Hierarchy and subsurface correlation of muddy baffles in lacustrine delta fronts： a case study in the X Oilfield, Subei Basin, China

Muddy baffles are one of the major geological factors controlling the underground fluid flow as well as the remaining oil distribution. This study used detailed drilling data from the E1f1 reservoir in the X Oilfield, Subei Basin, China, to investigate the hierarchical muddy baffles developed on lacustrine delta fronts and their precise cross-well correlation.According to the theories on allogenic and autogenic cycles as well as the genesis and scales of muddy baffles, five orders of muddy baffles were classified, which provided various degrees of difficulty when attempting interwell correlation. Under the guidance of a reliable stratigraphic model, the precise cross-well correlation of muddy baffles could be achieved and the key point of establishment of this stratigraphic model was to calculate foreset angles of hierarchical muddy baffles during deposition. During calculation, the relationships between sediment flow direction, higher-order strata dipping direction,well types and well trajectory direction should all be taken into consideration and some other angles（referred to here as θ1,θ2 and θ3） should also be measured. Such new methods of cross-well correlation for hierarchical muddy baffles could greatly reduce the uncertainties and multiple solutions, which in turn would be significant for efficient development and oil recovery enhancement in the reservoirs.

Accumulation Pattern of Jurassic Tight Oil in Sichuan Basin and Its Exploration & Development Prospect

Jurassic tight oil in Sichuan Basin is chiefly distributed over the central basin with an area of about 4.2×10^4 km2. Since the first drilling in 1953, it has experienced four stages, including the Central Sichuan Basin Brought under Exploration and Development, Progressive Exploration and Development, Setting A Goal of 30×10^4 t/a, and Adjusting and Keeping A Stable Production.

Experimental investigation on the cuttings formation process and its relationship with cutting force in single PDC cutter tests

The single polycrystalline diamond compact(PDC)cutter test is widely used to investigate the mecha-nism of rock-breaking.The generated cuttings and cutting force are important indexes reflecting the rock failure process.However,they were treated as two separate parameters in previous publications.In this study,through a series of rock block cutting tests,the relationship between them was investigated to obtain an in-depth understanding of the formation of cuttings.In addition,to validate the standpoints obtained in the aforementioned experiments,rock sheet cutting tests were conducted and the rock failure process was monitored by a high-speed camera frame by frame.The cutting force was recorded with the same sampling rate as the camera.By this design,every sampled point of cutting force can match a picture captured by the camera,which reflects the interaction between the rock and the cutter.The results indicate that the increase in cutting depth results in a transition of rock failure modes.At shallow cutting depth,ductile failure dominates and all the cuttings are produced by the compression of the cutter.The corresponding cutting force fluctuates slightly.However,beyond the critical depth,brittle failure occurs and chunk-like cuttings appear,which leads to a sharp decrease in cutting force.After that,the generation of new surface results in a significant decrease in actual cutting depth,a parameter proposed to reflect the interaction between the rock and the cutter.Consequently,ductile failure dominates again and a slight fluctuation of cutting force can be detected.As the cutter moves to the rock,the actual cutting depth gradually increases,which results in the subsequent generation of chunk-like cuttings.It is accompanied by an obvious cutting force drop.That is,ductile failure and brittle failure,one following another,present at large cutting depth.The transition of rock failure mode can be correlated with the variation of cutting force.Based on the results of this paper,the real-time monitoring of torque may be helpful to determine the efficiency of PDc bits in the downhole.

Geochemical characteristics and diagenetic systems of dolomite reservoirs of the Changxing Formation in the eastern Sichuan Basin, China

In order to discuss the relationship between dolomite reservoirs and diagenetic systems of the Changxing Formation, we studied carbon, oxygen and strontium stable isotopes, iron, manganese and strontium trace elements and the Mg/Ca （mol%） ratio, dolomite order degree, and determined that burial dolomitization is the key to controlling the distribution of high quality dolomite reservoir in the Changxing Formation in the eastern Sichuan Basin. The dolomite of the Changxing Formation is divided into four diagenetic systems： （1） penecontemporaneous stage syngenetic brine diagenetic system, （2） early diagenetic stage strata seal brine diagenetic system, （3） middle-late diagenetic stage mixed hot brine diagenetic system and （4） tectonic uplift stage mixed hydrothermal fluid diagenetic system. New understanding of the controlling factors and distribution of dolomite reservoir development is discussed. Reef shoal facies belts controlled regional reservoir distribution and the scale of development. Burial dolomitization of a strata seal brine diagenetic system is the foundation of reservoir development, mainly developing pore reservoir. Burial dolomitization of mixed hot brine diagenetic system expanded the reservoir distribution and improved the reservoir quality, mainly developing pore-vug reservoir. Fracturing and dissolution of a mixed hydrothermal fluid diagenetic system is the key to improving the reservoir quality, mainly developing pore-vug-crack complex reservoirs.

