Chapter Three Reservoir Rock Properties
Chapter Three Reservoir Rock Properties
Chapter Three Reservoir Rock Properties
RESERVOIR ROCK
PROPERTIES
CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
3.1. Porosity
Figure (3.1): sandstone porosity system showing four basic pore types
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CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
Porosity is an element in the equation that is used to calculate the OOIP. This is
important because governments set budgets against estimation of petroleum
reserves, sometimes done by consulting an oil and gas firm or company. This is
also important because a process in evaluating an oil and gas companies' total
net worth is determining it's currently owned petroleum reserves. Sometimes,
companies set aside investments to tackle large development projects. If the
porosity increases or decreases even slightly (i.e. sometimes on the order of
0.05%) it will have a negative impact on the project or calculation outcome
(because some fields discovered have millions, even billions, of barrels of oil
and/or cubic feet of natural gas).
3.2. Permeability
Permeability is the capacity of a rock layer to transmit water or other fluids, such
as oil. The standard unit for permeability is the Darcy (d) or, more commonly,
the millidarcy (md). Relative permeability is a dimensionless ratio that reflects
the capability of oil, water, or gas to move through a formation compared with
that of a single-phase fluid, commonly water. If a single fluid moves through
rock, its relative permeability is 1.0. Two or more fluids generally inhigit flow
through rock compared with that of a single phase of each component.
Water or oil permeabilities are determined on core samples after first obtaining
the permeabilities to gas on the extracted dry samples. The sample is saturated
with the test fluid, it is placed in a Hassler cell, and pressure is applied to the
sleeve. Filtered, gas-free liquid is flowed through the sample, and the rates and
pressure drops are measured. Permeability to liquid is calculated as follows:
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CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
Where:
k1 = liquid permeability, md
L = length, cm
μ1 = liquid viscosity, cP
q1 = gas flow rate at atmospheric pressure, cm3/sec
A = cross-sectional area, cm2
Δp = pressure drop, atm
3.3. Wettability
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CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
Where:
Wettability of the pore surface is one of the important factors influencing the
distribution and transport of various fluid phases and therefore the extent of
formation damage in petroleum-bearing formations. Because the wettability of
rocks is altered by the rock and fluid interactions and variations of the reservoir
fluid conditions, prediction of its effects on formation damage is a highly
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CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
complicated issue. Although mineral matters forming the reservoir rocks are
generally water-wet, deposition of heavy organic matter, such as asphaltenes and
paraffins, over a long reservoir lifetime may render them mixed-wet or oil-wet,
depending on the composition of the oil and reservoir conditions.
Capillary pressure is the pressure between two immiscible fluids in a thin tube,
resulting from the interactions of forces between the fluids and solid walls of the
tube. Capillary pressure can serve as both an opposing or driving force for fluid
transport and is a significant property for research and industrial purposes
Where:
These equations show that capillary pressure increases with greater height above
the free surface and with smaller capillary size.
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CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
3.5. Saturation
In most oil formation, it is believed that the formation was fully saturated with
water prior to the oil migration and trapping in the formation. The less dense
hydrocarbons are considered to migrate to positions of hydrostatic and dynamic
equilibrium by displacing the initial water. The oil will not displace all the water
originally occupied these pores. Thus reservoir rocks normally contain both
hydrocarbon and water (frequently referred to as connate water or interstitial
water). Saturation is defined as that fraction, or percent, of the pore volume
occupied by a particular fluid (oil, gas, or water). This property is expressed
mathematically by the following relationship
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CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
All saturations are based on pore volume not gross volume of the reservoir. The
saturation of each individual phase ranges between zero to 100 percent. By
definition, the sum of the saturations is 100%, therefore
So + Sw + Sg
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CHAPTER THREE RESERVOIR ROCK PROPERTIES
thickness), the only way to increase the heat efficiency is to reduce the
time t required to produce the oil from the zone between an injector and a
producer. This generally can be done by increasing the injection rate (one also
must be able to recover the oil at an increased rate) or by reducing the spacing.
Each of these alternatives would cost money to implement but may be attractive
compared with a slowly expanding steam front that results in low oil production
rates and a long operating life.
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