No abstract

Accurate description of diagenetic controls on reservoir quality in “tight” sandstones can be difficult because of the inherent fine grain size and complex components of such oil reservoirs. In this study, petrological techniques and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis were applied to fine-grained tight sandstones with varying grain sizes in order to reveal the diagenetic controls on reservoir quality. Results show that macropores in tight sandstones occur mainly as intergranular and dissolution pores, whereas micropores are distributed within ductile rock fragments, clay, and mica minerals, as well as occurring as dissolution micropores. Pore size distribution (PSD)/T 2 spectra display three distribution patterns: (i) a macropore-dominant bimodal distribution, (ii) a macropore–micropore bimodal distribution, and (iii) a micropore-dominant skewed distribution. A decrease in grain size correlates with weaker framework support of particles and thus more intensive mechanical compaction, resulting in the loss of both macroporosity and microporosity. Consequently, PSD change from macropore-dominant bimodal distributions to micropore-dominant skewed distributions as the pore type shifts from being dominated by macropores to intragranular micropores. In fine-grained sandstones, an increase in the abundance of ductile components corresponds to a loss of total porosity, related to the decrease in abundance of macropores, whereas the change in micropore abundance is negligible. This change is reflected in PSD by a shift from macropore-dominant bimodal distributions to macro–micropore bimodal distributions. The authigenic minerals in tight sandstone reservoirs occur mainly as late-stage carbonate minerals, and the precipitation of this carbonate cement preferentially occurs within macropores. When carbonate cement content is low, it has a limited influence on total porosity. However, it does significantly reduce the connectivity of the pore system, which is different from what might be expected in conventional sandstone reservoirs. Therefore, particle grain size, the abundance of ductile components, and late-stage cementation all contribute to the prediction of reservoir quality in oil-bearing tight sandstones.