03 Rock

Chapter 3
Reservoir Rock Properties

Basic Properties of Porous Rocks
 Bulk, grain, pore volumes

 Porosity
 Permeability
 Fluid saturations
 Wettability
 Capillary pressure
 Effective permeabilities
 Relative permeabilities
2
Porosity
Porous Media
 Subsurface rocks are porous and permeable

 Porous rocks are made of solid grains and void space filled by fluids
 Solid materials constituting subsurface rocks are typically made of
several main minerals and some secondary components
 Void space in porous rocks is typically saturated with multiple fluids
such as oil, gas, and formation water
 In some instances, pore surface may be covered by clays and silts
4
Examples of Porous Media
 Rocks
 Bread, cookies, apple, orange, meat, teabag, and etc
 Sponge
 Textile materials
 Soil, concrete, asphalt, beach sand, brick, snow pack
 Wood, trees, plants
 Paper, paper towel, teabag
5
Sandstone Core Sample
6
Back-Scattered Electron Image of a North Sea Sandstone
Pore
Clay
Quartz
7
Porosity
 One of the most important property of porous media
 Porosity is basically a measure of the fluid storage capacity of
subsurface formations
 Porosity is defined as the ratio of pore volume to bulk volume
 In petroleum engineering, porosity is denoted f
 Determination of porosity requires the measurement on two of the

three volumes; (Vb, Vp), (Vb, Vm), or (Vm, Vp)
 Porosity definition given above is the absolute porosity or total porosity
8
Effective Porosity
 What counts is the interconnected pore volume contributing to storage

and flow of reservoir fluids
 To assess the fluid storage potential of porous rocks better, we
introduce the concepts of effective porosity and isolated porosity
9
Pore Volume Measurement
 Several methods to measure pore volume directly

 Liquid saturation method
 Gas expansion method
10
Liquid Saturation Method – Example
 A dry core sample weights 88.18 g

 After completely saturating with water, weight of water saturated core
sample is measured as 92.77 g
 Assume a water density of 1 g/cm3
 Estimate Vp
11
Gas Expansion Method to Measure Pore Volume
 This method uses inert gases; helium, nitrogen, argon

 A known volume of gas with high pressure is expanded on pore space of
core plug with low pressure
 The apparatus is composed of
 A reference cell
 A steel core holder
 A rubber sleeve
 End caps
 Core sample
 Flowlines, pressure gauges, and a valve
12
Confining fluid
Core
V1
Reference Core holder

cell
13
 Core sample placed in rubber sleeve

 Rubber sleeve isolates core sample from any external fluid entry
 Pore space of core occupied by gas, typically helium or nitrogen
 Two metal end caps placed at the ends of the core plug
 Core sample isolated by rubber sleeve and end caps is placed in a steel
core holder
 The annular space between the rubber sleeve and end caps are filled by
a confining fluid
14
 Confining fluid is pressurized to several hundred psi higher than the

pressure in core
 Pressure in core is low, typically close to atmospheric pressure
 Before experiment starts, valve is open and whole system is in
equilibrium
 Reference cell, pore space, and flow lines are occupied by gas
 A stepwise procedure for gas expansion method is described below
15
 Step 1
 Valve V1 is closed
 Measure initial pressure in pore space and attached flowline
 pp0 = initial pressure inside core and flowline to right of valve V1
 Flowline volume is known
 Pore volume is unknown
 Flowline volume referred to as dead volume
 Vd = dead volume
16
 Step 2
 Raise pressure in reference cell, typically from 100 psia to 200 psia
 pr0 = initial pressure in reference cell and the flowline attached
 The total volume of the reference cell and the flowline between the
reference cell and the valve V1 is known
 Vr = total volume of reference cell
17
 Step 3
 Open valve V1
 When valve is opened, an additional volume comes into play
 Additional volume due to valve stem position in closed and open cases
 Vv = additional volume due to valve stem displacement
 High pressured gas from reference cell flows into low pressured core
plug
 Pressure in reference cell decreases
 Pressure in pore space of core sample increases
18
 If we wait long enough, system reaches a state of equilibrium

 Pressure in whole system stabilizes and becomes constant with time
 pfe = final equilibrium pressure
 Experiment ends when equilibrium is obtained
 It is assumed that gas expansion tests take place under isothermal
conditions; i.e., temperature stays constant
 In some cases, experimental apparatus housed in a constant
temperature oven
19
 A model for the analysis of gas expansion tests

 Real gas EOS
 Conservation of mass
 In the absence of chemical reactions, mass is conserved
20
 Consider initial condition in the reference cell and pore space

 nr0 = number of gas moles in high pressure reference cell
 np0 = number of gas moles in pore space
 nr0 and np0 formulated using rgEOS
 zr0 = gas deviation factor at initial pressure in reference cell, pr0

 zp0 = gas deviation factor at initial pressure in pore space, pp0
21
 At the end of gas expansion test, whole system is in equilibrium

 pfe = final equilibrium pressure
 nfe = number of gas moles in whole system in equilibrium
 nfe expressed in terms of rgEOS
 During experiment, there is no mass gain or loss

 Total mass in initial condition is equal to total mass at final equilibrium
22
 Substituting previous eqs. for number of moles into mass balance eq.
 Rearranging eq. above for Vp
 At low pressures, helium and nitrogen behave like ideal gases

 In such cases, gas deviation factors may be dropped
23
 Example:
 A core sample is tested in gas expansion apparatus
 Nitrogen gas is used; z = 1
 Initial pressure in pore space and the flowline attached is 15 psia
 Dead volume is 1 cc
 Reference cell volume is 20 cc
 Initial pressure in reference cell is 200 psia
 Valve displacement volume is estimated to be 0.1 cc
 Final equilibrium pressure at the end of the test is 159 psia
 Estimate pore volume of the core plug
24
Gas Expansion Method – Example 5
25
Variation of Porosity in Formation
 Porosity varies substantially with the

location throughout subsurface
reservoir rock
 As an example, core plug porosity
along depth for Hiram Well # 17
 The measured core plug porosities
tabulated in Table 3
 Porosity data plotted as a function of
depth
26
Factors Controlling Porosity
 Grain packing
 Grain shape and sphericity of
 Grain size distribution
 Lithology and mineral composition
 Burial depth
 Compaction and consolidation
 Confining pressure
 Cementation
 Clay content
27
Effect of Mineral Composition and Lithology
 Solid material constituting skeleton of porous rock is a mixture of
several different minerals such as
 Quartz
 Feldspar
 Calcite
 Chalk
 Barite
 Gypsum
 Pyrite
 Several different types of clays; illite, kaolinite, and montmorillonite
28
 Sandstones are mainly composed of quartz (silicon oxide, SiO2) and

feldspar
 Quartz content of the sandstones is typically in the order of 80-85 %
 Carbonate rocks are mainly composed of carbonate minerals such as
calcite, aragonite, and dolomite
 Shales are basically mixtures of clay minerals and smaller amount of
quartz and calcite
29
Table 4 – Porosity range for reservoir rocks
Lithology Porosity range
(fraction)
Unconsolidated sands 0.35 - 0.45
Sandstones 0.15 - 0.35
Compact sandstones 0.05 - 0.15
Shales 0 - 0.15
Massive limestones 0.05 - 0.1
Vuggy limestones 0.1 - 0.4
Dolomite 0.1 - 0.3
Chalk 0.05 - 0.4
Granite < 0.01
Basalt < 0.005
Conglomerate 0.01 - 0.15
30
Geometry of Grain Packing
Cubic Hexagonal Rhombohedral Orthorhombic Tetragonal Triclinic
0.476 0.395 0.26 0.395 0.302 0.26
31
Influence of Grain Packing
 Compute theoretical porosity

