Print this pageAAPG GEO 2010 Middle East
Geoscience Conference & Exhibition
Innovative Geoscience Solutions – Meeting Hydrocarbon Demand in Changing Times
March 7-10, 2010 – Manama, Bahrain
Advanced Technique for Reservoir Thermal Properties Determination and Pore Space Characterization
Yuri Popov1; Dmitriy Miklashevskiy1; Raisa Romushkevich1; 
Sergey
Novikov1; Anton Parshin2; Sergey
Safonov2
(1) Russian State Geological Prospecting University, Moscow, Russian Federation.
(2) R&D, Schlumberger Oilfield Services, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Data on the thermal conductivity, thermal diffusivity, volumetric heat capacity, and the coefficient of the linear thermal expansion of rocks are important for the optimization of thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Other crucial optimization factors include the theoretical modeling of heat and mass transfer in reservoirs, the interpretation of temperature logging data, and the prediction of the physical properties of other formations from the correlations found between thermal and other physical properties.
A new experimental and theoretical concept has been developed for the simultaneous determination of the above-mentioned thermal properties of cores and core cuttings at normal and formation thermodynamical conditions. The concept also covers the prediction of pore-space geometry from thermal experiment data.
The experimental concept includes: instruments for measuring the thermal properties of rock with the simultaneous influence of high temperatures (up to 250 degC), porous pressure, and two other component overburden pressure types (up to 250 MPa); the technique for rock thermal property measurements on core cuttings; an instrument for fluid thermal conductivity measurements; a set of instruments for the nondestructive, contactless, high-precision measurements of the rock’s thermal properties in full cores and core plugs; an instrument for measuring the coefficient of the linear thermal expansion (CLTE) of rocks at elevated temperatures (up to 250 degC) with the CLTE measurements within very narrow temperature interval (15-25 degC).
The concept also includes new theoretical models for effective thermal properties that allow us to 1., predict the rock’s thermal properties at normal and elevated temperatures and pressures from other petrophysical data, and 2., estimate the reservoir properties, pore-fracturing, and pore-space parameters from physical thermal experiments.
The application of this experimental and theoretical concept used to study different oil and gas fields allowed us to establish the spatial and temporal variations in the thermal reservoir properties in certain formations.
The authors would like to acknowledge the generous support of Schlumberger Oilfield Services - an international company servicing the oil and gas industry, and also recognize the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.