Introduction:

The precise knowledge of the behaviour of crude oil, natural gas, and water, singly or in
combination, under static conditions or in motion in the reservoir rock and in pipes and under
changing temperature and pressure, is the main concern of reservoir engineers.

As early as 1928, reservoir engineers were giving serious consideration to gas‐energy

relationships and recognized the need for more precise information concerning physical
conditions in wells and underground reservoirs. Early progress in oil recovery methods made it
obvious that computations made from wellhead or surface data were generally misleading.
Sclater and Stephenson described the first recording bottom‐hole pressure gauge and a
mechanism for sampling fluids under pressure in wells. It is interesting that this reference
defines bottom‐hole data as measurements of pressure, temperature, gas‐oil ratio, and the
physical and chemical natures of the fluids.

The need for accurate bottom‐hole pressures was further emphasized when Millikan and Sid
well described the first precision pressure gauge and pointed out the fundamental importance of
bottom‐hole pressures to reservoir engineers in determining the most efficient oil recovery
methods and lifting procedures. With this contribution, the engineer was able to measure the most
important basic data for reservoir performance calculations: reservoir pressure.

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 The study of the properties of rocks and their relationship to the fluids they contain in both the static and
flowing states is called petrophysics. Porosity, permeability, fluid saturations and distributions, electrical
conductivity of both the rock and the fluids, pore structure, and radioactivity are some of the more
important petrophysical properties of rocks. Fancher, Lewis, and Barnes made one of the earliest
petrophysical studies of reservoir rocks in 1933, and in 1934, Wycoff, Botset, Muskat, and Reed
developed a method for measuring the permeability of reservoir rock samples based on the fluid flow
equation discovered by Darcy in 1856. Wycoff and Botset made a significant advance in their studies of
the simultaneous flow of oil and water and of gas and water in unconsolidated sands. This work was
later extended to consolidated sands and other rocks, and in 1940 Levereĥ and Lewis reported research
on the multi‐phase flow of oil, gas, and water.

It was recognized by the pioneers in reservoir engineering that before reservoir volumes of oil and gas
in place could be calculated, the change in the physical properties of bottom‐hole samples of the
reservoir fluids with pressure would be required. Accordingly, in 1935, Schilthuis described a bottom-
hole sampler and a method of measuring the physical properties of the samples obtained. These
measurements included the pressure‐volume‐temperature relations, the saturation or bubble‐point
pressure, the total quantity of gas dissolved in the oil, the quantities of gas liberated under various
conditions of temperature and pressure, and the shrinkage of the oil resulting from the release of its
dissolved gas from solution. These data enabled the development of certain useful equations, and they
also provided an essential correction to the volumetric equation for calculating oil in place.

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During the 1960s, the terms reservoir simulation and reservoir mathematical modelling became popular.
These terms are synonymous and refer to the ability to use mathematical formulas to predict the
performance of an oil or gas reservoir. Reservoir simulation was aided by the development of large‐scale,
high‐speed digital computers. Sophisticated numerical methods were also developed to allow the solution
of a large number of equations by finite‐difference or finite‐element techniques.

With the development of these techniques, concepts, and equations, reservoir engineering became a
powerful and well‐defined branch of petroleum engineering. Reservoir engineering may be defined as
the application of scientific principles to the drainage problems arising during the development and
production of oil and gas reservoirs. It has also been defined as “the art of developing and producing
oil and gas fluids in such a manner as to obtain a high economic recovery.

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 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 rock property is determined mathematically by the following
generalized relationship:

As the sediments were deposited and the rocks were being formed during past geological times, some
void spaces that developed became isolated from the other void spaces by excessive cementation. Thus,
many of the void spaces are interconnected while some of the pore spaces are completely isolated. This
leads to two distinct types of porosity, namely:
 Absolute porosity
 Effective porosity

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 Absolute porosity
The absolute porosity 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 is the percentage of interconnected pore space with respect to the bulk volume,
or

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 PERMEABILITY
Permeability is a property of the porous medium that measures the capacity and ability of the
formation to transmit fluids. The rock permeability (K) is a very important rock property because
it controls the directional movement and the flow rate of the reservoir fluids in the formation.
This rock characterization was first defined mathematically by Henry Darcy in 1856. In fact, the
equation that defines permeability in terms of measurable quantities is called Darcy’s Law.
Darcy developed a fluid flow equation that has since become one of the standard mathematical
tools of the petroleum engineer. If a horizontal linear flow of an incompressible fluid is
established through a core sample of length L and a cross-section of area A, then the governing
fluid flow equation is defined as:

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 The velocity, in the above Equation is not the actual velocity of the flowing fluid but is the apparent
velocity determined by dividing the flow rate by the cross-sectional area across which fluid is flowing.
Substituting the relationship, q/A, in place of velocity in above Equation and solving for q results in:

With a flow rate of one cubic centimetre per second across a cross-sectional area of one square
centimetre with a fluid of one centipoise viscosity and a pressure gradient at one atmosphere per
centimetre of length, it is obvious that k is unity. For the units described above, k has been arbitrarily
assigned a unit called Darcy in honor of the man responsible for the development of the theory of flow
through porous media.