of cubic packing of spherical
grains with uniform radius
32
Grain Sorting
Poorly sorted Poorly sorted Well sorted Very well sorted
33
Effect of Grain Size Distribution
 Poorly sorted rocks have a wide range of grain sizes; their grain sizes
vary several orders of magnitude
 The porosity of the poorly sorted rocks is very low
 Very well sorted rocks are composed of fairly uniform size grains
 Very well sorted rocks exhibit high porosity values
34
Impact of Cementation
 The grains constituting real reservoir rocks are bonded together by

cementation
 Common cementation minerals include calcite, silica, iron oxides, and
clay minerals
 When these minerals are in contact with water, they chemically
precipitate and form new crystalline material between sedimentary
grains
 These precipitants fill the pore space between the sedimentary grains
and decrease porosity
35
Impact of Cementation
 Under the effect of high pressure and temperature, cementation

minerals solidify and bind the individual grains together
 Next figure illustrates cementation process and porosity loss due to
cementation
 Original pore space of loose grains may be significantly reduced by
cementation process
36
Influence of Clay Content
 Compared to size of sand grains, clay minerals are much smaller

 Clay minerals may be deposited in pore space between sand grains and
reduce porosity substantially
 As clay content of porous rocks increases, pore space and porosity
decrease
 Next figure is an actual image of a sandstone reservoir rock
 Black color shows the pore space
 Light gray represents quartz grains
 Medium gray indicates clay minerals
37
Influence of Clay Content
 Some of the original void space between quartz grains is lost due to clay filling
38
Effect of Confining Stress
 Reservoir rocks are overburdened by weight of geological layers above reservoir rock
 Weight of upper geologic layers imposes a stress on the reservoir rock
 This stress is known as overburden stress or pressure
 Pore space of reservoir rock is filled by reservoir fluids such as oil, gas, and water
 Reservoir fluids results in a hydrostatic pressure inside pore space
 Overburden pressure is much higher than reservoir fluid pressure
 The difference between overburden pressure and reservoir pressure is known as confining
pressure
 Experimental observations and measurements have proven that porosity decreases
markedly with an increase in confining pressure
39
Effect of Confining Stress
Effect of confining pressure

pc f
(psia) (fraction)
1,416 0.0919
1,945 0.0893
2,455 0.0879
2,900 0.0871
3,444 0.0861
3,927 0.0853
4,437 0.0847
4,925 0.0841
40
Fluid Saturations
Fluid Saturations
 Pore space is usually saturated with several fluids

 Let’s consider the most general case
 The available pore space is filled partially by oil, gas, and water
 Vo = volume of oil
 Vg = gas volume
 Vw = water volume
 The relationship among pore volume and fluid volumes is as follows
42
Fluid Saturations
 The term saturation is used to express the quantity of fluid volumes in

reference to pore volume
 Saturation to a fluid phase is defined as the volume occupied by the
fluid phase divided by pore volume
 In its most general case, oil, gas, and water saturations
 So = oil saturation
 Sg = gas saturation
 Sw = water saturation
43
Fluid Saturations
 Using the saturation definitions and the expression , it could be shown

that sum of the fluid saturations adds up to 1.0
44
Irreducible and Movable Fluid Saturations
 Some stagnant water is trapped in smaller pores, referred to as connate water,
interstitial water, or irreducible water
 Similarly, if we inject water into 100% gas saturated core sample, the injected water
will displace most of the gas out of the core
 Some volume of gas will be trapped inside the porous material
 Reservoir rocks are also subject to an irreducible gas phase
 The term residual gas is also used to refer to the trapped gas phase
 When core sample contains oil besides gas and water, it also has a residual or
irreducible oil phase
 In the literature, mostly we use the phrase residual for stagnant oil and gas phases
and the term connate for inert water phase
45
 Consider a core sample with a pore volume of Vp and initial oil, gas, and
water volumes of Vo, Vg, and Vw
 Irreducible volumes of oil, gas, and water are Vor, Vgr, and Vwc
 Then irreducible saturations are defined as follows:
46
 The differences between the existing fluid volumes and residual

volumes are referred to as movable volumes
 Let Vo, Vg, and Vw be the current existing volumes
 Let Vor, Vgr, and Vwc be the irreducible volumes
 The volumes Vom, Vgm, and Vwm are the movable volumes
47
 The movable oil, gas and water saturations are defined as follows
 Next figure illustrates the relationship among total, irreducible, and

movable fluid saturations
48
Fluid Saturations in Porous Rocks
Sg Sgm Sgr
Som Sor So
Sw Swm Swc
49
Measurement of Irreducible Fluid Saturations
 Measurement of irreducible gas, oil, and water saturations can be

accomplished on core plug samples
 A core flooding apparatus is used to quantify the irreducible saturations
 Core flooding apparatus is similar to the apparatus to measure single
phase permeability by steady state liquid flow
 Below, we will describe the measurement of residual oil saturation
 Measurements of the residual gas saturation and irreducible water
saturation are similar to that of the residual oil saturation
50
Measurement of Irreducible Fluid Saturations
 A stepwise procedure for measuring residual oil saturation

 Step 1; clean and dry core plug and measure pore volume
 Step 2; completely saturate the core sample with oil, So = 1.0
 Step 3; place core sample in steel core holder
 Step 4; start injecting gas or water to displace oil from core plug
 Measure the volume of oil produced as a function of time
 Volume of oil produced from core becomes constant over a long time period
 Record the total volume of produced oil and terminate the test
51
Core Flooding System
 The main components of a core flooding apparatus are listed below

 A cylindrical core plug
 A constant rate liquid pump
 A core holder
 A rubber sleeve
 Two end caps with flow distributers
 A differential pressure transducer
 Pressure gauges
52
Measurement of Residual Oil Saturation
Pressure transducer
Dp
Confining fluid BPR
Core
V1 V2
Constant Core holder

rate pump
53
Wettability
Wettability and Contact Angle
 Wettability is relevant to not only a porous medium containing multiple fluids but
also any solid residing in contact with two different immiscible fluids
 When a solid material is in contact with more than one fluid, it prefers to be wetted
by one of the fluids
 Wettability is the tendency of one fluid to spread over a solid surface in the presence
of multiple immiscible fluids
Air
qgma
qgwa qgoa
Water Mercury Oil
55
 Wettability is quantified with contact angle between the solid surface

and fluid
 In case of glass-water-air system, the contact angle, qgwa, is small and
closer to 0º
 The contact angle in glass-mercury-air arrangement, qgma, is large and
closer to 180º
 Due to glass surface’s neutrality towards oil and air fluid pair, the
contact angle from glass-oil-air combination, qgoa, is close to 90º
56
 In porous media, the fluid preferred to be in contact with rock surface

forms a thin film and surrounds the rock grains
 Based on their wettability tendency, the fluid spreading over the pore
surface may be distinguished as wetting phase
 The other fluids may be referred to as nonwetting phase
 In general, subsurface rocks prefer to be wetted by liquids instead of
gases
 More specifically, reservoir rocks are either oil-wet or water-wet
57
 Based on the numerical value of contact angle, hydrocarbon reservoirs
are classified as
 Strongly water wet, 0º < q < 30º
 Moderately water wet, 30º < q < 75º
 Neutrally wet, 75º < q < 105º
 Moderately Oil wet, 105º < q < 150º
 Strongly Oil wet, 150º < q < 180º
58
sow
Oil
q
Water
sso ssw
ssw
59
 Wettability plays a significant role in the distribution of fluid saturations
in reservoir
 If the reservoir rock is oil wet, then oil phase covers the internal surfaces
of pores and forms a thin film around the individual rock grains
 In oil-wet reservoir, oil is the continuous phase and water is the
discontinuous phase
 Typically, in oil-wet systems, residual oil saturation to water flooding is
higher
60
Water wet Oil wet
Grain Oil Water

