To clarify the dynamic evolution characteristics of reservoir flow units during water injection development, the upper member of the Neogene Guantao formation in Block M of Gudao Oilfield is taken as a case study. Based on logging data, water injection profile test data, subwell data, and production performance data, among others, the flow zone index (FZI static) was proposed as the static evaluation parameter of the flow unit. The relationship between cumulative water injection (W_T) and FZI change () was fitted. Hence, the caused by water injection is combined with the static parameter of flow unit evaluation (FZI static) as the dynamic parameter of flow unit evaluation (FZI dynamic). The comprehensively evaluated reality of flow units in different periods is characterized by formula . The study shows that as the division standard of the flow unit, the FZI has a good correlation with the test results of the water absorption profile, such as water absorption intensity and relative water injection volume. Using the FZI as the static parameter of flow unit evaluation, four types of flow units were divided as follows: type I flow unit, ; type II flow unit, ; type III flow unit, ; type IV flow unit, . The reservoir porosity and permeability characteristics of different flow units are highly correlated. Moreover, the relative permeability curve confirms that different flow units have different seepage capacities. Though, comparing characteristic reservoir parameters in different periods, the reservoir’s physical parameters became more conducive to fluid flow with the water injection development. The increase in the same water injection rate for type I and II flow units was greater than that for type III and IV flow units. Furthermore, when type I flow units were continuously distributed in a large area, high water consumption bands were formed, absorbing most of the water injection in the water injection wells. Hence, the waterflood efficiency was low. The change in different flow units was mainly controlled by the injection production well pattern and W_T. Combined with the relative change characteristics of interlayer flow units, the changes can be divided into increasing type change and decreasing type changes. Finally, according to the distribution characteristics of different flow units, oil saturation, and water flooding results, strategies for tapping the potential of the remaining oil from three aspects (plane, interlayer, and inner layer) were formulated.

In order to improve the combined exploitation efficiency of horizontal and vertical wells, and given the fact that the complex and varied spatial structure of sand bodies in the Fuyu oil layer in the Qian’an area of Songliao Basin leads to significant differences in production characteristics of horizontal wells, the sand body types and internal spatial structure are finely dissected according to the theory of configuration analysis, and the internal spatial structure is divided into three configuration styles: spatial clipping type, overlapping type, and separation type. Then, by comparing the productivity characteristics of horizontal wells with different configurations of sand bodies, combined with the analysis of fluid flow law under horizontal well volume fracturing, a main fracture–fracture network–matrix coupled fluid flow model in a tight reservoir based on composite sand body configuration is established. Combined with the actual volume fracturing the horizontal well area, the productivity curves of each cluster in the horizontal section after numerical simulation of volume fracturing of typical horizontal well groups are extracted, which are divided into four types: high-yield stable type, high-yield two-stage type, high-yield rapid-decline type, and low-yield rapid-decline type, and the coupling relationship between the productivity characteristics of each cluster in the horizontal well volume fracturing and sand body configuration style is established, which provides a theoretical basis for the adjustment of different sand body development methods in subsequent oilfields.

Due to the influence of terrigenous debris, the internal pore structure of continental shale is highly heterogeneous, and the controlling factors are complex. This paper studies the structure and controlling factors of shale reservoirs in the first member of the Qingshankou Formation in the Southern Songliao Basin using core data and various analytical test data. The results show that the original deposition and subsequent diagenesis comprehensively determine the shale reservoirs’ pore structure characteristics and evolution law. According to the severity of terrigenous debris, the shale reservoirs in the study area are divided into four categories and six subcategories of lithofacies. By comparing the characteristics of different shale lithofacies reservoirs, the results show that the lithofacies with a high brittle mineral content have more substantial anti-compaction effects, more primary pores to promote retention and a relatively high proportion of mesopores/macropores. Controlling the organic matter content when forming high-quality reservoirs leads to two possibilities. An excessive organic matter content will fill pores and reduce the pore pressure resistance. A moderate organic matter content will make the inorganic diagenesis and organic hydrocarbon generation processes interact, and the development of organic matter mainly affects the development of dissolution pores. The comprehensive results show that A3 (silty laminated felsic shale) reservoirs underwent the pore evolution process of “two drops and two rises” of compaction, cementation and pore reduction, dissolution and pore increase, and organic matter cracking and pore increase, and they are the most favourable lithofacies of the shale reservoirs in the study area.

