Connectivity of pores in shale reservoirs and its implications for the development of shale gas: A case study of the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the southern Sichuan Basin
Zhang Haijie, Jiang Yuqiang, Zhou Keming, Fu Yonghong, Zhong Zheng, Zhang Xuemei, Qi Lin, Wang Zhanlei & Jiang Zengzheng
(1. Chongqing Shale Gas Exploration and Development Co., Ltd., Chongqing 401147, China; 2. School of Geosciences and Technology, Southwest Petroleum University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China; 3. Reservoir Evaluation Branch, PetroChina Unconventional Key Laboratory, Chengdu, Sichuan 610500, China; 4. Exploration and Development Research Institute, PetroChina Southwest Oil & Gasfield Company, Chengdu, Sichuan 401147, China; 5. Sichuan Kehong Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering Co., Ltd., Chengdu, Sichuan 610051, China; 6. Geological Exploration and Development Research Institute, CNPC Chuanqing Drilling Engineering Co., Ltd., Chengdu, Sichuan 610051, China; 7. Sichuan Geosience Resource and Technology Co., Ltd., Chengdu, Sichuan 610213, China)
The unconnected gas-bearing pores in shale gas reservoirs may be transformed into "potential recoverable pores" after large-scale hydraulic fracturing. However, the mainstream pore classification methods of shale gas reservoirs, do not take the unconnected pores into account, which impacts the evaluation accuracy of reservoir pore effectiveness. To solve this problem, this paper took the shale of Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the southern Sichuan Basin as the research object to carry out experiments on core porosity, centrifugal + gradual drying NMR after saturated with brine and NMR freeze-thaw using plunger samples and fragmented samples to analyze the volume, main development location and main pore size distribution range of unconnected pores. Then, the pore systems were classified, and the lower limit of effective pore size of connected gas-bearing pores was determined. Finally, the total pore effectiveness of shale gas reservoirs was evaluated, and the influence of unconnected pores on the development of shale gas was discussed. And the following research results were obtained. First, there are a large number of unconnected pores in the shale gas reservoirs of the study area, accounting for 30.23%. Most of them are mainly developed in organic matters and a few are developed in clay minerals. The distribution of pore size ranges from 5 nm to 30 nm. Second, T2 cut-off value of clay bound water in the shale gas reservoirs of the study area is 0.26 ms, whose corresponding pore size is 5.35 nm, which is the lower limit of the effective pore size. Third, large-scale hydraulic fracturing can improve the unconnected pores with the size more than 5.35 nm, so effective development of shale gas will be realized. Fourth, after hydraulic fracturing stimulation, the unconnected pores can increase the storage space of fracturing fluid in the matrix, absorb the fracturing fluid in the fractures, replace the shale gas in the pores and promote the automatic alleviation of water lock in shale gas reservoirs, so the single-well shale gas production will be increased. In conclusion, fluid occurrence and pore system in shale pores can be quantitatively divided by means of centrifugal + gradual temperature drying method combined with NMR experiments, movable water and capillary bound water can be determined by the high speed centrifugal + NMR experiments, and capillary bound water and clay bound water can be determined by the gradual drying + NMR experiments.
张海杰,蒋裕强,周克明,付永红,钟铮,张雪梅,漆麟,王占磊,蒋增政. 页岩气储层孔隙连通性及其对页岩气开发的启示——以四川盆地南部下志留统龙马溪组为例[J]. 天然气工业, 2019, 39(12): 22-31.
Zhang Haijie, Jiang Yuqiang, Zhou Keming, Fu Yonghong, Zhong Zheng, Zhang Xuemei, Qi Lin, Wang Zhanlei & Jiang Zengzheng. Connectivity of pores in shale reservoirs and its implications for the development of shale gas: A case study of the Lower Silurian Longmaxi Formation in the southern Sichuan Basin. NATURAL GAS INDUSTRY, 2019, 39(12): 22-31.