 If reservoir rock is water-wet,
 Water forms a thin film around rock surface
 Water prevents the contact between oil and rock surface
 Water establishes a continuous phase
61
Absolute Permeability
Permeability of Porous Rocks
 Permeability is one of the most important physical properties of porous

media
 Permeability is the ability of a porous rock to transmit fluids flowing
through its pore space
 Permeability is an empirical property derived from experimental
observations
 A rock must have a well connected pore network across its domain to
exhibit any permeability
63
 When the velocity is relatively low, the fluid flow through the porous
medium is characterized by Darcy’s law
 Darcy’s law is based on the experimental observations
 In 1856, Henry Darcy investigated water flow through sand filters
 An incompressible fluid such as water flows through a sand pack
 Fluid flow takes place under steady state conditions
 Fluid flow is one dimensional
 Gravitational forces are negligible
64
 Darcy observed that the flow rate across a linear porous rock is
controlled by the following parameters
 Pressure drop across the porous medium
 Cross sectional area normal to flow direction
 Length of porous medium p1 p2
 Viscosity of fluid Dp
q q
A
L
65
 q = volumetric flow rate

 p1 = inlet pressure
 p2 = outlet pressure
 Dp = p1 – p2 = pressure drop across porous medium
 L = length of porous medium
 m = fluid viscosity
 A = cross sectional area perpendicular to flow directions
 Investigate the relationship among q, Dp, L, A, and m
66
Unit for Permeability
 In the honor of the pioneering work presented by Henry Darcy,

permeability is measured in the basic unit of darcy
 Symbol d is used to denote darcy
 Permeability is calculated from Darcy’s eq.
 q in cc/s, m in cp, L in cm, A in cm2, Dp in atm, and k in d

 A porous rock with a length of 1 cm and an area of 1 cm2 possesses a
permeability of 1 darcy when a fluid with 1 cp viscosity flows at a rate
of 1 cc/s under a pressure drop of 1 atm
67
Units for Permeability
 In SI unit system, permeability unit is m2

 When measuring in m2, we obtain very small permeability values
 In SI units, better to express permeability in mm2 (micrometer-squared)
 Unit conversion factors
 1 darcy = 0.986923 mm2 = 9.86923×10-9 cm2 = 9.86923×10-13 m2
 1 darcy  1 mm2 = 1×10-12 m2
68
Units for Permeability
 One darcy corresponds to a very high permeability

 Most reservoir rocks exhibits permeability values lower or much lower
than one darcy
 Subsurface rocks may display permeability values in the order of
millidarcy (md)
 1 d = 1,000 md
69
Permeability – Example 1
 A set of flow experiments on a linear core

 d = 2.54 cm and L = 15.24 cm
 Water is pumped through the core; m = 1 cp
 In each experiment, only the flow rate is changed
 q and corresponding Dp for each experiment in Table 1
 Construct a Cartesian plot of q vs ADp/mL
 Predict permeability
70
Permeability
Table 1 – Test data for Example 1

Test # q Dp
(cc/s) (psia)
1 0.1 70
2 0.2 140
3 0.3 195
4 0.4 260
5 0.5 340
6 0.6 410
7 0.7 470
8 0.8 520
9 0.9 600
10 1.0 675
71
 Flow group ADp/mL for Test #1 is
 The rest of the calculated results are tabulated in Table 2

 A Cartesian plot of q vs ADp/mL is displayed in next figure
72
Table 2 – q vs flow group ADp/mL for Example 1
Test # q Dp ADp/mL
() (cc/s) (atm) (cm×atm/cp)
1 0.1 4.76 1.5833
2 0.2 9.52 3.1665
3 0.3 13.27 4.4105
4 0.4 17.69 5.8807
5 0.5 23.13 7.6901
6 0.6 27.89 9.2734
7 0.7 31.97 10.6305
8 0.8 35.37 11.7614
9 0.9 40.82 13.5708
10 1.0 45.92 15.2672
73
 A well defined straight line on q vs ADp/mL plot
 Slope = k = 0.0661 d = 66.1 md
74
Superficial and Actual Fluid Velocities
A
v = q/Ap
Am Ap  f A
Ap
q q u 1 k dp
v   
Αp A   μ dx
A = Ap+Am
75
Darcy’s Equation in Field Units – Liquid Flow
 Darcy’s equation in the oilfield units through unit conversion
 q = volumetric flow rate, RB/D (reservoir barrels per day)

 A = cross sectional area normal to flow directions, ft2
 k = permeability, md (millidarcy)
 m = fluid viscosity, cp
 p = pressure, psia
 x = location, ft
76
Darcy’s Equation in Field Units – Gas Flow
 When we deal with gas flow, the flow rate is typically measured in unit
of cuft/D and superficial velocity is expressed in unit ft/D
 q = volumetric gas flow rate, ft^3 /D (cubic foot per day)

 u = superficial gas fluid velocity, ft/D
77
Compressible Gas Flow Through Porous Rocks
 Permeability and porosity of core samples of subsurface rocks are

generally measured using inert gases at low pressures
 The gases used in laboratory measurement of porous rock properties
 Air
 Helium
 Nitrogen
 Typically, laboratory measurements with gases are much cheaper and
faster
78
p1 p2
Dp
q1, r1 q(x), r(x) q2 , r 2

w1 = wsc w(x) = wsc w2 = wsc
A
L
79
 Consider a compressible gas flow across linear porous rock

 p1 = inlet pressure
 p2 = outlet pressure
 Compressible gas expands as it flows
 Volumetric flow rate varies along the core length
 Gas flows at a constant mass flow rate
 Before gas could enter into core sample, it needs to be compressed to
the inlet pressure
80
 Express mass flow rate in terms of volumetric flow rate and gas density
at standard conditions
 Mass flow rate:
 qsc = volumetric gas flow rate at standard conditions

 rsc = gas density at standard conditions
 wsc = mass flow rate at standard conditions
81
 =
 Rearranging mass balance equation
 Gas EOS
82
 Notice that the permeability here is the permeability to gas

 Rearranging the eq. above
 Integrating
83
 Gas flow experiments are typically run at low pressures and ambient temperature
 In such conditions, the product of mz is nearly constant
 Integrating
84
 Rearranging for permeability
 Experiments at standard isothermal conditions; T = Tsc

 Additionally, tests are run under low pressures yielding z = 1
85
 Viscosity is evaluated at the arithmetic average of upstream and

downstream pressures
 Gas flow equation may also be expressed as below
 Gas permeameters use the equation above to predict gas permeability
86
Gas Flow Through Porous Rocks
 A sandstone core plug

 d = 0.986 in and L = 1.476 in
 Nitrogen flow
 T = 72.5 ºF
 qsc = 0.399x10-3 scf/hr
 p1 = 260.3 psia
 psc = p2 = 13.307 psia
 Compute the single-phase permeability to gas
87
88
 Permeability is very low

 It is impractical to measure such low permeability values using liquids
 If we used water instead of gas, for a flow rate of q = 0.1 cc/s, Dp would
have been 585,434 atm, an impractical value
89
Limitations of Darcy’s Law
 Darcy’s law is developed for incompressible liquid flow in porous rocks
 Darcy’s law is valid for low liquid velocities
 At high liquid velocities, Darcy’s law is no longer valid
 Permeability is measured by flowing gas through core plugs at low pressures
 Permeability calculated using the equation above at low test pressures is higher than
the true permeability
 This is due to a physical phenomenon known as gas slippage at the pore surfaces
 Gas slippage phenomenon in pores is formulated by Klinkenberg
90
Gas Flow at Low Pressures and Klinkenberg Effect
 Klinkenberg developed a theory explaining the gas slippage

