Study of the structure and development of oil deposits in carbonate reservoirs using field data and X-ray microtomography

Abstract

At present, a large number of scientific works devoted to the study of the features of the geological structure and the development of oil deposits in complex carbonate reservoirs are based on the use of any one research method. This article shows the advantages of the integrated use of modern methods of core research, including X-ray microtomography and electron microscopy, as well as data from hydrodynamic and field studies of wells. The advantage of the approach used is the ability to study the deposit at three levels: core-well-development object, it is reasonable to transfer micro-survey data to the regularities of the implementation of technological processes of oil production. The objects of research in this article are the Famennian oil deposits of two neighboring fields, which, at first glance, are analogues in terms of the similarity of the enlarged geological and physical characteristics. Comprehensive studies of core samples from these deposits made it possible to establish differences both in the mineral composition of rocks and in the structure of their void space, especially in the size and distribution of pore channels. So, with approximately equal porosity for one of the deposits, the presence of two types of voids and a twofold prevalence of the size of the largest of them were established. According to the complex of laboratory methods for studying the core, the reservoir is classified as a porous type (no cracks were found). The performed interpretation of the hydrodynamic studies confirmed this fact, made it possible to establish the presence of a dependence of the reservoir permeability on the formation pressure (deformation of the void space of the reservoir), and also to build the corresponding individual dependence for each well. Comparison of the equations approximating the dependence data showed a more pronounced deformation of the reservoir, which is characterized by the presence of large pores and caverns. That is, a complex of laboratory and hydrodynamic studies made it possible to establish the probability of deformation of the void space of a carbonate reservoir even in the absence of cracks in it. In turn, the reservoir deformation is singled out as the most probable cause explaining the different rates of decline in well flow rates of the fields under consideration.

Keywords

• сore x-ray microtomography
• core electron microscopy
• hydrodynamic studies of wells
• well flow rate
• void space of reservoirs
• reservoir deformation
• carbonate reservoir