COGEL-02451; No of Pages 9

International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

International Journal of Coal Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijcoalgeo

Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional

tight gas siltstone play
James M. Wood a, Hamed Sanei b,c,⁎, Mark E. Curtis d, Christopher R. Clarkson c
a
Encana Corporation, Calgary, AB, Canada
b
Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, AB, Canada
c
Department of Geosciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
d
Mewbourne School of Petroleum & Geological Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: In this study of the Triassic Montney tight gas siltstone play in the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin
Received 16 January 2015 petrophysical measurements of drill-core samples (porosity, pore throat size, water saturation and grain size) are
Received in revised form 13 March 2015 integrated with Rock-Eval TOC data, organic petrography observations and SEM imaging to show that reservoir
Accepted 21 March 2015
quality in the gas window is strongly influenced by the pervasive presence of pore-occluding solid bitumen (and
Available online xxxx
pyrobitumen at higher thermal maturity). The solid bitumen formed as a pore-filling liquid oil phase that was dia-
Keywords:
genetically and thermally degraded with further burial and increase in temperature. The proportion of solid bitumen
Bitumen filling the intergranular paleopore network can be expressed as bitumen saturation, and this attribute is found to be
Reservoir quality the dominant control on pore throat size and absolute permeability. The samples with low bitumen saturation and
Tight gas large pore throat radius (N 0.01 μm) have water saturations that generally increase as pore throat size diminishes, a
Wettability relationship consistent with capillary theory for conventional water wet conditions. The samples with high bitumen
Montney Formation saturation and small pore throat radius (b0.01 μm), on the other hand, have abnormally low water saturation, a con-
dition inconsistent with capillary theory for conventional water wet rocks. The coincidence of small pore throat size,
low water saturation and high bitumen saturation is attributed to the presence of well-connected nanopores within
the devolatilized, solid bitumen and the hydrophobic nature of the bitumen. Siltstones in economic portions of the
Montney tight gas fairway have porosity mostly in the range of 3 to 7%. The results of this study show that reservoir
quality in this economically key porosity range is influenced more strongly by bitumen saturation than by conven-
tional determinants of porosity and permeability such as grain size, sorting, clay content and cementation. The
concept of pore-occluding solid bitumen as an important negative control of reservoir quality elucidated here
for Montney siltstones likely has application to the technical and economic evaluation of other tight gas plays
particularly those in indirect basin-centered gas accumulations.
Crown Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction
The significance of thermally degraded solid bitumen in the
evaluation of unconventional tight gas and shale gas plays has become
increasingly recognized in recent years (Bernard et al., 2012, 2013;
Cardott et al., 2014; Fishman et al., 2014; Hackley, 2012;
Haeri-Ardakani et al., 2015; Isinguzo et al., 2014; Mastalerz et al.,
2013). The solid bitumen in many of these shales and tight lithologies
conforms to the concept of migrabitumen (Jacob, 1989), i.e. solid
bitumen derived from a previous hydrocarbon liquid phase which
migrated any distance from a fraction of a millimeter to several kilome-
ters. Recent organic petrography and pyrolysis studies (Chalmers and
Bustin, 2012; Freeman, 2012; Sanei et al., 2015 submitted accompany-
ing paper) show that solid bitumen in a world-class unconventional
tight gas play, the Triassic Montney Formation of the Western Canadian
Sedimentary Basin (National Energy Board, 2013), was originally
introduced as a liquid oil phase which substantially filled the pore
network of this regionally extensive marine siltstone succession. In
this paper we use petrophysical measurements of porosity, pore throat
size, water saturation and grain size together with Rock-Eval TOC data,
organic petrography observations and SEM imaging to show that solid
bitumen is a major determinant of reservoir quality in this indirect
basin-centered gas system (sensu Law, 2002).
2. Geologic setting

⁎ Corresponding author at: Geological Survey of Canada, Calgary, AB, Canada. Tel.: +1
403 292 7045.
E-mail addresses: james.wood@encana.com (J.M. Wood), hsanei@nrcan.gc.ca
(H. Sanei), mcurtis@ou.edu (M.E. Curtis), clarksoc@ucalgary.ca (C.R. Clarkson).
The Early Triassic Montney Formation is up to 320 m (1050 ft) thick
and forms part of an enormous tight gas fairway located immediately to
the northeast of the Cordilleran deformation belt in the Western

