CO(2)-Containing Reservoir Evaluation Based on the Joint Inversion of Nuclear Logs and Resistivity Logs: A Case Study of Ultrahigh-Temperature and High-Pressure Gas Reservoirs in the Yinggehai Basin, China

[Image: see text] Due to the unique characteristics of reservoirs in the Yinggehai Basin in the South China Sea, such as high temperature and high pressure (HPHT), low porosity, low permeability, complex pore structure, and high lime content, the log responses of these reservoirs have very complex characteristics, which makes it difficult to evaluate reservoir parameters accurately. In addition, most reservoirs in Ledong Block of the Yinggehai Basin in the South China Sea contain CO(2), posing great difficulties for subsequent exploration and development. Accurate evaluation of CO(2) layers is of paramount importance for the development of oil and gas fields. In this study, we used a method for the joint inversion of multiple well logs to evaluate the reservoirs and determine CO(2) saturation level and other formation parameters. We optimized the joint inversion model based on the characteristics of the reservoirs in the Yinggehai Basin and adjusted the forward simulation model to consider the effects of high temperature and high pressure on gas density. In view of high lime content in the formations in this area, we adjusted the resistivity forward simulation model to consider the effect of lime content. The inversion results show that the values of porosity, permeability, and water saturation level obtained through inversion are largely consistent with the core data. The CO(2) saturation level determined through joint inversion is 22%, which represents a deviation of less than 10% from the drilling system testing (DST) result, indicating that the joint inversion method is accurate. The error in the water saturation level determined through the joint inversion method is smaller than that in the calculated results from conventional multimineral inversion models. We performed forward simulation of the results calculated with the joint inversion method and compared the results of forward simulation with actual log curves. For the sandstone interval, the results of forward simulation are largely consistent with the actual log curves, indicating that the joint inversion method is accurate. In summary, the method presented in this paper can accurately determine reservoir parameters and provide strong support for the exploration and development of oil and gas fields in the Yinggehai Basin in the South China Sea.