Abstract

In order to develop a flow simulation model for CO₂ flooding the complex geology at the northern end of the SACROC Unit in Scurry County, Texas, Kinder Morgan CO₂ Company, L.P. determined that new core information would be required. Therefore a new core was obtained over most of the reservoir interval. It was decided that several new techniques would be required to preserve key features of the rock or to provide adequate detail on the core analysis, including the analysis of whole core twelve-inch samples. In order to maximize the value of the new core data for model development and scale-up exercises, a “scale down” exercise was performed on selected samples. These samples were analyzed as twelve inch whole cores, then cut into six inch whole core samples, two inch whole core samples, and a further subset was plugged. Selected analyses were run on each of the smaller steps in order to quantitatively evaluate the effects of sample size. This scale down study has also allowed for the comparison of various measurement techniques in use now and in the past, providing Kinder Morgan CO₂ Company, L.P. with a tool to potentially evaluate the quality of old data and a means of normalizing “old core data” for use in geologic model construction.