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List of content:

1. Introduction …………………………(2)
2. classification of porosity ………….....( 3)
3. Geological Classification of Porosity……….( 4)
4 Porosity measurements of Wisconsin rocks ………………(4,5 )
6. Porosity measurement on core sample……………( 5,6,7,8,9,10,11)
7. Calculation ……………………………( 11 )
8. Discussion……………………………..( 12,13)

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Reservoir Properties
Porosity
The porosity of a rock is a measure of the storage capacity (pore volume) that is
capable of holding fluids. Quantitatively, the porosity is the ratio of the pore
volume to the total volume (bulk volume). This important property is determined
mathematically by the following generalized relationship:

Fig (1, 1)

Method to determine porosity:


1. Determine of rock porosity by laboratory analysis on core plug.
2. Well logging: density porosity,
3. Well test

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Classification of porosity:

Absolute porosity
The absolute porosity a (or total porosity t ) is defined as the ratio of the total
pore space in the rock to that of the bulk volume. A rock may have considerable
absolute porosity and yet have no conductivity to fluid for lack of pore
interconnection. The absolute porosity is generally expressed mathematically by
the following relationships:

Effective porosity
The effective porosity (φe) is the percentage of interconnected pore space with
respect to the bulk volume, or
The effective porosity is the value that is used in all reservoir engineering
calculations because it represents the interconnected pore space that contains the
recoverable hydrocarbon fluids (contains mobile fluid).

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Geological Classification of Porosity
Porosity may be classified according to the mode of origin as originally induced.
The Original porosity is that developed in the deposition of the material, while
induced porosity is that developed by some geological process subsequent to
deposition of the rock. The intergranular porosity of sandstones and the
intercrystalline and oolitic porosity of some

Porosity measurements of Wisconsin rocks


The porosities of the rocks measured vary from 2% to more than 30%. Much of this variation is
due to lithology (rock type). The data table lists the porosities of the tested samples
and the figure at right shows the range and distribution of porosities by lithology.
The dolomites have the lowest porosities (2–6%), the shales have the widest range
of porosities (8–29%, although most are less than 15%), and the sandstones have
the highest porosity (11–32%). Figure 1. Distribution of porosities for dolomite,
shale, and sandstone.

Fig (1,2)

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Particles' shapes and sizes affect how they aggregate, including how tightly they
can pack together, which affects a rock's porosity—a property that is the ratio of
the volume of a rock's empty spaces to its total volume.

Porosity measurement on core sample

Bulk volume
For regular core sample:
The simplest direct method for determining bulk volume of a consolidated sample
with a well design geometric shape is to measure its dimensions. The method is
applicable to cylindrical core with smoothed flat surfaces.
For irregular core sample:
The usual procedure is to determine the volume of fluid displaced by the sample.
The fluid volume that the sample displaces can be determined volumetrically or
gravimetrically. In both methods the displaced fluid should be prevented from
penetrating the pore space of the sample. There are 3 strategies to do that:
 Coating the rock sample with paraffin
 By saturating the rock with the fluid into which it is to be immersed

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 By using mercury, which according to its surface tension and wettability
characteristics does not tend to enter to small pores of most intergranular
samples
Gravimetric determination of the bulk volume can be accomplished by measuring
the loss in the weight of sample when it is immersed in the fluid or observing the
change in the weight of pycnometer when is filled with mercury and when is filled
with mercury and core sample.

Example 2-2
Bulk Volume Calculation of coated sample immersed in water.
A = weight of dry sample in air = 30.0 g
B = weight of the sample after coating with paraffin = 31.8 g; Paraffin density = 0.9 g/cm3
C = weight of paraffin = B – A = 1.8 g
D = volume of paraffin = 1.8 / 0.9 = 2cm3
E = weight after immersing of the coated sample in the water = 20 g, water density = 1 g/cm3
Volume of water displaced = (B – E) / water density = 11.8 cm3
Bulk volume of rock = volume of water displaced – volume of paraffin = 9.8 cm3
Example 2-3
Calculate the volume of a dry sample immersed in mercury pycnometer.
A = weight of dry sample in air = 30 g
B = weight of pycnometer filled with mercury at 20oC = 360 g, mercury density = 13.546 g/cm3
C = weight of pycnometer filled with mercury and sample at 20oC = 245.9 g
D = weight of sample + weight of mercury filled pycnometer = A + B = 390 g
E = Weight of mercury displaced = D – C = 144.1 g
Bulk volume of rock = E/mercury density = 144.1 / 13.546 = 10.6 cm3.

Grain volume
The grain volume can be determined from:
1. The dry sample weight and the grain density. For many purposes, result with
sufficient accuracy can be obtained by using the density of quartz (2.65 g/cm3) as
the grain density.

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2. A method of determining the gain volume is crushing the sample after
determining the bulk volume, thus removing all pores including the non-
interconnecting ones. The volume of solids is then determined by fluid
displacement in a pycnometer.

Pore volume:
Saturation method:
In saturation method we will calculate the weight of liquid that enter the interconnected pore
space of rock and then divided by fluid density and we get pore volume:

Procedure:
1. Clean and dry the rock.
2 Weigh the rock in its dry state to give the dry weight, Wdry.
3 Fully saturate the rock in a wetting fluid. Conventionally toluene or
dichloroethene were used, but now it is more common to saturate the rock with a
brine that has been made to mimic that in the reservoir, i.e., contain the same
concentrations of major dissolved salts (a synthetic brine).
4. Weigh the saturated sample after drying any excess fluid from its surface to give
its saturated weight, Wsat.
5· Determine the bulk volume of the rock, Vbulk. This can be done using
measuring calipers and assuming the core to be cylindrical, but is prone to large
errors even if the core is almost cylindrical. Another method is to immerse the
sample in mercury, which is a non-wetting fluid and will not enter the pores of a
rock at atmospheric pressure, and measure the volume of the mercury displaced.
This method used to be common, but the sample can then no longer be used for
experiments and must be safely disposed of. Archimedes method is preferred,
which will be described in the Formation Evaluation course.

