Graduation Semester and Year
2017
Language
English
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Earth and Environmental Science
Department
Earth and Environmental Sciences
First Advisor
Qinhong Hu
Abstract
The area that comprises the Northwest Shelf in Lea Co., New Mexico has been heavily drilled over the past half century. The main target being shallow reservoirs within the Permian section (San Andres and Grayburg Formations). With a focus shifting towards deeper horizons, there is a need for more petrophysical data pertaining to these formations, which is the focus of this study through a variety of techniques. This study involves the use of contact angle measurements, fluid imbibition tests, Mercury Injection Capillary Pressure (MICP) and log analysis to evaluate the nano-petrophysical properties of the Yeso, Abo and Cisco Formation within the Northwest Shelf area of southeast New Mexico. From contact angle measurements, all of the samples studied were found to be oil-wetting as n-decane spreads on to the rock surface much quicker than the other fluids (deionized water and API brine) tested. Imbibition tests resulted in a well-connected pore network being observed for all of the samples with the highest values of imbibition slopes being recorded for the Abo samples. MICP provided a variety of pore structure data which include porosity, pore-throat size distributions, permeability and tortuosity. The Abo samples saw the highest porosity percentages, which were above 15%, with all the other samples ranging from 4 – 7%. The majority of the pore-throat sizes for most of the samples fell within the 1 – 10 µm range. The only exceptions to this being the Paddock Member within the Yeso Formation, which saw a higher percentage of larger pores (10 - 1000µm) and one of the Cisco Formation samples, which had the majority of its pore sizes fall in the 0.1 – 1 µm range. The log analysis created log calculations and curves for cross-plot porosity and water saturation that were then used to derive a value for permeability. The porosity and permeability values were comparable with those measured from our MICP and literature values.
Keywords
Petrophysics, Yeso Formation, Abo Formation, Cisco Formation, Permian
Disciplines
Earth Sciences | Physical Sciences and Mathematics
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Recommended Citation
Mann, Griffin, "Petrophysical Properties of the Yeso, Abo and Cisco Formations in the Permian Basin in New Mexico, U.S.A." (2017). Earth & Environmental Sciences Theses. 200.
https://mavmatrix.uta.edu/ees_theses/200
Comments
Degree granted by The University of Texas at Arlington