Quantifying flow in variably wet microporous carbonates using object-based geological modeling and both lattice-Boltzmann and pore-network fluid flow simulations

Harland, Sophie; Wood, Rachel; Curtis, Andrew; Dijke, Marinus Izaak Jan Van; Stratford, Kevin; Jiang, Zeyun; Kallel, Wissem; Sorbie, Kenneth Stuart

doi:10.1306/04231514122

Cited by 11 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Few models, however, have been dedicated to carbonates and they have used either statistical reconstruction [2,3,4,5] or process-based approach [6,7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…From the set of the voxels contained in the expanded grain, remove the voxels that are also contained in the original grain. tional domain requires that the medium is either mirrored about the outlet, so that its length doubles [8], or that a buffer zone is added on both sides of the medium [52]. In both cases the computational domain is increased and so does the simulation time.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Quantifying the impact of early calcite cementation on the reservoir quality of carbonate rocks: A 3D process-based model

Hosa

Wood

2017

Advances in Water Resources

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Quantifying the impact of early calcite cementation on the reservoir quality of carbonate rocks: a comparison of 2D and 3D process-based models Citation for published version: Hosa, OA & Wood, R 2017, 'Quantifying the impact of early calcite cementation on the reservoir quality of carbonate rocks: a comparison of 2D and 3D process-based models' Advances in Water Resources, vol. 104, General rightsCopyright for the publications made accessible via the Edinburgh Research Explorer is retained by the author(s) and / or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing these publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. Take down policyThe University of Edinburgh has made every reasonable effort to ensure that Edinburgh Research Explorer content complies with UK legislation. If you believe that the public display of this file breaches copyright please contact openaccess@ed.ac.uk providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. AbstractThe reservoir properties of carbonates are controlled both by deposition and diagenesis, and the latter includes early calcite cementation which can exert a strong control on the evolution of subsequent diagenetic pathways. Here we investigate early cement growth in grainstones to quantify the impact on evolving pore space and partially to examine trends in the relationships between cementation and permeability. We compare process-based models of early cementation in 2D (Calcite2D) and 3D (Calcite3D). Both models assume polycrystalline and monocrystalline grain types, upon which grow isopachous and syntaxial calcite cement types, respectively. We also model two common rhombohedral calcite forms: the blocky form 0112 and elongated form 4041.Results demonstrate the effect of cement competition: an increasing proportion of monocrystalline grains creates stronger competition and a reduction in the impact of individual grains on the early calcite cement volume and porosity.Isopachous cement is effective in closing pore throats and limiting permeability, especially in the 2D model. We also show that the impact of syntaxial cement on porosity occlusion and therefore flow is highly dependent on monocrystalline grain location and direction of the grain crystal axis. This can lead to very different permeabilities in samples of the same porosity in both the 2D and 3D * Hosa, AleksandraEmail address: ola.hosa@ed.ac.uk (Hosa, Aleksandra) These results illustrate that subtle differences in early carbonate diagenesis, such as the exact location and orientation of the crystal axes of the monocrystalline grains, can have significant impact on the properties of cemented rocks. Preprint submitted to Advances in Water ResourcesWe also highlight the importance of 3D, rather than 2D, digital rock modelling and flow simulation to obtain reliable rock properties predictions.

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“…Few models, however, have been dedicated to carbonates and they have used either statistical reconstruction [2,3,4,5] or process-based approach [6,7,8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantifying the impact of early calcite cementation on the reservoir quality of carbonate rocks: A 3D process-based model

Hosa

Wood

2017

Advances in Water Resources

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“…Furthermore, micropore volume and distribution will exert an important influence on hydrocarbon sweep and recovery factor, potentially leading to trapping and bypassing of hydrocarbons (e.g., Hollis et al, 2010;Harland et al, 2015).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permeability and acoustic velocity controlling factors determined from x-ray tomography images of carbonate rocks

Archilha¹,

Misságia²,

Hollis³

et al. 2016

Bulletin

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A B S T R A C TCarbonate reservoir rocks exhibit a great variability in texture that directly impacts petrophysical parameters. Many exhibit bi-and multimodal pore networks, with pores ranging from less than 1 mm to several millimeters in diameter. Furthermore, many pore systems are too large to be captured by routine core analysis, and well logs average total porosity over different volumes. Consequently, prediction of carbonate properties from seismic data and log interpretation is still a challenge. In particular, amplitude versus offset classification systems developed for clastic rocks, which are dominated by connected, intergranular, unimodal pore networks, are not applicable to carbonate rocks.Pore geometrical parameters derived from digital image analysis (DIA) of thin sections were recently used to improve the coefficient of determination of velocity and permeability versus porosity. Although this substantially improved the coefficient of determination, no spatial information of the pore space was considered, because DIA parameters were obtained from twodimensional analyses. Here, we propose a methodology to link local and global pore-space parameters, obtained from threedimensional (3-D) images, to experimental physical properties of carbonate rocks to improve P-wave velocity and permeability predictions. Results show that applying a combination of porosity, microporosity, and 3-D geometrical parameters to P-wave velocity significantly improves the adjusted coefficient of determination from 0.490 to 0.962. A substantial improvement

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“…Examination of the wetting state of micropores is particularly important, as these may dominate the connected pore system in many carbonate reservoirs [ Cantrell and Hagerty , ]. Moreover, although the contribution of the microporosity to both fluid flow and oil recovery has traditionally been thought to be unimportant, recent work has indicated that this may not be the case [ Harland et al ., ; Kallel et al ., ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Pore‐scale modeling of wettability alteration during primary drainage

Kallel

Dijke

Sorbie

et al. 2017

Water Resources Research

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While carbonate reservoirs are recognized to be weakly‐to‐moderately oil‐wet at the core‐scale, pore‐scale wettability distributions remain poorly understood. In particular, the wetting state of micropores (pores <5 µm in radius) is crucial for assessing multiphase flow processes, as microporosity can determine overall pore‐space connectivity. While oil‐wet micropores are plausible, it is unclear how this may have occurred without invoking excessively high capillary pressures. Here we develop a novel mechanistic wettability alteration scenario that evolves during primary drainage, involving the release of small polar non‐hydrocarbon compounds from the oil‐phase into the water‐phase. We implement a diffusion/adsorption model for these compounds that triggers a wettability alteration from initially water‐wet to intermediate‐wet conditions. This mechanism is incorporated in a quasi‐static pore‐network model to which we add a notional time‐dependency of the quasi‐static invasion percolation mechanism. The model qualitatively reproduces experimental observations where an early rapid wettability alteration involving these small polar species occurred during primary drainage. Interestingly, we could invoke clear differences in the primary drainage patterns by varying both the extent of wettability alteration and the balance between the processes of oil invasion and wetting change. Combined, these parameters dictate the initial water saturation for waterflooding. Indeed, under conditions where oil invasion is slow compared to a fast and relatively strong wetting change, the model results in significant non‐zero water saturations. However, for relatively fast oil invasion or small wetting changes, the model allows higher oil saturations at fixed maximum capillary pressures, and invasion of micropores at moderate capillary pressures.

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Quantifying flow in variably wet microporous carbonates using object-based geological modeling and both lattice-Boltzmann and pore-network fluid flow simulations

Cited by 11 publications

References 70 publications

Quantifying the impact of early calcite cementation on the reservoir quality of carbonate rocks: A 3D process-based model

Quantifying the impact of early calcite cementation on the reservoir quality of carbonate rocks: A 3D process-based model

Permeability and acoustic velocity controlling factors determined from x-ray tomography images of carbonate rocks

Pore‐scale modeling of wettability alteration during primary drainage

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