Characteristics of the Permian coal-formed gas sandstone reservoirs in Bohai Bay Basin and the adjacent areas, North China

This paper focuses on the physical properties and spatial distributions of the Permian sandstone reservoirs in Bohai Bay Basin and the adjacent areas in the northeast China. The coal-formed gas sandstone reservoirs occur in the Permian Shihezi Formation and the maturity of the sandstone in the lower part is gradually higher than that in the upper part. The high-maturity sandstones are mainly the channel lag deposits and widely distributed in the study area. Due to the low porosity and permeability, however, the sandstones formed only the medium-poor reservoirs. The sandstones contain clay matrix and commonly a small portion of calcareous, siliceous, and authigenic clay cement. On the other hand, severe compaction and cementation caused nearly complete destruction of the primary porosity during diagenesis. Therefore, the main space of the sandstone reservoirs comes from the secondary pores. The distributions of reservoirs are affected by several periods of faulting and denudation. The sandstones of the Lower Shihezi Formation are thicker in the Jizhong and Bozhong depressions, and Luxi areas, and those of the Upper Shihezi Formation are thicker in Jizhong and Jiyang depressions and thinner in Luxi areas.

Research highlights
► The coal-formed gas tight sandstone reservoirs were found in the Shihezi Formation.
► Channel lag deposit is the major sedimentary facies of reservoirs.
► The maturity of the sandstones is high and it distributes widely.
► Secondary pores are the main spaces because of mechanical compaction and cementation.
► The distributions are limited by several periods of faulting and denudation.