Pressure effects on the joint elastic-electrical properties of reservoir sandstones

Abstract

We conducted a laboratory study of the joint elastic-electrical properties of sixty-three brine-saturated sandstone samples to assess the likely impact of differential pressure (confining minus pore fluid pressures) in the range 8–60 MPa on the joint interpretation of marine seismic and controlled-source electromagnetic survey data. The samples showed a wide range of petrophysical properties representative of most sandstone reservoirs. We found that a regression equation comprising both a constant and an exponential part gave a good fit to the pressure dependence of all five measured geophysical parameters (ultrasonic P- and S-wave velocity, attenuation and electrical resistivity). Electrical resistivity was more pressure-sensitive in clay-rich sandstones with higher concentrations of low aspect ratio pores and micropores than in clean sandstones. Attenuation was more pressure-sensitive in clean sandstones with large open pores (macropores) than in clay-rich sandstones. Pore shape did not show any influence on the pressure sensitivity of elastic velocity. As differential pressure increases, the effect of the low aspect ratio pores and micropores on electrical resistivity becomes stronger than the effect of the macropores on attenuation. Further analysis of correlations among the five parameters as a function of pressure revealed potentially diagnostic relationships for geopressure prediction in reservoir sandstones.