SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010
Application of NMR Logs in Low Permeability Sandstones:
A Case Study of Sichuan Basin in China
a,b a,b
Liang Xiao , Zhi-qiang Mao , Zhao-nian Wang , Yan Jin , Wen Zhuang
a
State Key Laboratory of Petroleum Resource and Prospecting, China University of Petroleum, Beijing, P. R. China
b
Key Laboratory of Earth Prospecting and Information Technology, Beijing, P. R. China
c
Southwest Oil and Gas Field Branch Company, PetroChina, Sichuan, P. R. China
Copyright 2010, held jointly by the Society of Petrophysicists and Well Log
Analysts (SPWLA) and the submitting authors.
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPWLA 51st Annual Logging
Symposium held Perth, Australia, June 19-23, 2010.
ABSTRACT
Permeability, irreducible water saturation and other
parameters associated with the pore structure are very
important in formation evaluation of low permeability
reservoirs. With reliable calibration from core plugs,
these critical parameters can be obtained from NMR
logs.
With the improvement of method proposed by Chen et
al. (2008), a novel method of constructing Pc curves
from NMR T2 distribution is presented in this study,
which based on the mercury injection pressure and T2
spectrum measured on 54 plug samples taken from the
low permeability sandstone reservoirs of Xujiahe group
of Triassic in Sichuan basin, southwest China. With
those measurements, a series of models or formulae
correlating the mercury injection saturation under
different mercury injection pressures and the T2
logarithm mean can be derived by combining J function
and SDR permeability model. From those calibrated
formulae, the synthetically capillary pressure curves
can be constructed from T2 distributions. Integrating
with NMR total porosity, the permeability is then
calculated from NMR Pc curve by the calibrated
Swanson parameter.
Different Rc cutoff values can be defined for calculating
irreducible water saturation from pore throat radius
distribution for different kind of rocks.
Several oilfield examples from Anlu district in Sichuan
basin show that NMR logs are effective in pore
structure evaluation, permeability estimation and
irreducible water saturation calculation in low
permeability sandstone reservoirs.
INTRODUCTION
1
c c a,b
The sandstone reservoirs of Xujiahe group of Triassic
in Sichuan basin display such characteristics of low
porosity, low permeability and complicated pore
structure. It’s a challenge in calculating permeability for
formation evaluation and production prediction. The
pore connectivity is poor. The majority of pore consists
of micropore and occupied by irreducible water thus
lead low resistivity. The resistivity contrast between
pure water layer and gas producing formation under the
same porosity is lower than conventional reservoirs
because of the high irreducible water saturation. These
problems are believed to be caused by complicated pore
structure.
NMR logs can play very important role in reservoir
characterization, especially in reservoir with
complicated pore structure (Dunn, et al., 2002). Pore
structure can be understood qualitatively, but the pore
throat radius distribution and pore structure parameters
can not be calculated directly from NMR T2 distribution.
Volokitin, et al. (1999, 2001) and Looyestijn (2001)
have developed various methods to construct capillary
pressure curves from NMR logs to evaluate formation
pore structure quantitatively. Those methods can not be
directly expanded to hydrocarbon reservoirs since they
were established mainly based on laboratory
measurements in which the core samples used for NMR
measurement were fully saturated with water. Mao, et
al. (2007) found that the NMR T2 distribution would be
changed when the pore space occupied by non-wetting
phase oil because of the effects of bulk relaxation of the
oil and oil viscosity. Although Volokitin, et al. (1999,
2001) proposed a methodology to calibrate the NMR T2
distribution measured on oil partially saturated samples,
but the effect of natural gas had not been taken into
account in the calibration. In this study, under the
analysis of method proposed by Chen et al. (2008) to
calculate irreducible water saturation combining NMR
and capillary pressure curves, an improved approach is
proposed to construct capillary pressure curves from
NMR logs.
SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

