Measuring permeabilities of Middle-Bakken samples using three different methods

In recent years, petroleum exploration and production from the Williston Basin at the Bakken Formation has garnered great success. Producing hydrocarbons from the Bakken Formation is challenging due to its low porosity and permeability. Investigating the permeability of the Bakken Formation is required in order to better understand the performance of wells that produce hydrocarbons. In addition, permeability is one of the key parameters in modeling fluids flow in reservoir simulation matrices. Unfortunately, the measurement of permeability of tight rocks, such as in Bakken samples, is time consuming and expensive due to their low to extremely low permeability; in addition, sometimes the results from different methods are not in good agreement. Because of the high uncertainty in measuring the permeability of tight rock, it is worthwhile to investigate permeability through different methods in order to reduce uncertainty. In this study, we measured the permeability of tight rocks utilizing three different methods with the same setup. The investigated methods were the oscillating pulse method, the downstream pressure buildup method, and the radius-of-investigation method. In this way, the comparison provides uncertainty and magnitude and indicates the possible presence of heterogeneities and lamination.