The Influence of Movable Water on the Gas-Phase Threshold Pressure Gradient in Tight Gas Reservoirs

Weiyao Zhu, Guodong Zou, Yuwei Liu, Wenchao Liu and Bin Pan
Additional contact information
Weiyao Zhu: School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Guodong Zou: School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Yuwei Liu: School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Wenchao Liu: School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China
Bin Pan: School of Civil and Resource Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-12

Abstract: Threshold pressure gradient (TPG) is a key parameter determining the pore-scale fluid dynamics. In tight gas reservoirs, both gas and water exist in the porous rock, and the existing water can be divided into irreducible and movable water. However, how movable water saturation will influence TPG has not yet been investigated. Therefore herein, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and high-pressure mercury intrusion (HPMI) experiments were performed to determine pore-scale water distribution, movable water saturation, and pore throat distribution in the core plugs. Subsequently, the air bubble method was used to measure TPG as a function of movable water saturation and permeability inside tight gas core plugs, finding that TPG increased from 0.01 MPa/m to 0.25 MPa/m with the movable saturation increased from 2% to 35%. Finally, a semi-empirical model was derived to describe the correlation between TPG, movable water saturation, and permeability, which performed better than previous models in the literature. These insights will advance the fundamental understanding of TPG in tight gas reservoirs and provide useful guidance on tight gas reservoirs development.

Keywords: tight gas reservoirs; threshold pressure gradient; water saturation; movable water; prediction model (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5309/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/14/5309/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:14:p:5309-:d:868571

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().