Reservoir Seals; How they Work and How to Chose a Good One

Charles Christopher and James Iliffe BP plc

Sealing Processes

What holds hydrocarbons and CO2 in the subsurface? Three sealing processes
Capillary Seals Pressure Seals Permeability Seals

Buoyancy Forces

Seals hold back fluid pressure caused by the buoyancy of the fluids. Oil floats on water because it is less dense The fluid pressure (B) increases by the density difference between the fluid (f) and water (w) times the height (h) times gravity (g)

B = ( w f ) * g* h
SEAL

f
h

Pressure

Fluid Properties: Density and Bouyancy

Pressure (MPa)

5

0 0 200
Depth from Contact (m)

CO2 G

Oil

400 600 800 1000

Fluid Buoyancy Pressures

CO2 Gas

1200

At Same Res. P&T Oil Density = 700 Kg/m3 Gas density = 400 Kg/m3 CO2 density = 500 Kg/m3 For 1000 m column Gas exerts the highest pressure, then CO2. Before we can assess how well seal behaves we have to understand the interfacial tension and wettability

Pressure exerted by CO2 is intermediate between oil and gas for an equivalent column.

Capillary Seals
2 * cos Pc = r

Pore throat

Washburn (1921) Pc = Capillary Pressure (MPa) = Interfacial tension (N/m) = wetting angle () r = pore throat radius Capillary entry pressure is directly proportional to the interfacial tension the greater the IFT between the fluid in the seal pore throat and the fluid trying to enter the pore throat, the greater the seal capacity!

Resistive Force

Driving Force CO2 Petroleum

Interfacial Tension

IFT is a vital parameter in the capillary force calculation IFT is a function of fluid type, p and t.
After Hildebrand 2003

At 1.4 Km depth a pressure of 14 MPa CO2 water IFT is 25 (mN/m) Methane Gas has an IFT of 50 (mN/m)

CH4

Pressure, Mpa
Oil has an IFT of approximately 25 mN/m)

Capillary Pressure, Pore Radius and IFT

The smaller the pore throat the higher the capillary Pressure so the better the seal Seals are between 10 and 100 nm pore throats

Capillary Pressure and Pore throat radius 1 0.1

Oil
0.01

NOTE: LOG-LOG plot

mm
Radius (m)

Reservoirs
0.001 0.0001

Gas

0.00001 0.000001 0.0000001 0.00000001

um

Geological Barriers

Seals
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

nm

0.000000001 0.00001

Capillary Pressure (MPa)

Combining Buoyancy and IFT

Pressure (MPa)

0 0 200

Depth from Contact (m)

Oil CO2 Gas

400 600 800 1000

Fluid Buoyancy Pressures

1200

IFT and Pore throat radius

0.0000001

Oil & CO2 Gas

Radius (m)

What is the theoretical pore throat to hold a 1000 m column of each fluid? 19 nm oil 14 nm gas 10 nm CO2 CO2 requires better seals than other fluids for a particular column

0.00000001

0.000000001 1

3 56

10

100

Capillary Pressure (MPa)

Cumulative/increamental porosity

Pore size radius: Mercury Intrusion Data

0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 Pore radius nm

Incremental/Cumulative Porosity

Incremental/Cumulative Porosity

Top sample is a MUDDY SILTSTONE from about 4850 m below mudline, porosity 17%. Dominant pores are 2 20 nm. A very good seal. Algeria sample for Krechba has a dominant pore throat of <10 nm. An excellent seal Shallower we see a sample indicative of a mixed lithology. A weak seal.

Kv = 9.5E-21 m2
0.16 0.14 0.12 0.1 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0 1 10

BP Algeria KB502, 1520m

100

1000

10000

100000

Pore Radius (nm)

BP Algeria KB502, 780m

0.35 0.3 0.25 0.2 0.15 0.1 0.05 0 1 10 100 1000 10000 100000 Pore Radius (nm)

1 Darcy ~ 1e-12 m2 10 nanoDarcies ~ 1e-21m2

Capillary Seal Summary

Fluid density, pore throat and interfacial tension all play a role in capillary seals Gas fields are good sites for storage, as the seals are proven. IFT effects reduces the column potential for CO2 in a gas field Oilfields cannot hold as much (column) CO2 as gas fields This is a density and IFT effect.

