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Title: Relationship of pore structure to fluid behavior in low permeability gas sands. Final report

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6711802· OSTI ID:6711802

This is the final report of a three-year project concerned with the pore structure of low permeability gas sands. The report is divided into five sections: (1) Pressure Sensitivity of Permeability, (2) Effects of Fluid, Confining Pressure, and Temperature on Absolute Permeabiities of Low Permeability Sandstones, (3) Effect of Acid Leaching and Presence of Fractures, (4) Adsorption, and, (5) Mathematical Modelling and Correlations. In the first section, a data base of core properties is developed with measurements of permeability vs. confining pressure for three suites of cores as the main feature. The third section describes an initial investigation into (a) the effects of removing carbonate cement by leaching cores with acetic acid, (b) the effects of calcite-filled fractures on permeability and pressure sensitivity. Dramatic increase in permeability and decrease in pressure sensitivity were observed to result from leaching. For cores containing calcite-filled fractures, it was found that the fracture was neither a permeability barrier to flow across the fracture or a highly conductive region for flow along the fracture. Results presented in the fourth section on relationships between relative pressure and amount of adsorption provide careful information about the existence and extent of microporous material contained in tight gas sands. The fifth section on mathematical modelling presents results in which the diffusive contribution to flow is calculated for crack-shaped pores in series, and for two- and three-dimensional networks. 93 figures, 20 tables.

Research Organization:
New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro (USA). New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center
DOE Contract Number:
AS19-80BC10216
OSTI ID:
6711802
Report Number(s):
DOE/BC/10216-13; ON: DE84012721
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English