Is there a relationship between pore structure and oil recovery. (An experimental study)

Conference · Thu Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1970 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5377491

Dullien, F A.L.; Dhawan, G K; Babjak, L; Metha, P N; Gurak, N

A photomicrographic method has been developed and used to determine the pore-size distribution of Berea and Bartlesville outcrop sandstone samples. The method is based on the assumption that the pore structure consists of voids connected through necks that can be treated from a geometrical point of view as if they were touching particles. Comparison of the photomicrographic curves with the mercury porosimetry pore-size distributions showed that the latter terminated abruptly toward the large pore sizes; whereas, the photomicrographic curves extended much farther in the direction of large pore sizes. The area enclosed by the 2 normalized curves on the large pore size side of the distribution function gives the fraction of the total volume in the sample that is accessible only through narrower pore necks. Other things being equal, this area can be taken as a relative measure of the residual oil saturations to be expected in the water-wet medium after flooding it with water or after following the waterflood up with surfactant flood. (25 refs.)

• Research Organization: Waterloo Univ; North Carolina Univ
• OSTI ID: 5377491
• Report Number(s): CONF-701012-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE-3040
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
ADDITIVES
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
EFFICIENCY
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
MATHEMATICS
MICROSTRUCTURE
OIL SATURATION
OIL WELLS
PERFORMANCE
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
PHOTOGRAPHY
POROSITY
PRODUCTION
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ROCK
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SATURATION
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SURFACTANTS
TESTING
WATERFLOODING
WELLS