The High-Pressure Methane/Brine/Quartz Contact Angle and Its Influence on Gas Reservoir Capillaries

Abstract

A capillary high-pressure optical cell (HPOC) combined with a confocal Raman system was used in this study of high-pressure methane/brine contact angles on a quartz surface. The contact angle was determined from the shape of the methane/brine/quartz interface; it increased with fluid pressure from 41° to 49° over a pressure range of 5.7–69.4 MPa. A linear relationship between the contact angle and the Raman shift was also observed. The experimentally measured contact angle was more accurately applied in calculations of capillary resistance than the empirically estimated 0°, and it provides an important parameter in the study of gas migration and production processes. For a natural gas reservoir, pore-throat capillary resistance was 33% lower than the traditionally accepted value, and low capillary resistance is conducive to deeply buried tight gas reservoirs becoming more gas saturated. As burial depth increases, capillary resistance initially decreases and passes through a maximum before decreasing again, rather than increasing linearly with depth. Our results provide critical parameters for gas reservoir production, modeling, and resource assessment. This non-destructive method may be useful for predicting contact angles through measurement of the Raman shift of the HPOC and fluid inclusions in the reservoir.