Subsurface Module ENM200

Reservoir Rock Properties

Reservoir Rock Properties

Summary
This topic defines the rock properties needed to describe reservoir
behaviour, their measurement and application in reservoir engineering.

Contents
1. Rock Matrix.............................................................................................. 2
2. Porosity.................................................................................................... 2
3. Compressibility ........................................................................................ 3
4. Absolute Permeability .............................................................................. 4
5. Fluid Saturations...................................................................................... 6
6. Wettability ................................................................................................ 7
7. Capillary Pressure ................................................................................... 8
8. Effective and Relative Permeability ....................................................... 11
9. SCAL for Reservoir Engineering............................................................ 12
10. References ............................................................................................ 14
11. Further Reading..................................................................................... 14
12. Reports .................................................................................................. 14

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1. Rock Matrix
A typical rock matrix is made of cemented grains and pore spaces as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Schematic of Typical Rock

2. Porosity
Definition
Porosity is a measure of the volume within a rock that is available to contain reservoir
fluids. Therefore the volume of oil, gas and water in a given reservoir depends directly
upon porosity.
Porosity ( ) is the ratio of the total void space within a rock (the pore volume) to the
total bulk volume of that rock i.e.

porosity = =

Vp
Vb

x 100, (percent)

Vp (pore volume) = Vb (bulk volume) - Vg (grain volume)

Equation 1

Units are in fractions or percentage. In most calculations porosity is used as a fraction.

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There are different types of porosity:

1.

primary porosity - formed during initial deposition and is principally dependent

on the depositional environment.
It is dictated by grain size, matrix
cementation, grain shape, sorting, etc.

2.

secondary porosity - formed during rock diagenesis.

dissolution of rock grains to form void spaces or vugs.

3.

absolute porosity - a measure of the total pore spaces in a rock as a function

of its bulk volume.

4.

effective porosity - a measure of the interconnected pore spaces in a

reservoir rock as a function of its bulk volume.

Typically due to the

Hydrocarbon production requires that the fluid must migrate through the pore spaces in
the reservoir rock before getting to the wellbore. Therefore in reservoir engineering
terms effective porosity is the only relevant measure of porosity.
Measurement
Various methods are available to measure porosity:
1. direct measurement from cores
2. well logs; sonic, density, neutron, NMR

To determine the porosity of a core it is necessary to measure any two of the following
quantities; bulk volume, pore volume and grain or rock volume.
Rocks are heterogeneous and porosity will vary throughout the reservoir in both the
vertical and horizontal direction.
Application
As stated earlier the volume of fluids in a reservoir depends directly upon porosity and
its application in reservoir engineering calculations will be reviewed in later topics of this
module.

3. Compressibility
Definition
The pressure acting on a reservoir rock below the earths surface resulting from the
weight of the over lying rocks is called the overburden pressure and typically increases
at the rate of 1psi/ft. The weight of the over lying rocks is supported by the rock matrix
and the fluid in the pores of the rock. As hydrocarbons are produced from a reservoir,
the pressure of the fluid in the pores declines increasing the portion of overburden
pressure supported by the rock matrix which reduces the bulk volume of the rock and
the pore volume and therefore the porosity of the reservoir. This process is assumed to
occur at constant temperature. Of importance in reservoir engineering is the reduction
in pore volume Vp, of the rock which is defined as the pore volume compressibility cf
(often termed rock or formation compressibility);

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cf =

1 dVp
psi-1
Vp dp

Equation 2

Compressibility is a positive number therefore pore volume decreases as pressure

decreases.
Pore volume compressibility, cf is typically in the range 3 to 6 x 10 -6 psi -1
Measurement
Measurement of rock compressibility in the laboratory is complicated and expensive and
various correlations exist in the literature which relates rock compressibility to reservoir
properties. Halls correlation (Ref 1) is generally acceptable for use with carbonates and
consolidated sandstones and shows compressibility as a function of porosity.
Application
The significance of pore volume compressibility together with the compressibility of
reservoir fluids will be discussed further in the Reservoir Modelling section of this
module.

