NET PAY FROM CONVENTIONAL CORE DATA

"Net Pay" is defined as the thickness of rock that contributes to economically viable production with
today's technology, today's prices, and today's costs. Net pay is obviously a moving target since
technology, prices, and costs vary almost daily. Tight reservoirs or shaly zones that were bypassed in
the past are now prospective pay zones due to new technology and continued demand for
hydrocarbons.

We determine net pay by applying appropriate cutoffs to reservoir properties so that unproductive
or uneconomic layers are not counted.

This can be done with both log and core data.

Routine, or conventional, core analysis data can be summed and averaged to obtain mappable
reservoir properties, just like log analysis results. These mappable properties are also used to
compare log analysis results to core data. If the mappable properties do not match over the same
rock interval, some adjustments must be made to the log analysis. Be sure to depth match the core
to the logs first, and take into account macro and micro fractures that the logs cannot see. Laminated
reservoirs may cause point by point differences but the average values of log and core properties
should be similar.

Cumulative reservoir properties, after appropriate cut offs are applied, provide information about
the pore volume (PV), hydrocarbon pore volume (HPV), and flow capacity (KH) of a potential pay
zone. These values are used to calculate hydrocarbon in place, recoverable reserves, and productivity
of wells.

It is normal to apply cutoffs to each calculated result to eliminate poor quality or unproductive zones.
Cutoffs are usually applied to shale volume, porosity, water saturation, and permeability. The layer is
not counted as “pay” if it fails any one of the four cutoffs.

Typical cutoffs for core data are:

1: IF (PHIe >= PHImin) * (Sw <= SWmax) * (Perm >= PERMmin) = 1

2: THEN PAYFLAG = 1

3: ELSE PAYFLAG = 0

4: Hnet = SUM (PAYFLAG * THICK)

Where:

THICK = individual layer thickmess (ft or m)

PHImin = 0.03 – 0.16

SWmax = 0.30 – 0.70

PERMmin = 0.1 – 5.0 mD

COMMENTS:

The pay flag may be very sensitive to small changes in cutoffs. Any one of the four primary cutoffs
can create a "FAIL" situation. This is enough to fail the layer even if other cutoffs do not fail the zone.
The PRODFLAG indicates the most likely production, with "H2O" suggesting water cut with the
hydrocarbon.

Some cutoffs may be set high enough or low enough so as not to be effective. For example, if
PERMmin = 0, then no value of Perm could be less than PERMmin, so permeability could not fail to
pass a layer.

More than one set of cutoffs are normally run and the results compared to find the set that appears
to give reasonable results when compared to production profiles in the area.

The cutoff algorithm given above is called a Net Pay algorithm. In reservoir simulation work, the Net
Reservoir is also needed. In this case, set SWmax = 1.00. To map Net Sand, set PHImin = 0.0 and
SWmax = 1.0.

The values chosen must be appropriate for the rock sequence.

Since porosity is somewhat proportional to shale volume, saturation somewhat proportional to
porosity, and permeability somewhat proportional to all three, it is desirable to choose a balanced
set of cutoffs. Balanced cutoffs in a hydrocarbon bearing zone usually will fail a layer with more than
one cutoff. If only one cutoff fails a layer, the cutoffs may need some adjustment.

Cutoffs can be tested against production flowmeter data and can be tuned, in some cases, based on
actual production rates

CUMULATIVE AND AVERAGE RESERVOIR PROPERTIES

The reservoir volume and flow capacity per unit area are steps toward finding total reservoir volume.
Average values for comparing the quality of reservoirs are also useful results from log analysis. Pore
volume (per unit area), hydrocarbon pore volume, flow capacity, and the averages of core porosity,
water saturation, permeability, net pay, net reservoir, net sand, and gross sand are called mappable
properties, petrophysical properties, or reservoir properties.

HPV - Cumulative Reservoir Properties

Pore volume (PV).

5: PV = SUM (PHIe * THICK * PAYFLAG)

Hydrocarbon pore volume (HPV).

6: HPV = SUM (PHIe * (1 - Sw) * THICK * PAYFLAG)

Flow capacity (KH).

