Fluid Saturation

Introduction
 Fluid Saturations
• Definition - The fluid saturation for a particular fluid is
the fraction of pore volume occupied by that fluid

– Saturation is an intensive property

– Equations: So=Vo/Vp, Sw=Vw/Vp, Sg=Vg/Vp

• These fluid volumes are measured under specific conditions of

pressure and temperature (e.g. reservoir, or laboratory)

– reservoir conditions are often noted as “in situ”

 Fluid Saturations
• Fundamental Relationships
– Pore volume is occupied by fluids (water, oil, and/or gas)
Vp  Vw  Vo  Vg

Vw  Vo  Vg
1  S w  So  Sg
Vp

• for the two phase case, only one of the two saturations is
independent, the other must make the sum of the saturations equal
to unity (1)

• similarly, for the three phase case, only two saturations are
independent
 Fluid Saturations
• Fundamental Relationships (continued)
– The mass of the fluids in the pore volume is comprised of:
water, oil, and/or gas
fluid mass  m w  mo  mg
 ρ w Vw  ρ o Vo  ρ g Vg

 Vp ρ w Sw  ρ oSo  ρ gSg 

• at laboratory conditions it is often assumed that gas density is

negligible
Initial Fluid Saturations in Reservoir
• Concepts: typical petroleum accumulation scenario
– pores are initially saturated with water (Sw=1)

– hydrocarbons migrate up dip into traps due to having

density less than water density (gravity force)

– hydrocarbons (oil and/or gas) is distributed such that gravity

and capillary forces are in equilibrium
• minimum interstitial water saturation remains in hydrocarbon zone,
even after accumulation occurs.
• Wettability (future topic)
– water wet, drainage accumulation process
» irreducible wetting phase saturation
– oil wet, imbibition accumulation process
» residual non-wetting phase saturation
Initial Fluid Saturations in Reservoir
• Methods for determination of reservoir fluid saturations
– Direct Measurement

• Core Analysis (current topic)

– Indirect Measurement

• Capillary Pressure Measurement (future topic)

• Well Log Analysis (future topic)

– electrical conductivity depends primarily on water saturation

 Fluid Saturations - Core Analysis
• Factors affecting fluid saturations in cores

– flushing of core by filtrate from drilling fluids (especially for

overbalanced drilling)

• water filtrate
– water based mud
– oil emulsion mud
• oil filtrate
– oil based mud
– inverted oil emulsion mud
• gas filtrate
– air drilling
– foam drilling
 Fluid Saturations - Core Analysis
• Factors affecting fluid saturations in cores (continued)
– Changes in pressure and temperature as core sample is
brought from bottomhole conditions to surface conditions

– Example: Oil zone at minimum interstitial water saturation,

water based drilling mud

Flushing Saturation at Surface

During Trip to Compared to Reservoir
Drilling Surface
Sw   ? probably 
So   
Sg -  
 Fluid Saturations - Core Analysis
• Factors affecting fluid saturations in cores (continued)
– Example: Oil zone at minimum interstitial water saturation,
oil based drilling mud

Flushing Saturation at Surface

During Trip to Compared to
Drilling Surface Reservoir
Sw - - -
So -  
Sg -  

– Self Study: other examples in Lecture_21.pdf

 Application of Core Saturations
• Application of Core Saturations: Water Based Mud
– presence of oil zone
– original oil/gas contact
– original oil/water contact

• Application of Core Saturations: Oil Based Mud

– fairly accurate minimum interstitial water saturation
– original oil/water contact

• Other Applications of Core Saturations

– correlation of indirect methods
Estimating Fluid Contact Depths
from Core Saturations
So
0 50

Gas

Depth
Oil

So  0 in gas zone
Water So > 0.15 in oil production
zone

0 < So < 0.15 in water

production zone
 Maximum Water Saturation
for Oil and Gas Production

The trend shown here

continues for even lower
permeability, with productive
reservoirs existing with
Sw>0.60 for k<0.01 md
 Application of Core Saturations
• Qualitative Value, ABW (page 109, brackets added):
“The saturation values obtained directly from rock samples
[cores] are usually not reliable for determining the quantity of
each fluid in the rock [reservoirs]. Other uses exist for fluid-
saturation determinations from core samples.”

• Overall Value, ABW (page 110): “Thus, in summary, it is

seen that although fluid-saturation determinations made on core
samples at the surface may not give a direct indication of the
saturations within the reservoir, they are of value and do yield
very useful and necessary information”