New Concepts in Petrophysics

Chapter:
Pore Systems a New Insight into
Observations. (Draft_Ver_2)
David C. Herrick. David Kennedy. Fredy R. García R.
Yellowstone Petrophysics QED Petrophysics. Ecopetrol S.A

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 Agenda
 Methodology.
 Nomenclature.
 Porosity: Conventional definitions and Implications.
• The Vsh models.
• The NMR problem.
 Porosity: New Insight.
• Geometrical Factor Theory.
• Conducting Connected Porosity.
• Numerical Simulations.
• Connected Porosity in other disciplines.
 Conclusions.
 The Porosity Crowd in the Oil Industry.
 References.

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 Methodology

The Five Ways of Doing Things:

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 Nomenclature
𝝋𝒕 Total porosity 𝑬𝟎 Electrical geometric factor at Sw = 1
𝝋𝒆𝒇𝒇 Effective porosity 𝒇 Formation conductivity factor
𝝋𝒄𝒃𝒘 Clay bound porosity 𝜷 Fractional brine volume
𝝋𝒄𝒂𝒑 Capillary bound porosity 𝝁 Fluid viscosity
𝝋𝒔𝒉 Shale porosity 𝒌 Permeability
𝝋𝝑 Pseudo-percolation threshold 𝒓 Resistance of a material
𝑽𝒔𝒉 Shale volume ∆V Electrical potential gradient
𝑽𝒄𝒍 Clay volume ∆𝑷 Pressure gradient

𝑪𝒕 Partially brine saturated rock conductivity 𝜶𝟎 , 𝜶𝟐 Proportionality Constants

𝑪𝟎 Filled rock conductivity at Sw = 1 𝝰𝟏 , 𝝰𝟑 Integration Constants

𝑪𝒘 Brine conductivity 𝑺𝒘 Water Saturation

𝑽𝒃 Bulk rock volume 𝒏𝒆 Effective porosity

𝑽𝒑 Pore volume
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 Porosity: Conventional definitions and
Implications

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 Porosity: Conventional definitions and Implications

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 Porosity: Conventional definitions and Implications
Porosity Interconnected porosity
Total porosity Isolated porosity
Primary porosity Potential porosity
Secondary porosity Crossplot porosity
Effective porosity Vuggy porosity
Original porosity Microporosity
Induced porosity Macroporosity
Depositional porosity Free-fluid porosity
Diagenetic porosity Bound-fluid porosity

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 Porosity: Conventional definitions and Implications

Total porosity vs. Effective porosity

“The volume fraction that “Volume of interconnected voids

can contain fluids” through which can conduct
water”

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 Porosity: Conventional definitions and Implications
The Vsh models.
Total porosity vs. Effective porosity
𝝋𝒆𝒇𝒇 = 𝝋𝒕 − 𝝋𝒄𝒃𝒘

𝝋𝒆𝒇𝒇 = 𝝋𝒕 − 𝝋𝒄𝒃𝒘 − 𝝋𝒄𝒂𝒑

𝑽𝒑 𝑽𝒃 − 𝑽𝒈 𝑽𝒑
𝝋𝒕 = = = 𝝋𝒆𝒇𝒇 = 𝝋𝒕 − 𝑽𝒔𝒉 𝝋𝒔𝒉
𝑽𝒃 𝑽𝒃 𝑽𝒑 + 𝑽𝒈
𝝆𝒎𝒂 −𝝆𝒃 −𝑽𝒄𝒍 ∗ 𝝆𝒎𝒂 −𝝆𝒄𝒍
𝝋𝒆𝒇𝒇 =
𝝆𝒎𝒂 −𝝆𝒇𝒍 ∗ 𝑺𝒙𝒐 𝟏 − 𝑺𝒙𝒐 ∗ 𝝆𝑯𝒄

𝝋𝒆𝒇𝒇 = 𝝋𝒉𝒖𝒎𝒊𝒅𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒅𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅, 𝟔𝟎 𝒅𝒆𝒈.𝑪

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 Porosity: Conventional definitions and Implications
The NMR problem.

T2 Distribution

Experimental values in
coarse sand samples
(1978)
Short 1 ms to over 100 ms

Standard NMR processing:

Application of cutoff values
3 ms – 33 ms
ϕ = Total area under the curve.

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 Porosity: New Insight
The relationship between the flow of Electricity and of Fluids.

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 Porosity: New Insight
The relationship between the flow of electricity and of Fluids.

*
∆𝑷 𝑨
𝑸𝒓 = 𝒌
𝝁 𝑳
𝒌
; 𝑯= = 𝟑𝒙𝟏𝟎−𝟕
𝝋𝟐 𝑨 𝟖𝝅
𝝋𝑨 ∆𝑷 𝝋𝑨
𝑸𝒕 =
𝟖𝝅 𝝁 𝑳

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 Porosity: New Insight
Archie´s Model for Water Saturation.

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 Porosity: New Insight
Archie´s Model for Water Saturation.

(𝒚 = 𝒂𝒙𝒏 ).