7: KH = SUM (Perm * THICK * PAYFLAG)

Average porosity.

8: PHIavg = PV / Hnet

Average water saturation.

9: SWavg = 1 - (HPV / PV)

Average permeability.

a. Arithmetic average:

10: Kavg = KH / Hnet

b. Geometric average:

11: Kgeo = (PROD (Perm * THICK)) ^ (1 / Ns)

c. Harmonic average:

12: Khar = Hnet / (SUM (1 / (Perm * THICK)))

Where:

Hnet = net pay thickness (ft or m)

HPV = hydrocarbon volume (ft or m per unit area)

Kavg = arithmetic average permeability (md)

Kgeo = geometric average permeability (md)

KH = flow capacity (md-ft or md-m per unit area)

Khar = harmonic average permeability (md)

Ns = number of samples in product

Perm = permeability (md)

PHIavg = average porosity (fractional)

PHIe = effective porosity (fractional)

PV = pore volume (ft or m per unit area)

SWavg = average water saturation (fractional)

THICK = individual layer thickness (ft or m)

COMMENTS:

Do not use the following algorithm in thinly laminated shaly sands - see alternate method shown
below.

The harmonic average most closely reflects radial flow into a borehole. If equal sample intervals are
used, this geometric formula becomes: Kgeo = (PROD (Perm * INCR)) ^ (1 / INCR). where INCR = data
digitizing increment. It does not give the same result as the previous version if layer thicknesses are
unequal.

NUMERICAL EXAMPLE:

1. Assume three layers as follows:

Layer PHIe Sw Perm THICK (ft)

1 0.10 0.60 10 2

2 0.20 0.50 100 4

3 0.30 0.40 1000 6

Assume all layers pass all cutoffs:

PV = 0.10 * 2 + 0.20 * 4 + 0.30 * 6 = 2.8 ft

HPV = 0.10 * (1 - 0.60) * 2 + 0.20 * (1 - 0.50) * 4 + 0.30 * (1 - 0.40) * 6 = 1.56 ft

KH = 10 * 2 + 100 * 4 + 1000 * 6 = 6420 md-ft

Hnet = 2 + 4 + 6 = 12 ft

PHIavg = 2.8 / 12 = 0.233

SWavg = 1 - 1.56 / 2.8 = 0.443

Kavg = 6420 / 12 = 535 md

Kgeo = (10 * 2 * 100 * 4 * 1000 * 6) ^ (1 / 3) = 363 md

Khar = 12 / (1 / (10 * 2) + 1 / (100 * 4) + 1 / (1000 * 6)) = 228 md

If equal sample intervals are used, (with INCR = 1.0),

Kgeo = 215 md

"META/COR" SPREADSHEET -- Core Analysis Sums and Averages

This spreadsheet provides a tool for summarizing core data in a consistent format. It calculates
porosity and permeability averages, suns pore volume, hydrocarbon pore volume, flow capacity, and
net pay with user defined cutoffs in a table identical to that created by the META/LOG spreadsheet
for log analysis, making it easy to compare log analysis results to core data.
 Core Analysis Spreadsheet for Conventional Oil and Gas, includes lithology, net pay, productivity,
and reserves. English and Metric Units.

Exanple of "META/COR" input data and crossplots. Intermediate calculations are performed
offscreen to the right. The Summary Table (shown below0 is also off to the right.

Summary Table from "META/COR". Compare values to "META/LOG" log analysis Summary Table
shown below.

Individual Answers and Summary Table from "META/LOG" log analysis spreadsheet. Compare to core
analysis results shown above.

THIS PAGE

Net Pay

Mappable Properties

Spreadsheet "META/CORE"

THIS CHAPTER

Water Chemistry Analysis

Core Analysis Basics

Coring and Core Porosity

 Core Saturation

Core Permeability

Wettability

Capillary Pressure

Relative Permeability

Rock Compressibility

Electrical Properties A,M,N

X-Ray Diffraction (XRD)

X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF)

Infra-Red (FTIR)

Thin Section Petrography

Averaging Core Data

Core Analysis Lab Manual

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