PERMEABILITY TO RESIDUAL WATER SATURATION IN OIL SATURATED PLUGS

ABSTRACT A series of laboratory experiments have been conducted to determine the permeability of brine close to irreducible water saturations with varying rock types, capillary pressures, saturations and permeabilities. X-ray tomography (CT) was used in one experiment as a quality assurance measure, visualizing the distribution of the flow of S wi phase in the sample. Water-saturated plugs attached to a water-wet ceramic membrane were drained by oil to S wi . Oil was then substituted by water at the inlet keeping both the water-and the oilsaturations in the plug constant. This was done in order to allow for water to flow through the plug and the membrane. A subsurface analogue to this laboratory experiment is a hydrocarbon-filled reservoir that is leaking water through a cap rock or a fault -keeping the hydrocarbons in place. The CT scan images showed that, although the overall flow rate was very low, the injected water moved quickly through the S wi -phase. Only a small fraction of the S wi volume contributed to this flow. The CT experiment also revealed some experimental artefacts such as spontaneous imbibition and gravity effects, which warrants further investigation. The result of the experiments verified that water could flow through different core plugs with varying S wi -phase permeability without forcing the oil through the membrane or changing the water saturation. The residual water permeability was dependent on the water saturation (S wi ) and the core plug permeability. Lowering the absolute permeability does not give a similar reduction in water permeability at S wi . The water permeability at S wi ranged from 0.02 µD to 1 µD. The absolute permeability for the different plugs ranged from approximately

The spatial, temporal and volumetric analysis of a large mud volcano province within the Eastern Mediterranean

This paper documents and describes through the use of 3D seismic data a prolific mud volcano province within the Eastern Mediterranean. As many as 386 mud volcanoes were mapped within the post-salt succession of the western slope of the Nile Cone, offshore Egypt, using high resolution 3D seismic data. The mud volcanoes within this field display significant geometrical variability in diameter (c. 550 m to c. 5660 m), height (c. 25 m to c. 510 m) and volume (c. 0.1 km3 to c. 3.3 km3) and lie at depths ranging from c. > 6000 m subsea to c. 3100 m at the seafloor. A close spatial relationship between mud volcanoes and base-salt depressions and regions of anomalous thinning within the immediate pre-salt succession, combined with documented core samples taken from mud volcanoes within this region present a powerful argument for a pre-salt source of mud. 3D seismic interpretation and volumetric analysis of these mud volcanoes and their source region permit the definition and quantification of their depletion zones. A conceptual model for a dynamic liquefaction and sediment withdrawal process is proposed whereby mud is fed into a central conduit as the depletion zone propagates radially and episodically outwards resulting in a the formation of a concentric depletion zones. Prolonged mud volcanism within this region over the last ∼5.3 Ma implies the potential for long lived pre-salt overpressure and continued mud volcanism following the catastrophic hydrodynamic impact of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. It is suggested that the scale of mud volcanism means that this region should be considered as among the largest mud volcano provinces in the world

The formation of giant clastic extrusions at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

This paper documents the discovery of five multi-km scale lensoid bodies that directly overlie the upper surface of the thick (&gt;1 km) Messinian Evaporite sequence. They were identified through the analysis of 3D seismic data from the western Nile Cone. The convergence of the upper and lower bounding reflections of these lensoid bodies, their external and internal reflection configuration, the positive ‘depositional’ relief at their upper surface, and the stratal relationship with underlying and overlying deposits supports the interpretation that these are giant clastic extrusions. The interpretations combined with the stratal position of these clastic extrusions demonstrate a prior unsuspected link between periods of major environment change and basin hydrodynamics on a plate scale. All five lensoid bodies were extruded onto a single, seismically resolvable marker horizon correlatable with the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (Horizon M). It is argued that the source of these clastic extrusions is pre-Messinian in origin, which implies massive sediment remobilisation at depth in the pre-evaporitic succession and intrusion through the thick evaporite layer. We propose that the scale and timing of this dramatic event was primed and triggered by near-lithostatic overpressure in the pre-evaporitic sediments generated through (1) their rapid burial and loading during the Messinian Salinity Crisis and (2) catastrophic re-flooding during its immediate aftermath. The largest of these clastic extrusions has a volume of over c. 116 km3, making it amongst the largest extruded sedimentary bodies described on Earth. The findings extend the understanding of the upper scale of other analogous clastic extrusions such as mud volcanoes and sediment-hosted hydrothermal systems. Following the 2006 eruption of the Lusi sediment-hosted hydrothermal system in Indonesia, an understanding of the upper scale limit of clastic extrusions has even greater societal relevance, in order to increase awareness of the risk posed by the potential size and longevity of future giant clastic extrusions.</p

The spatial, temporal and volumetric analysis of a large mud volcano province within the Eastern Mediterranean

This paper documents and describes through the use of 3D seismic data a prolific mud volcano province within the Eastern Mediterranean. As many as 386 mud volcanoes were mapped within the post-salt succession of the western slope of the Nile Cone, offshore Egypt, using high resolution 3D seismic data. The mud volcanoes within this field display significant geometrical variability in diameter (c. 550 m to c. 5660 m), height (c. 25 m to c. 510 m) and volume (c. 0.1 km3 to c. 3.3 km3) and lie at depths ranging from c. > 6000 m subsea to c. 3100 m at the seafloor. A close spatial relationship between mud volcanoes and base-salt depressions and regions of anomalous thinning within the immediate pre-salt succession, combined with documented core samples taken from mud volcanoes within this region present a powerful argument for a pre-salt source of mud. 3D seismic interpretation and volumetric analysis of these mud volcanoes and their source region permit the definition and quantification of their depletion zones. A conceptual model for a dynamic liquefaction and sediment withdrawal process is proposed whereby mud is fed into a central conduit as the depletion zone propagates radially and episodically outwards resulting in a the formation of a concentric depletion zones. Prolonged mud volcanism within this region over the last ∼5.3 Ma implies the potential for long lived pre-salt overpressure and continued mud volcanism following the catastrophic hydrodynamic impact of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. It is suggested that the scale of mud volcanism means that this region should be considered as among the largest mud volcano provinces in the world