 When a gas is flowing along a solid wall, the layer of gas next to the
surface is in motion with respect to the solid surface
 If the wall has a zero velocity then the velocity of the gas layer in the
immediate vicinity of the wall has a finite value
 As a consequence the quantity of gas flowing through pores is larger
than liquid
91
Klinkenberg Plot
kag
kL
0 1/p~
92
 kag = apparent gas permeability, md

 kL = liquid permeability, md
 bK = Klinkenberg slip coefficient, psia
 At high pressures, the second term containing the Klinkenberg slip
coefficient tends to zero; gas and liquid permeabilities become same
 At low pressures, gas permeability is higher than liquid permeability
 Gas permeability at low pressures is also a function of average pressure
93
 Step 1: Starting with the lowest mean pressure, measure apparent gas
permeability at several mean pressures, typically four tests
 Step 2: Construct a plot of kag versus
 kag versus plot is referred to as Klinkenberg plot
 The Klinkenberg plot should display a straight line
 Step 3: Liquid permeability kL is equal to intercept of the straight line
 Step 4: The Klinkenberg coefficient may be computed from the slope of
the straight line on the Klinkenberg plot
94
Klinkenberg Slip Effect – Example 5
Table 3 – Apparent gas permeability at low pressures (After Klinkenberg)
p~ 1/p~ kag p~ 1/p~ kag
(psia) (1/psia) (md) (psia) (1/psia) (md)
0.1523 6.56812 290.00 44.1909 0.02263 25.43
0.1597 6.25996 280.00 47.3799 0.02111 25.09
0.1747 5.72294 259.00 64.1627 0.01559 25.02
0.2400 4.16692 197.00 74.2001 0.01348 24.72
0.2973 3.36360 165.00 74.9496 0.01334 24.62
0.3433 2.91292 148.00 93.1726 0.01073 24.34
0.4628 2.16087 117.00 93.1726 0.01073 24.29
0.8702 1.14923 75.60 94.4953 0.01058 24.25
1.3053 0.76611 60.00 131.3822 0.00761 23.79
2.1515 0.46479 46.60 131.3822 0.00761 23.85
5.0451 0.19821 34.20 135.0562 0.00740 23.93
11.7421 0.08516 28.60 182.9652 0.00547 23.66
23.0727 0.04334 26.79 183.4061 0.00545 23.82
23.2344 0.04304 26.58 241.6022 0.00414 23.67
26.4822 0.03776 26.49 241.7492 0.00414 23.77
29.9358 0.03340 26.23 294.0670 0.00340 23.55
30.0533 0.03327 26.33 294.0670 0.00340 23.65
39.0473 0.02561 25.22
95
Klinkenberg Slip Effect – Example 5
96
Klinkenberg Plot – Example 5
97
Klinkenberg Plot – Example 5
 The predicted from gas flow tests agrees very well with the liquid
permeability of from liquid flow tests
98
High Velocity Flow in Porous Media
Darcy flow
dp/dx
99
Variation of Permeability
 Permeability of porous rocks changes enormously

 For unconsolidated sandstone and carbonated rocks containing
microfractures and vugs, permeability may be higher than 1 d
 In case of consolidated tight sandstones, permeability values are on the
order of 0.1 md
 Shale formations exhibit extremely low permeability values in the order
of microdarcy (10-6 d) and nanodarcy(10-9 d)
 A general permeability classification of porous rocks in next table
100
 Permeability varies substantially with the location throughout

subsurface reservoir rock
 As an example, we present the change in core plug permeability along
the vertical depth for Hiram Well # 17
 The measured core plug permeabilities are tabulated in Table 13
 Permeability data are plotted as a function of depth in next figure
 Notice that permeability axis is logarithmic
101
Table 13 – Core plug permeability along depth, Hiram Well #17
Sample # Depth Permeability Sample # Depth Permeability
() (ft) (md) () (ft) (md)
1 2,880 1,271.0 25 2,904 49.0
2 2,881 1,239.0 26 2,905 36.0
3 2,882 1,184.0 27 2,906 23.0
4 2,883 1,891.0 28 2,907 20.0
5 2,884 1,500.0 29 2,908 0.1
6 2,885 1,271.0 30 2,909 56.0
7 2,886 1,565.0 31 2,910 49.0
8 2,887 1,325.0 32 2,911 26.0
9 2,888 967.0 33 2,912 33.0
10 2,889 717.0 34 2,913 26.0
11 2,890 728.0 35 2,914 36.0
12 2,891 554.0 36 2,915 42.0
13 2,892 130.0 37 2,916 33.0
14 2,893 218.0 38 2,917 39.0
15 2,894 466.0 39 2,918 52.0
16 2,895 684.0 40 2,919 56.0
17 2,896 600.0 41 2,920 33.0
18 2,897 336.0 42 2,921 46.0
19 2,898 150.0 43 2,922 36.0
20 2,899 277.0 44 2,923 29.0
21 2,900 78.0 45 2,924 33.0
22 2,901 101.0 46 2,925 23.0
23 2,902 82.0 47 2,926 33.0
24 2,903 82.0
102
Permeability Distribution Along Well Depth
103
 Permeability varies significantly along the well depth

 The minimum permeability is 0.1 md
 The maximum permeability is 1,891 md
 The average permeability is 387.8 md
 The standard deviation of the permeability distribution is 527.5 md
 Four orders of magnitude difference between the maximum and
minimum permeability values
104
 Permeability generally decreases as the depth along the well increases

