Research on Characterization and Heterogeneity of Microscopic Pore Throat Structures in Tight Oil Reservoirs

[Image: see text] The key to the efficient development of a tight reservoir is its accurate evaluation. In this study, the pore throat structure characteristics of sandstone samples in the study block were analyzed by high-pressure mercury injection technology. According to the characteristics of the capillary pressure curve, the sandstone samples in the study block were divided into three types: the first type has a reservoir permeability greater than 0.7 mD and a core mercury injection saturation of 96% with a good reservoir quality; the second type has a reservoir permeability ranging from 0.4 to 0.7 mD and a core mercury injection saturation of 80% with a moderate reservoir quality; and the third type has a reservoir permeability between 0.1 and 0.4 mD and a core mercury injection saturation of 50% with a poor reservoir quality. Also, high-resolution synchrotron radiation imaging and scanning electron microscopy were used to observe the pore throat structure, connectivity, and microscopic heterogeneity of sandstone samples, showing an increasing level of pore disconnection, serious microscopic heterogeneity, and poor reservoir performance as reservoir permeability declines. As mineral composition tests show, the lithology of the tight sandstone in the target block is mainly medium-grained and fine-grained feldspar lithic sandstone and the longitudinal heterogeneity of lithology and mineral components of tight sandstone is relatively weak at above the centimeter level. Besides, based on the high-pressure mercury injection test data, fractal theory is applied to calculate the fractal dimensions of the three types of reservoirs. The result shows a gradual increase in fractal dimensions with the decrease of reservoir quality, in which the closer the fractal dimension is to 3, the more serious the microscopic heterogeneity is, and the stronger the roughness of the pore surface is. As a result, the more heterogeneous the tight reservoir gets, the more likely the injected fluid is to flow along the developed and connected pore regions.