The formation of giant clastic extrusions at the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis

This paper documents the discovery of five multi-km scale lensoid bodies that directly overlie the upper surface of the thick (andgt;1 km) Messinian Evaporite sequence. They were identified through the analysis of 3D seismic data from the western Nile Cone. The convergence of the upper and lower bounding reflections of these lensoid bodies, their external and internal reflection configuration, the positive andlsquo;depositionalandrsquo; relief at their upper surface, and the stratal relationship with underlying and overlying deposits supports the interpretation that these are giant clastic extrusions. The interpretations combined with the stratal position of these clastic extrusions demonstrate a prior unsuspected link between periods of major environment change and basin hydrodynamics on a plate scale. All five lensoid bodies were extruded onto a single, seismically resolvable marker horizon correlatable with the end of the Messinian Salinity Crisis (Horizon M). It is argued that the source of these clastic extrusions is pre-Messinian in origin, which implies massive sediment remobilisation at depth in the pre-evaporitic succession and intrusion through the thick evaporite layer. We propose that the scale and timing of this dramatic event was primed and triggered by near-lithostatic overpressure in the pre-evaporitic sediments generated through (1) their rapid burial and loading during the Messinian Salinity Crisis and (2) catastrophic re-flooding during its immediate aftermath. The largest of these clastic extrusions has a volume of over c. 116 km3, making it amongst the largest extruded sedimentary bodies described on Earth. The findings extend the understanding of the upper scale of other analogous clastic extrusions such as mud volcanoes and sediment-hosted hydrothermal systems. Following the 2006 eruption of the Lusi sediment-hosted hydrothermal system in Indonesia, an understanding of the upper scale limit of clastic extrusions has even greater societal relevance, in order to increase awareness of the risk posed by the potential size and longevity of future giant clastic extrusions.</p

The genesis of mud volcano conduits through thick evaporite sequences

This paper documents the seismic expression of the conduits underlying over 350 mud volcanoes that were erupted in an area of the western Nile Cone in the past 5.3 Myrs. The study is based on a c. 4300 km2 3D seismic survey. The conduits are interpreted to transect the &gt; 1000 m thick Messinian Evaporite succession, demonstrating that the eruptive process is sufficiently dynamic to breach the formidable seal represented by the evaporites. The mud volcano conduits are remarkably similar in geometry and seismic characteristics to many previously described examples of fluid escape pipes. They are vertical to sub-vertical structures with a crudely cylindrical geometry, but that can either widen or narrow upwards towards their upper terminations in the mud volcano edifices. Imaging at depth within the Messinian Evaporites and pre-evaporite successions is more uncertain, but direct sampling of mud from surface volcanoes suggests a pre-Messinian source, confirming the seismic interpretation that they root within pre-salt stratigraphy. A conceptual model for the genesis of these mud volcano conduits through salt is proposed, for which hydraulic fracturing is driven by high overpressures that developed in the pre-salt source stratigraphy as a response to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Dissolution and removal of evaporites resulting in fracturing and collapse via a stoping mechanism which is a slow process by comparison to hydraulic fracturing but is argued to potentially contribute to conduit formation. The analysis presented here demonstrates the potential for bypassing a &gt; 1 km thick unit of sealing evaporites via focused fluid and sediment mobilisation from deeper overpressured cells in other salt basins worldwide, and has significant implications for hydrocarbon exploration, CO2 sequestration and nuclear waste disposal

The genesis of mud volcano conduits through thick evaporite sequences

This paper documents the seismic expression of the conduits underlying over 350 mud volcanoes that were erupted in an area of the western Nile Cone in the past 5.3 Myrs. The study is based on a c. 4300 km2 3D seismic survey. The conduits are interpreted to transect the > 1000 m thick Messinian Evaporite succession, demonstrating that the eruptive process is sufficiently dynamic to breach the formidable seal represented by the evaporites. The mud volcano conduits are remarkably similar in geometry and seismic characteristics to many previously described examples of fluid escape pipes. They are vertical to sub-vertical structures with a crudely cylindrical geometry, but that can either widen or narrow upwards towards their upper terminations in the mud volcano edifices. Imaging at depth within the Messinian Evaporites and pre-evaporite successions is more uncertain, but direct sampling of mud from surface volcanoes suggests a pre-Messinian source, confirming the seismic interpretation that they root within pre-salt stratigraphy. A conceptual model for the genesis of these mud volcano conduits through salt is proposed, for which hydraulic fracturing is driven by high overpressures that developed in the pre-salt source stratigraphy as a response to the Messinian Salinity Crisis. Dissolution and removal of evaporites resulting in fracturing and collapse via a stoping mechanism which is a slow process by comparison to hydraulic fracturing but is argued to potentially contribute to conduit formation. The analysis presented here demonstrates the potential for bypassing a > 1 km thick unit of sealing evaporites via focused fluid and sediment mobilisation from deeper overpressured cells in other salt basins worldwide, and has significant implications for hydrocarbon exploration, CO2 sequestration and nuclear waste disposal