Magnetic-Resonance Imaging of Fines Migration in Berea Sandstone

SPE Journal ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (05) ◽  
pp. 1385-1392 ◽  
Author(s):  
Armin Afrough ◽  
Mohammad Sadegh Zamiri ◽  
Laura Romero-Zerón ◽  
Bruce J. Balcom

Summary Fines migration is a phenomenon of practical importance in the petroleum-production and drilling industry. The movement of clay particles, induced by incompatible aqueous-phase chemistry or high flow rate, obstructs pore throats downstream of the fluid flow, leading to permeability reductions that can be as large as two orders of magnitude. Magnetic-resonance-imaging (MRI) methods derived from the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) method (Meiboom and Gill 1958) can map T2 distributions in porous rocks, hence showing the spatial variation of the pseudo-pore-size distribution. In this work, the traditional water-shock experiment was used to mobilize clay particles in the aqueous phase flowing in Berea core plugs. Spin-echo single-point imaging (SE-SPI), a phase-encoding MRI method derived from the CPMG method, was used to determine spatially resolved T2 spectra of the samples, and therefore the pseudo-pore-size distributions. The shift in the T2 spectra of the core inlet and outlet showed opposite trends. The pore-size distribution of the inlet and outlet, inferred from T2 distributions, were shifted to larger and smaller values, respectively. Therefore, the average pore size was increased at the inlet of the core and reduced at the outlet of the core. This MRI method provides a new analytical approach to screen reservoirs for potential fines-migration problems.

2000 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 3578-3581 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Choi ◽  
B. J. Balcom ◽  
S. D. Beyea ◽  
T. W. Bremner ◽  
P. E. Grattan-Bellew ◽  
...  

1998 ◽  
Vol 1 (06) ◽  
pp. 504-508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernando Solanet ◽  
Alberto Khatchikian ◽  
Eduardo Breda

This paper (SPE 52939) was revised for publication from paper SPE 38735, first presented at the 1997 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, 5-8 October. Original manuscript received for review 7 October 1997. Revised manuscript received 17 August 1998. Paper peer approved 16 September 1998. Summary This paper describes our experience with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) logs since their introduction in the San Jorge basin in June 1995. To date, more than 400 logs have been run by Western Atlas and Schlumberger using Numar's magnetic resonance imaging tool (MRIL) and combinable magnetic resonance (CMR) tools, respectively, and more than 2,000 zones have been perforated and tested. This has allowed us to characterize the response of the tools in shaly and tuffaceous sands, compare the response of the Numar and Schlumberger tools with each other and with cores, detect the limitations of present tool designs, and relate NMR pore-size distribution and permeability to oil production. P. 504


SPE Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Ahmed Hanafy ◽  
Hisham A. Nasr-El-Din ◽  
Zoya Heidari

Summary Sandstone stimulation remains challenging because of formation heterogeneity and the sensitivity of clay minerals to acids such as hydrochloric acid (HCl) and mud acid [HCL/hydrofluoric acid (HF)]. Fines migration complicates the well-stimulation process and reduces formation productivity. Multiple field studies show that some stimulation methods can result in permanent damage to the rock matrix near the wellbore because of fines migration. This study aims to locate, quantify, and describe the damage resulting from fines migration after the stimulation of sandstone formations, and examine the composition of clay content in the formation and its effects on the stimulation process and subsequent fines migration. This work evaluates the fines-migration damage during well stimulation in Bandera, Gray Berea, and Kentucky Sandstones. Fines migration was induced by injecting deionized water between brine stages to trigger the mobilization of the clay minerals in sample cores. HCl, formic acid (HCOOH), and HF stimulation stages were then injected after the fines-migration induction. The new formation-damage-evaluation method proposed in this work uses computed-tomography (CT) scanning and nuclear-magnetic-resonance (NMR) measurements before and after the fines-migration induction and experimental stimulation. The CT and NMR data were then combined and processed to generate a 3D representation of the pore structure throughout the core samples, which yields insight on how the clay composition affects the stimulation process and changes the pore system. The developed technique exhibited an excellent ability to visualize the pore-size distribution and the changes in the pore structure after the fines-migration damage and the acid treatment. The mapping of the pore-size distribution using CT and its comparison with the rock mineralogy of Bandera, Gray Berea, and Kentucky Sandstones successfully predicted the changes in the pore structure of these formations upon induction of fines-migration damage using deionized water. These changes in pore structure prevailed as a controlling variable of the acidizing process. The stimulation of the damaged cores at 150 and 250°F resulted in aluminosilicate deposition toward the core outlet. These deposits are attributed to the acid leaching of aluminum (Al) and iron (Fe) ions from the aluminosilicate structures. The higher temperature resulted in the deposition of aluminosilicates closer to the injection point. However, an enhancement in permeability was noticed in all of the sampled formations, which was because of the propagation of narrow channels between heavily deformed pore structures. This work adds to the understanding of sandstone-stimulation technology and contributes a new process to assess the effects of acid stimulation on fines-migration damage. The high level of resolution in visualizing the changes in the pore structure facilitates the optimization of treatments to reduce costs while improving production from clay-rich sandstone formations. This technique offers further potential as a formation-evaluation tool for real-time assessment of a variety of formation-damage mechanisms, such as fracturing fluids and water blockage.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 2113-2125
Author(s):  
Chenzhi Huang ◽  
Xingde Zhang ◽  
Shuang Liu ◽  
Nianyin Li ◽  
Jia Kang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe development and stimulation of oil and gas fields are inseparable from the experimental analysis of reservoir rocks. Large number of experiments, poor reservoir properties and thin reservoir thickness will lead to insufficient number of cores, which restricts the experimental evaluation effect of cores. Digital rock physics (DRP) can solve these problems well. This paper presents a rapid, simple, and practical method to establish the pore structure and lithology of DRP based on laboratory experiments. First, a core is scanned by computed tomography (CT) scanning technology, and filtering back-projection reconstruction method is used to test the core visualization. Subsequently, three-dimensional median filtering technology is used to eliminate noise signals after scanning, and the maximum interclass variance method is used to segment the rock skeleton and pore. Based on X-ray diffraction technology, the distribution of minerals in the rock core is studied by combining the processed CT scan data. The core pore size distribution is analyzed by the mercury intrusion method, and the core pore size distribution with spatial correlation is constructed by the kriging interpolation method. Based on the analysis of the core particle-size distribution by the screening method, the shape of the rock particle is assumed to be a more practical irregular polyhedron; considering this shape and the mineral distribution, the DRP pore structure and lithology are finally established. The DRP porosity calculated by MATLAB software is 32.4%, and the core porosity measured in a nuclear magnetic resonance experiment is 29.9%; thus, the accuracy of the model is validated. Further, the method of simulating the process of physical and chemical changes by using the digital core is proposed for further study.


