Revisiting movable fluid space in tight fine-grained reservoirs: A case study from Shahejie shale in the Bohai Bay Basin, NE China

Abstract Assessment of movable fluid is a key topic in production of tight formations. Evaluation of the movable fluid was usually conducted on tight sandstone formations while rarely on black organic-rich shales. To analyze the movable fluid properties in tight black shales, we document the basic geochemical and petrological features of Paleogene Shahejie shale and carry out quantitative analyses of the movable fluid properties. A modified method is proposed to estimate the pore size distribution. Results indicate that Shahejie shale is characterized by a low porosity and under-saturated of movable fluid. Further, porosity and saturation of movable fluid in shales are mainly determined by the heterogeneity of pore structure. Besides, micropores and mesopores with pore radius smaller than 6.69–18.25 nm (the lower limits are calculated for the collected samples based on the low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LF-NMR) transverse relaxation time (T2) spectra, i.e., the lower limit is different for each sample) provide substantial movable space for the fluid. Previously, relaxation rate that related to conversion from T2 spectra of porous media to pore size distributions is often regarded as constant as well as thickness of film fluid that produces pore surface relaxation. However, our work indicates that both the relaxation rate and thickness of film fluid are variables as a function of the pore radius. This study enriches the application of movable fluid properties in tight reservoirs formations, especially shales, and lays a foundation for tight porous media research using LF-NMR in future.