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Reservoir quality and diagenesis of the Permian Lucaogou Formation tight carbonates in Jimsar Sag, Junggar Basin, West China

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Abstract

The Lower Permian Lucaogou Formation in the Jimsar sag, Junggar Basin is a typical tight-oil reservoir in China. For effective exploration and production, the formation of a high-quality reservoir must be thoroughly studied. In this work, the tight-oil reservoir was examined using a variety of methods, including core and thin-section observations, XRD, SEM, CL and fluid inclusion and isotope testing. The tight-oil reservoirs were primarily deposited in saline lake environments, which are dominated by variable admixture of dolomite, quartz, feldspar, tuff, calcite and pyrite. Nine main lithofacies were identified: (1) siliceous mudstone, (2) dolomitic siliceous mudstone, (3) dolomitic mudstone, (4) intraclast packstone/grainstone, (5) ooid grainstone, (6) bioclast grainstone, (7) dolomitic siltstone, (8) mixed siliclastic and intraclast grainstone and (9) brecciated dolomitic mudstone. The pore types are classified into four categories: primary intergranular, moldic, intercrystalline and fracture pores. The properties of tight-oil reservoirs are quite poor, with low porosity (ave. 7.85%) and permeability (ave. 0.110 mD) and a small pore-throat radius (ave. 0.086 μm). The tight-oil reservoirs are dominated by the aggradation of a repetitive meter-scale sedimentary facies succession that records distinct lacustrine expansions and contractions. These tight carbonates have also undergone significant diagenetic alterations, such as dolomitization, dissolution, neomorphism and fracture created intercrystalline and moldic pores, vug and fractures; chemical and mechanical compaction and carbonate cementation have decreased the reservoir quality. Variations in reservoir quality in the Jimusar sag are due to a combination of lithofacies type, high-frequency cyclic depositional architecture, dissolution intensity, dolomitization and tectonic related deformation. This integrated study has helped in understanding the reservoir heterogeneity and hydrocarbon potential of the Jimusar fine-grained rocks.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (No. 2014CB239002) and the Joint Funds of the Shandong Science Foundation (No. ZR2016DL05). China University of Petroleum (East China) provided facilities for this research. The authors thank Research Institute of Exploration and Development, Xinjiang Oilfield Company for some data preparation. The final publication is available at Springer via https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-016-0931-6.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum, Qingdao, 266580, China

    Yongqiang Yang, Longwei Qiu, Yingchang Cao & Cheng Chen

  2. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Depositional Mineralization & Sedimentary Mineral, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266590, China

    Yongqiang Yang, Longwei Qiu & Yingchang Cao

  3. Research Institute of Exploration and Development, Xinjiang Oilfield Company, Karamay, 834000, China

    Dewen Lei & Ming Wan

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  1. Yongqiang Yang
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Correspondence to Longwei Qiu.

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Yang, Y., Qiu, L., Cao, Y. et al. Reservoir quality and diagenesis of the Permian Lucaogou Formation tight carbonates in Jimsar Sag, Junggar Basin, West China. J. Earth Sci. 28, 1032–1046 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12583-016-0931-6

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