Pressure Seal
A

pressure seal is where the buoyant fluid is held back by the wall of water flowing downwards through the pores due to a pressure potential which can be considered to be an equivalent column of water or head.

Fluid Flow Goes From High Head To Low Head

Pressure (psi) 0 1000 2000 3000 Depth (m) 4000 5000 6000 7000
Hydrostatic Pressure (psi) Lithostatic Pressure (psi) Pressure (psi)

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

Lithostatic (Overburden) Hydrostatic

Flow occurs from high head to low headthis can be vertically upward as well as down or lateral!

Overpressure

Fluid pressure
8000

Lithostatic = combined water/rock pressure

Pressure Seal
Capillary Head

Capillary

pressure alone is not enough to hold back the h column of CO2 Combined with a downward head of water CO2 is trapped.

Capillary

Permeability Seal

After the capillary pressure of a rock has been reached, flow becomes dominated by the relative permeability of the system. Darcys Law shows that flow will always take place but at different rates depending on: Pressure differential Relative Permeability (and saturation) Fluid viscosity EG. In the shale sample above with an intrinsic (rock only) permeability of 9.85e-21m2 (100nd), in a 20m thick bed holding back a pressure of 5MPa will flow at a velocity of <1 m per 1000 years or less. So for millenia storage this rock is a very effective layer. It would take at least 20,000 years for the flow to reach the next bed (20m). A silt with a permeability of 1 e-16 m2 (0.1md) will flow at 10 m/year so it would take 2 years to get across.

Trap Geometry

Number seals to define the trap. Identifying the weakest seal relative to the strongest upward force. The sealing process. Fill or spill maximum column

Column Height Controls

Spilling Give a minimum seal effectiveness

Leaking through caprock Provides a true seal effectivess for the fluid Know it leaks because we detect hydrocarbons in the mudrocks above

First Question is What is controlling my column? or How do I want to control my column? Is it leaking or spilling?

Seal presence and continuity

Stratigraphic Trap with 5 seals
Dip-parallel channel pinching out (shale-out) on monocline. How many capillary seals? 5 : top, bottom and three lateral

3 4

+
1 5 2

_
Map (left): sub-crop to, and contours on, base top-seal. Section (right): northsouth transect Which is going to be the weakest seal depends on the lithology

Faults: And their role is

Types of rocks affect faulting. Soft, fine grained and unconsolidated Deform easily and are ductile Likely to smear The more clay smeared in a fault the more capillary pressure the fault will have to a lateral sand across the fault. Harder, more brittle rocks will not smear as readily and faults likely will be more permeable. Faults may be propped open by pore pressure but even this permeability is unlikely to provide efficient vertical conduits. Volumes and rates will be quite low and on geological scales.

Fault Seal Example

Shale Gauge Ratio and Cross fault flow

Z.119

25 ss FW HWC
View: arbitrary (Isometric) Gouge ratio (average)

Gouge Ratio
0.000 25.0

25 ss HW HWC
em25

50.0

spill point from HW to FW where self-juxtaposed with low gouge ratio

em25

75.0

Project: emseal User: 100 zrgg08 Date: Wed Aug 28 08:18:57 1996

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

10000

11000

12000

13000

14000

15000

16000

17000

18000

19000

20000

21000

22000

23000

24000

25000

26000

27000

280

Arbitrary distance (metres)

Shale Gauge Ratio values calculated using the local stratigraphy indicate that the fault-zone is unlikely to prevent the lateral movement of fluid.

Characteristics of a Good Seal

Petrophysically has small pore throats without large connected pores Homogenous both vertically and laterally Laterally continuous Thick to reduce the number of pathways Has no bypass systems (sand injection features, faults, etc.) Water wet to increase the capillary effects

Poor Seals

Larger pore throats Lithologically variable Discontinuous layering Thin beds Fractured and faulted Hydrocarbon wet Can be good for stacked reservoir systems to get high CO2 storage density just as we do for hydrocarbons provided a shallower super seal exists.

Summary

All seals have a threshold above which fluids will leak Fine grained lithologies are essential for good seals. CO2 is lighter than oil so imparts more buoyancy pressure per unit. CO2 has lower interfacial tension than gas, so leaks easier than gas. The low permeability of fine grained rocks means that flow rates are extremely slow. Fluid flow UP faults may occur but at slow rates and at low volumes, flow ACROSS faults is much more likely.