Reservoir Porosity Measurement Uncertainty and its Influence on Shale Gas Resource Assessment

Reservoir porosity is a critical parameter for the process of unconventional oil and gas resources assessment. It is difficult to determine the porosity of a gas shale reservoir, and any large deviation will directly reduce the credibility of any shale gas resources evaluation. However, there is no quantitative explanation for the accuracy of porosity measurement. In this paper, measurement uncertainty, an internationally recognized index, was used to evaluate the results of porosity measurement of gas shale plugs, and its impact on the credibility of shale gas resources assessment was determined. The following conclusions are drawn: (1) the measurement uncertainty of porosity of a shale plug is 1.76%–3.12% using current measurement methods, the upper end of which is too large to be acceptable. It is suggested that the measurement uncertainty should be factored into the standard helium gas injection porosity determination experiment, and the uncertainty should be less than 2.00% when using a high‐precision pressure gauge; (2) in order to reduce the risk for exploration and decision‐making, attention should be paid to the large uncertainty (30% at least) of shale gas resource assessment results, sometimes with corrections being made based on the practical considerations;(3) a pressure gauge with an accuracy of 0.25% of the full scal cannot meet the requirements of porosity measurement, and a high‐precision plug cutting method or high‐precision bulk volume measurement method such as one using 3D scanning, is recommended to effectively reduce porosity uncertainty; (4) the method and process for evaluating the measurement uncertainty of gas shale porosity could also be referred for assessment of experimental quality by other laboratories.