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
0166-5162/Crown Copyright © 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
2 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
Canadian Sedimentary Basin of Alberta and British Columbia (Kuppe
et al., 2012; National Energy Board, 2013; Wood, 2013). The formation
is composed overwhelmingly of siltstone and was deposited predomi-
nantly in lower shoreface to offshore environments (Davies et al.,
1997; Edwards et al., 1994; Wood, 2013). Turbidite depositional
environments have also been reported for parts of the Lower Montney
section (Davies et al., 1997). The Montney tight gas fairway passed
into the thermogenic gas window prior to the time of maximum burial
approximately 50 to 60 Ma (Ness, 2001), and forms an indirect basin-
centered gas accumulation (Law, 2002), i.e. a regionally pervasive,
unconventional gas system in which migrated and trapped oil was
thermally cracked to gas. Present-day total organic carbon, typically in
the range from 0.25 to 4.0 wt.%, is virtually all in the form of solid
migrabitumen (Chalmers and Bustin, 2012; Freeman, 2012; Sanei
et al., 2015 Submitted accompanying paper) which occurs as a
pervasive intergranular network (Figs. 1 and 2). The solid bitumen is a
previous oil phase that partially filled the paleopore network of
Montney siltstones during hydrocarbon charging. With further burial
and increase in temperature the oil phase cracked in-situ to solid
bitumen and light hydrocarbon fluids.
3. Methods of study
3.1. Analytical methods
Samples for this study were collected from 17 wells in Alberta and
British Columbia with cored intervals in the Montney Formation.
Complete sets of porosity, mercury injection capillary pressure and
total organic carbon (TOC) measurements were acquired for 123
samples from these cores at depths ranging from 2099 to 4038 m.
Routine porosity measurements were made on one-inch-diameter
plugs at ambient conditions by use of the Boyle's Law method (API
RP40) with helium as the gaseous medium. The samples were cleaned
with toluene and methanol and then oven-dried at 100 °C for a period
of 24 h prior to porosity measurement. Mercury injection capillary
pressure tests were conducted following established methods (Purcell,
1949) and pore throat size distributions were generated by use of the
Washburn (1921) equation. TOC contents were measured by means of
standard Rock-Eval 6 analysis (Lafargue et al., 1998).
Water saturations were determined by the toluene distillation
method (Dean and Stark, 1920) for 322 full-diameter core samples
from 10 of the wells, but only a subset (n = 82) with accompanying
SB
SB
SB
50 µm
Fig. 1. Photomicrograph (oil immersion, white incident light, 50× objective) of a typical
coarse-grained siltstone from the dry gas window of the Montney Formation showing
pervasive paleo-pore filling, solid bitumen (SB).
Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
TOC and mercury injection capillary pressure measurements are
shown here. The whole cores, ranging in diameter from 65 mm
(2.56 in.) to 100 mm (3.94 in.), were cut in oil-based drilling mud
with aluminum sleeve coring equipment. The aluminum-sleeved cores
were cut into sections (typically 1.5 m or 4.92 ft long) in the field and
immediately capped to preserve fluid saturations. This method of
water saturation determination has been found to give consistent
results in the Montney tight gas fairway (Wood, 2013).
Organic petrography observations and measurements were made
on 93 samples from the Montney tight gas fairway, under white and
fluorescent reflected light using a Zeiss Axioimager II microscope
coupled with Diskus-Fossil imaging and photometry software. Sample
pellets were made with a cold-setting epoxy–resin mixture and
then ground and polished in preparation for microscopy. Vitrinite-
Nanoporosity
Micropores
Pyrobitumen with Illite
meniscate form
Inorganic
grain
a
Quartz
Inorganic
grain
Flow structure
Interparticle
micropore
Inorganic
grain
Nanoporous
pyrobitumen
Inorganic
b grain
Fig. 2. FIB/SEM images showing paleo-porosity partially filled with solid bitumen and illite
platelets. (a) Remnant interparticle porosity preserved as micropores (upper right). Solid
bitumen with meniscate form (upper left) is indicative of previous liquid oil phase.
Meniscate solid bitumen maceral contains nanoporosity. (b) Flow structure within solid
bitumen (upper left) is indicative of previous liquid oil phase. Solid bitumen in lower
right contains pervasive nanoporosity. Interparticle micropore preserved where tight
packing of silt grains prevented intrusion of oil/bitumen (center right).
 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
