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Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000
www.elsevier.com/locate/procedia

13th International Conference on Greenhouse Gas Control Technologies, GHGT-13, 14-18

November 2016, Lausanne, Switzerland

Prediction of CO2 saturation by using well logging data, in the

process of CO2-EOR and geological storage of CO2
Xiaoli Zhanga, *, Qiao Fengb, Xiangzeng Wangc, Jinfeng Maa, Lixia Zhangc, Bowei Yua
a
State key laboratory for Continental Dynamics / Department of Geology, Northwest University, Xi’an Shaanxi, 710069, P. R. China
b
College of Geology Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao Shandong, 266510, P. R. China
c
Shaanxi Yanchang Petroleum Co. Ltd., No.75 Keji No.2 Road, Xi’an Shaanxi, 710065, P. R. China

Abstract

CO2 saturation monitoring is one of the key parameters to determine the geological storage of CO2. Because of the CO2-EOR
or CO2 injection, the CO2-brine-rock interactions in reservoirs will lead to a series of complex changes in the mineral
composition of rocks, porosity, pore structure, properties of formation water and residual oil saturation. At the same time, the
difference of the CO2 spread range in reservoirs will cause the different CO2 saturation in different regions; in the same region,
the reservoir CO2 saturation will also be different at the different time. To predict the complex variation of CO2 saturation in
reservoirs, the processing and interpretation of the time-lapse logging data and the comparative analysis are needed. The steps for
determining the CO2 saturation are as follows. Before CO2 injection, the background values of the formation water, rock mineral
composition, porosity, pore structure and oil saturation are determined by the implementation of well logging. Firstly, the
formation water parameters were monitored and determined at a specified time in the process of CO2 injection or CO2-EOR.
Secondly, the time-lapse well logging was carried out to determine the rock mineral composition, porosity, pore structure, oil
saturation and saturation CO2. The case-hole formation resistivity, pulsed neutron logging series and C/O logging series are often
used to process and interpret the results of well logging data and to predict the residual oil and CO2 saturation. In addition, if the
variety of porosity would be ignored, CO2 saturation is based on the prediction. CO2 saturation is equal to the parameter such as:
((the background value of the acoustic logging porosity) – (the time-lapse neutron logging porosity)) / (the background value of
the acoustic logging porosity).
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of GHGT-13.

Keywords: CO2-EOR; CO2-brine-rock interaction; formation water salinity; pore; CO2 saturation; time-lapse logging

* Xiaoli Zhang. Tel.: +86-130-7299-1276; fax: +86-029-88304789.

E-mail address: xiaoli_nwu@163.com; zhangxl@nwu.edu.cn

1876-6102 © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Peer-review under responsibility of the organizing committee of GHGT-13.
2 Xiaoli Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

