Quantitative Investigation of Water Sensitivity and Water Locking Damages on a Low-Permeability Reservoir Using the Core Flooding Experiment and NMR Test

[Image: see text] Production of oil and gas energy is often greatly hindered by reservoir formation damage, particularly the occurrences of water sensitivity and water locking damages on a low-permeability reservoir. For the purpose of this paper, a formation damage assessment methodology combining core flooding experiment and NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) T(2) relaxation tests is performed and applied to quantitatively determine water sensitivity/water locking damage on sandstone oil formation. XRD tests are used to analyze the mineral composition of cores. Core flooding experiments are designed to simulate the two damages and determine the permeability reduction. NMR tests are introduced to compare water saturation before and after flooding through rock cores, calculate the porosity damage and changes of the pore size, and analyze the mechanism of water sensitivity and water locking damages. Also, SEM experiments are used to determine the pore morphology before and after damage. Low-permeability sandstone rock cores cored from the Jilantai reservoir are assessed through this whole set of experiments. The results demonstrate that the permeability and porosity of core samples strongly decrease with the occurrence of water sensitivity/water locking damage, reflecting that the Jilantai reservoir has strong water sensitivity and is prone to be damaged by water locking. Compared with the previous formation damage assessment ideas, much attention is given to the microchanges of cores after damage, and using fluorinated oil instead of kerosene can help observe the distribution of water in rock core samples after each flooding by the NMR T(2) spectra.