Over the past twenty years, SDR model (Kenyon et al.,
1988, 1997) and Timur-Coates model (Coates et al.
2000) have been widely used to estimate permeability
from NMR logs. Swanson (1981) had pointed out that
permeability could be estimated from mercury injection
capillary pressure curves after the Swanson parameter
extracted. The relationship between permeability and
Swanson parameter had been established based on the
core samples investigated. To expand the effectiveness
of Swanson’s model in low permeability, Xiao et al.
(2009) proposed a reasonably relationship between the
Swanson parameter and pore structure index ( K φ ).
With constructed NMR capillary pressure curves,
permeability can be estimated continuously by NMR
logs.
Irreducible water saturation can be calculated from
NMR T2 distribution after the value of T2cutoff has been
fixed, such as 33 milliseconds in sandstone and 92
milliseconds in carbonate formation (Morriss, et al.,
1993, Staley, et al., 1987, 1991). Unfortunately, this is
not always true. A lot of laboratory measurements show
that the value of T2cutoff varies significantly in many
sandstone reservoirs, neither close to 33 ms nor other
constant value. Chen et al. (2008) proposed a novel
MPa with 24 pressing process, the data sets of five
different kinds of mercury injection capillary pressure
curves showed in table 1. Table 1 indicates that the
characteristic of mercury injection capillary pressure
curves can be expressed with the mercury injection
saturation under different mercury injection pressure. If
mercury injection saturations are calculated under
different mercury injection pressure, mercury injection
capillary pressure curves should be constructed. In this
paper, under the analysis of 54 core samples from
Xujiahe group with NMR measurements and mercury
injection experiment, an improved method is proposed
to construct capillary pressure curves from NMR Logs
based on J function and SDR model.
Method and models for constructing NMR capillary
pressure curves based on J function and SDR model
With the analysis of measurements on plenty of core
samples, Chen et al. (2008) proposed that if all core
plugs can be expressed as the same J function,
combining with SDR model, irreducible water
saturation can be calculated from mercury injection
capillary pressure curves using equation (1).
pc × C m −1 n

×φ
S wir
J ( Pc S wir ) = × T2lm
2 2
model to calculate irreducible water saturation from σ × cos θ
NMR logs without requiring T2cutoff by combining J m −1 n
…………(1)
function and SDR model. This model demonstrated = C ×φ ' 2
× T2lm
2

robust reliability when all rocks samples can be = C ' × φ m ' × T2lm
n'

represent by the same J function. In another words, this Where

method should be improved when applied it in low pc × C
permeability reservoir with complicated pore structure, C' = ………………......…………..(2)
S wir

in which, the mercury injection capillary pressure σ × cos θ

curves might very greatly different. m − 1 …………………………...…………(3)
m' =
2
The target reservoir of this study is Xujiahe group of n
Triassic sandstone in Anlu district of Sichuan basin, n ' = …………………………………………(4)
2
southwest China. The major distribution of core
Where, J ( P ) is a dimensionless function of water
c S wir

porosity is 3% to 12% and the major distribution of

saturation describing the capillary pressure,
core permeability is 0.01 mD to 0.5 mD. The resistivity
permeability, and porosity relation. Swir is irreducible
of gas producing formation is about 7 ohmm to 10
P
ohmm, this is only a little higher than that of pure water water saturation measured as a fraction. c S is wir

layers. mercury injection pressure in MPa under irreducible

METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING CAPILLARY
PRESSURE CURVES FROM NMR LOGS
Characteristic of mercury injection capillary pressure
curves
Xiao, et al. (2008) had illustrated that all mercury
injection capillary pressure curves have the same
mercury injection process for the convenience of test
operation. In this study, all core samples are applied
mercury injection pressure from 0.004 MPa to 200.25
water condition. In Chen’s study, this pressure is 40 psi
or 200 psi. σ is surface tension in dyn/cm; θ is surface
contact angle in (o). For air-mercury system, σ is 480
dyn/cm and θ is 140o. φ is rock porosity in %, which
can be gained from conventional logs or NMR logs.
T2lm is T2 logarithm mean in milliseconds. C, m and n
are parameters of SDR model.
After mercury injection pressure under irreducible
water condition is defined, substituting irreducible
water saturation in equation (1), model parameters can

