Acoustic and Electrical Properties of Tight Rocks: A Comparative Study Between Experiment and Theory

The acoustic-electrical (AE) response of subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs is highly affected by rock heterogeneity. In particular, the characterization of the microstructure of tight (low-permeability) rocks can be aided by a joint interpretation of AE data. To this purpose, we evaluate cores from...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Surveys in geophysics 2022-12, Vol.43 (6), p.1761-1791
Main Authors: Pang, Mengqiang, Ba, Jing, Carcione, José M., Balcewicz, Martin, Yue, Wenzheng, Saenger, Erik H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acoustic properties
Acoustics
Astronomy
Clay minerals
Comparative analysis
Comparative studies
Cores
Earth and Environmental Science
Earth Sciences
Effective medium theory
Electrical properties
Electrical resistivity
Geophysics/Geodesy
Heterogeneity
Hydrocarbons
Microcracks
Microstructure
Mineralogy
Observations and Techniques
Oil reservoirs
Permeability
Physics
Porosity
Reservoirs
Rock
Rock properties
Rocks
X rays
X-ray diffraction
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Summary:The acoustic-electrical (AE) response of subsurface hydrocarbon reservoirs is highly affected by rock heterogeneity. In particular, the characterization of the microstructure of tight (low-permeability) rocks can be aided by a joint interpretation of AE data. To this purpose, we evaluate cores from a tight-oil reservoir to obtain the rock mineralogy and pore structure by X-ray diffraction and casting thin sections. Then, ultrasonic and resistivity experiments are performed under different confining pressures to analyze the effects of pores, microcracks and mineralogy on the AE properties. We have developed acoustic and electrical models based on effective-medium theories, and the Cole–Cole and triple-porosity equations, to simulate the response to total and soft (crack) porosities and clay content. The results show that these properties play a significant role. Then, a 3D rock-physical template is built and calibrated by using the core samples and well-log data. The template is applied to tight-oil reservoirs to estimate the rock properties, which are validated with log data. The good match between the predictions and these data indicates that the model can effectively explain the effects of the heterogeneous microstructure on the AE data. Article Highlights Tight rock microstructure is analyzed with X-ray diffraction, thin sections and ultrasonic and electrical resistivity tests Rock acoustic-electrical properties are obtained by the effective-medium and triple-porosity theories Practical application is given based on an acoustic-electrical rock physics template
ISSN:0169-3298
1573-0956
DOI:10.1007/s10712-022-09730-3