4. Absolute Permeability
Definition
This is defined as a measure of the ability of the permeable rock to transmit a fluid when
only one fluid is present in the rock. It is a measure of the ease of flow of a fluid through
a porous medium and is defined from the basic Darcy equation. For one dimensional
linear horizontal flow Darcys law (in Darcy units) is:

q=

kA p
L

q = flow rate cc/sec

k = permeability, Darcy, D
A = cross sectional area to flow cm
p = pressure atm
= fluid viscosity cp
L = length cm

Equation 3

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And can be expressed in field units as;

q = 1.127x10 3

kA p
B l
o

q = production rate stb/d

k = permeability mD
A = cross sectional area to flow ft 2
p
= pressure gradient psi/ft
l
= fluid viscosity cp
B = oil formation volume factor rb/stb
o
Equation 4

Field units of permeability are Darcy, D and milliDarcy, mD, (Darcy/1000).

Horizontal (parallel to bedding plane flow) permeability is denoted kx, ky (KH) and
vertical (series flow) permeability kz (KV). In some formations vertical permeabilities can
be orders of magnitude less than horizontal permeabilities. Permeability anisotropy or
directional permeability occurs when the permeability in one horizontal direction
dominates.
In reservoirs with layered systems the average permeability must be computed in order
to predict the behaviour of the system. Two methods are commonly used to average
permeability data;
1. Thickness weighted Average (This method is used in calculations of horizontal
fluid flow).
n

kh
i

k avg

i=1

ht

k = permeability of layer
h = thickness of layer
h t = total thickness
Equation 5

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2. Geometric Mean (This method is often used when permeabilities are randomly
distributed).

kGM = [k 1 k2 k3...kn]1/n
Equation 6

All the permeabilities in Equation 6 must represent layers of the same thickness.
Measurement
Absolute permeability is measured from core samples using a permeameter.
When a single fluid of known viscosity flows through a core sample at a known rate, the
pressure at each end of the core is measured and the absolute permeability of the
sample can be calculated from Equation 4. Permeabilities can also be measured in the
reservoir during pressure build up tests but the value determined is the average effective
permeability to oil in the presence of initial (connate) water saturation and is usually
smaller than the absolute permeability measured from core samples.
Application
The absolute permeability is used to determine the relative permeability of different
fluids to flow simultaneously in a reservoir. Relative permeability data represent one of
the most important flow properties that affects reservoir engineering calculations and will
be discussed in more detail in later sections.

5. Fluid Saturations
Definition
Fluid saturation is not a rock property but the volume of each fluid present and the ability
of each fluid to flow depends upon the pore space it occupies. Fluid saturation is
defined as a fraction of the total pore space occupied by a certain fluid;

Water saturation, Sw =

Vw
Vp

Vo
Vp
V
Gas saturation, S g = g
Vp
Oil saturation, S o =

So + S w + S g = 1
Vw,o,g = fluid volume
Vp = pore volume
Equation 7

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Measurement
Fluid saturations can be directly measured from core samples and indirectly measured
by well logs.
Application
Fluid saturations are used in many reservoir engineering calculations and will be
discussed in more detail in further topics.

6. Wettability
Definition
Wettability is the tendency of one fluid to adhere to the surface of a rock when other
fluids are present (The wetting fluid will be adjacent to the rock). The wettability states
for reservoirs include water-wet, oil-wet and intermediate wettability.
Measurement
Rock wettability is measured on core samples in the laboratory and one of the most
commonly used methods is to determine the contact angle between the reservoir rock
and the fluids in contact with the rock as shown in Figure 2 for an oilwater system. The
contact angle is measured through the water phase and an angle of less than 900
indicates a water-wet system. Angles greater than 900 indicate an oil-wet system.

Water

Water-wet

Oil-wet

Figure 2 Contact angles and wetting states

Application
Rock wettability values (contact angles) are not required in reservoir engineering
calculations but wettability helps define the distribution of fluids in a reservoir and affects
many of the core analysis properties which are required in reservoir engineering
calculations.
These properties include capillary pressure, relative permeability and
electrical properties. Rock wettability can be altered by drilling fluids which may lead to
misleading results during core analysis.

