DISPERSED SHALE

Shaly sands may exhibit extremely low permeability values (< 10 .3 mD). Low shale and
shaly-sand permeabilities are controlled by shale/clay Content, type of shale distribution (i.e.,
laminated, dispersed, structural), porosity, and confining stress. Several models and empirical
equations exist for shale permeability predictions.
The main controlling factors are porosity and clay or shale content. Our permeability
model is based on a capillary or pore tube model and accounts for dispersed shale by reducing
the porosity and effective pore crosssectional area. The shale/clay and its associated bound water
reduce the effective cross section to flow because of the associated immobile water. The effect of
the dispersed clay upon the electrical conductivity of a dispersed shaly-sand is described by the
cation exchange capacity, CEC, or cation exchange capacity per pore volume, Qv, in the well
known Waxman-Smits equation (1968). Similarly, CEC or Qv can be used to describe the
permeability reduction attributable to clay minerals: kshaly sand = ksand " (1 - a 2 " Qv ) 2 ,
where ksand is the permeability of clean sand and the factor, a 2 , describes the hydraulic effect
of the shale and its surface related to the (electrical) cation exchange effect.
The term containing or, the permeability reducing effect, can also be related to other
measures of the dispersed shale content. The proposed equations are the hydraulic equivalent to
the Waxman-Smits equation. They account for two different physical effects: o In the case of
electrical conductivity, the term containing Qu describes the increase of the electrical
conductivity resulting from the conducting clay surface ions, o In the case of hydraulic
conductivity, the term containing Qv describes the reduction of the hydraulic conductivity
resulting from the dispersed solids and associated immobile water. The model was tested using
log and experimental data from the literature.