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Spe 942054 G PDF
Spe 942054 G PDF
Reservoir Characteristics
By G. E.
ARCHIE*
INTRODUCTION
The electrical log has been used extensively in a qualitative way to correlate
formations penetrated by the drill in the
exploitation of oil and gas reservoirs and
to provide some indication of reservoir
content. However, its use in a quantitative
way has been limited because of various
factors that tend to obscure the significance
of the electrical readings obtained. Some
of these factors are the borehole size,
Manuscript received at the office of the Institute
Sept. 27; revised Dec. 8, 1941. Issued as T.P. 1422 in
PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY, January 1942.
* Shell Oil Co., Houston, Texas.
G. K. ARCHIE
55
R.
= FR",
[I]
56
100
I..
.g
50
....
-+'"
.:;;
IS
,
x
~
x
"
t; 10
.;;;
\ 'K
x'
~
x
x~
~
E
Lo
LL.
FIG.
10
50
100
PermeOibility, milliolarcys
5000 0.10
500 1000
0.30
Porosity
1.00
I.-RELATION OF POROSITY AND PERMEABILITY TO FORMATION RESISTIVITY FACTOR FOR CONSOLIDATED SANDSTONE CORES OF THE GULF COAST.
500
'\0
0
0
.
I
FIG.
0.1
0
0
0.5
. ..
.
0
0
1.0
5
10
Permeability. millidClrcys
oJ' ...
50
0.10
100
f\,
0.30
Porosity
1.00
relationship
F
or from Eq.
I,
R.
= 8- m
=
R,.fJ-m
57
G. E. ARCHIE
E
::J
~ O.301--------"oo.;~~-----_l
L
~I,
CI.)
REMAINING
VOIDS BEING
FILLED
WITH
OIL OR GAS
Various investigators-Martin, 1 Jakosky,2 Wyckoff,3 and Leverett 4-have studied the variation in the resistivity of sands
due to the percentage of water contained
in the pores. This was done by displacing
varying amounts of conducting water
from the water-saturated sand with nonconducting fluid. Fig. 3 shows the relation
which the various investigators found to
exist between S (fraction of the voids
filled with water) and R (the resulting
resistivity of the sand) plotted on logarithmic coordinates. For water saturations
down to about 0.15 or 0.20, the following
approximate equation applies:
1
S=
(~y
or
R = R.s-"
[4]
or from Eq.
I,
S=~
[51
S= ~F;w
[61
O.IO'-------~------""'~
I
10
R
Resistivity of oil Or g~s sond
Ro Resistivity of some sond 100 per cent w~terboorinq
R
FIG. S-RELATION OF S TO R.
Type
Sand
Salinity
of Water. Oil Porosity
Grams
or
FracNaCI per Gas
tion
Liter
-- --- ---
---
- - Wyckoff Various
CO. Various
Oil 040
Oil 0.20 and
- - Martin
---
--I Jakosky
Friable
0.45(?)
29
58
The values in Table I have been calculated assuming a point potential "pickup" electrode 3 ft. away from a point
source of current, other electrodes assumed
to be at infinity, and it has been found
that the table checks reasonably well
with field observations. Checks were
made by: (I) measuring the resistivity of
shale and other cores whose fluid content
does not change during the coring operation
and extraction from the well; (2) measuring
the resistivity of porous cores from waterbearing formations after these cores were
TABLE
0.5
05
05
05
5
10
50
I.
II
65
65
05
I
II
II
50
55
G. E. ARCHIE
59
O~~~IO~;;:;;;;~200
-~~~----;-~--,--~3480
True Resistivity
Observed Resistivity
Thickness of Layer
10
20
24
Ft.
16
Ft.
8 Ft.
5
10
20
5
9
19
--~~-----+-Q-_+--__I3500
---r=-------I----.O~"i='......,......d.
3520
NormOiI curve,
3
6
-+-------+-~_++._-__I3540
~'i.
II
-~-~----~_+-~~m~~'--~3560
Long normal ".
curve
't'~)
--~~~::~~~,
$';
-----(;=---------+--"~~=---I3580
=-----+-;;;~==l3600
- ; - - - - - - - + 7..'"-r"'-=--t--------l36Z0
--------'-----'-------'3640
FIG. 4.-ELECTRICAL LOG OF AN EAST TEXAS
WELL.
60
-*=------+-"Zlrt---14080
Normal curve-
FIG.
--> I
= 0.15
'\j50
of the pore
0'38 or 0.27.
~--,
5.
0
DISCUSSION
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
DISCUSSION
(H. F. Beardmore presiding)
62