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7. Capillary Pressure
Definition
To understand capillary pressure consider a capillary tube placed in a beaker of water
that is overlain by oil. The water will rise up the tube to some height as shown in Figure
3. The angle measured through the water at the point where it touches the tube is the
contact angle , which as previously discussed is used to define the wettability of the
surface by the water. In this case the system is said to be water wet.
The capillary pressure pc, is the difference in pressure that exists across the curved
interface between the water and oil system shown in Figure 3. The pressure difference
depends on the interfacial tension , of the fluid system and the amount of interface
curvature. The curvature depends on the contact angle and the radius of the tube.

pc = poil - pwater

Figure 3 Capillary rise

In the capillary tube in Figure 3 capillary pressure can be defined as;

2woCos
r
ow = interfacial tension between oil and water
= contact angle
r = radius of tube

Pc =

Equation 8

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When the fluids in the capillary tube are stationary then gravitational forces equal
capillary forces and pc can be defined as;

Pc = (w o ) gh
w,o = fluid density
g = gravity
h = height of water column
Equation 9
If the pore spaces in reservoir rocks are described as interconnected capillaries of
varying diameter then from Equation 8 it follows that the smaller pore spaces will result
in larger capillary pressure values. As discussed previously the distribution of fluids in a
reservoir depends on wettability and when the wetting phase saturation in a reservoir is
small it will occupy the small pore spaces and the capillary pressure will be large. As
the wetting phase saturation increases the fluid will occupy larger pore spaces and the
capillary pressure will decrease.
This relationship between capillary pressure and wetting phase saturation is shown in
Figure 4 and is determined in the laboratory on core samples;

pc

Irreducible wetting phase

saturation
0

100
S (wetting phase) %

Figure 4 Capillary pressure as a function of wetting phase saturation

In a water-wet oil reservoir there is a transition from 100% water (free water level) in the
water zone to the connate water saturation, Swc in the oil zone due to capillary pressure.
This is known as the transition zone and its height depends on pore size distribution. In
general the transition zone will be larger in a reservoir with small pore spaces (Larger
pc).
Connate water saturation Swc is the water saturation in the reservoir at the time of
discovery whereas irreducible water saturation Swir is the minimum water saturation that
can be achieved in the laboratory at very high capillary pressure values. The value of
connate water saturation is usually higher than the irreducible water saturation.
The height of the transition zone above the free water level can be computed from
Equation 10 in field units as;
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144 Pc
(w - o )
Pc = psi
h = ft
w , o = lb / cuft
h=

Equation 10

and translated into saturation - height curve as illustrated in Figure 5.

Transition
zone
h

Swir

100
Sw %

Figure 5 Capillary pressure curve

Capillary pressure is related not only to fluid saturation in the reservoir and the pore size
distribution within the rock, it also depends on how the saturation condition was
achieved. Imbibition refers to saturation change in which the wetting phase is increasing
and drainage refers to the process of saturation change in which the wetting phase is
decreasing. Drainage and imbibition processes result in different values of capillary
pressure in the same rock at the same saturation values. If a reservoir is thought to
contain only water initially then the wetting phase would decrease as oil migrated into
the reservoir and the drainage capillary pressure curve would best describe the initial
conditions. The displacement of oil by water is therefore an imbibition process.
Capillary pressure curves obtained from core samples tend to be different and can be
developed into a single curve using the J Function (Ref 2) which relates capillary
pressure to porosity and permeability. This function works well for a reservoir of one
lithology and can be used to determine the curve that applies at average reservoir
conditions.

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Measurement
Capillary pressure curves are measured in the laboratory on core samples. The most
commonly used tests are; the porous plate (restored state) method; the centrifuge
method and Mercury injection methods. The experiment involves fully saturating a core
sample with a wetting fluid and forcing a non-wetting fluid into the sample. Fluid
saturations, pressure differences and interfacial tension between the fluids are then
measured. Most measurements are made using air-brine or air-mercury systems and
must be converted to reservoir conditions.
Application
The initial distribution of fluids in the reservoir is determined partly by the capillary
pressure concepts discussed above and may be used together with log data in
determining saturation values for calculations of hydrocarbons in place. A reservoir
saturation height function should be derived from capillary pressure curves and used to
determine the significance of the transition zone.

