Characteristics and Controlling Factors of Tight Marl Reservoirs with an Eyelid-Shaped Structure of the First Member of the Deep Maokou Formation in Eastern Sichuan

• Published in: Energies (Basel) Vol. 16; no. 5; p. 2353
• Main Authors: Jiang, Qingchun, Wang, Weiming, Lyu, Qixia
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2023
• Subjects: Analysis; argillaceous limestone; Clay; Clay minerals; controlling factors; Deep water; Diagenesis; Eastern Sichuan; Energy industry; Environmental aspects; Eyelid; eyelid-shaped structure; Fractures; Fruits; Gas fields; Limestone; Lithology; Marl; Membrane permeability; Methods; Minerals; Natural gas exploration; Oil and gas exploration; Organic carbon; Organic matter; Permeability; Porosity; Pyrolysis; Reservoirs; Sedimentation & deposition; Sepiolite; tight reservoir; X-ray diffraction; China; Sichuan Basin
• ISSN: 1996-1073; 1996-1073
• DOI: 10.3390/en16052353

Tight marl is a special type of unconventional oil and gas resource, and the study on its reservoir characteristics and controlling factors is of immense scientific significance. In this paper, 113 core samples of marl from Gouxi Area, Eastern Sichuan were selected. Based on organic carbon, pyrolysis, X-ray diffraction of whole rock, and X-ray diffraction of clay analysis, the reservoir evaluation of eyelid-shaped limestone in the first member of Maokou Formation was carried out. The results show that there are obvious differences between eyelid-shaped limestone reservoirs and eyeball-shaped limestone reservoirs in the target stratum. Eyelid-shaped limestone is mainly distributed in the lower members a and c of the first member of Maokou Formation. It could be the main reservoir of low porosity and permeability tight marl, as its developed apertures, micro-fractures, and pore throat structure are obviously better than that of the eyeball-shaped limestone. As eyelid-shaped limestone features obvious self-generation and self-storage characteristics, the deep-water and low-energy sedimentary environment provides it with a large amount of highly brittle minerals and clay minerals as well as a favorable reservoir-forming background for diagenetic evolution and organic matter adsorption of clay minerals in the later period. The transformation of sepiolite into talc through diagenesis provides a large number of shrinkage joints for the reservoir, which are an effective space for tight gas accumulation.