Fig. 3. Schematic representation of a typical Montney rock volume in terms of inorganic
silt grains (yellow), solid bitumen (gray) and present-day porosity (pink). Size of
nanopores (pink circles) greatly exaggerated. Solid bitumen volume (gray) divided by
paleo-pore volume (gray plus pink) gives an estimate of bitumen saturation. (For interpre-
tation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web ver-
sion of this article.)
equivalent reflectance from measurements of solid bitumen in the
studied samples ranges from 0.93 to 2.4%.
The three samples for scanning electron microscopy (SEM) in this
study were milled with a focused ion beam (FIB) in a FEI Helios
NanoLab™ 600 DualBeam™ FIB/SEM. A roughly 60 by 40 μm area was
milled using a 30 kV ion beam. A 2 μm thick layer of platinum was de-
posited on top of the area to be milled by ion beam assisted deposition
to minimize curtaining artifacts on the prepared surface. Imaging was
performed at 1 kV accelerating voltage with a 0.34 nA electron beam.
Backscattered electrons (BSE) were collected for atomic number con-
trast between solid bitumen and mineral phases.
3.2. Bitumen saturation estimation method
Previous studies showed, by means of organic petrography and
slow-heating pyrolysis, that the organic matter in siltstones of the
Montney gas window is composed almost entirely of solid bitumen
(Freeman, 2012; Sanei et al., 2015 Submitted accompanying paper).
Fig. 4. Cross-plot of ambient helium porosity versus total organic carbon (TOC wt.%) for Montney core samples from 17 wells.
Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
3
Building upon the results of this previous work, we developed a simple
method for estimating bitumen saturation. We conceptualized that if
the TOC in these siltstones is composed wholly of solid bitumen
(which represents a migrated and subsequently degraded liquid oil
phase), paleoporosity can then be estimated by summing the present-
day volumes of TOC and porosity. For this calculation we converted
the TOC weight percentage (TOC wt.%) to volume percentage (TOC
vol.%) using appropriate density values for solid bitumen (1.45 g/cm3)
and inorganic matrix (2.70 g/cm3). Bitumen saturation was then
calculated by dividing TOC vol.% by paleoporosity (sum of TOC vol.%
and present-day porosity). This numerical calculation can be visualized
from Fig. 3 which schematically represents a typical Montney rock
volume in terms of inorganic silt grains (yellow), solid bitumen
(gray), present-day porosity (pink) and paleoporosity (gray plus
pink). Even though the concepts inherent in the calculation of bitumen
saturation are greatly simplified, the results of our study reported below
show that bitumen saturation is a key determinant of reservoir quality
in the Montney tight gas fairway.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Porosity and TOC
The Montney samples in this large regional data set (n = 123) have
wide ranges of ambient porosity (0.5 to 10.7%) and TOC (0.15 to
6.81 wt.%), and no statistically significant correlation between the two
attributes is apparent (Fig. 4). Other Montney studies of smaller
geographic areas and fewer samples (Akai and Wood, 2014; Jarvie,
2012) found that porosity has a weak negative correlation with TOC, a
relationship consistent with original pore volume being partially oc-
cluded by solid bitumen. A similar trend is not clearly evident in the
regional data set reported here, but it is worth noting that the samples
with porosity greater than 7.5% all have low TOC content (b1.0 wt.%).
Many studies of gas-window shales report a positive correlation
between porosity and TOC (e.g., Jarvie, 2012; Milliken et al., 2012;
Passey et al., 2010), a relationship consistent with the majority of the
pore volume being present within organic matter. FIB/SEM images of
siltstones from the Montney gas window examined in this study
(e.g., Fig. 2) show the pore volume is highly complex with significant
interparticle and intraparticle components in addition to organic
(intra-bitumen) components. FIB/SEM images also indicate that organic
porosity within devolatilized solid bitumen from the gas window
(Fig. 5) consists of complexly connected nanopores (1 nm to 1 μm)
4 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
a paleo-porosity prior to hydrocarbon charging, (5) the degree of oil
b particle type whereas small pores and pore throats (b 0.01 μm) are
c of the spatial relationships amongst inorganic grains, solid bitumen
Fig. 5. FIB/SEM images showing pervasive organic porosity within solid bitumen/
pyrobitumen. (a) Overview of inorganic gains and paleo-pore network mostly filled
with pyrobitumen. (b) High magnification view showing complex organic porosity (mi-
