How Does Core Analysis Work?

A way of measuring well conditions downhole by studying samples of reservoir rocks, core
analysis gives the most accurate insight into the porosity and permeability, among other
characteristics, of the well.

Core SamplesSource: Intertek Exploration and Production

A core is a sample of rock in the shape of a cylinder. Taken from the side of a drilled oil or gas
well, a core is then dissected into multiple core plugs, or small cylindrical samples measuring
about 1 inch in diameter and 3 inches long. These core plugs are then dried and measured.
In order to complete a core sample, drilling must be halted at the top of the subsurface of the
reservoir. The drillstring is removed from the wellbore, the drillbit removed and a rotary coring bit
is attached in its place. Similar to a drillbit, the rotary coring bit consists of solid metal with
diamonds or tungsten for cutting at the reservoir rock; but unlike a drillbit, a rotary coring bit has
a hollow center.

Rotary Coring BitSource: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program

On a rotary coring bit, the cutting apparatus surrounds a hollow center, called the core barrel,
where the core sample is stored. This core barrel is made up of an inner and outer barrel
separated by ball bearings, which allow the inner barrel to remain stationary and retain the core
sample while the outer barrel is rotated by the drillstring and cuts the core.
The core catcher is located within the core barrel. The core catcher has finger-like apparatuses
that move the core sample farther into the barrel and keep it from falling back into the well.
After the core sample has been cut from the well, the drillstring is raised, and the rotary coring
bit, barrel and catcher are removed -- and the core sample is retrieved. The drillbit is reattached,
and drilling can commence again.
When performing coring operations, instead of having the pieces of broken rock removed from
the well via drilling fluids, the rock is kept intact and raised to the surface for study. Because
coring requires the suspension of drilling, the process is quite expensive and usually only
performed at the reservoir interval.

Types of Cores
There are several types of cores that can be recovered from the well, including full-diameter
cores, oriented cores, native state cores and sidewall cores.
Ranging in size from approximately 1.75 to 5.25 inches in diameter and about 400 feet to 20
feet in length, a full-diameter core is the typical coring sample that is taken from a well.
Because reservoir rocks that are highly fractured, and thus very porous, are not retained in the
core barrel, loss of core can be a very strong sign for the reservoir rock.
Oriented cores are marked with a groove along the length of the sample to indicate the
geographic or magnetic north. In an effort to contain all the fluids in the core under reservoir
conditions,native state cores are bagged, or encircled by a rubber sleeve as the sample is
drilled.

A less expensive and less time-consuming option to obtain a core sampling,sidewall coring
involves retrieving several small core samples measuring approximately 1 inch in diameter and
1.75 inches long.
One type of sidewall coring requires a percussion sidewall coring tool to be lowered into the
wellbore. The instrument contains 30 small coring tubes called bullets that have explosive
charges behind them. The detonation of these bullets launches them into the sides of the
wellbore to take the samples. The bullets are connected to the instrument via wires, and when
the percussion sidewall coring tool is raised, the samples follow.
Lessening the amount of change enacted on the sample, another method of obtaining sidewall
core samples is to lower a rotary sidewall coring instrument into the well. This device includes a
small bit that rotates to drill the sample, which then falls into the tools. The rotary sidewall coring
instrument can obtain a number of different samples throughout the well, which are separated
from each other via discs within the tool.

Core Measurements
Core analysis is used to define not only the porosity and permeability of the reservoir rock, but
also to unearth the fluid saturation and grain density. All of these measurements help geologists,
engineers and drillers better understand the conditions of the well and its potential productivity.

Examining Core SamplesSource: US Department of Energy, N.E.T.L.

A porosimeter is the instrument used to determine porosity, or the amount of space within the
rock not occupied by solids, in the core plug. Porosity measures the capacity of the reservoir
rock to hold fluids.
The ease by which a fluid can flow through the reservoir rock, permeability is measured on the
core plug via a permeameter. Measured in darcies by studying the speed air or nitrogen passes

through the dried core plug, permeability is usually connected to porosity. In other words,
porosity and permeability typically go hand-in-hand.
Moving beyond the basic petrophysical properties of the core, special core analysis usually
involves measuring the reservoir characteristics to determine permeability, wettability and
capillary pressure, and electrical characteristics to understand resistivity, formation factor and
cation-exchange capacity. Petrographic studies and sieve analysis are also types of special
core analysis that can be undertaken.