The porous and low-permeability characteristics of a shale gas reservoir determine its high gas storage efficiency, which is manifested in the extremely high breakthrough pressure of shale. Therefore, the accurate calculation of breakthrough pressure is of great significance to the study of shale gas preservation conditions. Based on a systematic analysis of a low-field NMR experiment on marine shales of the Longmaxi Formation in the Sichuan Basin, a shale gas breakthrough pressure determination technique different from conventional methods is proposed. The conventional methods have low calculation accuracy and are a tedious and time-consuming process, while low-field NMR technique is less time-consuming and of high accuracy. Firstly, the NMR T2 spectrum of shale core sample in different states is measured through low-field NMR experiment. The NMR T2 spectra of sample in water-saturated state and dry state are combined to model the mathematical relationship between shale gas breakthrough pressure and NMR T2 spectrum. It is found that the gas breakthrough pressure is power-exponentially related to the geometric mean of NMR T2 spectrum and positively related to the proportion of micropores. Accordingly, the shale gas breakthrough pressure is quickly and accurately calculated using continuous NMR logging data and then the sealing capacity of the shale caprocks is evaluated, providing basic parameters for analyzing unconventional hydrocarbon accumulation, preservation and migration. This technique has been successfully applied with actual data to evaluate the sealing capacity of shale caprock in a shale gas well in the Sichuan Basin. It can provide a good basis for the evaluation and characterization of shale oil and gas reservoirs.