𝑹𝟎 𝑹𝟎
𝑭= 𝑭=𝝋 −𝒎
=
𝑹𝒘 𝑹𝒘
Formation Resistivity Factor

Slope = 𝒎

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 Porosity: New Insight
Archie´s Model for Water Saturation. (𝒚 = 𝒂𝒙𝒏 ).

𝑹
𝑰=
𝑹𝟎
Resistivity Index
1
𝑅0 𝑛
𝑆=
𝑅 Modern
Convention
Slope = 𝒏

−𝒏 𝑹
𝑰 = 𝑺𝒘 =
𝑹𝟎

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 Porosity: New Insight
Archie´s Model for Water Saturation.

−𝒎
𝑹𝟎 −𝒏 𝑹𝒕
𝑭=𝝋 = ; 𝑰 = 𝑺𝒘 =
𝑹𝒘 𝑹𝟎

𝒏 𝑹𝒘
𝑺𝒘 = 𝒎 Archie´s equation is the result of
𝝋 𝑹𝒕 curve fitting.

𝒎, 𝒏 are merely ad hoc adjustable parameters.

Thus Archie´s Law is based upon two trends

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 Porosity: New Insight
Archie´s Model for Water Saturation.

𝑹𝒘
𝑹𝒕 = 𝒎 𝒏 ; 𝑪𝒕 = 𝑪𝒘𝝋𝒎 𝑺𝒘𝒏 ; 𝑪 𝟎 = 𝑪 𝒘𝝋 𝒎
𝝋 𝑺𝒘
Bulk Volume of Water?
Physically, how could that be?

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 Porosity: New Insight
Geometrical Factor Theory.

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 Porosity: New Insight
Geometrical Factor Theory.
What is exactly E ?

If Sw = 100 %
𝑪𝟎 = 𝑪𝒘𝑬𝟎𝝋

If Sw < 100 %
𝑪𝒕 = 𝑪𝒘𝑺𝒘 𝝋𝑬𝒕

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 Porosity: New Insight
Geometrical Factor Theory.
𝑬𝟎 vs. 𝝋

𝑬𝟎 ≈ 𝝋
20 % ≈ 20 %
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 Porosity: New Insight
Geometrical Factor Theory.
Sw models
Traditional Petrophysics Modern Petrophysics

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 Porosity: New Insight
Conducting Connected Porosity.

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 Porosity: New Insight
Conducting Connected Porosity.

𝜷𝒄 = 𝝋 − 𝝋𝝑
Amount of
connected brine.

≈ 7%

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 Porosity: New Insight
Conducting Connected Porosity.
𝑪𝟎
𝒅 𝑪𝒘
𝜶 𝝋 − 𝝋𝝑
𝒅 𝝋 − 𝝋𝝑

𝑪𝟎
𝒅 𝑪𝒘
= 𝜶𝟎 𝝋 − 𝝋𝝑
𝒅 𝝋 − 𝝋𝝑

𝑪𝟎 𝜶𝟎 𝟐
= 𝝋 − 𝝋𝝑 + 𝜶𝟏
𝑪𝒘 𝟐
𝟐
* 𝑪𝟎 𝝋 − 𝝋𝝑
=
𝑪𝒘 𝟏 − 𝝋𝝑

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 Porosity: New Insight
Conducting Connected Porosity.
𝑪𝒕
𝒅 𝑪𝒘
𝜶 𝝋𝑺𝒘 − 𝝑
𝒅 𝝋𝑺𝒘 − 𝝑
Connected
𝜷𝒄 = 𝝋𝑺𝒘 − 𝝑 fractional volume.
𝑪𝒕
𝒅 𝑪𝒘
= 𝜶𝟐 𝝋𝑺𝒘 − 𝝑
𝒅 𝝋𝑺𝒘 − 𝝑
𝑪𝒕 𝜶𝟐 𝟐
= 𝝋𝑺𝒘 − 𝝑 + 𝜶𝟑
𝑪𝒘 𝟐
*
𝟐
𝑪𝒕 𝝋𝑺𝒘 − 𝝑
=
𝑪𝒘 𝟏 − 𝝑𝑰

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 Porosity: New Insight
Numerical Simulation.

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 Porosity: New Insight
Numerical Simulation.
L x H: 640 × 320 μm

Outlet Inlet

Water

Solid material
Velocity magnitude color.

ΔP = 2 Pa

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 Porosity: New Insight
Numerical Simulation.
Brine Geometry

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 Porosity: New Insight
Numerical Simulation.

Fluid Flow Simulation Electric Flow Simulation

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 Conclusions
• Systematic errors and uncertainties due to linearity of log techniques to calculate Vsh
or Vcl produce large errors in porosity “corrected” estimation.

• Physically, the use of the “corrected” porosity can´t be justified based on

conventional Vsh or Vcl techniques.

• GFT & PPTT are physically interpretable models that better explain the effects of
current distribution on fluid saturation in porous media.

• GFT & PPTT models present a better understanding of the problems inherent in using
the traditional “effective porosity” during fluid saturation estimation.

• Numerical modelling corroborates the misunderstand of using conventional log

techniques to estimate “connected” porosity.

• Other approaches to estimate the connected porosity are based on Darcy´s law.
Connected porosity is a tensor property as well.
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