Permeability

Wettability
Interfacial tension
Rock compressibility
 Rock Properties
There are four key rock properties we will be
interested in porosity, permeability and
compressibility.
Porosity () measures the fraction of the total rock
volume that is void space.
Permeability (k) measures the ability of fluid to flow
through the rock. SI unit m2, field unit md.
(Relative permeability is included)
Saturation (S) measure fraction of the pore space is
filled with oil, water or gas in terms of phase saturation
Compressibility (cf) measures the change in the volume
of the rock per unit change in pressure. SI unit Pa-1,
field unit psi-1

Capillary pressure, Wettability, Interfacial tension

 2. Permeability
Measure of how easily fluid can move
through rock or measure of the rock
capacity to transmit fluids

Depends only on rock properties --

intrinsic permeability

In oil industry, permeability is measured

in darcies or millidarcies
 Permeability
Kv Kh (vertical vs. horizontal)
Conventional Reservoirs
Fractured Reservoirs
Unconventional Reservoirs

Enhanced Permeability
Acid Treatment
Fracture Stimulation

Logs
Spontaneous Potential (SP)
Resistivity Suite
 Directional Permeability
1. Horizontal plane: permeability is highest parallel to the long
axis of the grains. (Sandstone)
2. Vertical plane: permeability (perpendicular to bedding planes)
may be further reduce by shale laminations in sands or
stylolites in carbonates.
 Directional Permeability
3. Fracture or joint trends: carbonate and hard or low porosity
sandstone.
 Permeability Classification
1. Absolute permeability (k) is a measure
of the rock capacity to transmit fluids
(one phase, reservoir rock is 100%
saturated fluid)
2. Effective (Relative) permeability:
when multiple fluids are present they
interfere with each others. (Reservoir
rock filled with two or more fluid, oil
and water)
 1. Absolute Permeability
Darcys law

kAp or qL
q k
L Ap
Darcys Law : Only applied in the region of laminar flow
Permeability : Measuring of capacity of rock to transmit fluid
: Measuring parallel to bedding planes of stratified rocks
Symbol : k (Darcy or millidarcy (D or mD))
Source : Well tests, core analysis
Range : 0.001 mD - 10,000 mD
Hydraulic Conductivity
Measure flow
rate Q to
estimate specific
discharge
(velocity)
q=Q/Area
1
Q
L
Observations
 Darcys Law

q = -K dh
dl

Hydraulic Conductivity
(cm/s)

Hydraulic Conductivity depends on both the

fluid and the porous medium
 (Darcys Law)

(K)
(K)

1. Hydraulic conductivity (K)

cm/sec

2. Intrinsic permeability (Ki k)

cm2
 Further Observations
In a bed of packed beads the flow rate is
proportional to the diameter squared
qd 2

The flow rate is proportional to the specific

weight of the fluid
q g
The flow rate is inversely proportional to the
viscosity of the fluid
1
q

 Therefore Hydraulic conductivity

q = -K dh
dl
2 g dh
q = -Cd m dl
Property of the porous medium
only called intrinsic permeability
What drives the flow
Property of the fluid only

ki = -Cd 2
q K 1 dh
water 1 i dl
Denoted q depends on A q K A dh
i dl
Denoted ki with units m2 (or Darcys)
1 Darcy=9.869x10-9cm2
q k A dh
dl
Therefore
q k A dh
dl
Typical Hydraulic Conductivities
(for water)
 Hazen Formula for Hydraulic
Conductivity
Recall from our C shape factor
classification of soils Very fine sand: C=40-80
Effective diameter d Fine sand: C=40-80
Hazen proposed that Medium sand: C=80-120
hydraulic conductivity Coarse sand: C=80-120
is given by (poorly sorted)
K=C (d)2 Coarse sand: C=120-50
(well sorted, clean)
This is for water!!!!
C shape factor (see adjacent table)
d10 in cm
K is given in cm/s
 1. Absolute Permeability
Darcys law
Definitions of 1 darcy

Darcy is a unit of Area

1 mm2 = 1,013,250 Darcy
1 Darcy = 0.986923 m2
 DarcyPermeability Unit
cP = centipoise =.01 dyne-s/cm2
atm = atmosphere = 1.0132x106dyne/
cm2
1 darcy = 9.869x10-9cm2
1 millidarcy (md) = 9.87x10-12cm2
1 cP= 1 milli pascal.second (0.001 Pa.s)
 Homogeneous/Heterogeneity
Homogeneous Rock Average permeability
k1 k2

kavg kavg

Average permeability We like to replace heterogeneous

blocks with analogous homogeneous ones

k1
k1 k2
k2

Replace with
kavg
 Average permeability
W1 = W2 = W3
N parallel layers, each with
Qt Q1 Q2 Q3
permeability ki of thickness hi k avgWht P k1Wh1P k 2Wh2 P k3Wh3P

k1 L L L L
kavg ht k1h1 k2 h2 k3h3
k2 N

k h i i
k h k h k h k avg i 1
k3 k avg 11 2 2 3 3 N
ht h
i 1
i

W1 W2 W3
kN Qt Q1 Q2 Q3
Pt P1 P2 P3
kavg (W1h1 W2 h2 W3h3 )P k1Wh1P k2Wh2 P k3Wh3P
Qt Q1 Q2 Q3
L L L L
kWh k W h k W h
kavg 1 1 1 2 2 2 3 3 3
W1h1 W2 h2 W3h3
N
k A k A k A k A
kavg 1 1 2 2 3 3 i i
A1 A2 A3 k avg i 1
N

