| Title | Movement of native fluids during scanning electron microscopy imaging of petroliferous siltstones: evidence from the Montney Formation, western Canada |
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| Author | Wood, J M; Curtis, M E; Ardakani, O H ; Sanei, H |
| Source | Fuel vol. 290, 120020, 2021 p. 1-8, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2020.120020 |
| Image |  |
| Year | 2021 |
| Alt Series | Natural Resources Canada, Contribution Series 20200611 |
| Publisher | Elsevier Ltd |
| Document | serial |
| Lang. | English |
| Media | paper; on-line; digital |
| File format | pdf; html |
| Subjects | fossil fuels; Science and Technology; Nature and Environment; petroleum resources; hydrocarbons; oil; bitumen; reservoir rocks; petrophysics; fluid dynamics; brine; scanning electron microscope
analyses; fluid migration; bedrock geology; lithology; sedimentary rocks; siltstones; halite; salinity; electrical properties; conductivity; Montney Formation; Phanerozoic; Mesozoic; Triassic |
| Illustrations | photographs; diagrams; cross-plots; graphs |
| Program | Geoscience for New Energy Supply (GNES) Shale Reservoir Characterization |
| Released | 2021 01 04 |
| Abstract | The nature and distribution of native fluids, both hydrocarbons, and water, exert a fundamental control on the petrophysical properties and fluid dynamics of unconventional, low-permeability reservoir
rocks. Here, we report dynamic native fluid phenomena that occurred serendipitously during scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging of petroliferous siltstones from the Triassic Montney Formation of western Canada. These observations of fluid
movement provide rare in-situ contextual information about the nm to um-scale distribution of fluids in tight unconventional reservoirs. Dynamic oil behavior is indicated by expulsion structures that formed in pore-filling solid bitumen when trapped
oil erupted from the sample. These structures strikingly show that oil and solid bitumen intimately coexist within the pore network of tight rocks in the oil window. Dynamic brine behavior is evident from strings of halite crystals overlying pores
between mineral grains. The halite crystals precipitated from hypersaline brine that migrated from the interior to the surface of the sample. This behavior indicates well-connected brine exists in Montney siltstone pores, even those substantially
filled with hydrophobic solid bitumen. These SEM observations support previous petrophysical studies that suggest the electrical conductivity of Montney rocks is controlled primarily by their bulk volume of well-connected hypersaline water.
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| Summary | (Plain Language Summary, not published)
This study reports dynamic native fluid phenomena that occurred during scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging of petroliferous siltstones from the
Triassic Montney Formation of western Canada. These SEM observations support previous petrophysical studies that suggest the electrical conductivity of Montney rocks is controlled primarily by their bulk volume of well-connected hypersaline water and
provides further insight into the reservoir characterization of the Montney Formation, a major Canadian unconventional reservoir. |
| GEOSCAN ID | 327874 |
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