 The change in the permeability may be due to the factors listed below
 Change in lithology
 Change in the grain size and grain size distribution
 Change in the clay content
 Cementation
 Change in porosity
 Sedimentation and historical geological events
105
Factors Controlling Permeability
 Many factors affect the permeability of porous rocks
 Porosity
 Microfractures and vugs
 Pore size distribution
 Lithology and mineral composition
 Burial depth
 Compaction and consolidation
 Confining pressure
 Cementation
 Clay content and clay swelling
106
 Reservoir rocks are subject to large stresses. Under high stresses, some
reservoir rocks may be naturally fractured. Natural fractures in the order of 1
cm long are called microfractures. Microfractures may enhance permeability of
porous rocks substantially
 Some carbonated rocks contain vugs. Vugs are very large pores in the order of 1
mm to 1 cm in diameter. Especially, when vugs are interconnected and form a
network, permeability of porous rock may be improved considerably.
 A rock with larger grains possesses higher permeability. Smaller grain sizes
lead to smaller pores and lower permeability. In general, poorly sorted porous
rocks have low permeability values. Cementation reduces pore sizes and
consequently lowers permeability.
107
 Most reservoir rocks contains small amount of free clay particles. Clays are
sensitive to changes in salinity. When pore filling clays are contacted by fresh water
or aqueous fluids with lesser salinity, clays swell and increase their volume. Clay
swelling may reduce permeability substantially
 As burial depth increases, overburden stress acting on reservoir rock increHigher
overburden stress leads to more consolidation of porous material and reduces
permeability. As a general rule of thumb, permeability decreases with increasing
burial depth.
108
Effect of Confining Pressure
Permeability as a function of
confining pressure
pc k
(psia) (md)
1,416 0.0370
1,945 0.0345
2,455 0.0331
2,900 0.0320
3,444 0.0319
3,927 0.0311
4,437 0.0307
4,925 0.0312
109
Permeability-Porosity Cross Plot – Example 13
110
Effective and Relative Permeability
Effective Oil Permeability at Connate Water Saturation
 Saturate the core entirely with water, Sw = 1.0
 Start injecting oil
 Keep injecting oil until no more water is produced from core
 Due to irreducible saturation, not all the water initially contained in
pore system could be displaced out of the core
 Some portion of the initial water volume would be trapped in the
porous medium in the form of connate water saturation
 At end of oil displacing water process, saturations in core are Sw = Swc
and So = 1.0 – Swc
112
Effective Oil Permeability at Connate Water Saturation
 Continue oil injection process
 Measure qo, Dpo, mo, A, and L
 Calculate permeability as follows
 at Sw = Swc
 Under two phase flow conditions, even the sum of the permeabilities to
each phase is lower than the single phase permeability .
113
Effective Water Permeability at Residual Oil Saturation
 Saturate core entirely with oil, So = 1.0
 Start injecting water
 Keep injecting water until no more oil is produced from core
 Due to residual oil saturation, not all oil initially contained in pore
system could be displaced out of core
 Some portion of initial oil volume would be trapped in porous medium
in form of residual oil saturation
 At end of water displacing oil process, saturations in core are So = Sor
and Sw = 1.0 – Sor
114
Effective Water Permeability at Residual Oil Saturation
 Continue oil injection process
 Measure qw, Dpw, mw, A, and L
 Calculate permeability as follows
 at So = Sor
115
Two-Phase Flow and Effective Permeability – Figure 2
p1 p2
Dp
qo qo
qw qw
A
L
𝑘𝑜 ( 𝑆𝑤 ) =𝑞 𝑜 𝜇 𝑜 𝐿/ 𝐴 ∆ 𝑝 𝑜 𝑘𝑤 ( 𝑆𝑤 )=𝑞𝑤 𝜇 𝑤 𝐿/ 𝐴 ∆ 𝑝𝑤
116
Effective Oil and Water Permeabilities – Two-Phase Flow
 Consider a case in which both oil and water phases are mobile
 So > Sor, Sw > Swc, So + Sw = 1.0
 Simultaneously inject oil and water at flow rates of qo and qw
 Determine effective permeabilities to both phases as a function of Sw
 Given qo, qw, mo, mw, Dp, A, and L, compute ko and kw

117
Effective Oil and Water Permeabilities – Two-Phase Flow

 Effective permeability to oil phase at connate water saturation is

known as end point oil permeability
 Effective water permeability at residual oil saturation is called as
end point water permeability
118
Effective Permeability to Oil and Water
k
ko(Swc)
ko
and
kw kw(Sor)
Swc 1-Sor
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0

Sw
119
Relative Permeabilities
 Relative permeability applies to multi phase flow in porous media
 Relative permeability to a phase is defined as ratio of effective phase
permeability under multi phase flow condition to single phase liquid
permeability
 Oil and water relative permeabilities are defined as

120
Relative Permeabilities
121
Imbibition and Drainage Displacement Processes
 Based on wetting preference of porous rock and the type of fluid

injected into porous rock
 Fluid displacement process in porous media is classified as
 Imbibition
 Drainage
 Injection of the wetting phase fluid into a core sample is called as
imbibition process
 Injection of a non-wetting phase fluid into porous rock is defined as
drainage process
122
Imbibition and Drainage Displacement Processes
 Relative permeability and capillary pressure characteristics of porous

rocks is strongly influenced by the type of the displacement process
 On same core sample, relative permeability curves measured during an
imbibition process are substantially different from those measured
during a drainage process
 Figure 5 illustrates oil and water relative permeabilities under drainage
and imbibition processes
 At same water saturation, kro in drainage process is higher than kro in
imbibition process
123
Relative Permeability Hysteresis – Figure 5
1.0
Drainage Imbibition
kro
kro
krw 0.8
krw
0.6
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Sw
124
Measurement of Absolute Permeability
Steady State Method Using Liquids
 The most common liquids to measure permeability under steady state

flow conditions are listed below
 Synthetic brines
 Degassed reservoir oils
 Synthetic oils with low viscosity
 Many commercial instruments to measure permeability
 The specific details of measurement procedure vary for each
commercial instrument
 Generic description of steady state liquid permeability measurement
126
Steady State Method Using Liquids
 Components of apparatus for steady state liquid permeameter

 A cylindrical core plug
 A constant rate liquid pump
 A core holder
 A rubber sleeve
 Two end caps with flow distributers
 A differential pressure transducer
 Pressure gauges
 Back pressure regulator (BPR)
 Flow lines
127
Steady State Liquid Permeability Measurement
Pressure transducer
Dp
Confining fluid BPR
Core
V1 V1
Constant Core holder

rate pump
128
Steady State Liquid Permeameter, Vinci Technologies
129
 Core sample is cleaned, dried, and saturated with the test liquid
 Cylindrical core plugs are inserted into rubber sleeve
 Two end caps are pressed against the core sample at the axial ends
 End caps are designed with flow distributors
 A flow distributor receives the fluid from flowline and distributes it
uniformly at the face of core plug
 Flow distributor ensures that flow across core is one dimensional
 Rubber sleeve and end caps protect core plug from external fluids
130
 Annular space between core holder and rubber sleeve and end caps is
filled with a confining liquid
 Annular liquid is pressurized
 It is of utmost importance that there is no fluid leakage from the core
and there is not any external fluid entry into the core sample
 Constant rate pump injects test liquid into core sample
 Liquid injection pumps can inject fluid at several different rates
 Liquid injection pumps are equipped with a gear box to set the rate
131
 A differential pressure transducer directly measures the pressure drop

 In some cases, a back pressure regulator may be installed on the outlet
flow line
 A back pressure regulator maintains a set pressure upstream of itself
 A back pressure regulator keeps a constant pressure at the outlet
 A constant flow rate is chosen on the liquid pump
 Liquid pump is turned on
 Test liquid is injected into core plug
132
 Initially, pressure drop across the core sample increases and varies with
time
 After some time transients die out, pressure drop stabilizes and
becomes constant
 Permeability is estimated from Darcy’s equation
 Main disadvantage; liquid permeameter is impractical to measure low

permeability values
133
Steady State Liquid Permeameter – Example 9
 Reconsider Test # 1 in Example 1

 d = 2.54 cm, L = 15.24 cm, q = 0.1 cc/s, m = 1 cp, Dp = 4.76 atm
 Estimate permeability using Darcy’s equation
134
Steady State Gas Permeameter
 The most common gases used to measure permeability are listed below.
 Air
 Helium
 Nitrogen
 Other gases; hydrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, and methane
 Gases are clean, nonreactive, and do not alter the pore structure
 Experimental apparatus is simpler
 Experiments using gases are much faster
 Gas permeameters can measure very low permeabilities (md and hd)
135
 Gas permeability measurements conducted at low or high pressures

 The main disadvantages are listed below
 Klinkenberg slip effect at low pressures
 Forchheimer flow at high fluid velocities
 Multiple repeated tests
 Gas permeameters designed to operate at low pressures are simple and
cheap
 Gas flow rate is measured using an instrument called gas mass flow meter
 A commercial gas permeameter from Vinci Technologies in next figure
136
137
Steady State Gas Permeameter – High Pressures
 Apparatus for gas permeameters designed to operate at high pressures are

similar to steady state liquid permeameters
 The main differences are as follows
 Gas injection is supplied by a high pressure gas tank
 Gas tank is such that it provides a nearly constant upstream pressure
 A gas mass flow meter, which measures the gas injection rate, is installed at
either the upstream or the downstream of the core holder
138
Steady State Gas Permeameter – High Pressures
Pressure transducer
Dp
Confining fluid BPR