2
 SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

be gained from core plugs and irreducible water Where, Pc(i)resample is resampled mercury injection
saturation can be calculated from NMR logs. pressure in MPa. Pc, min is the minimum initial mercury
injection pressure in MPa. Pc, max is the maximal initial
Following the conception raised by Chen et al. (2008), mercury injection pressure in MPa. i is the number of
if all core samples have the same J function, plugging resampled pressing process.
non-wetting phase mercury injection saturation under
the ith mercury injection pressure into equation (1), it When mercury injection pressures are lower, little
can be expressed as: mercury can invaded into the pore space and these parts
p c (i ) × C m −1 n
are not important in understanding the quality of pore
S Hg (i ) = × φ 2 × T2lm
2
structure. For core samples mentioned in this study,
σ × cos θ
m −1 n
………………... (5) mercury can be invaded into the pore space when
= C' ×φ 2
× T2lm
2
mercury injection pressures are higher than 0.1MPa.
= C ' × φ m ' × T2lm
n' Models are established when mercury injection
From equation (5), it can be seen that if C’, m’ and n’ pressures are higher than 0.1MPa. After some core
are defined, putting mercury injection pressure under samples are deleted because of bad quality, the
every pressing process, mercury injection saturation can correspondent models or formulae are displayed in
be calculated and capillary pressure curves can be table 2.
constructed from NMR logs.
From table 2, it can be seen that good correlatability is
Models or formulae of constructing capillary pressure available among mercury injection saturation, NMR
curves from NMR logs total porosity and T2 logarithm mean, the correlation
coefficients are all higher than 0.8, this demonstrates
It has demonstrated that mercury injection capillary that the constructing models are reliable. When these
curves from 54 core samples have the same J function models are used in formation condition, NMR capillary
(see figure 1), then equation (5) should be usable in pressure curves can be constructed consecutively in the
constructing capillary pressure curves from NMR logs intervals with NMR measurements.
in Xujiahe group.
100
Determination of pore throat radius distribution from
NMR capillary pressure curves
10
Based on the theory of capillary pressure, the
1
relationship between capillary pressure and pore throat
0.1
radius can be expressed as:
J function

2 × σ × cos θ ……………………………….(7)
P =
c
0.01 Rc
Thus
0.001
2 × σ × cos θ …………………………...…(8)
Rc =
0.0001 Pc
Where, Rc is rock pore throat radius in micrometer.
0.00001
100 80 60 40 20 0
Mercury injection saturation, % For air-mercury system, equation (8) can be
Figure 1 J function of 54 core samples in Xujiahe transformed as:
0.735 ……………………………………(9)
group in Anlu district of Sichuan basin, southwest Rc =
China. Pc
With the increment of mercury injection saturation,
Following this concept, models of constructing NMR pore throat radius distribution can be extracted, and
capillary pressure curves are established. To reduce correspondent pore structure parameters such as the
workload for geologists and petrophysicists, mercury average pore throat radius, the maximum pore throat
injection pressures are resampled as 15 pressing process radius, threshold pressure and so on can be calculated.
with cubic spline interpolation function (Chen, et al.,
2001; Li, et al., 1986; Wen, et al., 2005), the new Reliability demonstration
mercury injection pressures are expressed as:
P i −1
To verify the dependability of these models, the
Pc (i ) resample = Pc,min × ( c ,max ) 14 , i=1…, 15…….(6) comparison of rock pore throat radius distribution
Pc ,min
transformed from 10 core mercury injection capillary
pressure curves (blue full line) and constructed NMR
3
SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

capillary pressure curves (red dash line) are displayed group, the relationship between the Swanson parameter
in figure 2. From figure 2, it can be seen that the and pore structure index is established and displayed in
modalities of these two kinds of pore throat radius figure 3, it shows that good relationship is existent,
distribution are analogous. This indicates that the once the Swanson parameter is extracted, combining
models proposed in this paper are advisable and the with NMR total porosity, permeability can be estimated
constructed NMR capillary pressure curves are credible. precisely.
0.7
y = 0.0093x + 0.0041
0.6 2
R = 0.9744

Pore structure index

0.5 N=54

0.4

0.3

0.2
relative amplitude, v/v

0.1

0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
The Swanson Parameter

Figure 3 Correlationship between the Swanson

parameter and pore structure index.

CALCULATION OF IRREDUCIBLE WATER

SATURATION (SWI)

Figure 4 shows the histogram of T2cutoff from 54 core

0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
samples, it has demonstrated that the value of T2cutoff is
R c, um
not 33 milliseconds or some fixed value, but is variable.
In the meantime, natural gas may overlap with
Figure 2 Comparison of rock pore throat radius irreducible water in T2 distribution because of the
distribution transformed from different kinds of core influence of diffusion relaxation. It is difficult in
mercury injection capillary pressure curves and NMR gaining irreducible water saturation from NMR logs
capillary pressure curves. using T2cutoff at present. The best method is to gain
irreducible water saturation without T2cutoff (Chen, et al.,
1998, 2008).
ESTIMATION OF PERMEABILITY 14

