Methods and systems for evaluation of rock permeability, porosity, and fluid composition

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10167719-B2
Application number	US-201314404186-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 3, 2013
Priority date	Sep 3, 2013
Publication date	Jan 1, 2019
Grant date	Jan 1, 2019

Abstract

Methods and systems for substantially simultaneous evaluation of rock sample permeability and porosity, and composition of formation fluids, are provided. Such methods and systems may be used to evaluate the permeability, porosity, and composition of at least a portion of a subterranean formation in a drilling operation. An example of such a method may include passing a cleaning fluid through the rock sample so as to extract at least a portion of one or more formation fluids from the rock sample in an effluent comprising the cleaning fluid and the portion of the one or more formation fluids; and determining one or more properties of the effluent so as to determine the composition of the portion of the one or more formation fluids, and so as to determine the permeability and porosity of the rock sample.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
passing a cleaning fluid at a flow rate through a rock sample at a differential pressure, so as to extract at least a portion of one or more naturally occurring formation fluids from the rock sample, wherein the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids comprise one or more fluids that reside in a subterranean formation from which the rock sample was taken;
collecting an effluent comprising the cleaning fluid and the portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
determining one or more properties of the cleaning fluid;
determining the composition of the effluent;
based at least in part on (i) the one or more properties of the cleaning fluid, and (ii) the composition of the effluent, performing a calculation analytically to determine one or more properties of the effluent by performing an extrapolation using a weighting factor equal to an inverse of a mass fraction of the cleaning fluid, wherein the one or more properties of the effluent are selected from the group consisting of: a viscosity of the effluent, a density of the effluent, and a mass of the effluent;
determining a volume of the rock sample and a volume of the portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
based at least in part on one or more of the properties of the effluent, determining one or more properties of the portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
based at least in part on one or more of (i) one or more properties of the effluent, (ii) the flow rate of the cleaning fluid, and (iii) the differential pressure of the cleaning fluid, determining a permeability value of the rock sample; and
based at least in part on one or more of (i) the volume of the portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids and (ii) the volume of the rock sample, determining a porosity value of the rock sample.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the one or more properties of the cleaning fluid comprise one or more of density, composition, and viscosity; wherein the one or more properties of the effluent comprise one or more of density, composition, and viscosity; and wherein the one or more properties of the portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids comprises composition.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the cleaning fluid is hydrophobic, and wherein the cleaning fluid is passed through the rock sample at the differential pressure such that the extracted portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids comprises a hydrocarbon fraction and formation water.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising measuring one of the flow rate and the differential pressure, wherein the other of flow rate and differential pressure is substantially constant while the cleaning fluid is passed through the rock sample.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the cleaning fluid is hydrophobic, and wherein a permeability value is an effective oil phase permeability.

6. The method of claim 5 further comprising obtaining the rock sample from a subterranean formation and determining a second permeability value based at least in part on one or more properties of the subterranean formation from which the rock sample is obtained, wherein the second permeability value is an absolute permeability of the rock sample.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the cleaning fluid is hydrophilic, and wherein a first permeability value is an effective water phase permeability.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising:
obtaining the rock sample from a subterranean formation;
determining a second permeability value based at least in part on one or more properties of the subterranean formation from which the rock sample is obtained, wherein the second permeability value is an absolute permeability of the rock sample; and
determining an effective oil phase permeability of the rock sample based at least in part on the determined permeability value, the determined second permeability value, and the one or more properties of the portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
soaking the rock sample in additional cleaning fluid so as to extract an additional portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids from the rock sample;
collecting a second effluent comprising the additional cleaning fluid and the extracted additional portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids; and
determining the volume of the second portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
wherein determining the porosity value of the rock sample is based further at least in part on the determined volume of the second portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the rock sample comprises one or more drill cuttings.

11. A method comprising:
passing a first cleaning fluid at a first flow rate through a rock sample at a first differential pressure, so as to extract at least a first portion of one or more naturally occurring formation fluids from the rock sample, wherein the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids comprise one or more fluids that reside in a subterranean formation from which the rock sample was taken;
collecting a first effluent comprising the first cleaning fluid and the first portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
passing a second cleaning fluid at a second flow rate through the rock sample at a second differential pressure, so as to extract at least a second portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids from the rock sample;
collecting a second effluent comprising the second cleaning fluid and the second portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
determining one or more properties of the first cleaning fluid;
determining the composition of the first effluent;
based at least in part on (i) the one or more properties of the first cleaning fluid and (ii) the composition of the first effluent, performing a calculation analytically to determine one or more properties of the first effluent by performing an extrapolation using a weighting factor equal to an inverse of a mass fraction of the first cleaning fluid, wherein the one or more properties of the first effluent are selected from the group consisting of: a viscosity of the first effluent, a density of the effluent, and a mass of the first effluent;
determining one or more properties of the second effluent;
determining a volume of the rock sample, a volume of the first portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids, and a volume of the second portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
based at least in part on one or more of the properties of the first effluent, determining one or more properties of the first portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
based at least in part on one or more of the properties of the second effluent, determining one or more properties of the second portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids;
based at least in part on one or more of (i) one or more of the properties of the first effluent, (ii) the first flow rate of the first cleaning fluid, and (iii) the first differential pressure of the first cleaning fluid, determining a first permeability value of the rock sample; and
based at least in part on one or more of (i) the volume of the first portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids, (ii) the volume of the second portion of the one or more naturally occurring formation fluids, and (ii) the volume of the rock sample,

Assignees

• Halliburton Energy Services Inc

Inventors

• Ezzat Abdalla Moustafa
• Pelletier Michael T

Classifications

• G01N15/0826 Primary

  and measuring fluid flow rate, i.e. permeation rate or pressure change · CPC title

• E21B49/02 Primary

  by mechanically taking samples of the soil · CPC title

• G01N33/24 Primary

  Earth materials (G01N33/42 takes precedence) · CPC title