cropores and nanopores) within pyrobitumen. (c) Very high magnification view showing
pervasive nanopores of 0.005 to 0.015 μm diameter within pyrobitumen.
and micropores (pore size classification of Loucks et al., 2012). The
absence of a clear relationship between porosity and TOC content
in our regional Montney data set is likely due to the multiplicity of
geological factors that ultimately led to the present-day pore and TOC
volumes. These geological factors include, but are not limited to,
(1) the original textural characteristics of the sediment (e.g., grain
size, sorting), (2) the degree of compaction, (3) diagenetic changes
Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
(e.g., cementation, replacement, dissolution), (4) the amount of original
saturation during hydrocarbon charging, and (6) the amount of organic
porosity developed within solid bitumen during in-situ thermal
cracking.
4.2. Pore throat size distribution
Mercury injection capillary pressure data (e.g., Fig. 6) show that pore
throat size distributions of the studied Montney samples form a
spectrum with end members of two types. One end member has pore
throats all less than 0.01 μm in radius. The other end member is charac-
terized by an asymmetric distribution with modal pore throat radius
greater than 0.01 μm and a significant tail extending down to a radius
of 0.0019 μm at the detection limit corresponding to the maximum mer-
cury injection pressure attainable with standard laboratory equipment
(400 MPa). Examination of FIB/SEM images (e.g., Fig. 2) indicates that
large pores and pore throats (N 0.01 μm radius) are mostly of inter-
predominantly present within solid bitumen. FIB/SEM images show
that nanopores can be pervasive within solid bitumen of the gas
window (Fig. 5). The characteristic radii of these nanopores (0.0025 to
0.0075 μm), estimated from visual examination of FIB/SEM images, are
in the same size range as the small pore throat radii determined from
mercury injection capillary pressure measurements (Fig. 6).
Peak (dominant) pore throat radius determined from mercury injec-
tion capillary pressure tests ranges from b0.002 to 0.15 μm (with the
exception of one anomalous outlier at 0.45 μm) and has a moderate
negative correlation with TOC content (power function R2 = 0.58,
Fig. 7). Peak pore throat radius has a significantly stronger negative
correlation with bitumen saturation (power function R2 = 0.84,
Fig. 8). The strength of the latter correlation indicates that pore throat
size distribution in siltstones of the Montney tight gas fairway is largely
controlled by the proportion of solid bitumen that fills and occludes the
paleopore network. This conclusion is supported by direct observation
and porosity evident in organic petrography and FIB/SEM images
(Figs. 1 and 2).
Peak (dominant) pore throat radius has a positive correlation
with porosity, but the overall relationship is surprisingly weak (linear
function R2 = 0.34, Fig. 9a). A likely reason for the weak correlation is
evident when data points are color coded by bitumen saturation
(Fig. 9b). The samples with bitumen saturation less than 30% (orange
bubbles) show the expected positive correlation of pore throat radius
with porosity. In these low bitumen saturation samples, pore throat
size and porosity are not influenced strongly by pore-occluding solid bi-
tumen, and more conventional controls of reservoir quality such as
grain size and cementation exert greater influence. The porosity-pore
throat size correlation weakens significantly or disappears entirely for
the samples with bitumen saturation greater than 30% (gray bubbles).
In these high bitumen saturation samples, pore throat size and porosity
is determined more strongly by properties of the devolatilized solid
bitumen.
Siltstones in economic portions of the Montney tight gas fairway
have porosity mostly in the range of 3 to 7%. Examination of Fig. 9b
suggests that reservoir quality of siltstones in this porosity range is
influenced more strongly by bitumen saturation than by conventional
determinants of porosity and permeability such as grain size, sorting
and clay content. To test this interpretation we examined thin-
sections of each Montney siltstone sample and estimated the modal
size of detrital quartz grains. A cross-plot of modal grain size versus
peak pore throat radius (Fig. 10) shows a weak positive correlation
(exponential function R2 = 0.20). This weak correlation, however, is
insignificant compared with the influence of bitumen saturation
(indicated by bubble size in Fig. 10) which is the dominant control on
pore throat size (R2 = 0.84, Fig. 8).
 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx 5

