PgDip/MSc Energy Programme/Subsurface Reservoir Rock Properties

Reservoir Rock Properties

Preview
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 ...................................................................... 7

8 Effective and Relative Permeability..............................................11

9 SCAL for Reservoir Engineering ..................................................12

10 References ...............................................................................13

11 Further Reading ........................................................................13

12 Reports ...................................................................................13

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

Grain to
grain
cementation
Pore
Space
Grain

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.

Vp
porosity    x 100, (percent)
Vb
Equation 1
Vp (pore volume)  Vb (bulk volume)- Vg (grain volume)

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

fraction.
There are different types of porosity:
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.
secondary porosity - formed during rock diagenesis. Typically due to the
dissolution of rock grains to form void spaces or vugs.

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

function of its bulk volume.
2. effective porosity - a measure of the interconnected pore spaces in a
reservoir rock as a function of its bulk volume.
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 earth’s 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);

1 dVp
cf  psi-1
Equation 2
Vp dp

Compressibility is a positive number therefore pore volume decreases as

pressure decreases.
-6 -1
Pore volume compressibility, cf is typically in the range 3 to 6 x 10 psi

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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 Darcy’s law (in Darcy units)
is:

kA Δp
q
μ ΔL

q  flow rate cc/sec

k  permeabili ty, Darcy, D
Equation 3 2
A  cross sectional area to flow cm
p  pressure atm
μ  fluid viscosity cp
L  length cm
And can be expressed in field units as;

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kA Δp
q  1.127x10 3
μB Δl
o

q  production rate stb/d

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

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;
Thickness weighted Average (This method is used in calculations of horizontal
fluid flow).

 ki hi
k avg  i 1

ht

k  permeability of layer
Equation 5
h  thickness of layer
h t  total thickness
Geometric Mean (This method is often used when permeabilities are randomly
distributed).

kGM  k1 k2 k3...kn 1/n

Equation 6

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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;

Vw
Water saturation, Sw 
Vp
Vo
Oil saturation, So 
Vp
Vg
Gas saturation, S g 
Vp

Equation 7 So  S w  S g  1

Vw,o,g  fluid volume

Vp  pore volume

Measurement
Fluid saturations can be directly measured from core samples and indirectly
measured by well logs.

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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
oil–water 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.

θ
θ

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.

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 θ, 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.

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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 σ , of the fluid system and
the amount of interface curvature. The curvature depends on the contact angle
and the radius of the tube.

Contact angle, θ
pc = poil - pwater
poil
pwater
h

Figure 3. Capillary Rise

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

2σwoCosθ
Pc 
r
Equation 8 σow  interfacia l tension between oil and water
θ  contact angle
r  radius of tube

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

Pc  ρw  ρo  gh
ρ w,o  fluid density
Equation 9 g  gravity
h  height of water column

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;

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pc

Irreducible wetting phase

saturation

0 S (wetting phase) % 100

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;

144 Pc
h
ρw - ρo 
Equation 10
Pc  psi
h  ft
ρw , ρo  lb / cuft

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

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Transition
zone

0 Swir Sw % 100

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.

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.

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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 (Darcy’s 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.
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

0 Swc Sw 1 - Sor

Figure 6.Rock Relative Permeability Curves

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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. Relative permeabilities will be
discussed further in the ‘Reservoir Modelling’ topic of this module.

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.

Table 1. SCAL Analysis for Reservoir Engineering

Measurement Core Sample Preparation Test / Method Application

Water – Oil Restored state core: Steady state and unsteady state Determine
Relative Reservoir wettability is waterflood at reservoir conditions displacement efficiency
Permeability restored by; and ultimate recovery
1. Core cleaning
2. Flowing reservoir
fluids to recreate
saturation history
3. Core ageing at
reservoir conditions
1. Porous plate method (restored state
Capillary Restored state core for Assists in defining initial
method)
Pressure methods 1 and 2. reservoir fluid
2. Centrifuge method
saturations
3. Mercury Injection
Cleaned core for mercury
injection

Contact angle method;

Wettability Preserved core: Assists selection of
Measurement of contact angles on flat
fluids to preserve
1. Wrapped or mineral crystals
relative permeabilities
2. Immersed in degassed Amott-Harvey technique;
brine or crude Measurement of the rate of water and oil
(Rock wettability can be
imbibition into the core plug
altered by mud filtrates
USBM method;
which leads to
Imbibition (waterflooding to residual oil) misleading results from
followed by drainage (oil flooding to initial core analysis)
water saturation)

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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. Wall,
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 (see supplementary topics)
2. Special Core Analysis (see supplementary topics)

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