Porosity

and Permeability

GENERAL CLASSIFICATION
BASIC ROCK PROPERTIES
Mineralogic Composi>on
Texture
Fabric
Porosity & Permeability
Sedimentary Structures
ORIGIN & DETAILS EACH MAJOR ROCK
TYPE
TEX&FABRIC-2

Porosity!

Grain packing

(Rider, 2000)

Porosity controls!
PRIMARY: grain size, grain
packing, par8cle shape,
and the distribu8on of
grain sizes
SECONDARY: mechanical
processes (stress
compac8on, plas8c
deforma8on, bri=le
deforma8on, fracture
evolu8on) and chemical
processes (dissolu8on,
reprecipta8on,
mineralogical changes)

Porosity definitions!

( from P. Glover, h8p://www.abdn.ac.uk)

Porosity types!

Porosity types!

VUGGY
MOLDIC

INTRAPARTICLE

FENESTRAL

FRACTURE

Porosity!
Porosity does not give any informa8on about:
* Pore sizes
* Pore distribu8on or
* their degree of connec8vity
Rocks of the same porosity can have widely
dierent physical proper8es
Porosity depends on stress condi8ons

Porosity with pressure (i.e. depth)!

( from P. Glover, h8p://www.abdn.ac.uk)

Methods for determining reservoir porosity!

Core data: crushed, helium porosity, mercury
injec8on, Nuclear Magne8c Resonance (NMR), thin
sec8ons, SEM, CT-scans, density method (mono-
mineralic)
Geophysical well log data: density, neutron, NMR
and sonic logs. (Resis8vity or image logs)
Seismic data: velocity-porosity (log) rela8on
constrained inversion (seismic)

Porosity estimates on basalt!

2.5

Sample

Hg (%)

He (%)

CT Scan (%)

k (mD)

B1

9.9

19.2

19.6

1.49

B2

10.3

13.9

13.2

0.19

B3

11.2

16.1

16.1

1.86

Porosity estimates on basalt: CT-scans!

1

Porosity estimate: Helium porosity (Boyles Law)!

P1 V1 = P2 (V1 + Vtube + Vpores)

Vpores

Conning pressure

V1
Vtube

Porosity estimate: mercury injection!

Porosity estimates on basalt: mercury injection!

3

14

x 10

Sample B2, Hg =10.3%

vol. Hg injected (cc)

12
10

8.0%

8
6
4

2.3%

2
10000

100

pore diameter (m)

Pore throat

0.01

0.0001

Methods for determining reservoir porosity!

Core data: crushed, helium porosity, mercury
injec8on, Nuclear Magne8c Resonance (NMR), thin
sec8ons, SEM, CT-scans, density method (mono-
mineralic)

Saturation!

(Baker Hughes, 2002)

Permeability!

1 darcy = passage of one cm3 of uid of one

cen>poise viscosity in one second under a
pressure gradient of one atm/sec, across an
area of one cm2 of porous substance.
1 darcy = 9.8 10-13 m2

PORE

PORE THROAT

Most hydrocarbon rocks 10-9 darcy 1 darcy

Shales (need hydrofracturing)

Permeability!

Depends on direc8on and uid

type (wea=ability, viscosity)
(Baker Hughes, 2002)

Permeability of rocks!

Permeability - porosity!

(Baker Hughes, 2002)

Estimate permeability from !

Core data: gas permeameter (needs
correc8on), mercury injec8on data, mul8-uid
permeability, mathema8cal models.
PTT: Pressure transient tests
Well logs: sonic, NMR.
Well log to core correla>on

Porosity-permeability!
Carbonates

(Sullivan, 2007)

Porosity-permeability!
Permeability

Porosity

(Halliburton, 1999)