Analysis of carbon and oxygen stable isotopes in carbonate rocks by the laser micro-sampling technique

The analysis of stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen in different carbonate rocks by the phosphoric acid method is not easier than that by the laser sampling method developed in recent years, which optically focuses laser beams with sufficient energy on a micro area of a thin section in a vacuum sample box via microscope. CO 2 produced by heating decomposition of carbonate was purified by the vacuum system, and the stable isotopic values of carbon and oxygen were calculated and analyzed on a mass spectrometer. This paper adopted the laser micro-sampling technique to analyze the stable isotopes of carbon and oxygen in dolomite, carbonate cement, stromatolite and different forms of dawsonite (donbassite). Results indicated that the laser micro-sampling method is effective in analyzing carbonate composition and could be a convincing proof for justification on carbonate composition analysis.

International Cooperation on Clean Energy under the“Belt and Road”Initiative

The“Belt and Road”Initiative is sustainable and green.As an important action point for building a green“Belt and Road”Initiative,clean energy can effectively reduce carbon emissions from energy consumption,making it an effective way to achieve the global energy transition and“Dual Carbon Goals”.This paper analyses the necessity to conduct international cooperation on clean energy and the problems inherent in that process under the“Belt and Road”Initiative,then discusses examples of international clean energy cooperation modes such as the reference of international traditional energy cooperation mode,international clean energy industrial park cooperation mode,international clean energy integration cooperation mode,“Internet+”smart clean energy cooperation mode,and international clean energy PPP cooperation mode.

Simulation study of hydrogen sulfide removal in underground gas storage converted from the multilayered sour gas field

A simulation study was carried out to investigate the temporal evolution of H_(2)S in the Huangcaoxia underground gas storage (UGS), which is converted from a depleted sulfur-containing gas field. Based on the rock and fluid properties of the Huangcaoxia gas field, a multilayered model was built. The upper layer Jia-2 contains a high concentration of H_(2)S (27.2 g/m^(3)), and the lower layer Jia-1 contains a low concentration of H_(2)S (14.0 mg/m^(3)). There is also a low-permeability interlayer between Jia-1 and Jia-2. The multi-component fluid characterizations for Jia-1 and Jia-2 were implemented separately using the Peng-Robinson equation of state in order to perform the compositional simulation. The H_(2)S concentration gradually increased in a single cycle and peaked at the end of the production season. The peak H_(2)S concentration in each cycle showed a decreasing trend when the recovery factor (RF) of the gas field was lower than 70%. When the RF was above 70%, the peak H_(2)S concentration increased first and then decreased. A higher reservoir RF, a higher maximum working pressure, and a higher working gas ratio will lead to a higher H_(2)S removal efficiency. Similar to developing multi-layered petroleum fields, the operation of multilayered gas storage can also be divided into multi-layer commingled operation and independent operation for different layers. When the two layers are combined to build the storage, the sweet gas produced from Jia-1 can spontaneously mix with the sour gas produced from Jia-2 within the wellbore, which can significantly reduce the overall H_(2)S concentration in the wellstream. When the working gas volume is set constant, the allocation ratio between the two layers has little effect on the H_(2)S removal. After nine cycles, the produced gas’s H_(2)S concentration can be lowered to 20 mg/m^(3). Our study recommends combining the Jia-2 and Jia-1 layers to build the Huangcaoxia underground gas storage. This plan can quickly reduce the H_(2)S concentration of the produced gas to 20 mg/m^(3), thus meeting the gas export standards as well as the HSE (Health, Safety, and Environment) requirements in the field. This study helps the engineers understand the H_(2)S removal for sulfur-containing UGS as well as provides technical guidelines for converting other multilayered sour gas fields into underground storage sites.