To deepen our understanding of reservoir heterogeneity, seepage barriers in the study area were divided into interlayer, intralayer, and planar levels based on their spatial distribution characteristics and then investigated by taking the third member of the Neogene Guantao Formation in the block M of the Gudao oilfield as an example. Based on their genesis characteristics, the interlayer seepage barriers were divided into the overbank sand-overbank sand type, overbank sand-channel type, isolated channel superposition type, and channel shallow-cut type. The planar seepage barriers were categorized into the channel boundary type, abandoned channel type, channel-overbank sand type, and floodplain mudstone type. The intralayer seepage barriers were classified into the mudstone type and physical property type. Classifying multiple levels of different types of seepage barriers led to the refinement of their spatial characteristics. The strength of seepage barriers was characterized using the “seepage barrier coefficient” and “reservoir quality coefficient,” and the small-valued coefficients of the interlayer and intralayer seepage barriers indicated that these seepage barriers are characterized by large thickness, high mudstone content, poor physical properties, and weak seepage ability. The strength of the planar seepage barriers was dependent on the sedimentary facies types and channel stages, and the difference between planar seepage barriers was characterized using the reservoir quality coefficient. The seepage barriers were described based on the multilevel classification of seepage barrier categories, the intralayer seepage barriers with a lateral accretion pattern in the meandering river point bars were identified and described, and the distribution characteristics of seepage barriers were summarized at multiple levels. The method of “hierarchical analysis, skeleton construction, and category fitting” was used to establish 3D models of different levels of seepage barriers, and a modeling method based on the characteristics of intralayer seepage barriers under the constraint of architecture pattern was used to model intralayer seepage barriers with a lateral accretion pattern. In the monitoring of water injection profiles, it was found that the extent of blockage achieved by seepage barriers affects the water injection volume and thus controls the fluid transport pattern. Due to the development characteristics of the seepage barrier in the formation, there are some differences in injection production efficiency under different well pattern matching modes. The research on the distribution characteristics of different levels of seepage barrier categories provides a reliable geological basis for improving the injection-production relationship.

The study of fine-grained sedimentation has consistently concentrated on investigating the mechanisms and principles governing the enrichment of organic matter. However, the lack of unified stratigraphic framework has always existed as fine-grained sedimentation covers two distinct grain-size grades, namely, mud and silt, which has impeded the progress of subsequent production research. This study exemplified this issue by analyzing the first member of the Qingshankou Formation in the southern Songliao Basin. We established reconstructed gamma and density curves that mitigated filter noise interference, integrated high-resolution sequence results with astronomical cycle divisions, and created a high-frequency isochronous stratigraphic framework for clastic fine-grained sedimentation by leveraging the weak sensitivity of sandstone density curves and the robust stability in eccentricity cycle extraction. This approach addresses the inconsistencies in stratigraphic division methodologies and mismatched outcomes stemming from the use varying techniques to delineate mud and silt components within clastic fine-grained sedimentary sequences. Furthermore, it elucidates how tectonic-scale variations in sediment supply coupled with potential accommodation changes dictate macroscopic stacking patterns within strata, whereas climate fluctuations on orbital time scales govern sand-mud progradation degrees within these layers, culminating in periodic rhythmic characteristics characterized by vertical sand-mud interbedding. A model for stratigraphic development pertaining to lake delta systems constrained by a “synchronous heterotopy” paradigm is proposed for the southern Songliao Basin. The organic matter enrichment pattern aligns with its filling dynamics, indicating an “overfilling” type developmental pattern at lower strata levels where organic material predominantly originates from terrestrial plant debris external to the basin; this material accumulates primarily within silty zones along layers—with areas exhibiting heightened enrichment values slightly lagging behind short-eccentric maxima positions. In contrast, under an upper “balanced filling” type developmental framework, sources of organic matter are derived both internally and externally relative to the basin—exhibiting substantial heterogeneity—and regions marked by elevated organic matter concentrations are directly associated with locations identified as short-eccentric maxima.