesite is mid-pore(10-20 nm)with some large-pores(>50 nm).Mid-pore and large-pore provide the main specific surface area,which are the main space for gas storage.(3)The andesite reservoir space in the study area is mainly controlled by dissolution,as supported by the relationship between the change of mineral content and porosity evolution.The porosity of andesites decreases with the increase of quartz and chlorite content,but increases with the increase of soluble mineral,e.g.,feldspar content.

Analysis and Characterization of Pore System and Grain Sizes of Carbonate Rocks from Southern Lebanon

Carbonate rocks are common in many parts of the world, including the Eastern Mediterranean, where they host significant groundwater supplies and are widely used as building and ornamental stones. The porosity of carbonate rocks plays a critical role in fluid storage and retrieval. The pore structure connectivity, in particular, controls many properties of geological formations, as well as the relationships between the properties of individual minerals and the bulk properties of the rock. To study the relationships between porosity, rock properties, pore structure, pore size, and their impact on reservoir characteristics, 46 carbonate rock samples were collected from four stratigraphic sections exposed near Sidon, South Lebanon. The studied carbonate rocks are related to marine deposits of different ages(e.g., Upper Cretaceous, Eocene, and Upper Miocene). In order to understand the pore connectivity, the MICP(mercury injection capillary pressure) technique was conducted on ten representative samples. Results from the SEM analysis indicate the dominance of very fine and fine pore sizes, with various categories ranging in diameter from 0.1 to10 μm. The MICP data revealed that the pore throat radii vary widely from 0.001 to 1.4 μm, and that all samples are dominated by micropore throats. The grain size analysis indicated that the studied rocks have significant amounts of silt-and clay-size grains with respect to the coarser ‘sand-size’ particles, suggesting a high proportion of microporosity. Obtained results, such as the poorly-sorted nature of grains, high microporosity, and the high percentage of micropore throats, justify the observed low mean hydraulic radius, the high entry pressure, and the very low permeability of the studied samples. These results suggest that the carbonate rocks near Sidon(south of Lebanon) are possibly classified as non-reservoir facies.

Understanding pore characteristics through core-based petrographic and petrophysical analysis in a heterogeneous carbonate reservoir:A case study from the Mumbai Offshore Basin,India

Carbonate rocks exhibit complex and heterogeneous pore structures;such heterogeneity is manifested by the occurrence of a wide variety of pore types with different sizes and geometries as a result of depositional and diagenetic processes.These complications substantially increase the uncertainty of predicted rock hydraulic parameters because samples with comparable porosities might have very different permeability values.In this study,small-scale characterisation of porosity and permeability in heterogeneous Eocene limestone samples from the Bassein Formation of the B-X structure of the MK Field in Mumbai Offshore Basin,India,was carried out,employing an integrated framework that in-corporates thin-section petrography,routine core analysis,mercury injection capillary pressure and nuclear magnetic resonance data.The pore characteristics of these carbonates range from poor to excellent.The studied samples exhibited large ranges of porosity,permeability and other associated petrophysical attributes.The pore types,as well as their orientations and connectivity,are the primary factors causing the heterogeneity.Because of the complexity of the pore networks,a simple lithofacies classification alone would have been insufficient to link porosity and permeability.The reservoir char-acteristics in the study area are strongly linked to the development and/or destruction of reservoir porosity-permeability during different phases of diagenesis.Twenty-four carbonate core samples from the limestone unit were studied and classified into microfacies and pore type classes,producing an accurate assessment of reservoir attributes.The comprehensive workflow incorporates the pore volume distributions and pore throat attributes for each rock type.Three carbonate microfacies were identified by petrographic analysis and their petrophysical characteristics,such as porosity,permeability,pore throat size,pore volume and fluid flow factors,were measured.The study demonstrates how macro-porosity,mesoporosity and microporosity are associated with various rock types and how they affect permeability and cementation exponents.The results of this study provide a comprehensive experi-mental framework for geological and geophysical interpretation that can be applied to identify potential reservoir facies and strengthen our understanding of heterogeneous carbonates.The framework can also be used to guide reservoir evaluation of similar heterogeneous formations in other areas.

Investigations on the relationship among the porosity,permeability and pore throat size of transition zone samples in carbonate reservoirs using multiple regression analysis,artificial neural network and adaptive neuro-fuzzy interface system

Finding an accurate method for estimating permeability aside from well logs has been a difficult task for many years.The most commonly used methods targeted towards regression technique to understand the correlation between pore throat radii,porosity and permeability are Winland and Pittman equation approaches.While these methods are very common among petrophysicists,they do not give a good prediction in certain cases.Consequently,this paper investigates the relationship among porosity,permeability,and pore throat radii using three methods such as multiple regression analysis,artificial neural network(ANN),and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system(ANFIS)for application in transition zone permeability modeling.Firstly,a comprehensive mercury injection capillary pressure(MICP)test was conducted using 228 transition zone carbonate core samples from a field located in the Middle-East region.Multiple regression analysis was later performed to estimate the permeability using pore throat and porosity measurement.For the ANN,a two-layer feed-forward neural network with sigmoid hidden neurons and a linear output neuron was used.The technique involves training,validation,and testing of input/output data.However,for the ANFIS method,a hybrid optimization consisting of least-square and backpropagation gradient descent methods with a subtractive clustering technique was used.The ANFIS combines both the artificial neural network and fuzzy logic inference system(FIS)for the training,validation,and testing of input/output data.The results show that the best correlation for the multiple regression technique is achieved for pore throat radii with 35%mercury saturation(R35).However,for both the ANN and ANFIS techniques,pore throat radii with 55%mercury saturation(R55)gives the best result.Both the ANN and ANFIS are later found to be more effective and efficient and thus recommended as compared with the multiple regression technique commonly used in the industry.