Pore-scale simulation of gas-water flow in low permeability gas reservoirs

A novel method was developed to establish a realistic three dimensional(3D) network model representing pore space in low permeability sandstone.Digital core of rock sample was established by the combination of micro-CT scanning and image processing,then 3D pore-throat network model was extracted from the digital core through analyzing pore space topology,calculating pore-throat parameters and simplifying the shapes of pores and throats.The good agreements between predicted and measured porosity and absolute permeability verified the validity of this new network model.Gas-water flow mechanism was studied by using pore-scale simulations,and the influence of pore structure parameters,including coordination number,aspect ratio and shape factor,on gas-water flow,was investigated.The present simulation results show that with the increment of coordination number,gas flow ability in network improves and the effect of invading water on blocking gas flow weakens.The smaller the aspect ratio is,the stronger the anisotropy of the network is,resulting in the increase of seepage resistance.It is found that the shape factor mainly affects the end points in relative permeability curves,and for a highly irregular pore or throat with a small shape factor,the irreducible water saturation(Swi) and residual gas saturation(Sgr) are relatively high.

The genesis of H_2S in the Weiyuan Gas Field, Sichuan Basin and its evidence

The Sinian Dengying Formation gas pool in Weiyuan is the oldest large-scale sulfur-bearing gas field in China, which has a H2S content ranging from 0.8% to 1.4%. The Cambrian Xixiangchi Formation gas pool discovered recently above the Dengying Formation contains gas geochemical behaviors similar to those of Dengying Formation but different in sulfur isotopes of H2S. Investigations show that though these two Sinian and Cambrian gas pools are separate ones, they share the same Cambrian source rock. The higher dry coefficient, heavier carbon isotopes, sulfur isotopes of sulfide, lower filling of gas pools, formation water characteristics, reservoir properties and H2S distribution, indicate that H2S in both the Sinian and Cambrian gas pools originates from TSR. The sulfur isotopes of sulfates have shown that H2S was formed in respective pools, namely hydrocarbons charged into the pools reacted with the Dengying Formation and the Xixiangchi Formation gypsum (TSR), respectively, to form H2S. Compared with sulfur isotopes of sulfates in each pool, δ34S values of H2S are 8‰ lighter for the Dengying Formation pool and 12‰ lighter for the Xixiangchi Formation pool, respectively, which is attributed to the difference in temperatures of TSR occurrence. The reservoir temperature of the Xixiangchi Formation pool is about 40℃ lower than that of the Dengying Formation pool. Temperature plays a controlling role in both the sulfur isotopic fractionation and amounts of H2S generation during TSR.

Evaluation on the anisotropic brittleness index of shale rock using geophysical logging

The brittleness index plays a significant role in the hydraulic fracturing design and wellbore stability analysis of shale reservoirs.Various brittleness indices have been proposed to characterize the brittleness of shale rocks,but almost all of them ignored the anisotropy of the brittleness index.Therefore,uniaxial compression testing integrated with geophysical logging was used to provide insights into the anisotropy of the brittleness index for Longmaxi shale,the presented method was utilized to assess brittleness index of Longmaxi shale formation for the interval of 3155e3175 m in CW-1 well.The results indicated that the brittleness index of Longmaxi shale showed a distinct anisotropy,and it achieved the minimum value at β=45°-60°.As the bedding angle increased,the observed brittleness index(BI_(2_β))decreased firstly and increased then,it achieved the lowest value at β=40°-60°,and it is consistent with the uniaxial compression testing results.Compared to the isotropic brittleness index(β=0°),the deviation of the anisotropic brittleness index ranged from 10%to 66.7%,in other words,the anisotropy of brittleness index cannot be ignored for Longmaxi shale.Organic matter content is one of the main intrinsic causes of shale anisotropy,and the anisotropy degree of the brittleness index generally increases with the increase in organic matter content.The present work is valuable for the assessment of anisotropic brittleness for hydraulic fracturing design and wellbore stability analysis.

Accelerating the construction of natural gas system engineering in green smart cities

Natural gas is a high-quality,high-efficiency,clean and low-carbon energy.The CO2 produced by its combustion accounts for only 55%of the combustion of coal and 80%of the combustion of petroleum.Natural gas combustion is almost free of sulfur,dust and other harmful substances,thus natural gas can form a benign complement with lowemission and renewable energy,such as electricity,which is an appropriate choice for urban clean energy supply(Ma,2017).A green smart city is composed of subsystems of organization(people),business/govemment affairs,transportation,communication,water and clean energy,among which a clean energy supply subsystem should be green,low carbon,safe,efficient,smart and friendly(Liu and Wang,2017).Natural gas can be used in residences,commerce,public utilities,distributed energy,and other fields in smart cities.