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 SATURATION
Saturation is defined as that fraction, or percent, of the pore volume occupied by a particular fluid (oil,
gas, or water). This property is expressed mathematically by the following relationship:

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 Capillary Pressure
The capillary forces in a petroleum reservoir are the result of the combined effect of the surface and
interfacial tensions of the rock and fluids, the pore size and geometry, and the wetting characteristics
of the system. Any curved surface between two immiscible fluids has the tendency to contract into the
smallest possible area per unit volume. This is true whether the fluids are oil and water, water and gas
(even air), or oil and gas. When two immiscible fluids are in contact, a discontinuity in pressure exists
between the two fluids, which depends upon the curvature of the interface separating the fluids. We
call this pressure difference the capillary pressure, and it is referred to by Pc.
The displacement of one fluid by another in the pores of a porous medium is either aided or opposed
by the surface forces of capillary pressure. As a consequence, in order to maintain a porous medium
partially saturated with non-wetting fluid and while the medium is also exposed to wetting fluid, it is
necessary to maintain the pressure of the non-wetting fluid at a value greater than that in the wetting
fluid.
Denoting the pressure in the wetting fluid by Pw and that in the non-wetting fluid by Pnw, the capillary
pressure can be expressed as:
Capillary pressure = (pressure of the nonwetting phase) − (pressure of the wetting phase)

Pc = Pnw − Pw

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 That is, the pressure excess in the non-wetting fluid is the capillary pressure, and this quantity is a
function of saturation. This is the defining equation for capillary pressure in a porous medium.
There are three types of capillary pressure:
• Water-oil capillary pressure (denoted as Pcwo)
• Gas-oil capillary pressure (denoted as Pcgo)
• Gas-water capillary pressure (denoted as Pcgw)
Applying the mathematical definition of the capillary pressure as expressed by Equation
(Pc = Pnw − Pw) , the three types of the capillary pressure can be written as:

Pcwo = Po − Pw
Pcgo = Pg − Po
Pcgw = Pg − Pw

where Pg, Po, and Pw represent the pressure of gas, oil, and water, respectively.

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 Introduction
The first electrical log was recorded in 1927 in a well in the small oil field of Pechelbronn, in
Alsace, a province of north-eastern France. This log, a single graph of the electrical resistivity of
the rock formations cut by the borehole, was recorded by the “station” method. The downhole
measurement instrument (called sonde) was stopped at periodic intervals in the borehole,
measurements were made, and the calculated resistivity was hand-plotted on a graph. This
procedure was carried on from station to station until the entire log was recorded. Since the
resistivity of the formation was a direct indication of the fluid contained in the pore space of the
formation, this log was used to detect the presence of hydrocarbons in the formation.

In 1929, electrical resistivity logging was introduced on a commercial basis in Venezuela, the
United States, and Russia, and soon afterwards in the Dutch East Indies. The usefulness of the
resistivity measurement for well to well correlation purposes and for identification of potential
hydrocarbon-bearing strata was quickly recognised by the oil industry.

In 1931 the spontaneous potential (SP) measurement was included with the resistivity curve on
the electrical log. In the same year, the Schlumberger brothers, Marcel and Conrad, perfected a
method of continuous recording and the first pen recorder was developed.

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 What is Well Logging?
Well log is a continuous record of measurement made in bore hole respond to variation in some
physical properties of rocks through which the bore hole is drilled.
Traditionally Logs are display on girded papers, whereas now a days the log may be taken as
films, images, and in digital format.

Why Study Well Logs?

 Simple and economic method of acquiring reservoir information.
 Continuous and accurate measurements
 Recognize depositional environments or other geologic features
 Correlate and map formations
 Detect overpressure zones and estimate fracture gradients
 Detection and estimation of the potential of hydrocarbon zones such as; oil-in-place, reservoir
management and reassessment

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  Lithology identification
 Determination of reservoir characteristics (e.g. porosity, saturation, permeability).
 Discrimination between source and non source rocks
 Identification the fluid type in the pore space of reservoir rock ( gas, oil, water)
 Identification of productive zones.
 Determination of the depth and thickness of productive zones.
 Locating reservoir fluid contacts.
 Well to well correlation for determining the lateral extension of subsurface geologic
cross sections.
 Determination formation dip and hole angle and size.

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