0.16
2
4
0.14

Incremental Pore Space (fraction)

8
10
0.12 14
16

0.1 18
20
26
0.08 28
32
0.06

0.04

0.02

0
0.001 0.01 0.1
Pore Throat Radius (µm)

Fig. 6. Pore throat size distributions obtained from mercury injection capillary pressure measurements of 11 Montney core samples from well d-A30-J/93-P-1, British Columbia.

4.3. Permeability
The direct measurement of matrix permeability on Montney core
plugs is commonly invalidated by artificially-induced cracks (Akai and
Wood, 2014; Cui and Brezoski, 2013; Wood, 2013). An alternative
approach for estimating matrix permeability is to use mercury injection
capillary-pressure-based empirical models (Aguilera, 2002; Comisky
et al., 2007; Pittman, 1992; Purcell, 1949). In this study we used the
well-known Winland method (Aguilera, 2002; Comisky et al., 2007) to
estimate absolute permeability from the following standard equation:
1:7 1:47
k ¼ 49:4R φ
recognition (Figs. 1 and 2) of solid bitumen as a previous liquid hydro-
carbon phase that filled and occluded the paleo-pore network. The
form of the Winland permeability equation suggests that scatter in the
permeability-bitumen saturation distribution in Fig. 11a can be attribut-
ed to the subordinate influence of porosity on permeability. A cross-plot
of porosity and matrix permeability is shown in Fig. 11b. The similarity
of this cross-plot to the one of porosity and pore throat radius (Fig. 9b) is
consistent with matrix permeability being controlled primarily by pore
throat size rather than porosity. Additionally, Figs. 9b and 11b illustrate
that for any given porosity, the samples with low bitumen saturation
(b30%, orange bubbles) have greater pore throat size and matrix
permeability than the samples with high bitumen saturation (N30%,
gray bubbles).

where k is permeability (mD), R is pore throat radius (μm) at mercury

saturation of 35%, and φ is porosity (fraction).
Fig. 11a indicates that matrix permeability has a strong negative
correlation (power function R2 = 0.83) with bitumen saturation, a
relationship that is in agreement with pore throat size (displayed
by bubble size) being largely determined by bitumen saturation
(cf. Fig. 8). This relationship is also consistent with the petrographic
4.4. Water saturation
A cross-plot of peak pore throat radius versus water saturation
(Fig. 12) shows that the samples with pore throat radius greater than
0.01 μm have water saturations which generally increase as pore throat
size diminishes, a relationship consistent with capillary theory for

Fig. 7. Cross-plot of total organic carbon (TOC wt.%) versus peak pore throat radius (from mercury injection capillary pressure tests) for Montney core samples from 17 wells.

Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
6 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Fig. 8. Cross-plot of bitumen saturation versus peak pore throat radius (from mercury injection capillary pressure tests) for Montney core samples from 17 wells.

conventional water wet conditions. The samples with peak pore throat smaller pore throat size (Fig. 12). Bubble size of data points on the
radius less than 0.01 μm, however, do not show water saturation cross-plot indicates that these samples with small pore throat radius
continuing to increase as pore throat size decreases, but instead show (b0.01 μm) all have high bitumen saturation. These relationships are
water saturation reaching a maximum and then decreasing with also manifest on a histogram of normalized paleo-pore volume

Fig. 9. Cross-plots of ambient helium porosity versus peak pore throat radius (from mercury injection capillary pressure tests) for Montney core samples from 17 wells with data coded by
(a) well and (b) bitumen saturation (scaled to bubble size).

Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx 7

Fig. 5) and the hydrophobic nature of the bitumen. These Montney sam-
ples with small pore throat radius (b0.01 μm) and abnormally low
water saturation are not consistent with capillary theory for con-
ventional water wet rocks. Recently reported results of spontaneous
imbibition tests (Lan et al., 2014a,b) indicate that Montney core samples
have mixed wettability, but show stronger affinity to oil than water. The
strong affinity to oil is attributed to the presence of a pervasive inter-
granular network of solid bitumen which contains well-connected
organic nanoporosity. Solid bitumen thus appears to be an important
factor, in addition to those such as stratigraphic architecture and rock
fabric (Wood, 2013), in determining the distribution of formation
water in the Montney tight gas fairway.