High
pressure Core
gas tank V1 V1
Mass flow
meter
Core holder
139
 In case of gas permeameters, flow measurements are conducted at several

mean pressures, typically four different tests
 Apparent gas permeability and mean pressure for each test are calculated
using the equations below
140
Steady State Gas Permeameter – Klinkenberg Plot
 Klinkenberg plot is constructed

 A straight line is drawn through the test data
 The slope and intercept of the straight line are computed
 Permeability and Klinkenberg slip coefficient are calculated as follows
141
Estimation of Relative Permeability
Steady State Methods
 In steady state methods, a fixed ratio of two fluid phases is forced

through core sample
 Fluid injection is continued until both saturation and pressure equilibria
are reached
 A uniform saturation distribution has to be established throughout core
 Saturation gradient across core sample has to be eliminated
 Once a uniform saturation distribution is obtained and pressure drop
across core sample is stabilized then pressure drop is recorded
143
Steady State Methods
 In general, steady state methods are more accurate and reliable

 These methods are also quite expensive
 Additionally, it takes extraordinarily long time to reach saturation and
pressure equilibria across core sample
 Generally, steady state methods are not preferred
144
Steady State Methods – Test Procedure
 Assume water-wet rock and imbibition relative permeability

measurement
 Test is initiated with fluid saturations of Sw = Swc and So = 1-Swc
 Two different injection pumps are used
 One pump injects oil while the other injects water
 Oil and water are allowed to mix at inlet face before entering core
 Oil and water are simultaneously injected at a fixed rate ratio of qoI/qwI
until steady state is achieved
145
 Steady state is achieved when

 pressure drop across core sample becomes constant
 injection rate ratio of qoI/qwI is the same as production rate ratio of qop/qwp
 During test, pressure drop, oil injection rate, water injection rate, oil
production rate, and water production rate must be measured
 Additionally, fluid saturations in each step of steady state method are
measured
 Fluid saturations in core are measured by removing core from test
apparatus and weighting core at the end of each step
146
 After weight measurement, a mass balance calculation is performed to

predict water saturation in core
 Using conservation of mass, total core weight of fluid saturated core is
formulated as follows
 (24)
 Rearranging Eq. 24 for water saturation,
 (25)
147
 Wwc = weight of fluid saturated wet core, g

 WDc = weight of dry core (grain/solid/matrix weight), g
 Vp = pore volume, cc
 rw = density of water, g/cc
 ro = density of oil, g/cc
 Effective permeabilities to oil and water phases are formulated using
two-phase flow version of Darcy’s equation
148
 (26)
 (27)
 Note that, in Eqs. 26 and 27, pressure drops in oil and water phases are
different
 When oil and water flow inside porous rock, there is a pressure
difference between oil and water phases due to capillary pressure pc
 Since saturation distribution inside porous rock is uniform so is capillary
pressure
 Capillary pressure does not change along core length
149
 Inlet and outlet pressures are measured in bulk fluids at just outside
both ends of core sample not inside porous rock
 There should not be any capillary pressure in bulk fluid phases
 Pressure drops in both oil and water phases should be the same
 It is reasonable to assume that
 (28)
 Dp = pressure drop across core
 Using Eq. 28 in Eqs. 26 and 27,
150
 (29)
 (30)
 After computing ko and kw, relative permeabilities are calculated using
either Eqs. 20 and 21 or Eqs. 22 and 23
 (20)
 (21)
 (22)
 (23)
151
Steady State Method – Example 1
 A steady state relative permeability experiment on a sandstone core

sample is reported
 Test is performed under a constant pressure drop
 Saturations are estimated by weighting core sample
 All relevant data are tabulated in Tables
 Analyze test data and estimate oil and water relative permeabilities
152
Table 1 – Basic rock and fluid data, Table 2 – Oil and water rates and wet core
Example 1 weight data for steady state relative
Parameter Value permeability experiment
L, cm = 5.0
d, cm = 3.0
Index qo qw Wwc
f, fraction = 0.15
mo, cp = 10.0 () (cm3/s) (cm3/s) (g)
mw, cp = 1.0 1 0.05556 0.00000 84.9679
k, d = 0.15 2 0.04547 0.00434 85.0209
ro, g/cm3 = 0.85 3 0.03608 0.01736 85.0739
rw, g/cm3 = 1.05 4 0.02745 0.03906 85.1270
Dp, atm = 3.275 5 0.01964 0.06944 85.1800
A, cm =2
7.0686
Vb, cm =3
35.3429 6 0.01276 0.10851 85.2330
Vp, cm =3
5.3014 7 0.00694 0.15625 85.2860
Vm, cm = 3
30.0415 8 0.00246 0.21268 85.3390
WDc, g = 80.0906
9 0.00000 0.27778 85.3920
153
 We present calculations for fifth measured data point

 Using Eq. 25, we predict water saturation

 Using Eqs. 29 and 30,


154
 Now, we compute relative permeabilities


 Notice that we use absolute single phase permeability to normalize

relative permeabilities
 All calculated results for experiment are tabulated in Table 3
 Relative permeabilities are plotted as functions of water saturation as
shown in Figure 6
155
Table 3 –Relative permeabilities estimated from steady state experiment,

Example 1
Index Sw ko kw kro krw
() (fraction) (d) (d) (fraction) (fraction)
1 0.350 0.1200 0.0000 0.7999 0.0000
2 0.400 0.0982 0.0009 0.6548 0.0063
3 0.450 0.0779 0.0037 0.5196 0.0250
4 0.500 0.0593 0.0084 0.3953 0.0562
5 0.550 0.0424 0.0150 0.2828 0.1000
6 0.600 0.0276 0.0234 0.1837 0.1562
7 0.650 0.0150 0.0337 0.1000 0.2250
8 0.700 0.0053 0.0459 0.0354 0.3062
9 0.750 0.0000 0.0600 0.0000 0.4000
156
Steady State Method – Example 1 – Figure 6
157
 In the absence of experiment data, we rely on empirical relative permeability models
158
159
Empirical Methods for Two-Phase Relative Permeabilities
 kro = relative permeability to oil, fraction

 krg = relative permeability to gas, fraction
 krw = relative permeability to water, fraction
 So = oil saturation, fraction
 Sorg = residual oil saturation to gas flooding, fraction
 Sorw = residual oil saturation to water flooding, fraction
 Sw = water saturation, fraction
 Swc = connate water saturation, fraction
160
Empirical Methods for Two-Phase Relative Permeabilities
 Sg = gas saturation, fraction

 Sgc = critical gas saturation, fraction
 krgSorg = end point relative permeability to gas at So = Sorg, fraction
161
Electrical Properties of Brine and Rocks
Electrical Properties
 Subsurface rocks transmit electrical current when they contain formation water with
dissolved electrolytes
 Typically, except some types of clays and conductive metallic minerals, reservoir
rocks are not electrically conductive when they are dry
 Subsurface hydrocarbons do not allow electrical current flow
 Pure water is not electrically conductive
 Formation water contain dissolved salts such as NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, NaSO4...
 The salts in subsurface waters are in the form of
 positively charged cations (Na+, K+, Mg++, Ca++)
 negatively charged anions (Cl -, SO -, CO - -)

4 3
163
Conductivity and Resistivity
 Consider a cell filled by formation water containing dissolved NaCl

