Permeability in Petroleum Engineering

 Permeability is a factor that quantifies how hard or how easy it is for the fluid to flow

through the reservoir to the oil producing well; the greater the permeability, the easier the

fluid flows.

 Permeability of a rock is a measure of the ability of the rock to transmit fluids through it.

It is of great importance in determining the flow characteristics of hydrocarbons in oil

and gas reservoirs, and of groundwater in aquifers. The usual unit for permeability is the

darcy, or more commonly the milli-darcy or md (1 darcy = 1 x 10−12m²).

 Permeability is part of the proportionality constant in Darcy’s Law which relates

discharge (flow rate) and fluid physical properties (e.g viscosity), to a pressure gradient

applied to the porous media. The proportionallity constant specifically for the flow of

water through a porous media is the hydraulic conductivity. Permeability is a portion of

this, and is a property of the porous media only, not the fluid. In naturally occurring

materials, it ranges over many orders of magnitude .

 For a rock to be considered as an exploitable hydrocarbon reservoir, its permeability must

be greater than approximately 100 md (depending on the nature of the hydrocarbon - gas

reservoirs with lower permeabilities are still exploitable because of the lower viscosity of

gas with respect to oil). Rocks with permeabilities significantly lower than 100 md can

form efficient seals . Unconsolidated sands may have permeabilities of 5000+ md.

Darcy’s Equation for linear incompressible fluid flow Darcy is a unit of permeability. It is not
an SI unit, but it is widely used in petroleum engineering and geology. The darcy has units of
area.

Definition

Permeability measures the ability of fluids to flow through rock (or other porous media).