Permeability Estimates From

Capillary Pressure and CPI Log Data

 Objectives of Study

• Develop a method based on capillary pressure (Pc) data to estimate permeability using computed
petrophysical interpretation (CPI) log data.

• Decide if this method provides permeability values that can be used as a starting point for
building a geological model which eventually will be incorporated into a reservoir simulator.

• Determine what further calibration is required to the permeability values prior to sending to
Geology.
 Data Requirements and Calibration Method
• Once the method for estimating permeability from Pc data has been developed, the data requirements are:
❑ CPI log data
depth, Sw, PHIE
❑ Basic reservoir data
oil and water density
oil/water contact (OWC) in TVDSS
❑ Well information
KB to convert log depths to TVDSS
From the above data, Pc can be calculated and related to Sw.

• Calibration Method:
❑ Initial Well Test (IWT) when available and relative permeability data
Ko*h product from Saphir interpretation
Kro end point
Perforated interval(s) to determine h
❑ Core permeability data
For a given well, Pc estimated K*h product is converted to a Ko*h value, compared with Saphir value, and adjusted
to match. The core permeability data is used as a visual check to see if the Pc estimated permeability is
reasonable.
 Development of Pc Permeability Estimation Method

• Started with Bloc SCAL results

❑ Curve fitted 96 oil-water capillary pressure curves from all fields
o capillary curves were fitted in segments
❑ Eliminated all curves below OWC
o do to shape of curves
❑ From the 41 remaining curves, culled 9 additional
o done to provide more consistent results by
✓ eliminating inconsistent Irr_Sw values
✓ better trend of K values at lower Pc values
❑ Total of 32 curve plus a synthetic curve
 Development of Pc Permeability Estimation Method

Capillary Pressure Curves

All Bloc Samples Above OWC
5.0

4.0
Better Rock Quality for Lower Sw
Capillary Pressure (Pc), Bars

RQI Bins RQI > RQI <

3.0
Dark Blue 0.00 0.15
Blue 0.15 0.30
Lt Blue 0.30 0.60
Green 0.60 0.80
Orange 0.80 1.00
2.0 Red 1.00 1.30
Dark Red 1.30

1.0

0.0
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
Water Saturation (Sw), dec
 Development of Pc Permeability Estimation Method

Irreducible Water Saturation

Capillary Pressure Cores
1.0

0.9
Irreducible Water Saturation (Irr_Sw) at 5 Bars, dec

0.8

0.7

0.6

0.5

0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0.0
0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 3.5 4.0 4.5
RQI

RQI Irr_Sw Curve Fit (final) RQI Irr_Sw Curve Fit (final) RQI Irr_Sw Curve Fit (Initial)
Add points RQI Irr_Sw Curve Fit (final with add point) Are not use in curve fit (final with add point)
 Calculation of Pc Permeability

• Steps for calculating Pc permeability

1. a point defined by a Pc, Sw pair is entered into the graph
2. the “closest” Pc curve is determined by absolute difference in Sw at the entered Pc value and becomes
the curve that a “shift” will be applied
3. the shifted curve is assigned a “new” Irr_Sw that is equal to the difference in Sw between the curve
and the point defined by the Pc, Sw pair (curve Irr_Sw = 0.20; Sw diff. = -0.02; new Irr_Sw = 0.18)
4. the new Irr_Sw value and an equation relating RQI is used to approximate RQI for the shifted Pc curve
5. given the shifted Pc curve with an appropriate RQI value, J(Sw) can be determined for the Pc, Sw pair
6. using this J(Sw) value, Pc, and PHIE allows permeability to be calculated
7. a macro has been written to perform these calculations
 Calculation of Pc Permeability
• Steps for calibrating Pc permeability to IWT values
✓ Pc Calc Kh is converted to Ko*h
✓ an adjustment factor is calculated
✓ the adjustment factor is applied to the entire interval covered by Pc permeability values
✓ the adjusted permeability values, K (Adjust) are passed on to Geology

Capillary Pressure Permeability Estimate

K (Adjust) is “final” curve after calibration WELL-1

Water Saturation Sw, dec. or

1000 1000

Porosity (Effective), dec.

Permeability, md

100 100

10 10

1 1

0.1 0.1

0.01 0.01
2590

2595

2620

2625
2600

2605

2610

2615
Depth, meters

C_CKALCC KRES KD KFIN K (Pc, Sw) EME-01 K (Adjust) SW PHIE VCL

 Permeability vs Porosity

1000
K (Adjust) Permeability or Core Permeability, md

100

KCORE data points covering

test intervals for wells with IWT
evaluations

10

K (Adjust) data points for wells

with IWT evaluations
1

0.1
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25
CPI Effective Porosity or Core Porosity (corrected), dec

K (Adjust) KCORE
 Comparison of IWT and History Match Results
Pressure response comparing with build-up getting by the model with new permeability
 Results & Discuss
• This method provides a good starting point for building a geological model which
eventually will be incorporated into a reservoir simulator.

• Because this method is highly dependent on CPI Sw values, small changes in

CPI Sw values at low Sw values can have a big impact on estimated
permeability.

• In general, inaccurate CPI Sw values will cause estimated permeability values to

be off. Using IWT evaluation (when available) to calibrate the Pc estimated
permeability helps eliminate the issue of inaccurate CPI Sw values from the log.

• Pc estimated permeability method becomes unstable (starts to oscillate between

high and low values) within one meter of the OWC.

• Cannot be used for estimating permeability values for infill well in areas that have
been disturbed by offset operations.