Geological genesis and identification of high-porosity and low-permeability sandstones in the Cretaceous Bashkirchik Formation, northern Tarim Basin

The genesis and prediction of high-porosity and low-permeability sandstone reservoirs are hot spots in oil and gas geology research worldwide. High-porosity and low-permeability sandstone reservoirs are developed in the Cretaceous Bashkirchik Formation of the Luntai Uplift in the northern Tarim Basin, China. In this article, we conducted a systematic study on the geological origin and logging identification of high-porosity and low-permeability tight sandstone based on core observation, thin section, logging index response, and mathematical discrimination methods. The results show that the K1bs sandstone segment in the study area generally contains calcium carbonate, which mainly comes from carbonate rock debris and calcite cement. Calcite cement mainly fills the pores between primary particles, and it is the main factor leading to the densification of the reservoir. The geological origin of the formation of low-permeability layer is mainly due to the early cementation of carbonate, and the development mode of the low-permeability layer is “high content of calcium debris → severe calcium cementation → poor petrophysical properties → formation of low-permeability layer.” The low-permeability layer has the characteristics of high gamma and high resistivity, and the multi-parameter discriminant method established based on the Fisher criterion has a good identification effect for the low-permeability layer. The low-permeability layer has a small thickness, poor stability and continuity, and strong longitudinal heterogeneity, thus it can form a low-permeability baffle inside the reservoir, which greatly reduces the oil and gas migration capacity.