New characterization on the petrophysical characteristics of tight sandstone reservoirs in Yanchang Formation Ordos Basin China

Abstract

New characterization on petrophysical characteristics of tight sandstone reservoirs is of an important value to exploration and exploitation of oil and gas. In this paper, low-field nuclear magnetic resonance, combined with casting thin sections, laser scanning confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and pressure-controlled porosimetry were applied to investigate the pore structure characteristics of nine tight sandstone samples of Yanchang Formation in the Upper Triassic Ordos Basin China. And then, based on the nuclear magnetic resonance T2 spectrum distribution and previous theoretical models, a new model is proposed to predict permeability of tight sandstone reservoirs. Petrophysical characteristics are qualitatively–quantificationally analyzed by a combination of various experiments, which is considered to be a new method that will be widely used in future research. Results indicate that nuclear magnetic resonance T2 spectrum distribution has a close relationship with characteristics of pore types and pore radius distribution. Three T2 spectrum peaks are identified by the relaxation time at 0.1–10 ms, 10–100 ms and >100 ms correspond to micropores (<0.2 µm), mesopores (0.2–4.9 µm) and macropores and fractures (>4.9 µm), respectively, which is well consistent with results from casting thin sections, laser scanning confocal microscopy, scanning electron microscopy and pressure-controlled porosimetry. Compared with the existing several classical models, the new permeability model can better estimate the permeability of tight sandstone samples. The new characterization method and new model can accurately evaluate petrophysical characteristics of typical tight sandstone samples, which have a great value for nuclear magnetic well logging in the exploration and exploitation of tight sandstone reservoirs in the Ordos basin.