Primary oil migration through buoyancy-driven multiple.pdfVIP

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L09303, doi:10.1029/2008GL033645, 2008 Click Here for Full Article Primary oil migration through buoyancy-driven multiple fracture propagation: Oil velocity and flux Z.-H. Jin1 and S. E. Johnson2 Received 14 February 2008; revised 20 March 2008; accepted 31 March 2008; published 6 May 2008. [1] We present a fracture-mechanics-based formulation to the low solubility of oil in water [England et al., 1987; investigate primary oil migration through the propagation of Durand , 1983; Hunt , 1996]. an array of periodic, parallel fractures in a sedimentary rock [4] Owing to the shortcomings of other expulsion mech- with elevated pore fluid pressure. The rock is assumed to be anisms, many published papers invoke fracture permeability a linearly elastic medium. The fracture propagation and as the most likely mechanism for transferring petroleum from hence oil migration velocity are determined using a fracture source to carrier rocks [e.g., Palciauskas and Domenico, mechanics criterion together with the lubrication theory of 1980; Hunt , 1990; Miller, 1995; Law and Spencer, 1998; fluid mechanics. We find that fracture interactions have Nelson, 2001; Lash and Engelder, 2005]. Intact samples from profound effects on the primary oil migration behavior. For source rocks commonly show bitumen-bearing fractures of a given fracture length, the mass flux of oil migration variable width up to several mm [e.g., Hunt, 1990; Nelson, decreases dramatically with an increase in fracture density. 2001; Lash and Engelder, 2005], so there is clear evidence The reduced oil flux is due to the decreased fracture that fracture permeability plays a role in primary oil migration. propagation velocity