Fig. 10. Cross-plot of modal size of quartz grains (from thin-section examination) versus
peak pore throat radius (from mercury injection capillary pressure tests) for Montney
core samples from 17 wells. Bubble size indicates degree of bitumen saturation.
(Fig. 13) which shows, for 55 Montney core samples, the proportions of
paleo-porosity occupied by solid bitumen, water, and gas. We interpret
the coincidence of small pore throat size, low water saturation and high
bitumen saturation (e.g., samples 1 to 8 on left side of Fig. 13) to be due
to the presence of well-connected nanopores within solid bitumen (e.g.
5. Conclusions
Integration of measurements and observations from the diverse
range of analytical methods used in this study shows that reservoir
quality in the gas window of the unconventional Montney tight gas silt-
stone play is strongly influenced by the pervasive presence of solid bitu-
men. The solid bitumen formed as a migrated, pore-filling liquid oil
phase that was subsequently thermally degraded with further burial
and increase in temperature. The proportion of bitumen filling and oc-
cluding the paleo-pore network can be expressed as bitumen satura-
tion, and this attribute is found to be the dominant control on pore

Fig. 11. Cross-plots of Winland permeability versus (a) bitumen saturation and (b) ambient helium porosity for Montney core samples from 17 wells. Bubbles are scaled to peak pore
throat radius (a) and bitumen saturation (b).

Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
8 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx

Fig. 12. Cross-plot of peak pore throat radius versus water saturation (Sw) for 82 Montney core samples from 10 wells with bubbles scaled to bitumen saturation.

throat size and absolute permeability. The samples with low bitumen
saturation and large pore throat radius (N0.01 μm) have water satura-
tions that generally increase as pore throat size diminishes, a relation-
ship consistent with capillary theory for conventional water wet
conditions. The samples with high bitumen saturation and small pore
throat radius (b 0.01 μm), on the other hand, have abnormally low
water saturation, a condition inconsistent with capillary theory for con-
ventional water wet rocks. The coincidence of small pore throat size,
low water saturation and high bitumen saturation is attributed to the
presence of well-connected nanopores within solid bitumen and the
hydrophobic nature of the bitumen. Siltstones in economic portions of
the Montney tight gas fairway have porosity mostly in the range of 3
to 7%. The results of this study show that reservoir quality in this eco-
nomically key porosity range is influenced more strongly by bitumen
saturation than by conventional determinants of porosity and perme-
ability such as grain size, sorting, clay content and cementation. The
concept of pore-occluding solid bitumen as an important negative con-
trol of reservoir quality likely has application to the evaluation of other
tight gas plays particularly those in indirect basin-centered
accumulations.
Acknowledgments
We thank Encana Corporation and Diamond Gas Management
Canada for the permission to publish. This work is supported by the
Geoscience for New Energy Supply (GNES) program of the Geological
Survey of Canada, Natural Resources Canada (NRCan Contribution
Number 23697) and Encana Corporation. This study benefited from
the encouragement and support of many colleagues including Genga
Nadaraju, Brian Ahearn, Dean Royer, Andy Hubley, Greg Mann, Mandy
Walker (Encana Corporation); Omid Haeri Ardakani (Geological Survey
of Canada); Takashi Akai (JOGMEC); Raymond Chan, Shuliang Li (Core
Laboratories); Jim Stepic (JMS Geological Consultants); Ray Strom (Cal-
gary Rock and Material Services); and Lloyd Snowdon (Snowdon
Research).

