Multimodal Carbonates: Distribution of Oil Saturation in the Microporous Regions of Arab Formations

Perhaps as much as 50% of the oil-in-place in carbonate formations around the world is locked away in the easy to bypass microporosity. If some of this oil is unlocked by the improved recovery processes focused on tight carbonate formations, the world may gain a major source of lower-rate power over several decades. Here, we overview the Arab D formation in the largest oil field on earth, the Ghawar. We investigate the occurrence of microporosity of different origins and sizes using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and pore casting techniques. Then, we present a robust calculation of the probability of invasion and oil saturation distribution in the nested micropores using mercury injection capillary pressure data available in the literature. We show that large portions of the micropores in Arab D formation would have been bypassed during primary drainage unless the invading crude oil ganglia were sufficiently long. We also show that, under prevailing conditions of primary drainage of the strongly water-wet Arab formations in the Ghawar, the microporosity there was invaded and the porosity-weighted initial oil saturations of 60-85% are expected. Considering the asphaltenic nature of crude oil in the Ghawar, we expect the invaded portions of the pores to turn mixed-wet, thus becoming inaccessible to waterflooding until further measures are taken to modify the system's surface chemistry and/or create substantial local pore pressure gradients.

Automated summary

This article investigates the microporosity and oil saturation distribution in the Arab D formation in the largest oil field on earth, the Ghawar. The study reveals that a significant portion of the micropores would have been bypassed during primary drainage, unless the invading crude oil had sufficient invasion length. It also shows that under the predominately water-wet conditions in Ghawar, the invaded portions of the micropores are expected to have initial oil saturations of 60-85%. However, due to the asphaltenic nature of the crude oil, these pores would become inaccessible to waterflooding unless further measures are taken to modify the system's surface chemistry or create substantial local pore pressure gradients.