Oil & Gas Geology ›› 2022, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (3): 597-609.doi: 10.11743/ogg20220309

• Petroleum Geology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Physical property and heterogeneity of tight sandstone reservoirs: A case of the Upper Triassic 6th member of Xujiahe Formation, Guang’an, central Sichuan Basin

Liang Yue1,2(), Qingqiang Meng3, Ziliang Liu2,4(), Wei Yang5, Hui Jin5, Fang Shen2,4, Junjian Zhang6, Sibing Liu2   

  1. 1.Jiangsu Vocational Institute of Architectural Technology,Xuzhou,Jiangsu 221116,China
    2.State Key Laboratory of Oil and Gas Reservoir Geology and Exploitation,Chengdu University of Technology,Chengdu,Sichuan 610059,China
    3.Petroleum Exploration and Production Research Institute,SINOPEC,Beijing 100083,China
    4.College of Energy,Chengdu University of Technology,Chengdu,Sichuan 610059,China
    5.Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration & Development,PetroChina,Beijing 100083,China
    6.College of Earth Science and Engineering,Shandong University of Science and Technology,Qingdao,Shandong 266590,China
  • Received:2021-01-06 Revised:2022-03-03 Online:2022-06-01 Published:2022-05-06
  • Contact: Ziliang Liu E-mail:qzyueliang@163.com;bugliu2001@163.com

Abstract:

Unconventional tight sandstone reservoirs with proven natural gas reserves up to trillion cubic meters are typical of the Upper Triassic Xujiahe Formation of clastic rocks in the Sichuan Basin of southwestern China. The 6th member of Xujiahe Formation (Xu 6 Member) in Guang’an area, central Sichuan Basin, contains gas reservoirs with great exploration and development potential. In this study, thin section observation, physical property measurements, mercury intrusion tests and fractal theory were integrated to analyze a suite of the Xu 6 Member tight gas sandstone samples in terms of pore structure, physical property and reservoir heterogeneity. The results show that the sandstone reservoirs studied can be classified into three types. That is, TypeⅠreservoir (with an average porosity of 12.27 % and average permeability ratio of 6.037 6 × 10-3 μm2) is dominated by macro- or meso-scale pores, and its fractal dimension varies between 2.42 and 2.59. TypeⅡreservoir (with an average porosity of 9.26 % and average permeability ratio of 1.152 3 × 10-3 μm2) is dominated by meso-scale pores, followed by micro-scale pores, with macro-scale pores poorly developed; and its fractal dimension ranges from 2.47 to 2.56. TypeⅢreservoir (with an average porosity of 5.20 % and average permeability ratio of 0.351 7 × 10-3 μm2) is dominated by micro- or meso-scale pores, together with poorly developed or undeveloped macro-scale pores; and its fractal dimension varies between 2.45 and 2.81. The different distribution of pore types leads to obvious changes in the heterogeneity of various types of reservoirs, which mainly shows that the heterogeneity of TypeⅢreservoir is stronger than that of TypeⅠreservoir. Differential distribution of pore types is directly related to reservoir heterogeneity, as manifested by stronger heterogeneity of TypeⅢreservoir compared with TypeⅡ. Correlation analysis reveals that differential pore types are coupled with reservoir heterogeneity, and there is a critical value. When the fractal dimension ranges between 2.45 and 2.60, the porosity and fractal dimension are in positive correlation, and the variation of permeability is irregular; when the parameter is greater than 2.60, there is a negative correlation between porosity and fractal dimension, and permeability is in linear relationship with fractal dimension with a slope close to 0. In all, the quantitative study on physical properties and fractal characteristics of tight sandstone reservoirs, is of great theoretical and practical significance to discussing the evaluation criteria of unconventional high-quality natural gas reservoirs, and guiding the exploration and development of unconventional reservoirs in China.

Key words: fractal dimension, physical property, reservoir, Xujiahe Formation, Guang’an area, Sichuan Basin

CLC Number: