The Effect of Clays on the Permeability of Reservoir Sands to Waters of Different Saline Contents
01 Feb 1954-Clays and Clay Minerals (Springer Science and Business Media LLC)-Vol. 3, Iss: 1, pp 505-515
TL;DR: In this article, the average results of air and water-permeability determinations for petroleum-reservoir sands in three Wyoming fields were given for X-ray diffraction methods.
Abstract: The average results of air- and water-permeability determinations are given for petroleum-reservoir sands in three Wyoming fields. The average amounts of materials of clay size in the sands and the types of clays present, as identified by X-ray diffraction methods, are also presented and discussed. The sands are shown to be more permeable to air than to brines and more permeable to brines than to fresh water. Each of the sands exhibited different behavior when wetted by waters, and the percentage loss of permeability to waters, as compared to air, varied from sand to sand. The sand containing kaolins, illites, and mixed-layer clay (illite-montmorillonite) was found to be the most sensitive to water, and the sand containing only small amounts of kaolins and illites was the least sensitive. The sand that contained the most kaolins and illites was intermediate in water sensitivity. The water-permeability behavior of the sands and the dependence of this behavior on the clays present and the salinity of the water are discussed.
Citations
More filters
30 Sep 2013
205 citations
Cites background from "The Effect of Clays on the Permeabi..."
...The response of sandstone permeability to low salinity water flooding was investigated by Baptist & Sweeney (1954) who showed that the amount and type of clay content was important....
[...]
TL;DR: In this article, the authors combined core-flood experiments with X-ray μ-computed tomography (μ-CT) to investigate the swelling of clay minerals and its impact on the permeability of unconsolidated porous media.
127 citations
Cites methods from "The Effect of Clays on the Permeabi..."
...Baptis and Sweeney [7] used petroleum reservoir sands to measure air and water permeability, focusing on the type and the amount of clay....
[...]
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of the published research to speed the process of further investigations in this field is provided in this article, which provides the most current information to the reader about advanced waterflooding and a guide to the relevant papers for those who are new to this field.
Abstract: Advanced waterflooding is a process in which the ionic strength as well as the ionic composition of the injected water is tuned to improve the oil recovery. It has been observed in field trials and in lab coreflooding experiments; advanced waterflooding has the potential to recover additional oil. This process has been evaluated as a wettability-modifying agent in carbonates and captured the global research focus in water-based enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. This paper provides a comprehensive review of the published research to speed the process of further investigations in this field. The review provides the most current information to the reader about advanced waterflooding and a guide to the relevant papers for those who are new in this field.
96 citations
TL;DR: A comprehensive review on laboratory and field observations, descriptions of underlying mechanisms and their validity, the complexity of the oil-brine-rock interactions, modeling works, and comparison between sandstone and carbonate rocks is provided in this article.
Abstract: Brine-dependent recovery, which involves injected water ionic composition and strength, has seen much global research efforts in the past two decades because of its benefits over other oil recovery methods. Several studies, ranging from lab coreflood experiments to field trials, indicate the potential of recovering additional oil in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. Sandstone and carbonate rocks are composed of completely different minerals, with varying degree of complexity and heterogeneity, but wettability alteration has been widely considered as the consequence rather than the cause of brine-dependent recovery. However, the probable cause appears to be as a result of the combination of several proposed mechanisms that relate the wettability changes to the improved recovery. This paper provides a comprehensive review on laboratory and field observations, descriptions of underlying mechanisms and their validity, the complexity of the oil-brine-rock interactions, modeling works, and comparison between sandstone and carbonate rocks. The improvement in oil recovery varies depending on brine content (connate and injected), rock mineralogy, oil type and structure, and temperature. The brine ionic strength and composition modification are the two major frontlines that have been well-exploited, while further areas of investigation are highlighted to speed up the interpretation and prediction of the process efficiency.
77 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a comprehensive knowledge of utilizing appropriate production enhancement techniques in clay-abundant shale formations based on a thorough literature review is obtained, which indicates the inappropriateness of using traditional types of water-based fracturing fluids for production enhancement.
Abstract: Clay-abundant shale formations are quite common worldwide shale plays. This particular type of shale play has unique physico-chemical characteristics and therefore responds uniquely to the gas storage and production process. Clay minerals have huge surface areas due to prevailing laminated structures, and the deficiency in positive charges in the combination of tetrahedral and octahedral sheets in clay minerals produces strong cation exchange capacities (CECs), all of which factors create huge gas storage capacity in clay-abundant shale formations. However, the existence of large amounts of tiny clay particles separates the contacts between quartz particles, weakening the shale formation and enhancing its ductile properties. Furthermore, clay minerals’ strong affinity for water causes clay-abundant shale formations to have large water contents and therefore reduced gas storage capacities. Clay-water interactions also create significant swelling in shale formations. All of these facts reduce the productivity of these formations. The critical influences of clay mineral-water interaction on the productivity of this particular type of shale plays indicates the inappropriateness of using traditional types of water-based fracturing fluids for production enhancement. Non-water-based fracturing fluids are therefore preferred, and CO2 is preferable due to its many unique favourable characteristics, including its minor swelling effect, its ability to create long and narrow fractures at low breakdown pressures due to its ultralow viscosity, its contribution to the mitigation of the greenhouse gas effect, rapid clean-up and easy residual water removal capability. The aim of this paper is to obtain comprehensive knowledge of utilizing appropriate production enhancement techniques in clay-abundant shale formations based on a thorough literature review.
39 citations
Cites background from "The Effect of Clays on the Permeabi..."
...According to Baptist and Sweeney’s 1954 study of petroleum reservoir sands in Wyo ing fields (Table 2), sand with montmorillonite-illite mixed clay layers is much more sensitive to water co pared to sand ith kaolin an illite clays and therefore cause greater p rmeability reductions [47]....
[...]
...For example, in clay-rich samples, permeability can be reduced by more than 80% after water saturation, compared with the initial air permeability [47]....
[...]
...Permeability analyses of four samples of frontier sands [47]....
[...]
...According to Baptist and Sweeney’s 1954 study of petroleum reservoir sands in Wyoming fields (Table 2), sand with montmorillonite‐illite mixed clay layers is much more sensitive to water compared to sand with kaolin and illite clays and therefore cause greater permeability reductions [47]....
[...]
References
More filters
Book•
31 Jan 1981
434 citations
"The Effect of Clays on the Permeabi..." refers background or methods in this paper
...The permeability value of a porous sample is a constant when the flowing fluid is either liquid or gas, provided however, that certain conditions are fulfilled ( Muskat, 1949, p. 138 )....
[...]
...This equation, known as Darcy's law, is also used to calculate gaseous permeability if the volumetric rate of flow is measured at mean pressure ( Muskat, 1949, p. 136 )....
[...]
24 citations
Journal Article•
20 citations
Journal Article•
7 citations
5 citations