Quantification and Prediction of the 3D Pore Network Evolution in Carbonate Reservoir Rocks

This study presents an integrated approach that allows the reconstruction and prediction of 3D pore structure modifications and porosity/permeability development throughout carbonate diagenesis. Reactive Pore Network Models (PNM-R) can predict changes in the transport properties of porous media, resulting from dissolution/cementation phenomena. The validity and predictability of these models however depend on the representativeness of the equivalent pore networks used and on the equations and parameters used to model the diagenetic events. The developed approach is applied to a real case of a dolostone rock of the Middle East Arab Formation. Standard 2D microscopy shows that the main process affecting the reservoir quality is dolomitisation, followed by porosity enhancement due to dolomite dissolution and secondary porosity destruction by cementation of late diagenetic anhydrite. X-ray μ -CT allows quantifying the 3D volume and distribution of the different sample constituents. Results are compared with lab measurements. Equivalent pore networks before dolomite dissolution and prior to late anhydrite precipitation are reconstructed and used to simulate the porosity, permeability characteristics at these diagenetic steps. Using these 3D pore structures, PNM-R can trace plausible porosity-permeability evolution paths between these steps. The flow conditions and reaction rates obtained by geochemical reaction path modeling can be used as reference to define PNM-R model parameters. The approach can be used in dynamic rock typing and the upscaling of petrophysical properties, necessary for reservoir modeling.

[1]  A. Hill,et al.  Numerical and experimental investigation of acid wormholing during acidization of vuggy carbonate rocks , 2010 .

[2]  S. Ehrenberg,et al.  A comparison of Khuff and Arab reservoir potential throughout the Middle East , 2007 .

[3]  R. F. Lindsay,et al.  Ghawar Arab-D Reservoir: Widespread Porosity in Shoaling-upward Carbonate Cycles, Saudi Arabia , 2008 .

[4]  L. M. Walter,et al.  Regional trends in water chemistry, Smackover Formation, southwest Arkansas: Geochemical and physical controls , 1992 .

[5]  F. Keil,et al.  Multicomponent Diffusion and Reaction in Three-Dimensional Networks: General Kinetics† , 1997 .

[6]  C. Laroche,et al.  Two-Phase Flow Properties Prediction from Small-Scale Data Using Pore-Network Modeling , 2005 .

[7]  S. Youssef,et al.  High Resolution CT And Pore-Network Models To Assess Petrophysical Properties Of Homogeneous And Heterogeneous Carbonates , 2007 .

[8]  D. Cantrell,et al.  Reservoir rock classification, Arab-D reservoir, Ghawar field, Saudi Arabia , 2003, GeoArabia.

[9]  J. Lombard,et al.  From Injectivity to Integrity Studies of CO2 Geological Storage - Chemical Alteration Effects on Carbonates Petrophysical and Geomechanical Properties , 2010 .

[10]  W. V. Pinczewski,et al.  3D imaging and flow characterization of the pore space of carbonate core samples , 2006 .

[11]  R. S. Schechter,et al.  The change in pore size distribution from surface reactions in porous media , 1969 .

[12]  T. Edgar,et al.  Distributed pore‐size model for sulfation of limestone , 1983 .

[13]  F. Jerry Lucia,et al.  Carbonate Reservoir Characterization , 2002 .

[14]  Etienne Brosse,et al.  Modelling Fluid-Rock Interaction Induced by the Percolation of CO2-Enriched Solutions in Core Samples: the Role of Reactive Surface Area , 2005 .

[15]  A. Alsharhan.  PETROLEUM GEOLOGY OF THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES , 1989 .

[16]  M. Celia,et al.  Upscaling geochemical reaction rates using pore-scale network modeling , 2006 .

[17]  S. Ehrenberg.  POROSITY DESTRUCTION IN CARBONATE PLATFORMS , 2006 .

[18]  S. Birghila,et al.  MULTICOMPONENT DIFFUSION AND REACTION IN THREE- DIMENSIONAL NETWORKS , 2003 .

[19]  C. Braithwaite,et al.  The geometry and petrogenesis of dolomite hydrocarbon reservoirs: introduction , 2004, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[20]  F. Meyer,et al.  A New Arab-D Depositional Model, Ghawar Field, Saudi Arabia , 1993 .

[21]  Lithofacies, Diagenesis, and Depositional Sequence; Arab-D Member, Ghawar Field, Saudi Arabia , 1988 .

[22]  I. Fatt.  The Network Model of Porous Media , 1956 .

[23]  Hildegard Westphal,et al.  Origin of Dolomite in the Arab-D Reservoir from the Ghawar Field, Saudi Arabia: Evidence from Petrographic and Geochemical Constraints , 2005 .

[24]  D. Bauer,et al.  HIGH RESOLUTION µ-CT COMBINED TO NUMERICAL MODELS TO ASSESS ELECTRICAL PROPERTIES OF BIMODAL CARBONATES , 2008 .

[25]  Yousif K. Kharaka,et al.  A Compilation of Rate Parameters of Water-Mineral Interaction Kinetics for Application to Geochemical Modeling , 2004 .

[26]  Kenneth S. Pitzer,et al.  Thermodynamics of electrolytes. I. Theoretical basis and general equations , 1973 .

[27]  P. Smart,et al.  Dolomitization: from conceptual to numerical models , 2004, Geological Society, London, Special Publications.

[28]  Arve Lonoy,et al.  Making sense of carbonate pore systems , 2006 .

[29]  R. Snellings,et al.  Rietveld refinement strategy for quantitative phase analysis of partially amorphous zeolitized tuffaceous rocks , 2010 .

[30]  G. Garven,et al.  Numerical modeling of the origin of calcite mineralization in the Refugio‐Carneros fault, Santa Barbara Basin, California , 2007 .

[31]  O. Vizika,et al.  QUANTITATIVE 3D CHARACTERISATION OF THE PORE SPACE OF REAL ROCKS: IMPROVED µ-CT RESOLUTION AND PORE EXTRACTION METHODOLOGY , 2007 .

[32]  W. W. Wood,et al.  Source of solutes to the coastal sabkha of Abu Dhabi , 2002 .

[33]  J. Powell,et al.  Early diagenesis of Late Cretaceous chalk-chert-phosphorite hardgrounds in Jordan: Implications for sedimentation on a Coniacian-Campanian pelagic ramp , 2012, GeoArabia.