A
i 1
i
 Average permeability
N parallel layers, each with Pt P1 P2 P3
Qt Q1 Q2 Q3
permeability ki of thickness hi
k1
k2

k3

kN
 Average permeability
N perpendicular to flow layers, each
Pt P1 P2 P3
with permeability ki of thickness hi
Series
( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 )
K1 K2 K3 K4
Qt Lt Q L Q L Q L
1 1 2 2 3 3
Qt Q1 Q2 Q3 k avgWh k1Wh k 2Wh k3Wh
Pt P1 P2 P3
( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 ) Lt L1 L2 L3

k avg k1 k 2 k3
N

L i
k avg i 1
N
Li

i 1 ki
 Average permeability
Qt Q1 Q2 Q3
N perpendicular to flow layers, each Pt P1 P2 P3
with permeability ki of thickness hi ( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 ) ( P1 P4 )

K1 K2 K3 K4
 Permeability and Rocks
In formations with large
grains, the permeability is
high and the flow rate k
larger.
In a rock with small grains
the permeability is less and
the flow lower. k
Grain size has a large
effect on permeability.

24
Factor affecting rock permeability

Grain Size
Grain Arrangement
Compaction
Cementation
Pore Connection
Fracture or joint trends
Factor affecting the permeability
Grain Size
 Controlling Processes
Reduction Enhancement

Compaction Dissolution
Cementation Fracturing
Heavy hydrocarbon Dolomitization
residual
e.g. Carbonate rocks (2nd
porosity)
Reef sometime preserve
1st porosity
1. Absolute Permeability
 2. Relative Permeability

Absolute permeability: is the permeability of a porous

medium saturated with a single fluid (e.g. Sw=1)

Absolute permeability can be calculated from the

steady-state flow equation (1D, Linear Flow; Darcy
Units):

k A p
q
L
 Multiphase Flow in Reservoirs

Commonly, reservoirs contain 2 or 3 fluids

Water-oil systems
Oil-gas systems
Water-gas systems
Three phase systems (water, oil, and gas)
To evaluate multiphase systems, must consider the
effective and relative permeability
 Effective Permeability
Effective permeability: is a measure of the
conductance of a porous medium for one
fluid phase when the medium is saturated
with more than one fluid.
The porous medium can have a distinct and measurable
conductance to each phase present in the medium

Effective permeabilities: (ko, kg, kw)

 Effective Permeability
Steady state, 1D, linear flow
ko A o equation (Darcy units):
Oil qo
o L qn = volumetric flow rate for a
specific phase, n

k w A w
Water qw A = flow area
w L n = flow potential drop for
phase, n (including pressure,
gravity and capillary pressure
k g A g terms)
qg
Gas g L n = fluid viscosity for phase n

L = flow length
 Relative Permeability
Relative Permeability is the ratio of the effective permeability of
a fluid at a given saturation to some base (absolute)
permeability
Base permeability is typically defined as:
absolute permeability, k

air permeability, kair

effective permeability to non-wetting phase at irreducible wetting phase

saturation [e.g. ko(Sw=Swi)]
 Relative Permeability
ko ( 0.5, 0.3)
Oil k ro( 0.5, 0.3)
k So =0.5
Sw =0.3
k w( 0.5, 0.3) Sg = 0.2
Water k rw( 0.5, 0.3)
k

k g ( 0.5, 0.3)
k rg ( 0.5, 0.3)
Gas k
 Relative Permeability Functions
Imbibition Relative Permeability
(Water Wet Case)
1.00
kro @ Swi Wettability and direction of
Relative Permeability (fraction)

saturation change must be

0.80 considered
drainage
Two-Phase Flow imbibition
0.60 Region
Base used to normalize this
Oil relative permeability curve is
0.40 kro @ Swi

As Sw increases, kro decreases

and krw increases until
0.20
krw @ Sor reaching residual oil
Water saturation
0
0 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
Water Saturation (fraction)
 Effect of Wettability
for Increasing Sw

1.0 1.0
Relative Permeability, Fraction

Relative Permeability, Fraction

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6
Oil Oil Water
0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2
Water
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Water Saturation (% PV) Water Saturation (% PV)

Strongly Water-Wet Rock Strongly Oil-Wet Rock

Water flows more freely
Higher residual oil saturation
Factors Affecting Relative Permeabilities

Fluid saturations
Geometry of the pore spaces and pore size
distribution
Wettability
Fluid saturation history (i.e., imbibition or
drainage)
Characteristics of Relative Permeability
Functions

Relative permeability is unique for

different rocks and fluids
Relative permeability affects the flow
characteristics of reservoir fluids.
Relative permeability affects the
recovery efficiency of oil and/or gas.
 Applications of
Relative Permeability Functions

Reservoir simulation
Flow calculations that involve multi-
phase flow in reservoirs
Estimation of residual oil (and/or
gas) saturation