2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew W. Becker ◽  
Matthew Pelc ◽  
Richard V. Mazurchuk ◽  
Joseph Spernyak

2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (1) ◽  
pp. 412-428
Author(s):  
Feng Zhu ◽  
Wenxuan Hu ◽  
Jian Cao ◽  
Biao Liu ◽  
Yifeng Liu ◽  
...  

Nuclear magnetic resonance cryoporometry is a newly developed technique that can characterize the pore size distribution of nano-scale porous materials. To date, this technique has scarcely been used for the testing of unconventional oil and gas reservoirs; thus, their micro- and nano-scale pore structures must still be investigated. The selection of the probe material for this technique has a key impact on the quality of the measurement results during the testing of geological samples. In this paper, we present details on the nuclear magnetic resonance cryoporometric procedure. Several types of probe materials were compared during the nuclear testing of standard nano-scale porous materials and unconventional reservoir geological samples from Sichuan Basin, Southwest China. Gas sorption experiments were also carried out on the same samples simultaneously. The KGT values of the probe materials octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and calcium chloride hexahydrate were calibrated using standard nano-scale porous materials to reveal respective values of 149.3 Knm and 184 Knm. Water did not successfully wet the pore surfaces of the standard controlled pore glass samples; moreover, water damaged the pore structures of the geological samples, which was confirmed during two freeze-melting tests. The complex phase transition during the melting of cyclohexane introduced a nuclear magnetic resonance signal in addition to that from liquid in the pores, which led to an imprecise characterization of the pore size distribution. Octamethylcyclotetrasiloxane and calcium chloride hexahydrate have been rarely employed as nuclear magnetic resonance cryoporometric probe materials for the testing of an unconventional reservoir. Both of these materials were able to characterize pore sizes up to 1 μm, and they were more applicable than either water or cyclohexane.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 3231
Author(s):  
Stian Almenningen ◽  
Per Fotland ◽  
Geir Ersland

This paper reports formation and dissociation patterns of methane hydrate in sandstone. Magnetic resonance imaging spatially resolved hydrate growth patterns and liberation of water during dissociation. A stacked core set-up using Bentheim sandstone with dual water saturation was designed to investigate the effect of initial water saturation on hydrate phase transitions. The growth of methane hydrate (P = 8.3 MPa, T = 1–3 °C) was more prominent in high water saturation regions and resulted in a heterogeneous hydrate saturation controlled by the initial water distribution. The change in transverse relaxation time constant, T2, was spatially mapped during growth and showed different response depending on the initial water saturation. T2 decreased significantly during growth in high water saturation regions and remained unchanged during growth in low water saturation regions. Pressure depletion from one end of the core induced a hydrate dissociation front starting at the depletion side and moving through the core as production continued. The final saturation of water after hydrate dissociation was more uniform than the initial water saturation, demonstrating the significant redistribution of water that will take place during methane gas production from a hydrate reservoir.


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