With the analysis of core samples from conventional 12

formation, Swanson (1981) demonstrated that good
10
relationship exist between permeability and the
Swanson parameter, with this relationship, permeability
Frequence

8
can be estimated from mercury injection capillary
pressure curves. This method has its typical advantage 6

in low permeability sandstones. Xiao et al. (2008)

4
attempted to establish the relationship between
Swanson parameter and NMR T2 logarithm mean to 2
gain consecutively permeability from NMR logs and
found that T2 logarithm mean was not sensitive to 0

Swanson when it is less than 60 milliseconds, to reflect

16 6
20 0
24 4
28 8
32 2
36 6
40 0
44 4
48 8
52 2
56 6
58 8
60 0
64 4
68 8
72 2
6
12 2

6
~1
~2
~2
~2
~3
~3
~4
~4
~4
~5
~5
~5
~6
~6
~6
~7
~7
<1

>7

the tiny differences of permeability, total porosity was T 2cutoff, ms

introduced and a improved formula replacing
permeability with pore structure index was proposed. Figure 4 Histogram of T2cutoff from 54 core samples.
With the analysis of 54 core samples from Xujiahe

4

For core samples with similar J function, mercury
injection saturations may be of great difference. It will
bring error in gaining irreducible water saturation from
mercury injection capillary pressure curves directly
under 200 psi or some fixed pressure.
Pore throat radius distribution is useful information for
pore structure evaluation and the influence of
hydrocarbon is removed. If the assumption of
micropore space only occupied by irreducible water is
valid, a cutoff value can be defined to get irreducible
water saturation from pore throat radius distribution.
This is similar with NMR T2cutoff (Chen, et al., 1998).
Figure 5 displays the statistical graph of pore throat
radius corresponding to irreducible water saturation. It
demonstrates that in Xujiahe group, formation can be
classified into three kinds and relevant pore throat
radius is not the same, if Rc cutoffs are determined as
0.12 μm, 0.16 μm and 0.24 μm respectively, irreducible
water saturation should be calculated from pore throat
radius distribution.
12
8 divergence of these core samples is caused by two
Frequence
4 and Core_permeabilities are from routine core analysis.
0 irreducible water saturation calculated from NMR
<0.09 0.11~0.13 0.15~0.17 0.19~0.21 0.23~0.25 0.27~0.29
Pore throat radius corresponding to irreducible water saturation, μm
Figure 5 Statistical graph of pore throat radius
corresponding to irreducible water saturation.
APPLICATIONS
With capillary pressure curves constructed from NMR
logs, several wells in Anlu district of Sichuan basin,
southwest China are processed in Xujiahe group to
evaluate reservoir pore structure, estimate permeability
and calculate irreducible water saturation, good results
are displayed.
With constructed NMR capillary pressure curves, pore
throat radius distribution and corresponding pore
structure parameters can be calculated to evaluate
reservoir pore structure and indicate the favorable
layers.
Figure 6 shows an oilfield example of evaluating
reservoir pore structure from NMR capillary pressure
curves. With the comparison of capillary pressure
SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010
curves, pore throat radius distribution and pore structure
parameters from constructed NMR capillary pressure
curves and core mercury injection capillary pressure
curves, it can demonstrate that the method and models
improved from Chen’s approach are reliable, the NMR
capillary pressure curves, pore throat radius distribution
and pore structure parameters matched well with core
samples, can be used to evaluate reservoir pore
structure and classify formation, for layers with good
pore structure, pore throat radius distribution is wide,
this means that macropore component is dominant,
correspondent average pore throat radius and maximum
pore throat radius are bigger, threshold pressure and
median pressure are lower, these kinds of formation are
worth of developing.
Figure 7 shows an example of estimating permeability
and calculating irreducible water saturation from NMR
capillary pressure curves. The comparison of Swanson
parameter calculated from NMR capillary pressure
curves (Swanson) and core mercury injection capillary
pressure curves (Core_Swanson) shows good coherence.
Permeability calculated from NMR capillary pressure
curves (Permeability) matches well with routine core
analysis (Core_permeability) besides some samples, the
different measurement means, core permeabilities used
in figure 3 are from mercury injection measurement
Trace (g) in figure 6 shows the comparison of
>0.31 capillary pressure curves (Swi), calculated from NMR
logs with 33 milliseconds as T2cutoff (Swi_33) and core
NMR analysis (Core_Swi). Swi matches better with
Core_Swi than Swi_33, Swi_33 ms is much higher than
Core_Swi. It records that formation resistivity from xx21
