The heterogeneity of pore structure in lacustrine shales: Insights from multifractal analysis using N2 adsorption and mercury intrusion

Abstract A series of parameters from a variety of techniques, such as pore size distribution, surface area, pore volume and, etc., have been used to characterize the pore structure of unconventional shale reservoirs. However, the investigation on the quantification of pore structure heterogeneity is still scarce. In this aspect, a multifractal theory combined with N2 adsorption and mercury intrusion was used to obtain pore structure characteristics and quantify the heterogeneity of pore size distribution of nine lacustrine shale samples from the second member of Kongdian Formation (Ek2) in Cangdong Sag, Bohai Bay Basin, China. The results show that the Ek2 shale contains complex pore network, and pores with small pore size predominate in pore system. Both N2 adsorption branches and pore throat size distributions from mercury intrusion demonstrate multifractal nature. The width of singularity spectra from multifractal analysis is used to quantitatively characterize the heterogeneity degrees of pore size distribution and shows good consistency with pore size distributions derived from N2 adsorption and mercury intrusion. The pore structure from mercury intrusion is much heterogeneous than that from N2 adsorption, indicating that an increased number of large pores will increase the heterogeneity of pore size distributions. Compared with other rock compositions, TOC has an obvious impact on the heterogeneity of pore structure in small pore size ranges.