1. Introduction

In the late stage of oilfield development, CO2 was often used to drive oil and stored in the oil reservoirs. In the
process of CO2-EOR, the CO2-brine-rock interactions in reservoirs would lead to a small part of CO2 dissolve in
formation water, a small part of CO2 dissolve in oil, a small part of CO2 convert into the new secondary carbonate
precipitation and mineralization [1,2,3]. Some of the CO2 was remaining in the reservoir pores; on the contrary, most
of the CO2 was being brought out in a monitoring well or in an oil well. In short, CO2 is in a dissolved state
dissolved in formation water and oil reservoir; CO2 is the compound state into secondary minerals and the molecular
state remaining in the reservoir pore volume and the amount of CO2 synthesis for geological sequestration. Related
simulation studies show that in 25 years, there will be about 10%~25% of CO2 dissolved in water, and completely
dissolved it will take thousands of years [4,5]. Dissolution of CO2 in a solution state by molecular diffusion,
dispersion and convection for migration, a pretty low formation water transport rate to ensure that the CO2 can
sequestrate in a long-term (geological time scale). The CO2-brine-rock interactions leaded to CO2 generation
compounds and thus to be sealed [6,7]. The free state of the CO2 stored in the pores would likely to be sealed for a
million years [8,9].
In order to optimize the remaining oil enrichment area and detect the effect of CO2-EOR in reservoirs, the
detection of the residual oil saturation and CO2 saturation in different stages of CO2-EOR are essential. There are
three methods. Firstly, through the numerical simulation of the coupling process of thermal-hydrodynamic-
mechanical-chemical reaction in different stages of CO2-EOR, the variations of formation water and mineral
composition are revealed in the process of CO2-EOR. Based on the theory of multiphase flow, the process and effect
of CO2-EOR are numerically simulated in reservoir geological condition. Secondly, the remaining oil saturation,
CO2 saturation and their variations can be analyzed by using the reservoir conditions simulation and the core CO2-
EOR experiment. Thirdly, the residual oil saturation, CO2 saturation and their variations can be determined by
processing and interpretation the well logging data in open and cased borehole in different stages of CO2-EOR.
Because of the limitations of the laboratory core reservoir displacement simulation experiment and the numerical
simulation, the impact evaluation of CO2-EOR and geological storage is mainly dependent on the oilfield monitoring
and the processing and interpretation results from the well logging data in open and cased borehole.
Due to the CO2-brine-rock interactions, CO2 is dissolved in formation water, which leads to the decrease of the
formation water resistivity. Because of the difference of the CO2 spread, the characteristics of the formation water
parameters are complex and changeable in different regions and different time [10]. At the same time, CO2 is
mineralized in the form of compounds to form the new minerals, which leads to the variable matrix parameter of the
rock [11]. The variable matrix parameter will lead to deal with the difficult problem such as matrix parameter
determination. Moreover, mineral dissolution will change the porosity and pore structure in reservoirs [12,13], which
may cause the complex changes of the electrical parameters of the rock. The above series of complex changes lead
to have some difficulties in quantitative determination of CO2 saturation by the conventional logging data processing
and interpretation. The effective way to solve the difficult problem is to use the various techniques.

2. Determining CO2 saturation by time-lapse well logging data processing and interpretation

At present, the case-hole formation resistivity (CHFR), pulsed neutron logging series (PND-Pulsed Neutron
Decay, PNN-Pulsed Neutron-Neutron) and C/O logging series (RMT-Reservoir Monitor Tool, RST-Reservoir
Saturation Tool) are often used to processes and interpret the well logging data and to predict the residual oil
saturation. Also, these are used to monitor residual CO2 saturation post-EOR. Each well logging technology has its
detecting depth, vertical resolution, well environmental requirements and adaptability of reservoir geological
conditions. CHFR is a kind of well logging technology which has a deep probing depth and a wide applicability. It is
commonly used to detect the residual oil saturation in reservoirs. Due to the similarity between the conductivity of
CO2 and oil, the oil saturation of CHFR log interpretation is the sum of the residual oil saturation and CO2 saturation.
Moreover, the pulsed neutron logging is used widely in cased hole, and the measured macroscopic thermal
absorption cross-section (∑) is sensitive to CO2 saturation in high porosity saline water environments [14]. Then,
post-EOR, how to determine the CO2 saturation is very important.
 Xiaoli Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000 3

Saeko Mito and Ziqiu Xue (2011), Takahiro Nakajima and Ziqiu Xue (2013) pointed out that well loggings
which mainly consisted of neutron logging, acoustic logging and induction logging had been continued for 5 years
after ceasing of CO2 injection in saline aquifers and that time-lapse well logging were helpful to improve
understanding of CO2 long term behavior in reservoirs [15,16]. CO2 saturation was assumed by neutron porosity
which obtained from counting an amount of hydrogen in the water. And CO2 saturation was also assumed by
induction logging and acoustic logging.
As we know, the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) can be used to reveal the pore, pore structure and saturation
characteristics of reservoir by the hydrogen nuclear magnetic resonance characteristics and the neutron well logging,
which can be used to reveal pore characteristics. Ignoring the variation of pore in the process of CO2-EOR and
sequestration, pre- and post-CO2-EOR, the difference between the NMR logging effective porosity and the time
lapse NMR logging effective porosity is closely related to the amount of CO2 in the pores. Also, the difference
between the neutron logging porosity in open and cased borehole can also reveal the amount of CO2 in pores.