m to xx45 m is from 7 ohmm to 10 ohmm, only a little
higher than pure water layers (formation resistivity of
pure water layer is 5 ohmm). From conventional logs,
it’s difficult in determining what kind of fluid will flow
out, but Swi in this layer is much high, even reach to
60%, it can be interpreted that much lower resistivity of
this zone caused by high irreducible water saturation
because of the complicated pore structure. Considering
formation permeability displayed in trace (f), this layer
is worth for developing, this interpretation is approved
by well testing data. The well testing data illustrates
that in the interval of xx01 m to xx04 m and xx21 m to
xx25 m, gas production is 6.617×104 cubic meters per
day, without any water is produced, from Swi_33 ms,
this interpretation can’t be concluded.
CONCLUSIONS
5
SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010
It’s important in evaluating pore structure in low
permeability sandstones in Xujiahe group. NMR logs
have their advantage, but current methods are not
perfect because of the presence of minable gas in pore
space. Permeability and irreducible water saturation can
not be estimate from conventional logs or NMR logs
directly. These problems can be solved with capillary
pressure curves.
Integrating with J function and SDR model, after
Chen’s approach is improved, capillary pressure curves
can be constructed from NMR logs, with the analysis of
54 core samples, the structural models or formulae are
established, the dependability of these models are
confirmed.
After this method is expanded to reservoir condition,
NMR capillary pressure curves, pore throat radius
distribution and pore structure parameters can be
calculated in the intervals with NMR measurements,
with these information, reservoir pore structure can be
evaluated, these results are confirmed by well testing
data.
From continued NMR capillary pressure curves, the
Swanson parameter can be calculated, with the
relationship between the Swanson parameter and pore
structure index, combining with NMR total porosity,
permeability can be gained from NMR logs.
After the Rc cutoffs of three kinds of formation are
defined, irreducible water saturation can be calculated
from pore throat radius distribution, this can avoid the
affection of natural gas. these results are confirmed by
well testing data.
With the information of pore structure, permeability
and irreducible water saturation, favorable reservoirs
can be detected. That is useful in reducing development
risks.
ANNOTATION
1 mD = 0.987×10-3μm2
REFERENCES
Chen S. H., Arro, R., Minetto C., Georgi D., et al., 1998.
“Methods for computing Swi and BVI from NMR log”,
SPWLA 39th Annual Logging Symposium, May 26-29,
Paper HH.
Chen S. H., Ostroff G., Georgi D. T., 1998. “Improving
Estimation of NMR Log T2cutoff value with core NMR
6
and capillary pressure measurements”, SCA-9822.
Chen, S. H., Chen, J. S., Gillen, M., et al., 2008. “A
new approach for obtaining Swir from NMR log without
requiring T2cutoff”, SPWLA 49th Annual Logging
Symposium, May 25-28, Paper DD.
Chen, Z., Zhu, J. W., 2001. “Numerical calculation
method”, Beijing: Petroleum Industry Press, China,
30~80 (in Chinese).
Coates, G. R., Xiao, L. Z., Primmer, M. G., 2000.
“NMR logging principles & applications”. Houston:
Gulf Publishing Company, USA, 1~200.
Dunn K. J., Bergman, D. J., Latorraca, G. A., 2002.
“Nuclear Magnetic Resonance: Petrophysical and
Logging Applications”, Handbook of Geophysical
Exploration. Pergamon, NewYork, 1~120.
Kenyon W. E., Day P. I., Straley, C., Willemsen J. F.,
1988. “A three-part study of NMR longitudinal
relaxation properties of water-saturated sandstones”,
SPE Formation .Evaluation, Vol. 3, No. 3, 622~636.
Kenyon. W. E., 1997. “Petrophysical principles of
applications of NMR logging”, The Log Analysis, Vol.
38, No. 3, 21~43.
Li, Q. Y., Wang, N. C., 1986. “Numerical analysis”,
Wuhan: Huazhong University of Science and
Technology Press, China, 55~83 (in Chinese).
Looyestijn, W. J., 2001. “Distinguishing fluid property-
es and producibility from NMR logs”, Proceedings of
the 6th Nordic Symposium on Petrophysics, 1~9.
Mao, Z. Q., Kuang, L. C., Sun, Z. C, et al., 2007.
“Effects of hydrocarbon on deriving pore structure
information from NMR T2 data”, SPWLA 48th Annual
Logging Symposium, Paper W.
Morriss, C. E., Maclnnis, J., Freedman, R., et al., 1993.
“Field test of an experimental pulsed nuclear
magnetism tool”, SPWLA 34th Annual Logging
Symposium, paper GGG.
Staley, C., 1987. “Magnetic resonance digital image
analysis and permeability of porous media”, Applied
Physics Letter, Vol. 51, No. 15, 1146～1148.
Straley, C., Morriss, C. E., Kenyon, W. E., et al., 1991.
“NMR in partially saturated rocks: laboratory insights
on free fluid index and comparison with borehole logs”,
SPWLA 32nd Annual Logging Symposium, paper CC.
 SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

