The influence of clay mineralogy on formation damage in North Sea reservoir sandstones: A review with illustrative examples

Wilson, L.; Wilson, M. J.; Green, J.; Patey, Ian

doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2014.03.005

Cited by 63 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 52 publications

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“…In contrast, the permeability of some low-permeable sandstones was observed to be independent of temperature (Gobran et al, 1987;Potter et al, 1980;Wei et al, 1986). The permeability of Berea sandstone to oil increased Whether or not a clay-bearing sandstone shows permeability variations upon changes in thermo-chemical conditions is strongly dependent on clay type (Wilson et al, 2014). In previous theoretical and experimental studies, sandstones containing predominantly kaolinite received particular attention in this regard (e.g., Khilar & Fogler, 1983;Musharova et al, 2012;Rosenbrand et al, 2015;Schembre & Kovscek, 2005;You et al, 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permeability Variations in Illite‐Bearing Sandstone: Effects of Temperature and NaCl Fluid Salinity

Cheng

Milsch

2020

JGR Solid Earth

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Temperature changes and variations in pore fluid salinity may negatively affect the permeability of clay-bearing sandstones with implications for natural fluid flow and geotechnical applications alike. In this study these factors are investigated for a sandstone dominated by illite as the clay phase. Systematic long-term flow-through experiments were conducted and complemented with comprehensive microstructural investigations and the application of Derjaguin-Landau-Verwey-Overbeek (DLVO) theory to explain mechanistically the observed permeability changes. Initially, sample permeability was not affected by low pore fluid salinity indicating strong attraction of the illite particles to the pore walls as supported by electron microprobe analysis (EMPA). Increasing temperature up to 145°C resulted in an irreversible permeability decrease by 1.5 orders of magnitude regardless of the pore fluid composition (i.e., deionized water and 2 M NaCl solution). Subsequently diluting the high salinity pore fluid to below 0.5 M yielded an additional permeability decline by 1.5 orders of magnitude, both at 145°C and after cooling to room temperature. By applying scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and mercury intrusion porosimetry (MIP) thermo-mechanical pore throat closure and illite particle migration were identified as independently operating mechanisms responsible for observed permeability changes during heating and dilution, respectively. These observations indicate that permeability of illite-bearing sandstones will be impaired by heating and exposure to low salinity pore fluids. In addition, chemically induced permeability variations proved to be path dependent with respect to the applied succession of fluid salinity changes.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Permeability Variations in Illite‐Bearing Sandstone: Effects of Temperature and NaCl Fluid Salinity

Cheng

Milsch

2020

JGR Solid Earth

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“…These minerals can be sand, clays, oxides, carbonates, and zeolite (Mahmoud et al 2015). Kaolinite, smectite, illite, and chlorite are four main clay minerals present in the sandstone formation (Wilson et al 2014). Clay can be either structural clay or dispersed clay.…”

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confidence: 99%

Clay minerals damage quantification in sandstone rocks using core flooding and NMR

Kamal

Hanfi

Elkatatny

et al. 2018

J Petrol Explor Prod Technol

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Sandstone oil reservoirs consist of different clay minerals such as kaolinite, illite, and chlorite. These clay minerals highly affect the formation damage during enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and well stimulation operations in these reservoirs. No attention was paid to investigate the effect of these clay minerals on the formation damage during different reservoir processes. In addition, no solution was introduced to mitigate the effect of clay minerals on the formation damage in sandstone reservoirs. In this study, the effect of clay mineral contents and type on the formation damage was studied in detail by injecting water and HCl as damaging fluids. Bandera grey, Berea, and Bandera brown sandstone rocks with various clay mineral contents were studied. XRD was used to characterize the sandstone rocks to determine the clay type and content in each rock. Two core plugs from each rock were selected for HCl and water injection. Core flooding experiments were performed to measure the initial and final permeability. In the core flooding experiments, fluids were injected into the cores at 25 °C and at a backpressure of 1000 psi. SEM was carried out before and after flooding for the tested rocks to locate the change in the clay distribution inside the rocks. The NMR analysis of core samples was done before and after flooding with the damaging fluid to quantify the formation damage and to find the possible damaging mechanism. NMR was used to locate the damage inside the rock due to the migration of clay minerals. Based on the core flooding, SEM, and NMR analysis, the maximum damage by the fresh water took place in Berea sandstone core due to fine migration and clay swelling. The illite clay mineral and chlorite can cause the formation damage on HCl injection. Illite can break down and migrates in the cores during the acid injection. In sandstone acidizing, chlorite clay mineral caused iron hydroxide precipitation inside the cores during treatment with mud acid. NMR showed that clay minerals plugged the pore throats of the rocks and reduced the rock permeability during the injection of fresh water.

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“…drying, which was also observed in North Sea samples by Wilson et al (2014). Figure 11: The thickness of bound water, 6, that would need to be invoked in order to account for the measured difference between gas and brine permeability if the same pores controlled flow.…”

Section: A C C E P T E D Accepted Manuscriptmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…As the effect of clay minerals on the pore space is related to the morphology of the clays, i.e. the type of clay mineral and the abundance (Landrot et al 2012;Wilson and Pittman, 1977;Wilson et al 2014) samples were grouped based clay mineralogy. Groups 1 and 3 are kaolin bearing sandstones; kaolin is the dominant clay mineral in Group 1, whereas illite/mica is dominant in Group 3.…”

Section: Mineralogymentioning

confidence: 99%

Permeability in Rotliegend gas sandstones to gas and brine as predicted from NMR, mercury injection and image analysis

Rosenbrand

Fabricius²,

Fisher

et al. 2015

Marine and Petroleum Geology

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The influence of clay mineralogy on formation damage in North Sea reservoir sandstones: A review with illustrative examples

Cited by 63 publications

References 52 publications

Permeability Variations in Illite‐Bearing Sandstone: Effects of Temperature and NaCl Fluid Salinity

Permeability Variations in Illite‐Bearing Sandstone: Effects of Temperature and NaCl Fluid Salinity

Clay minerals damage quantification in sandstone rocks using core flooding and NMR

Permeability in Rotliegend gas sandstones to gas and brine as predicted from NMR, mercury injection and image analysis

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