MRI Tomography of Saturation Development in Fractures During Waterfloods at Various Wettability Conditions

Abstract

Abstract At three different wettabilities, two stacked outcrop core plugs, separated by a 1 mm fracture, were waterflooded. During the experiment in-situ fluid saturations were monitored with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The sequence of 2D MRI images corroborated earlier lower resolution, larger scale experimental results on the effect of fractures during waterflooding at various wettabilities. The MRI images of oil saturation development in the fracture clearly revealed two distinct transport mechanisms for the wetting phase, water, across the fracture at several wettability conditions. When strongly-water-wet, the first core reached its spontaneous imbibition endpoint before water left the matrix and entered the fracture. The displaced water flowed down the exit face to the bottom of the fracture and displaced the oil upward at the rate of water injection. At less-water-wet conditions water droplets formed on the exit face of the first plug and grew large enough to form individual bridges between the two plugs. This happened well before the first plug reached its spontaneous imbibition endpoint. Under these conditions, the fracture filled slowly, as the bridges increased in diameter and additional bridges formed. Due to the capillary continuity of the wetting phase, a viscous pressure drop was established across the stacked core plugs, providing a viscous component to the total oil recovery.