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Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 96, No. 5 (May 2012), P. 773788.

Copyright copy2012. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/09091110140

An experimental study of secondary oil migration in a three-dimensional tilted porous medium

Jianzhao Yan,1 Xiaorong Luo,2 Weimin Wang,3 Renaud Toussaint,4 Jean Schmittbuhl,5 Guy Vasseur,6 Fang Chen,7 Alan Yu,8 Likuan Zhang9

1Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China 100029; [email protected]
2Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China 100029; [email protected]
3School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science, Peking University, Beijing, China 100871; [email protected]
4IPGS (Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg), CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), University of Strasbourg, 5 rue Descartes, Strasbourg, France 67000; [email protected]
5IPGS (Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg), CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), University of Strasbourg, 5 rue Descartes, Strasbourg, France 67084; [email protected]
6Sisyphe, UMR7619, University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris Cedex 05, France 75252; [email protected]
7State Key Laboratory of Magnetic Resonance and Atomic and Molecular Physics, Wuhan Institute of Physics and Mathematics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hubei, Wuhan, China 430071; [email protected]
8BHP Billiton Petroleum, Geoscience Specialist Group, 1360 Post Oak Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77560; [email protected]
9Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resources Research, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China 100029; [email protected]

ABSTRACT

A three-dimensional physical experiment was conducted to study secondary oil migration under an impermeable inclined cap. Light-colored oil was released continuously at a slow rate of about 0.1 mL/min from a point at the base of an initially water-saturated porous model. With buoyancy as a primary driving force, a vertical cylindrical shape of an oil migration pathway was observed first, and then a layer-shaped lateral migration pathway was observed beneath the top inclined sealing plate once the oil cluster had reached the top cap. Magnetic resonance imaging was used to observe the migration processes—for example, morphology of the migration pathway, intermittency of oil bubbles, and variation of oil saturation within the migration paths. Results show that the snap-off phenomenon (related to fast local imbibition processes) occurred more commonly during vertical migration than it did during lateral migration. The lateral migration pathway that parallels to the top inclined cap has a typical vertical thickness of 2 to 4 cm (0.8–1.6 in.) (i.e., roughly 40–80 pores). This thickness is consistent with the prediction derived from scaling laws related to pore size and Bond number. Along the lateral migration direction, the sectional area and the horizontal width of the migration pathway fluctuate significantly, although the average oil saturation along the pathway remains almost the same. After stopping the initial oil injection, the sectional area of the migration pathway shrinks significantly. Therefore, we believe that this significant shrinking of the migration pathway is the main reason why only a relatively small volume of oil and gas has been lost during secondary migration.

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