 L = length of cell
 A = cross sectional area of A
 An electrical current is introduced through formation water
 I = current flow in amperes, measured by an ammeter
 DV = voltage drop across cell in volts, recorded by a voltmeter
 The relationship between current flow and potential drop is given by
the Ohm’s law
164
I
Ammeter Source
DV
Voltmeter
Saline water
Na+ Cl-
A
L
165
 According to Ohm’s principle, the ratio of voltage drop to electrical

current yields the water resistance
 rw = resistance in ohm, W
 The relationship between current and potential (voltage) drop may also
be formulated in terms of resistivity Rw
 Rw = resistivity in ohm-meter, Wm
166
 Electrical current flow may also be formulated in terms of conductivity

 Electrical conductivity is the inverse of resistivity
 Cw = conductivity in 1/Wm
 Resistivity of formation waters is dependent upon
 Temperature
 Concentration of dissolved salts
 Type of dissolved salts
167
Resistivity of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) Brines
 Resistivity of saline water may be measured with resistivity meter

 Resistivity of NaCl brines is a function
 Salinity (concentration)
 Temperature
168
Resistivity of Sodium Chloride Brine
Resistivity, Wm
T Sppm = 1,000 Sppm = 10,000 Sppm = 100,000
(ºF) (ppm) (ppm) (ppm)
50 6.9 0.8 0.105
75 5.6 0.58 0.075
100 3.9 0.42 0.056
125 3.1 0.35 0.045
150 2.6 0.29 0.038
175 2.2 0.24 0.032
200 1.9 0.21 0.029
250 1.5 0.17 0.023
300 1.2 0.075 0.020
169
 The parts per million of solids in brine is defined as grams of solids per 1 million grams of brine
170
Resistivity of NaCl Brines
 Rw of oilfield waters is most

relevant to interpretation of
resistivity logs
 Logging companies measured Rw of
NaCl brine for a wide range of
salinity and temperature
 Rw of NaCl brine is presented in the
form of graphical plots
171
Component Multipliers for Correcting Total Salinity
172
Resistivity of Formation Brine – Example 1
 Average composition of brine from a sandstone formation is given

 Total solid content is 80,000 ppm
 Formation temperature is 150 ºF
 Estimate total equivalent NaCl concentration
 Use Schlumberger charts
 Estimate the resistivity of brine at reservoir condition
173
Brine composition
Component Sppm
(ppm)
Ca 8,000
Mg 2,000
Na 25,000
HCO3 5,000
SO4 10,000
Cl 30,000
Total 80,000
174
80,000 ppm
175
 First, we estimate resistivity multipliers

 Resistivity multipliers from Schlumberger chart are tabulated in Table 3
 Next, we compute total equivalent sodium chloride salinity
 Original total solid concentration of 80,000 ppm is reduced to a total

equivalent NaCl concentration of 66,600 ppm
176
80,000 ppm
177
 From Schlumberger chart, we estimate the resistivity of brine
 If we do not correct the total salinity for compositional variation and

compute resistivity of sodium chloride brine with a total salinity of
80,000 ppm, we find
178
179
Subsurface Pressures
Subsurface Pressure Regimes
 Several pressure terms related to subsurface rocks

 Hydrostatic pressure
 Overburden (lithostatic) pressure
 Pore (fluid) pressure
 Grain (matrix) pressure
 Confining pressure
181
Hydrostatic Fluid Pressure and Pressure Gradient
 Consider a well full of a fluid, typically drilling mud or completion fluid

 Well is pressurized; pwh at wellhead
 The fluid is nearly incompressible
 Water
 Drilling mud
 Completion fluids
 The fluid occupying the well is static and in equilibrium; no flow
 Temperature in the well is constant
182
 How does the static fluid pressure vary with depth?

 Static fluid pressure increases linearly with depth
 Pressure profile is controlled by
 Fluid density
 Wellhead pressure
 The fluid pressure at any depth is due to applied wellhead pressure and
the weight of the fluid column above the depth of interest
 This pressure is known as hydrostatic pressure
183
Static Pressure Due To a Fluid Column
pwh
pwh p
z=0
z
Fluid
Fz
z
Slope ~ rf
184
 Formulate static pressure distribution along wellbore

 Consider a differential element of well cross-section at a depth of z
 Static pressure at any depth z is the force applied on differential
element divided by well cross-sectional area
 F(z) = force applied above differential element

 A = cross-sectional area
185
 In engineering units, density is typically given in the unit of lbm/ft^3

and pressure is expressed in the unit of lbm/in^2
 To have unit consistency, density unit needs to be converted
 Applying density unit conversion
186
Hydrostatic Pressure Gradient
 Eq. above indicates that static pressure increases linearly with depth
 Pressure gradient = change in static pressure for a unit depth change
 Differentiating eq. above with respect to depth variable z
 dp/dz = static fluid pressure gradient or hydrostatic pressure gradient
187
 In engineering applications, pure water as reference fluid

 rw = 62.4 lbm/cuft
 Static pressure gradient of pure water
188
 Subsurface waters are typically heavier than pure water

 Oilfield waters contain varying concentrations of inorganic salts
 Average specific gravity of saline water is 1.073
 Saline water generates a higher hydrostatic pressure gradient
 The hydrostatic pressure due to weight of saline subsurface water is
189
Overburden Stress (Pressure)
 Reservoir rocks are sealed by an overlaying cap rock

 Many geological layers exist between reservoir rock and surface
 The reservoir rocks are exposed to stress originating from the weight of
the upper geological rock layers
 The stress acting on reservoir rock due to the weight of overlaying
formations is called overburden or lithostatic pressure, pov
 Quantifying overburden pressure?
 Information on the density of all the layers above the reservoir rock
190
Overburden Stress on Reservoir Rocks
Overburden stress Cap rock
Grain Fluid pressure
191
 Overlaying formations are composed of many different geological rocks

with different densities
 Overburden stress gradient in any layer could be predicted from the
density of the rock in the layer of interest
 rr = local rock density
 Overburden stress gradient is
 Overburden stress at any depth by integrating the eq. above
192
 In nature, overlaying formations are extremely heterogeneous

 Need to have the density profile from surface to reservoir
 Rock density profile may be derived from density logs
 Assume an average rock density of
 Overburden stress at any depth is
193
 Average specific gravity of subsurface formations is 2.3 g/cc
 Overburden stress gradient approximated as
 In the absence of density logs, this average overburden stress gradient

may be very useful to predict the overburden stress roughly
194
Pore (Reservoir) Pressure in Subsurface Formations
 Porous reservoir rocks contain solid grains and fluids

 Fluids occupy pores
 Reservoir fluids are compressed
 Pore pressure = pressure of compressed fluids occupying pores
 Initial reservoir pressure increases with burial depth
 The deeper the formation, the higher the reservoir discovery pressure
195
 Based on their discovery pressure, reservoirs may be classified as

 Normally-pressured
 Overpressured
 Underpressured
 In normally pressured formations, the expected initial reservoir
pressure is in the range of hydrostatic pressure due to weight of a water
column whose height is equal to burial depth of formation
 Consider a reservoir which is connected to surface through a crack or
fracture
196
 The crack reaching to surface is full of saline water

 The pressure along the crack would gradually increase due to weight of
water column above
 At bottom of crack, hydrostatic pressure due to weight of saline water
column would be
 At the bottom of it, the crack is connected to reservoir rock

 Assume that there is no fluid flow and static equilibrium is established
197
Crack
filled
with
water
z
Reservoir
198
 Same pressure at bottom of crack and in reservoir

 Expected reservoir discovery (pore) pressure, pp, in normally pressured
subsurface formations may be approximated as
 Actual initial reservoir discovery pressure may be different from the

expected value predicted by the eq. above
199
 The parameters controlling the actual reservoir pressure are

