Quantifying Fluid-Wettable Effective Pore Space in the Utica and Bakken Oil Shale Formations
Abstract
Combined (ultra-) small angle neutron scattering measurements [(U)SANS] and a contrast matching technique were employed to quantify the porosity and pore size distribution from 1 nm to 10 μm and to differentiate accessible (open) pores and inaccessible (closed) pores with respect to organophilic and hydrophilic fluids for two Utica and two Bakken shale samples. Overall, the results indicate that around 40–70% of the pores in the Utica oil shales (mixed carbonate mudstone) are accessible to oil, and 34–37% of the pore surfaces are water-wet. In contrast, the Bakken oil shales (mixed siliceous mudstone and carbonate/siliceous mudstone), which have high total organic carbon contents, have a higher proportion of isolated pore space that is not preferentially wet by oil or water, with less than 36% of the pores accessible to both fluids. In addition, for both formations, pores less than 3 nm in diameter are not oil accessible (organic matter related) but water accessible (clay tactoids related).
- Authors:
-
[1];
[1];
[3];
[3]
- Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)
- National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States). Center for Neutron Research; Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
- Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States); Univ. of Texas, Arlington, TX (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE), Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1777800
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1638514; OSTI ID: 1842342
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC05-00OR22725; NE0008797; DE‐NE0008797
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 47; Journal Issue: 14; Journal ID: ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES
Citation Formats
Zhang, Yuxiang, Hu, Qinhong, Barber, Troy J., Bleuel, Markus, Anovitz, Lawrence M., and Littrell, Kenneth. Quantifying Fluid-Wettable Effective Pore Space in the Utica and Bakken Oil Shale Formations. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1029/2020gl087896.
Zhang, Yuxiang, Hu, Qinhong, Barber, Troy J., Bleuel, Markus, Anovitz, Lawrence M., & Littrell, Kenneth. Quantifying Fluid-Wettable Effective Pore Space in the Utica and Bakken Oil Shale Formations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl087896
Zhang, Yuxiang, Hu, Qinhong, Barber, Troy J., Bleuel, Markus, Anovitz, Lawrence M., and Littrell, Kenneth. Sat .
"Quantifying Fluid-Wettable Effective Pore Space in the Utica and Bakken Oil Shale Formations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2020gl087896. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1777800.
@article{osti_1777800,
title = {Quantifying Fluid-Wettable Effective Pore Space in the Utica and Bakken Oil Shale Formations},
author = {Zhang, Yuxiang and Hu, Qinhong and Barber, Troy J. and Bleuel, Markus and Anovitz, Lawrence M. and Littrell, Kenneth},
abstractNote = {Combined (ultra-) small angle neutron scattering measurements [(U)SANS] and a contrast matching technique were employed to quantify the porosity and pore size distribution from 1 nm to 10 μm and to differentiate accessible (open) pores and inaccessible (closed) pores with respect to organophilic and hydrophilic fluids for two Utica and two Bakken shale samples. Overall, the results indicate that around 40–70% of the pores in the Utica oil shales (mixed carbonate mudstone) are accessible to oil, and 34–37% of the pore surfaces are water-wet. In contrast, the Bakken oil shales (mixed siliceous mudstone and carbonate/siliceous mudstone), which have high total organic carbon contents, have a higher proportion of isolated pore space that is not preferentially wet by oil or water, with less than 36% of the pores accessible to both fluids. In addition, for both formations, pores less than 3 nm in diameter are not oil accessible (organic matter related) but water accessible (clay tactoids related).},
doi = {10.1029/2020gl087896},
journal = {Geophysical Research Letters},
number = 14,
volume = 47,
place = {United States},
year = {Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020},
month = {Sat Jun 20 00:00:00 EDT 2020}
}
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