Petroleum geochemical proxies for reservoir engineering parameters

The prediction of fluid flow behaviour in petroleum reservoirs is influenced by the physical and chemical processes active in interacting crude oil/brine/rock systems. It is usually not possible to assess these complex systems directly so proxies for molecular scale behaviour are needed. By their very nature, polar non-hydrocarbons are sensitive to fluid–rock interactions, and if properly exploited they may be utilised as proxies for describing reservoir engineering properties (e.g. wettability) that are also sensitive to fluid–rock interactions. We have identified a group of aromatic oxygen (alkylphenols and alkylfluorenones) and aromatic nitrogen (alkylcarbazoles) compounds present in petroleum that appear to respond to variations in fluid–rock properties. Here we describe the chemical and physical changes in a series of core samples obtained from North Sea reservoirs. A number of petrophysical parameters displayed strong correlations with polar non-hydrocarbon occurrence. For example, deflections in gamma ray logs in response to clay content in a coarsening upwards sandstone unit also showed similar deflections from a number of geochemical logs.A core-flood experiment was designed to monitor the chemical and physical changes during oil migration in a siltstone core. Following completion of the core-flood experiment, Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) analysis of core samples indicated hydrophilic and hydrophobic surface tendencies grading throughout the core. The distributions of polar non-hydrocarbons (e.g. C0–C3–phenols) appear to correspond closely to the observed wettability alteration. The results confirm the potential for developing proxies for fluid–rock interactions through monitoring the surface active compounds present in the polar non-hydrocarbon fraction of petroleum.