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The AAPG/Datapages Combined Publications Database
AAPG Bulletin
Abstract
AAPG Bulletin, V.
2012. 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
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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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