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6. Determine the density fluid of the saturating fluid by weighing a known volume
of it.

Helium Porisimetry:
This method relies on the ideal gas law, or rather Boyle’s law. The rock is sealed in
a container of known volume V1 at atmospheric pressure P1 ,This container is
attached by a valve to another container of known volume, V2, containing gas at a
known pressure, P2. When the valve that connects the two volumes is opened
slowly so that the system remains isothermal, the gas pressure in the two volume
equalizes to P3. The value of the equilibrium pressure can be used to calculate the
volume of grains in the rock Vs.. Boyle’s Law states that the pressure times the
volume for a system is constant.

Procedure
1. Clean and dry the core sample.
2· Ensure Valve 2 is closed.
3 · Gas is introduced into Chamber A of the apparatus using Valve 1 until a pressure Pi is
reached, when Valve 1 is closed. This pressure is arbitrary, and commonly about 100 psi
4. · Insert the sample into Chamber B, which is at atmospheric pressure, Patm, and ensure Valve
3 is closed.
5· slowly open Valve 2 to let the gas equilibrate through the entirety of both chambers. The gas
will penetrate into the pores of the rock sample. During this process the pressure will decrease to
a new stable level, Pf .

The drop of pressure depends upon how much space there is in Chamber B, and that depends on
how much of Chamber B is occupied by solid rock particles

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Mercury Injection
Measuring bulk volume
The rock is evacuated, and then immersed in mercury. At laboratory pressures
mercury will not enter the pores of most rocks. The displacement of the mercury
can therefore be used to calculate the bulk volume of the rock.

Measuring pore volume


The pressure on the mercury is then raised in a stepwise fashion, forcing the
mercury into the pores of the rock (Figure 5.4). If the pressure is sufficiently high,
the mercury will invade all the pores. A measurement of the amount of mercury
lost into the rock provides the pore volume directly.
The porosity can then be calculated from the bulk volume and
the pore volume. Clearly this method also measures the connected porosity. In
practice there is always a small pore volume that is not accessed by the mercury
even at the highest pressures. This is pore volume that is in the form of the
minutest pores. So the mercury injection method will give a lower porosity than
the two methods described above. This is a moderately accurate method that has
the advantage that it can be done on small irregular samples of rock, and the
disadvantage that the sample must be disposed of safely after the test

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Archimedes Method
The sample is weighed dry, fully saturated with formation brine whose
density is accurately known.
The saturated sample is then weighed suspended under a balance in air, and
again while suspended in the fluid in which it is saturated. The various
weight readings, and the density of the fluid allow the bulk volume of any
irregular sample to be found accurately.

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The difference in the weight between the saturated sample suspended in air
and that when suspended in the fluid is equal to V , where ρf is the density
of the fluid.

PROBLEMS:

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CONCLUSION:
Porosity is one of most important property of rock studied in reservoir engineering
,since the accurate value of porosity estimate accurate value of oil in place
OIIP=A*h*∅(1 − 𝑆𝑤)
Porosity is one of key in the equation ,if the porosity data are incorrect ,the result
could be over or under estimation of the volume of hydrocarbon present in the
reservoir.
A great many methods have been developed for determining porosity,
mainly of consolidated rocks having intergranular porosity (encountered in oil
reservoir). Most of the methods developed have been designed for small samples.
From the definition of porosity it is obvious that common to all methods is the
need to determine two of three volumes: total or bulk volume of the sample, its
pore volume, and/or the volume of its solid matrix. The various methods based on
such volume determination, called “direct methods”( Several standard techniques
are used. In themselves these are basic physical measurements of weight, length,
and pressures) differ from each other in the way these volumes are determined.
Other methods are available, called “indirect methods” based on the measurement
of some properties of the void space. Examples of such properties are the electrical
conductivity of electrically conducting fluid filling the void space of the sample, or
the absorption of radioactive particles by a fluid filling the void space of the
sample.
A few of which will be discussed below:
The most common method used is heluim porosimeter wich determine pore
and grain volume according to Boyles law of gas expansion . The method itself is
very accurate, insensitive to mineralogy, and leaves the sample available for
further petrophysical tests. It is also a rapid technique and can be used on
irregularly shaped samples. Inaccuracies can arise with samples with very low.
Low permeability samples can require long equilibration times in the helium
porosimeter to allow diffusion of helium into the narrow pore structures. Failure to
allow adequate time will result in excessively high grain volumes and low
porosities.
in this method several source of error can signefently effect on the actual and
accurate value :1.the device used in the experiment should be in lab which
temperature dosent change (since boyles law of gas expansion was isothermally
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assumed) so The test should carried out at the constant temperature, heluim gas is
available that why some lab will tend to use another gas.
Second method is mercury injection Clearly this method also measures the
connected porosity. This is a moderately accurate method that has the advantage
that it can be done on small irregular samples of rock, and the disadvantage that the
sample must be disposed of safely after the test. In practice there is always a small
pore volume that is not accessed by the mercury even at the highest pressures. This
is pore volume that is in the form of the minutest pores. So the mercury injection
method will give a lower porosity.

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