2.1. Determination of the variable water formation resistivity

In the process of CO2-EOR and post-CO2-EOR, due to the CO2-brine-rock interactions, the formation water
characteristics have changed. This would cause the variety of the formation water resistivity and then affect the
prediction of CO2 saturation by well logging. Therefore, it is very important to determine the corresponding
formation water resistivity at different times. Hongqi Liu et al. (2009) proposed a method for measuring the water
content and formation water salinity [17]. According to the formation water salinity, reservoir temperature and
others, the formation water resistivity would be determined.

2.2. Determination of the variable matrix parameters

Using the well logging data of the photoelectric absorption index (Pe), acoustic logging (AC), density logging
(DEN), neutron logging (CNL) and others, the regression equations based on multi mineral optimization model can
be established to predict mineral components and then to determine the matrix parameters.
The relative content of the various and complex mineral components is also calculated by elemental capture
spectrum (ECS) well logging data processing and interpretation.

2.3. Determination of the variable porosity parameter

Based on the determination of the variable matrix parameters, the reservoir porosity will be determined by
acoustic logging, density logging and neutron logging.
Through the high resolution nuclear magnetic resonance well logging data acquisition, as far as possible to
capture the information of porosity and pore structure in reservoirs

2.4. Determination of the variable CO2 saturation

A certain period of time in the process of CO2-EOR or post-CO2-EOR, formation water parameters and pore
parameters are determined by the time-lapse logging, and the sum of the residual oil and CO2 saturation is
determined by CHFR, neutron logging pulsed neutron logging and others. Under the general formation condition,
the density of CO2 is three times of the density of crude oil, so the CO2 saturation can be further determined by the
combination of density logging. In addition, because Litho Scanner can effectively monitor organic carbon and
inorganic carbon content in reservoirs, the residual oil saturation can be reversed by the organic carbon content in
reservoirs, and then CO2 saturation can be calculated.
The total reservoir porosity can be determined by the acoustic logging data. Neutron logging porosity is related to
the hydrogen (H) content in reservoirs. Neglecting the change of reservoir porosity, the difference between the
neutron porosity and acoustic porosity reflects the amount of CO2 in the process of CO2-EOR or post-CO2-EOR.
The above differences are divided by the acoustic porosity to reveal the CO2 saturation. According to the time lapse
log of the neutron log, the corresponding CO2 saturation and its variation can be monitored.
4 Xiaoli Zhang et al. / Energy Procedia 00 (2017) 000–000

In short, according to the time-lapse logging, the CO2 saturation and its change can be predicted. The flow chart is
shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. The flow chart of determination of CO2 saturation

3. Conclusions

To sum up, the difference of the CO2 spread range in reservoirs will cause the different CO2 saturation in different
regions; in the same region, the reservoir CO2 saturation will also be different at the different time. To predict the
complex variation of CO2 saturation in reservoirs, the steps for determining the CO2 saturation are as fellows.
Before CO2 injection, the background values of the formation water, rock mineral composition, porosity, pore
structure and oil saturation are determined by the implementation of well logging. A specified time in CO2-EOR or
the process of CO2 injection, firstly, the formation water parameters are monitored and determined; second, the
time-lapse well logging was carried out to determine the rock mineral composition, porosity, pore structure, oil
saturation and saturation CO2. The case-hole formation resistivity, pulsed neutron logging series and C/O logging
series are often used to process and interpret the well logging data and to predict the residual oil and CO2 saturation.
In addition, if the variety of porosity is ignored, CO2 saturation would be predicted based on the parameter: CO2
saturation (S CO 2 ) = (the background value of the acoustic logging porosity (ΦS) - the time-lapse neutron logging
porosity (ΦN) ) / the background value of the acoustic logging porosity (ΦS).

Acknowledgements

Thanks to the National Major Scientific and Technological Research Projects (2016ZX05003-006) and the
National 863 Program funds (2012AA050103) support. Thanks to the support by National & Local Joint
Engineering Research Center for Carbon Capture and Sequestration Technology at Northwest University. We are
grateful to all staffs involved in the projects, and also thank the journal associate editor and the reviewers.

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