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Laboratory Evaluation Methods of Water Saturation in Shales

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Abstract

The content of formation water is among the key parameters in the exploration and exploitation of low-permeability shale reservoirs containing hardly-recoverable hydrocarbon resources. The reliable estimation of this parameter provides an authentic evaluation of hydrocarbon resources. An extensive review of publications is presented on the direct and indirect laboratory techniques to determine the water saturation of unconventional shale reservoirs. The essence, advantages, disadvantages and limitations of the methods are described in detail. It is shown that direct laboratory techniques (the retort method, as well as Zaks and Dean–Stark measurements) that were developed initially for common reservoir rocks produced up to a 50% error for samples of unconventional rocks of hardly-recoverable resources. An evaporation procedure developed specially for low-permeability rocks should be an alternative. The procedure allows one to quantitatively estimate the contents of free and bound water more rapidly, exactly (less than 6.8% error), and efficiently compared to other techniques; moreover, five times less core matter is required for the analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

    E. S. Kazak, I. A. Rodkina & Ya. V. Sorokoumova

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  1. E. S. Kazak
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Translated by A. Rylova

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Kazak, E.S., Rodkina, I.A. & Sorokoumova, Y.V. Laboratory Evaluation Methods of Water Saturation in Shales. Moscow Univ. Geol. Bull. 78, 56–69 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0145875223010064

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