 Geological burial history
 Reservoir rock type
 Reservoir pore volume
 Mass of the fluid stored in reservoir pores
 Fluid type and fluid compressibility
 Reservoir temperature
200
 If actual pp is noticeably (in the order of several hundreds of psi) higher

than 0.4675 z, the reservoir is
 Overpressured
 Supernormal
 If pp is markedly lower than 0.4675 z then the reservoir is
 Underpressured
 Subnormal
201
dpp/dz  0.465 psi/ft
dpov/dz  1 psi/ft
Subsurface Pressure Regimes
re
ssu ion
Pressure
pre reg
202
tic ed
sta sur
ho res
Lit verp ure
O ress
tic p
osta gion
Hydr red re
pressu
Under
Depth
Matrix (Grain) Pressure
 Reservoir rock is composed of solid matrix and void space

 Void space is saturated by reservoir fluids
 Reservoir fluids are compressed and apply pressure on pore walls
 Reservoir fluid also partially counterbalances overburden pressure
 Expected reservoir discovery pressure in range of pp(z) = 0.465 z
203
 Porous reservoir rocks under influence of overburden pressure pov

 Overburden pressure approximated as pov(z) = z
 A pressure imbalance between overburden and pore pressures
 pov(z) – pp(z) = 0.535 z
 System is in static conditions and equilibrium must be preserved
 Pressure difference of pov(z) – pp(z) = 0.535 z must be counterbalanced
204
pov
Overburden pressure
Grain
pov
Pore pressure
205
 Pore fluids compensate only a portion of overburden pressure

 Total force due to weight of overlaying rocks is counterbalanced
partially by reservoir fluids and partially by reservoir rock matrix
 Force applied due to pressure difference of pov(z) – pp(z) = 0.535 z is
exerted on matrix through a grain-to-grain contact
 This force creates an internal reactive force and stress in matrix and in
individual sedimentary grains
 Internal pressure created in matrix is called matrix or grain pressure
 pm = matrix pressure
206
 In an ideal porous medium

 Uniform external overburden pressure in all directions
 Homogenous matrix
 Uniformly sized grains
 No cementation between grains
 Grains are loose but in contact
 One dimensional consolidation
 Relationship among overburden, pore, and matrix pressures
207
Confining Pressure
 This pressure difference between overburden and pore pressures is also

known as
 Confining pressure
 Net overburden stress
 Effective stress
208
 Real reservoir rocks may not satisfy all the assumptions listed above
 Real reservoir rocks may be exposed to non-uniform vertical
overburden and external lateral stresses
 Lateral stresses in x and y directions are lower than the vertical
overburden pov
209
 In real reservoir rocks, the relationship among overburden, pore, and

matrix pressures cannot be represented by
 Interaction among overburden, pore, and matrix pressures are quite
complex.
 As a rough approximation,
 a is a coefficient less than 1
210
Interaction among Subsurface Pressures During Production
 Overburden pressure is due to weight of geological layers

 For all practical purposes, there is no change in force applied by upper
layers
 pov ≈ constant during production
211
Interaction among Subsurface Pressures During Production
 When reservoir fluids are produced, mass of fluid remaining in reservoir

pore volume is reduced
 Fluid pressure in reservoir pores decreases due to loss of fluid mass
 During production of reservoir fluids, static equilibrium is upset
 A dynamic interaction among overburden, pore, and matrix pressures
 What happens to all three pressure terms during production?
212
North Sea Chalk Reservoir – Example 1
 Production data from a North Sea Chalk reservoir are given

 Initial reservoir pore pressure = 7,150 psia
 Assume an overburden stress of 12,000 psia
 a = 0.7
 Estimate matrix pressure and confining pressure as a function of time
and production
213
Pore Oil Matrix Confining
Time pressure production pressure pressure
(months) (psia) (MMSTB) (psia) (psia)
0 7,150 0.000 6,995 4,850
6 6,600 8.072 7,380 5,400
12 5,800 22.549 7,940 6,200
18 4,950 36.369 8,535 7,050
21 4,500 43.473 8,850 7,500
24 4,350 49.182 8,955 7,650
30 4,060 58.383 9,158 7,940
36 3,840 64.812 9,312 8,160
42 3,660 69.562 9,438 8,340
48 3,480 74.572 9,564 8,520
54 3,260 78.400 9,718 8,740
60 3,100 81.275 9,830 8,900
66 2,940 83.879 9,942 9,060
72 2,800 86.401 10,040 9,200
214
 Calculations for the initial condition

 At initial time, pp = 7,150 psia
 Rest of the calculations given in table

 Measured pore pressure, estimated matrix and confining pressures, and
the cumulative oil production are plotted as a function of time
215
216
 As production time increases

 Oil is produced from reservoir
 Pore pressure declines
 Matrix pressure increases
 Matrix balances the nearly-constant overburden pressure due to the
weight of upper geological rock layers
 Confining pressure, the difference between overburden and pore
pressures, increases
217

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Chapter 3

Reservoir Rock Properties

 Bulk, grain, pore volumes

 Subsurface rocks are porous and permeable

 Determination of porosity requires the measurement on two of the

 What counts is the interconnected pore volume contributing to storage

 Several methods to measure pore volume directly

 A dry core sample weights 88.18 g

 This method uses inert gases; helium, nitrogen, argon

Reference Core holder

 Core sample placed in rubber sleeve

 Confining fluid is pressurized to several hundred psi higher than the

 If we wait long enough, system reaches a state of equilibrium

 A model for the analysis of gas expansion tests

 In the absence of chemical reactions, mass is conserved

 Consider initial condition in the reference cell and pore space

 zr0 = gas deviation factor at initial pressure in reference cell, pr0

 At the end of gas expansion test, whole system is in equilibrium

 During experiment, there is no mass gain or loss

 Rearranging eq. above for Vp

 At low pressures, helium and nitrogen behave like ideal gases

 Porosity varies substantially with the

 Sandstones are mainly composed of quartz (silicon oxide, SiO2) and

Cubic Hexagonal Rhombohedral Orthorhombic Tetragonal Triclinic

0.476 0.395 0.26 0.395 0.302 0.26

 Compute theoretical porosity

Poorly sorted Poorly sorted Well sorted Very well sorted

 The grains constituting real reservoir rocks are bonded together by

 Under the effect of high pressure and temperature, cementation

 Compared to size of sand grains, clay minerals are much smaller

Effect of confining pressure

 Pore space is usually saturated with several fluids

 The term saturation is used to express the quantity of fluid volumes in

 Using the saturation definitions and the expression , it could be shown

 The differences between the existing fluid volumes and residual

 Next figure illustrates the relationship among total, irreducible, and

 Measurement of irreducible gas, oil, and water saturations can be

 A stepwise procedure for measuring residual oil saturation

 The main components of a core flooding apparatus are listed below

Confining fluid BPR

Constant Core holder

 Wettability is quantified with contact angle between the solid surface

 In porous media, the fluid preferred to be in contact with rock surface

Grain Oil Water

 Water prevents the contact between oil and rock surface

 Water establishes a continuous phase

 Permeability is one of the most important physical properties of porous

 q = volumetric flow rate

 In the honor of the pioneering work presented by Henry Darcy,

 q in cc/s, m in cp, L in cm, A in cm2, Dp in atm, and k in d

 In SI unit system, permeability unit is m2

 One darcy corresponds to a very high permeability

 A set of flow experiments on a linear core

Table 1 – Test data for Example 1

 Flow group ADp/mL for Test #1 is

 The rest of the calculated results are tabulated in Table 2

 q = volumetric flow rate, RB/D (reservoir barrels per day)