X-ray computed microtomography—a useful tool for petrophysical properties determination

Abstract

The main goal of the research was to employ the unique data delivered by various methods to improve the determination of rock reservoir properties. Results of Xray computed tomography (XRCMT), one of the newest techniques providing high-resolution images of rocks, were used to show that very precise information from this tool is complementary to results from other methods. Standard laboratory measurements (helium pycnometer, mercury injection porosimetry, permeameter) and sophisticated experiments (X-ray computed tomography and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy) were performed to obtain and compare results. Four types of specimens: typical Miocene sandstone-mudstone-claystone rock samples, artificial corundum specimens, shale gas plugs, and limestone sample were investigated to obtain the porosity, permeability, density, and other parameters used in rock descriptions. Mutual relationships between selected groups of rock material properties were presented to provide an integral picture of rock characteristics. The XRCMT results were in general not influenced by lithology, but there were observed Oil and Gas Institute -National Research Institute, Krakow, Poland shaliness effects on the shape of pores, cross sections, and the tortuosity of porous channels. An analysis of the average porosity and the standard deviation of each XRCMT plot provided information about differences in the heterogeneity of a formation. Thus, the XRCMT method was recommended in pore space parameter determination for microfracture fluid propagation monitoring. There was also observed equivalence between part of the NMR signal from clay-bound water and the XRCMT volume subgroups in porosity/permeability-structural classes I and II. So, the use of the two-subsample approach in the XRCMT interpretation was promoted.

Diverse Scale Data for Shale Gas Formation Description—Why Is Digital Shale Rock Model Construction Difficult? The Polish Silurian and Ordovician Rocks Case Study

“…Minerals 2020, 10, 108 12 of 20 Different courses of the cumulative pore volume curves (blue lines in Figure 7a,b) mean different activity of pores of related radii in the samples. Both samples, Well-1 (26) and Well-2 (7), represented Sa Fm, which confirms its heterogeneity regarding fluid flow ability.…”

“…One of them, Well-1 (26), is a junction between two sets (Tables 2 and 3). Results of the object (pores, microfractures) size classifications for the Well-1 (26) and Well-2 (7) samples are presented in the Table 4. Colored illustrations of the object (pores, microfractures) size classification are included in the Figure 9a,b.…”

“…The computed X-ray microtomography images were acquired at the AGH UST, Faculty of Physics and Applied Computer Sciences by Nanotom S (General Electric) [26]. Resolution of the images was on the level of 0.6 × 0.6 × 0.6 µm 3 (volume of 1 voxel).…”

Detailed parametrization of the pore space in tight clastic rocks from Poland based on laboratory measurement results

“…Computed X-ray tomography has an unquestionable advantage because it does not destroy the material and shows the selected objects, pores or minerals, in the 3D aspect (Wellington and Vinegar 1987;Kayser et al 2006;Jarzyna et al 2016;Krakowska et al 2016;Puskarczyk et al 2018). Still, it is many to research regarding the tight, gas-bearing formations, which are the object of the interest of petroleum industry (Josh et al 2012;Guo et al 2015;Verri et al 2017).…”

Prospects for the application of radiometric methods in the measurement of two-phase flows

“…By applying radiometric methods, or, to be more precise, synchrotronic radiation, one may also analyse flows through nano-and microstructures in rocks [15,16].…”