Fig. 13. Histogram of normalized paleo-pore volume showing proportions occupied by solid bitumen (dark gray), water (blue) and gas (pink). Values for 55 Montney core samples from six
wells arranged in decreasing order of bitumen saturation from left to right. PPTR data points (yellow dots) indicate peak pore throat radius determined from mercury injection capillary
pressure tests. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
 J.M. Wood et al. / International Journal of Coal Geology xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
References
Aguilera, R., 2002. Incorporating capillary pressure, pore throat aperture radii, height
above free-water table, and Winland r35 values on Pickett plots. Am. Assoc. Pet.
Geol. Bull. 86, 605–624.
Akai, T., Wood, J.M., 2014. Petrophysical Analysis of a Tight Siltstone Reservoir: Montney
Formation, Western Canada. 20th Japanese Formation Evaluation Symposium,
October 2014, Chiba, Japan.
API RP40, 1998. Recommended Practices for Core Analysis. 2nd ed. API, Washington, DC.
Bernard, S., Wirth, R., Schreiber, A., Schulz, H.-M., Hordfiels, B., 2012. Formation of
nanoporous pyrobitumen residues during maturation of the Barnett Shale
(Fort Worth Basin). Int. J. Coal Geol. 130, 3–11.
Bernard, S., Brown, L., Wirth, R., Schreiber, A., Schulz, H.-M., Horsfield, B., Aplin, A.C.,
Mathia, E.J., 2013. FIB-SEM and TEM investigations of an organic-rich shale matura-
tion series from the lower Toarcian Posidonia Shale, Germany: nanoscale pore system
and fluid–rock interactions. In: Camp, W., Diaz, E., Wawak, B. (Eds.), Electron Micros-
copy of Shale Hydrocarbon Reservoirs. American Association of Petroleum Geologists
Memoir 102, pp. 53–66.
Cardott, B.J., Landis, C.R., Curtis, M.E., 2014. Post-oil solid bitumen network in the
Woodford Shale, USA—a potential primary migration pathway. Int. J. Coal Geol.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2014.08.012.
Chalmers, G.R.L., Bustin, R.M., 2012. Geological evaluation of Halfway–Doig–Montney
hybrid gas shale-tight gas reservoir, northeastern British Columbia. Mar. Pet. Geol.
38, 53–72.
Comisky, J.T., Newsham, K.E., Rushing, J.A., Blasingame, T.A., 2007. A comparative study of
capillary-pressure-based empirical models for estimating absolute permeability in
tight gas sands. SPE-110050-MS. SPE Annual Technical Conference, 11–14 November
2007, Anaheim, California, U.S.A.
Cui, A., Brezoski, R., 2013. Laboratory permeability and diffusivity measurements of
unconventional reservoirs: useless or full of information? A Montney example from
the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. SPE-167047-MS. SPE Unconventional
Resources Conference and Exhibition—Asia Pacific, 11–13 November 2013, Brisbane,
Australia.
Davies, G.R., Moslow, T.F., Sherwin, M.D., 1997. The Lower Triassic Montney Formation,
west-central Alberta. Bull. Can. Petrol. Geol. 45, 474–506.
Dean, E.W., Stark, D.D., 1920. A convenient method for the determination of water in
petroleum and other organic emulsions. Ind. Eng. Chem. 12, 486–490.
Edwards, D.E., Barclay, J.E., Gibson, D.W., Kvill, G.E., Halton, E., 1994. Triassic strata of the
Western Canada sedimentary basin. In: Mossop, G.D., Shetsen, I. (Eds.), (Compos.),
Geological Atlas of the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin. Canadian Society of
Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Research Council 16, pp. 257–275.
Fishman, N., Guthrie, J., Honarpour, M., 2014. Development of Organic and Inorganic
Porosity in the Cretaceous Eagle Ford Formation, South Texas: Article 50928.
American Association of Petroleum Geologists Search and Discovery (http://www.
searchanddiscovery.com).
Freeman, M.J., 2012. Lithological, Diagenetic, and Organic Controls on Reservoir Quality in
the Lower Triassic Montney Formation, Pouce Coupe, Alberta. Unpublished M.Sc.
Thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Hackley, P.C., 2012. Geological and geochemical characterization of the Lower Cretaceous
Pearsall Formation, Maverick Basin, south Texas: a future shale gas resource? Am.
Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 96, 1449–1482.
Haeri-Ardakani, O., Sanei, H., Lavoie, D., Chen, Z., Jiang, C., 2015. Geochemical and
petrographic characterization of the Upper Ordovician Utica Shale, southern Quebec,
