Effect of kaolinite as a key factor controlling the petrophysical properties of the Nubia sandstone in central Eastern Desert, Egypt

•Nubia sandstone in Wadi Kareem is homogeneous with variant content of kaolinite.•Four petrographical microfacies and three petrophysical facies can be distinguished.•Kaolinite content plays an important role in reducing the fluid flow.•Kaolinite content is a critical key control for the reservoir potentiality.

This paper presents the results of a comprehensive petrographical and petrophysical investigation for the Late Cretaceous Nubia sandstone from Wadi Kareem in central Eastern Desert to measure their fluid flow properties and to investigate the effect of kaolinite on their petrophysical characteristics.From the petrographical analyses, scanning electron microscope ‘SEM’ and the X-ray diffraction ‘XRD’ analysis, it is shown that the studied sandstone samples are quite homogeneous in mineralogy and can be distinguished into four sedimentary microfacies: quartz arenite as a clean sandstone as well as three kaolinitic microfacies; namely they are kaolinitic quartz arenite, kaolinitic subarkose, and calcareous to kaolinitc quartz arenite. The main recognized diagenetic processes that prevailed during the post-depositional history of the Nubia sandstone are; compaction, cementation, alteration and dissolution of feldspar into kaolinite.The petrophysical potentiality of the studied sandstones was studied using the helium pycnometer, gas permeability and mercury injection confining pressure ‘MICP’ techniques. The investigated sandstones can be classified into three petrophysical facies with varying reservoir performances. The petrophysical behaviour of these facies is dependent mostly on their kaolinite content and its impact on porosity, permeability, irreducible water saturation, R35 (pore aperture corresponding to mercury saturation of 35% pore volume), R50 (median pore-throat radius), and MHR (the mean hydraulic radius). Therefore, the studied petrophysical facies are comparable to the distinguished petrographical facies.