AN EXPERIMENTAL STUDY ON RESISTIVITY AND CONDUCTIVE MECHANISM IN LOW‐PERMEABILITY RESERVOIRS WITH COMPLEX WETTABILITY

AbstractAs the clay film developed in low‐permeability lithologic reservoirs absorbs oil, reservoirs become oil‐wet, which results in abnormally high resistivity oil‐water layers and water layers. Such layers bring great challenges to the identification of oil and water layers. In order to make clear the resistivity response characteristics and conductive mechanism in reservoirs with different wettability, cores were selected in Chang 8 formation, Yanchang group, Upper Triassic, the western Ordos basin of China. Experiments were conducted with these samples to simulate the process of oil displacing water, ageing and water displacing oil. In addition, the contact angles of thin slices after washing oil were also tested. The experimental results show that abnormally high resistivity cores are not completely water‐wet after washing oil. However, the formation factors of abnormally high resistivity cores and normal resistivity cores have little difference. In the process of oil displacing water, the relationship between normal resistivity core resistivity index and water saturation is linear in a log‐log plot, while that of abnormally high resistivity cores is convex. The resistivity of abnormally high resistivity cores remains unchanged during ageing process. Combining the analysis of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) T2 spectra under different conditions, it can be inferred that wettability of abnormally high resistivity cores has become less water‐wet after oil displacing water, whereas the ageing process has little effect on the wettability. In the process of water displacing oil, the relation between abnormally high resistivity core resistivity index and water saturation is almost linear, which shows that the conductive structure of rock is not changed. Based on the analyses and discussions of these experimental results, a hydrocarbon accumulation mode and the corresponding conductive mechanism are proposed for low‐permeability reservoirs with complex wettability. It shows that abnormally high resistivity water layers are caused by the destruction of continuous conductive paths under oil‐wet condition. The researches and experiments are of great importance for understanding the conductive mechanism, identifying oil and water layers and evaluating water flooded formations in low‐permeability reservoirs with complex wettability.