Reservoir quality determination and modelling of unconsolidated Canadian Oil Sands reservoir following analytical techniques Kanad Kulkarni School of Engineering University of Portsmouth This Dissertation is submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy February 2018 I would like to dedicate this thesis to my loving parents, late grandparents, my wife and my in -laws………… i Declaration Declaration I Kanad Sadashiv Kulkarni hereby declare that except where specific reference is made to the work of others, the contents of this dissertation are original and have not been submitted in whole or in part for consideration for any other degree or qualification in this, or any other university. This dissertation is my own work and contains noth ing which is the outcome of work done in collaboration with others, except as specified in the text and Acknowledgements. This dissertation contains fewer than 65,000 words including appendices, bibliography, footnotes, tables an d equations and has fewer t han 2 50 figures. Kanad Sadashiv Kulkarni Februa ry 2018 ii Acknowledgements First and Foremost, I want to thank my supervisor Dr Mohamed Hassan. It has been an honour to be his Ph.D. student. He has taught me, both consciously and unconsciously, how a Ph.D. thesis can be completed. I appreciate all time, efforts and support he h as provided me through this research. His invaluable contribution has helped me complete this Ph.D. It has been great joyous working with you and debating on several important topics within this Ph.D. It would have been extremely difficult to complete this project. I would like to extend my special thanks for Dr Richard Wheaton for his wealth of knowledge and support provided to me in completing chapter 6 of this Ph.D. I would like to further extend my gratitude to Dr David Franklin for his support throug h this Ph.D. at the University of Portsmouth your timely feedback and continuous guidance has been of immense importance. Your support in assisting me to secure funding for this research at the University of Portsmouth has made this project possible. I w ould like to extend my gratitude to Ms. Rachna Parwani and Dr Alexander Kao for their assistance in providing very high quality micro CT scans through University of Portsmouth’s Zeiss Global Centre. Your contribution has facilitated me with dataset that formed an essential component of this thesis. My sincere thanks to Dr Julie Dee Bell for her support and supervision from 2011 to 2013. Your time, effo rts and guidance was invaluable during my time at the LSBU. Your enthusiasm and focus on this subject allowed us to acquire samples from University of Alberta and outcrop samples from Canada. Furthermore, I would like to thank Dr Helen Turnell, Dr John Or in and Dr David Roberts for their guidance and support during my time at LSBU. Dr David Roberts your emotional support and guidance during my 2011 to 2014 has been invaluable and has allowed me to stay focused on this Ph.D. I would like to thank Mr. Lam C hung for your support and training on SEM laboratories to acquire SEM images for analysis within this project. Special thanks to SkyScan for providing initial 8 µm scan of all three core samples for 2D analysis of data. Furthermore, I wish to extend my g ratitude to National Research iii Council in Italy for helping us develop this section for such a complex unconsolidated sample. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all students (Anane Boateng, Gabriel Okoloh , Mario Kazniakowski , Ovie Eruteya, Lin da Morris, Adebimpe Momoh, Victoria Umejuru , Nasir Shah, Johan Fianu, Nikolas Pachipis, Luke Day, Helen Nodland, Sunny Mann, Boluwatife Olofun ) that have worked with me on peripherals projects related to this project in London South Bank University and U niversity of Portsmouth. Your contribution has been extremely valuable and has contributed to some parts of this Ph.D. I would like to thank my employer University of Portsmouth for funding my research since 2014 and facilitating me time to perform this research during my time at the University. I would like to begin by remembering my late grandfather who believed in me and enthused me to apply for this Ph.D. your advice of persuasion has been my source of determination through difficult times during this Ph.D. My utmost gratitude to my parents and sister for their moral and financial support during this Ph.D. Your blessing and well wishes have always been source of power and determination to complete this project. My special thanks to my Wif e for being my better half and supporting me all through this Ph.D. you care and support has facilitated me to undertake this project and complete my Ph.D. The blessing and well wishes bestowed upon me by my in laws have helped me achieve this success. iv Abstract Canadian Oil Sands covering an area of 142,000KM 2 boasts one of the largest heavy oil proven reserves standing at 166 Bbbl. This volume makes it a promising prospect for the future of the oil and gas industry . Though , having large reserves it is not the easiest to produce from. The oil in this region is categorized as heavy, extra heavy to bituminous which means that it is highly viscous and incapable of flowing without reducing visco sity. Furthermore, the Geology for this reservoir is heterogene ous with bioturbated sections which adds to the complexity. Additionally, lack of cementing matrix within formation makes this reservoir an unconsolidated reservoir. The unconsolidated nature introduces challenges during routine core analysis leading to th e inaccurate results and in certain cases questions reliability of the methodology followed to assess this reservoir. The lack of any reliable work flow with methodologies act as a primary research gas for this thesis. Owing to aforementioned reasons, thi s study aims to establish a new workflow to determine properties from unconsolidated reservoirs, that includes use of Thin section analysis, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), micro -CT techniques followed by image analysis to determine morphological and r eservoir properties to simulate the reservoir to test applicability of the said workflow. To achieve set aim s this research has made good use of thin sections that were prepared from outcrop samples and has followed further with detailed studies on core samples. Analysis of the thin sections has demonstrated arrangements . SEM and micro CT are able to provide properties more reliably than RCAL analysis. The simulations developed to test applicability of the properties followed has demonstrated variations to the recovery that can be observed by applying variety of porosity and permeability determined following the workflow of this thesis. Furthermore, the effect of bioturbation can also be observed with variation to the production volume observed as part of the simulation results . v Publications Through this research 1. Fianu J, Hassan M,Kulkarni K, Pachipis N,Turnell H (2016) Bioturbation in Athabasca oil sands: Property modelling and simulation. (Submitted) 2. Aminu MD, Kulkarni KS (2015) The Influence of Grain Morphology on Reservoir Quality of Some Athabasca Oil Sands Samples. 2015 Journal of Geology & Geoscience. 3. Julie D. Bell; Kanad Kulkarni; Linda Morris and Adebimpe Momoh. Oil Sands Fabric: The Grain Com ponent and Influences on Reservoir Properties. 3 rd June 2015 AAPG Annual Convention and Exhibition, Denver, Colorado 4. Bell, Julie; Kulkarni Kanad; and Maraj Marsha. Novel Approach to Determining Unconsolidated Reservoir Properties: Fabric and Flow in Oil Sands. 2013 Unconventional Resource Technology Conference (URTeC) Denver, Colorado. 5. Bell, Julie; Eruteya, Ovie; and Kulkarni, Kanad . Effect of Bioturbation on Oil Sand Fabrics and Implication for Reservoir Quality. 2012 GSA Annual Meeting, Charlotte vi Table of Contents Declaration ................................ ................................ ................................ .................. ii Acknowledgements ................................ ................................ ................................ .... iii Abstract ................................ ................................ ................................ ...................... v Publications Through this research ................................ ................................ ............ vi Table of Contents ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... vii List of Figures ................................ ................................ ................................ ............ xv List of Tables ................................ ................................ ................................ ........... xxv List of Equations ................................ ................................ ................................ .... xxvii 1 Introd uction ................................ ................................ ................................ ......... 1 1.1 Introduction ................................ ................................ ................................ .. 1 1.2 Problem identification ................................ ................................ ................... 2 1.3 Aims and Objectives of this project ................................ .............................. 6 1.3.1 Aims ................................ ................................ ................................ ...... 6 1.3.2 Objectives ................................ ................................ ............................. 6 1.4 Thesis Outline