8. Effective and Relative Permeability

Definition
When a rock is saturated by only one fluid the ability of the fluid to flow through the rock
is directly proportional to the absolute permeability (Darcys Law). When a rock contains
more than one fluid the ability of each fluid to flow is reduced by presence of the other
fluids. This effective permeability can be defined as the permeability of a rock to a
particular fluid in the presence of a combination of fluids.

ko = effective permeability to oil

kg = effective permeability to gas
kw = effective permeability to water
In reservoir engineering calculations it is common to express effective permeability as a
fraction of the absolute permeability. This relative permeability (kr) can be defined as
the ratio of effective permeability to a particular fluid as a measure of the absolute rock
permeability and is one of the most important properties that affect reservoir engineering
calculations. Relative permeability is largely dependent on fluid saturation and phase
wettability.

kro = ko/k = relative permeability to oil

krg = kg/k = relative permeability to gas
krw = kw/k = relative permeability to water
The most common method of presenting relative permeability is to plot it as a function of
the fluid distribution within a rock. For an oil water system relative permeability curves
are normally presented between the limits of the connate water saturation, Swc and the
residual oil saturation, Sor. These are the limits of saturation change in a reservoir
undergoing primary depletion or immiscible fluid displacement.

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In relative permeability curves the end points are usually normalised so that k ro (the end
point relative permeability to oil) = 1 as shown in Figure 6.
1

k ro = 1

k rw

kr

Swc

Sw

1 - Sor

Figure 6 Rock Relative Permeability Curves

The Movable Oil Volume MOV = PV (1 Sor Swc) is the maximum amount of oil that
can be displaced in an oil reservoir.
Measurement
Relative permeability data are obtained from laboratory measurements but can also be
determined from mathematical models and history matching techniques.
Application
As discussed relative permeability data indicate the relative ability of different fluids to
flow simultaneously in a reservoir and are required in calculating displacement efficiency
and ultimate recovery.

9. SCAL for Reservoir Engineering

Core analysis provides the only direct quantitative measurement of samples from the
formation.
Routine core analysis generally provides grain density, porosity, fluid
saturation and absolute horizontal permeability measurements together with a lithologic
description of the reservoir rock.
Additional tests include vertical permeability
measurements. Special core analysis (SCAL) provides relative permeability, capillary
pressure and wettability measurements. Other SCAL tests provide electrical properties
of the core but will not be discussed in this module. Some of the SCAL tests important
in reservoir engineering calculations are summarized in Table 1.

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Measurement

Core Sample Preparation

Test / Method

Application

Water Oil
Relative
Permeability

Restored state core:

Reservoir wettability is
restored by;

Steady state and unsteady

state waterflood at reservoir
conditions

Determine
displacement
efficiency and
ultimate recovery

Restored state core for

methods 1 and 2.

1. Porous plate method

(restored state method)

Assists in defining
initial reservoir fluid
saturations

Cleaned core for mercury

injection

2. Centrifuge method

1. Core cleaning

Flowing reservoir
fluids to recreate
saturation history
3. Core ageing at
reservoir conditions
2.

Capillary
Pressure

3. Mercury Injection
Wettability

Preserved core:

Contact angle method;

1. Wrapped or
2. Immersed in
degassed brine or
crude

Measurement of contact
angles on flat mineral
crystals
Amott-Harvey technique;
Measurement of the rate of
water and oil imbibition into
the core plug
USBM method;

Assists selection of
fluids to preserve
relative
permeabilities
(Rock wettability
can be altered by
mud filtrates which
leads to misleading
results from core
analysis)

Imbibition (waterflooding to
residual oil) followed by
drainage (oil flooding to initial
water saturation)

Table 1 SCAL Analysis for Reservoir Engineering

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10. References
1. Hall, H.N.: Compressibility of Reservoir Rocks Trans., AIME (1953) 198. 309.
2. Leverett, M.C.: Capillary Behaviour in Porous Solids Trans.,AIME (1951) 142, 152-68.

11. Further Reading

1. The Practice of Reservoir Engineering (Revised Ed.), L.P. Dake, Elsevier, 2001
2. Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering, L.P. Dake, Elsevier, 1978
3. Petroleum Engineering - Principles and Practice, J.S. Archer and C.G. W all, Kluwer, 1990
4. Applied Petroleum Reservoir Engineering, B.C. Craft and M.F. Hawkins, Prentice Hall
Inc., 1959
5. Petroleum Engineering Handbook, H.B. Bradley, CD from SPE

12. Reports
1. Conventional Core Analysis
2. Special Core Analysis

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