The Effect of Wettability on Relative

Permeability, Capillary Pressure,

Electrical Resistivity and NMR

Saif AL-Sayari
Prof. Martin Blunt
• Experimental and network modelling studies have
illustrated that, for a given sample, changes in wettability
HAVE a strong influence on relative permeability and oil
recovery – in particular the work of Morrow and co-workers.
• How do we characterise wettability at the pore scale? How
can we relate this to macroscopic measurements? Can we
use this information to predict relative permeability and oil
recovery.
Objective

• Understanding the relationship between wettability and

distribution of oil and water in pore space is a necessary step
in the difficult problem of quantifying wettability and its
effects on oil recovery.
• Carry out a suite of experiments to obtain precise and
accurate measurements of flow properties for a variety of
rock samples with different wettabilities.
• Compare with numerical predictions using pore-scale
modelling.
Importance of this Project

• Evaluation of the influence of contact angle and wettability

on recovery are not very clearly discussed in the literature.
These studies tend to focus on either experimental
measurement of one property or simulation.
• We propose to combine in one study the effects of
wettability on multiphase flow parameters, looking at
capillary pressure, wateflood recovery, electrical properties,
NMR and relative permeability.
Approach

• Perform experimental measurements on static and

dynamic properties such as, Φ, k, m, kr, Pc and wettability on
a selected set of rock samples under different conditions
mimicking representative formations.
• Quantification of the influence of wettability conditions on
the dynamic and static properties.
• Use of the gathered data to perform detailed pore-scale
modelling on the samples and comparison with conventional
approach in reservoir simulation.
Approach

• Three main set of samples that will be studied, are:

Sample Conditions
Sandpack Water-wet
Sandstone Oil-wet
Carbonates Mixed-wet

Fluids
Brine (5% NaCl and 1% KCl)
Oil (Multibar H)
Wettability

• Tendency of fluid to spread on a solid surface in the

presence of other immiscible fluid.
• Wettability determination is important in reservoir
characterization because it controls the distribution of the
fluids in the reservoir and therefore the oil recovered.

Rock Oil Brine

Water-wet Mixed-wet Oil-wet

Wettability

• Measurement of Wettability:
Direct Indirect
Contact angle Relative Perm.
USBM Capillary Press.
Phase 1

• Sand pack – Water-wet

• Core Preparation
• Brine Preparation
• Conventional Core Analysis
• Special Core Analysis
• kr
• Pc
• Electrical Resistivity
• NMR
 Relative Permeability

• Ability of the porous medium to conduct fluid flow when

multiple fluid phases are present.
• Steady – State Method

* Table and Graph (William Anderson, SPE, Conoco Inc.)

Relative Permeability - Procedure

• Clean Dry core 100% saturated with

brine
• Measure ka for water
• Establish Swi by injecting 50 P.V. oil
• Establish Sor by injecting 50 P.V.
brine
• Oil and Brine simultaneous
circulation at given rates by two
metering pumps (Having a stepwise
decrease of the water fractional flow).
• Produced oil and brine are separated
in graduated burette.

Steady-state condition is determined to be established for each step of flow by

continuous monitoring of the level of oil/brine interface in the burette and the
pressure drop across the core
Capillary Pressure

• When oil and water are placed together on a surface, a

discontinuity in pressure exists across the interface
separating them. This difference in pressure in known as
Capillary Pressure
Capillary Pressure

• Apparatus for Porous Plate Method:

Capillary Presure - Procedure

• Carmen-Kozney correlation to
estimate pressure range.
Oil-wet
• Put the core in the cell. Adjust the Pc
pressure and give the cell pressure
difference. Drainage
• After three days, measure the volume
and check if no more water is being
produced.
• Calculate the water saturation
corresponding to that pressure. 1
• Increase the pressure in steps, and Water-wet
record the final equilibrium produced
volume of the wetting phase at each Pc
step. Drainage
• Draw the Capillary Pressure vs. Sw

Swi Sw
Electrical Resistivity

• When the rock is partially saturated with hydrocarbon, the

resistivity of the rock is increased due to non-conductive
properties of hydrocarbons. Wettability is an important factor
for brine distribution, which contributes to the change of
resistivity.
• Water-wet: brine is continuous, so the decrease of the
cross-sectional area that can conduct flow will lead to the
increase of resistivity.
• Oil-wet: brine is discontinuous, so the electrical resistivity
will increase at a faster rate than in water-wet.
 Electrical Resistivity

• Quadtech model 7600 RLC

• Frequency:10Hz-2MHz
• Pair of coaxial cables is
used to connect the analyzer
to two electrode conducting
cell.
• Perform the frequency
Plot of Z & Rs Vs Frequency

350
sweep. 300
Rs
Z
250
200
150
100
50
0
10 100 1000 10000 100000 100000 1E+07
0
NMR

• It is known that NMR

resonance of fluids in the
vicinity of solids can be quite
different from that in bulk
fluid. These effects are useful
to the characterization of
porous fluids and fluid
distribution with NMR
measurements.
 NMR

2.50 40
Normalised T2
35
• Oil Wet: Longer T2 2.00 Normalised accumulative
30
volume
peak value. Surface

Cumulative vol.
25

Distribution
1.50
relaxitivity is smaller 20

than WW. 1.00

15

• Water wet: T2 at Swi 0.50

10

5
is wider than it is in
0.00 0
OW. 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
T2 (m s)
Aging Procedure

• It is very important to establish a wettability condition as

close as possible to that found in the reservoir
Aging procedure

• Fluid: Crude oil (Acid Number Measurements, J. Buckley)

• Technique:
• Core plug is saturated with brine
• Mount the core in the hasler cell
• Flood oil (at least 10 P.V.) to both ends of the core.
• Age the core in a crude oil at elevated temperature (for
Sandpack 45 deg. C)
• Leave the core for 7 weeks.
• Flip and shake the core every ten days
The Effect of Wettability on Relative
Permeability, Capillary Pressure,
Electrical Resistivity and NMR

Saif AL-Sayari
Prof. Martin Blunt