Canada. Int. J. Coal Geol. 138, 83–94.
Please cite this article as: Wood, J.M., et al., Solid bitumen as a determinant of reservoir quality in an unconventional tight gas siltstone play, Int. J.
Coal Geol. (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.coal.2015.03.015
9
Isinguzo, N., Sanei, H., Clarkson, C.R., DeBuhr, C., Haeri Ardakani, O., Kondla, D., Goodarzi,
F., 2014. Petrographic characterizations of the “Nordegg” (Gordondale) Member of
the Fernie Formation in West Central Alberta, using scanning electron microscopy
& organic petrology. Geoconvention 2014, Calgary, Canada.
Jacob, H., 1989. Classification, structure, genesis and practical importance of natural solid
oil bitumen (“migrabitumen”). Int. J. Coal Geol. 111, 65–79.
Jarvie, D.M., 2012. Shale resource systems for oil and gas: part 1 — shale-gas resource
systems. AAPG Mem. 97, 69–87.
Kuppe, F.C., Nevokshonoff, G., Haysom, S., 2012. Liquids rich unconventional Montney
reservoir: the geology and the forecast. SPE-162824-MS. SPE Canadian Unconventional
Resources Conference, 30 October to 1 November 2012, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Lafargue, E., Marquis, F., Pillot, D., 1998. Rock-Eval 6 applications in hydrocarbon
exploration, production, and soil contamination studies. Oil Gas Sci. Technol. Rev.
IFP 53, 421–437.
Lan, Q., Dehganpour, H., Wood, J., Sanei, H., 2014a. Wettability of the Montney tight gas
formation. SPE/CSUR Unconventional Resources Conference, Calgary, Canada, 30
September to 2 October 2014. SPE-171620-MS (21 pp.).
Lan, Q., Xu, M., Dehganpour, H., Wood, J., 2014b. Advances in understanding wettability of
tight and shale gas formations. SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition,
Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 27 to 29 October 2014. SPE-170969-MS (19 pp.).
Law, B.E., 2002. Basin-centered gas systems. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 86, 1891–1919.
Loucks, R.G., Reed, R.M., Ruppel, S.C., Hammes, U., 2012. Spectrum of pore types and
networks in mudrocks and a descriptive classification for matrix-related mudrock
pores. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 96, 1071–1098.
Mastalerz, M., Schimmelmann, A., Drobniak, A., Chen, Y., 2013. Porosity of Devonian and
Mississippian New Albany Shale across a maturation gradient: insights from organic
petrology, gas adsorption, and mercury intrusion. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 97,
621–1643.
Milliken, K.L., Esch, W.L., Reed, R.M., Zhang, T., 2012. Grain assemblages and strong
diagenetic overprinting in siliceous mudrocks, Barnett Shale (Mississippian), Fort
Worth Basin, Texas, U.S.A. Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol. Bull. 96, 1553–1578.
National Energy Board, 2013. Canada's Energy Future 2013. National Energy Board
(87 pp.).
Ness, S.M., 2001. The Application of Basin Analysis to the Triassic Succession, Alberta
Basin: An Investigation of Burial and Thermal History and Evolution of Hydrocarbons
in Triassic Rocks. (M.Sc. Thesis). University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Passey, Q.R., Bohacs, K.M., Esch, W.L., Klimentidis, R.E., Sinha, S., 2010. From Oil-prone
Source Rock to Gas-producing Shale Reservoir — Geologic and Petrophysical
Characterization of Unconventional Shale-gas Reservoirs: SPE 131350 (29 pp.).
Pittman, E.D., 1992. Relationship of porosity and permeability to various parameters
derived from mercury injection-capillary pressure curves for sandstone (1). AAPG
Bull. 76, 191–198.
Purcell, W.R., 1949. Capillary pressures—their measurement using mercury and the
calculation of permeability therefrom. J. Pet. Technol. 1, 39–48.
Sanei, H., Wood, J.M., Haeri Ardakani, O., Clarkson, C.R., Jiang, C., 2015. Organic Matter
Fractions and Their Implications in an Unconventional Tight Gas Reservoir Quality
(Submitted accompanying paper).
Washburn, E.W., 1921. Note on a method of determining the distribution of pore sizes in a
porous material. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 115–116.
Wood, J., 2013. Water distribution in the Montney tight gas play of the Western Canadian
sedimentary basin: significance for resource evaluation. SPE Reservoir Evaluation &
Engineering. SPE-161824-PA http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/161824-PA.