Swanson, B. F., 1981. “A simple correlation between Geology in Applied Geophysics. Now he is engaged in
permeabilities and mercury capillary pressure”, Journal management of petroleum exploration and development
of Petroleum Technology, Vol. 40, No. 12, 2498~2503. in Southwest Oil and Gas Field Branch Company.

Volokitin, Y., Looyestijn, W. J., Slijkerman, W. F. J.,
Hofman, J. P., 1999. “Constructing capillary pressure
curves from NMR log data in the presence of
hydrocarbons”, SPWLA 40th Annual Logging
Symposium, Paper KKK.
Yan Jin is a senior engineer in Southwest Oil and Gas
Field Branch Company, Petrochina. She received a BS
in 1988 and a MS in 1993 from Chengdu College of
Geology, both in Applied Geophysics. She has been
engaged in the applied research on logging geology.

Volokitin, Y., Looyestijn, W. J., Slijkerman, W. F. J.,
Hofman, J. P., 2001. “A practical approach to obtain
primary drainage capillary pressure curves from NMR
core and log data”, Petrophysics, Vol. 42, No. 4,
334~343.
Wen Zhuang is a postgraduate student in China
University of Petroleum, Beijing. His current research
is focused on NMR log interpretation and the NMR
petrophysics.

Wen, S. P., Zhang, M., 2005. “Applied numerical

analysis [The third page]”, Beijing: Petroleum Industry
Press, China, 112~143 (in Chinese).

Xiao, L., Mao, Z. Q., Xiao, Z. X., et al., 2008. “A new

method to evaluate reservoir pore structure
consecutively using NMR and capillary pressure data”,
SPWLA 49th Annual Logging Symposium, Paper AA.

Xiao, L., Mao, Z. Q., Wang, Z. N, et al., 2009.

“Comparison study of models for calculating absolute
permeability using nuclear magnetic resonance log in
tight gas sands”, SPE Kuwait international petroleum
conference and exhibition, SPE 126408.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Liang Xiao is a candidate for doctor degree in China

University of Petroleum, Beijing. Before 2009, he
works as a teacher for two years in Xi’an Shiyou
University. His research interests are NMR logs,
petrophysics and formation evaluation. He received a
MS of engineering from China University of Petroleum,
Beijing in 2007 in Petrophysics.

Zhi-qiang Mao is a professor in China University of

Petroleum, Beijing. Before joined Petrophysics research
center in China University of Petroleum, he worked as a
log analyst in Tarim Oil Field Company of PetroChina
from 1993 to 1997. He has been involved in
petrophysic researches and formation evaluation on low
resistivity and low permeability reservoir. He holds a
PhD in Engineering from Graduate School of the
Research Institute of Petroleum Exploration &
Development, Beijing.

Zhao-nian Wang is a senior engineer in Southwest Oil

and Gas Field Branch Company, Petrochina. He
received a BS in 1988 from Chengdu College of

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SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

Table 1 Five different kinds of mercury injection capillary pressure curves.

Sample No. 1 2 3 4 5
φ : 2.32%; φ : 4.15%; φ : 12.32%; φ : 15.70%; φ : 16.06%;
K: 0.01 mD K: 0.02 mD K: 0.57 mD K: 3.81 mD K: 16.80 mD
Pressing
Pc (Mpa) SHg (%) SHg (%) SHg (%) SHg (%) SHg (%)
process
1 0.004 0 0 0 0 0
2 0.01 0 0 0 0 0
3 0.01 0 0 0 0 0
4 0.02 0 0 0 0 0
5 0.03 0 0 0 0 0
6 0.05 0 0 0 0 1.17
7 0.07 0 0 0 0.95 6.21
8 0.12 0 0 0 3.26 22.68
9 0.19 0 0 0 7.13 31.28
10 0.28 0 0 1.49 17.56 35.51
11 0.45 0 0 7.07 28.07 40.38
12 0.72 0 0 18.29 36.41 46.34
13 1.16 0 0.61 36.30 45.09 52.78
14 1.81 0.06 4.23 45.22 52.07 57.78
15 2.90 3.42 16.91 52.85 58.15 62.89
16 4.50 19.77 25.52 59.42 63.64 66.98
17 7.38 40.59 33.48 68.46 75.18 71.08
18 11.78 45.81 42.22 78.97 84.85 75.56
19 18.24 49.97 52.68 84.06 88.87 85.33
20 29.18 53.82 62.84 86.98 91.18 90.13
21 45.59 57.58 70.62 89.02 92.70 92.06
22 74.40 63.40 76.94 90.87 94.07 93.15
23 118.73 72.06 80.51 92.18 94.68 93.78
24 200.25 80.59 82.53 93.21 95.91 94.13

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 SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

Table 2 Models or formulae of constructing capillary pressure curves from NMR logs.

Mercury injection Correlation

Models for calculating mercury injection saturation
pressure (MPa) coefficient (R)

0.004

0.01

0.02

0.04

0.09

0.19 log10 ( S Hg ) = 30.157 × log10 (φ ) + 8.383 × log10 (T2lm ) − 48.62 0.93

0.41 log10 ( S Hg ) = 5.011 × log10 (φ ) + 2.444 × log10 (T2lm ) − 9.18 0.88

0.89 log10 ( S Hg ) = 2.992 × log10 (φ ) + 1.506 × log10 (T2lm ) − 4.81 0.80

1.94 log10 ( S Hg ) = 5.355 × log10 (φ ) + 0.596 × log10 (T2lm ) − 5.40 0.83

4.20 log10 ( S Hg ) = 0.722 × log10 (φ ) + 0.270 × log10 (T2lm ) + 0.50 0.83

9.10 log10 ( S Hg ) = 0.314 × log10 (φ ) + 0.212 × log10 (T2lm ) + 1.15 0.90

19.70 log10 ( S Hg ) = 0.211 × log10 (φ ) + 0.119 × log10 (T2lm ) + 1.49 0.90

42.68 log10 ( S Hg ) = 0.085 × log10 (φ ) + 0.105 × log10 (T2lm ) + 1.69 0.91

92.45 log10 ( S Hg ) = 0.041 × log10 (φ ) + 0.072 × log10 (T2lm ) + 1.80 0.84

200.25 log10 ( S Hg ) = 0.028 × log10 (φ ) + 0.061 × log10 (T2lm ) + 1.85 0.82

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SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

Figure 6 An oilfield example of evaluating pore structure from NMR capillary pressure curves.

Trace (a) displays spontaneous potential (SP), gamma ray (GR) and borehole diameter curve (CAL);
Trace (b) displays acoustic travel time (AC), density (DEN) and neutron log (CNL);
Trace (b) displays uninvaded formation resistivity (RT) and flushed zone resistivity (RXO);
Trace (d) is NMR T2 measurement (T2_DIST) from MRIL tool;
Trace (e) displays reservoir pore throat radius distribution from NMR capillary pressure curves and core samples;
Trace (f) displays NMR capillary pressure curves (PC_DIST) and core mercury injection capillary pressure curves
(PC_CORE);
Trace (g) displays the average pore throat radius from NMR capillary pressure curves (CAPILLARY. RM) and core
samples (CORE. RM);
Trace (h) exhibits the maximum pore throat radius from NMR capillary pressure curves (CAPILLARY. RMAX)
and core samples (CORE. RMAX);
Trace (i) displays the median radius from NMR capillary pressure curves (CAPILLARY. R50) and core samples
(CORE. R50);
Trace (j) displays the threshold pressure from NMR capillary pressure curves (CAPILLARY. PD) and core samples
(CORE. PD);
Trace (k) shows the median pressure from continued pore throat radius distribution (CAPILLARY. P50) and core
samples (CORE. P50).

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 SPWLA 51st Annual Logging Symposium, June 19-23, 2010

Figure 7 An oilfield example for estimating permeability and irreducible water saturation from NMR capillary
pressure curves.

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