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SPE-199777-STU

New Approaches of Porosity-Permeability Estimations and Quality Factor Q


Characterization based on Sonic Velocity, Critical Porosity, and Rock Typing

Muhammad Nur Ali Akbar, Petroleum Geoengineering, Geophysical Department, University of Miskolc, 3515
Miskolc-Egyetemváros

Copyright 2019, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, 30 Sep - 2 October 2019.

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Abstract
Many investigations have been discussed and it is a well-recognized fact that sonic wave velocity is not only
influenced by its rock matrix and the fluids occupying the pores but also by the pore architecture details
of the rock bulk. This situation still brings a lack of understanding, and this study is purposed to clearly
explain how acoustic velocity and quality factor correlate with porosity, permeability and details internal
pore structure in porous rocks.
This study employs 67 sandstone and 120 carbonate core samples collected from several countries in
Europe, Australia, Asia, and USA. The measured values are available for porosity ϕ, permeability k, clay
content Vcl, compressional velocity Vp, and quality factor Qp in saturated and pressurized conditions. Then,
a proposed method is developed by re-arrangement on Kozeny equation to perform rock typing based on
pore structure similarity which called as pore geometry-structure (PGS). The proposed rock typing method
allows investigating the influential primary factors that control acoustic velocity and quality factor. Besides
that, basic rock physics equations for sonic velocity and critical porosity concepts are also involved and
derived to obtain a new solution to predict porosity and permeability.
At least eight rock groups are established from rock typing with its Kozeny constant. This constant is a
product of pore shape factor Fs and tortuosity τ. Then, the relations of velocity and quality factor versus
porosity, permeability, pore geometry (k/ϕ)0.5, and pore structure (k/ϕ3) are constructed. One can find that
each relation among the rock groups of each lithology is clearly separated and produce high correlations.
Velocity and quality factor tend to be high with an increase in Kozeny constant. However, for a given
porosity for all the groups, velocity and quality factor increase remarkably with a decrease in Kozeny
constant. These all mean that velocity and quality factor increase with either an increase in the complexity of
pore systems or, at the same pore complexity, a decrease in specific internal surface area. On the other hand,
each rock group for both sandstone and carbonate has its critical porosity and it strongly correlates with
velocity and porosity. Finally, critical porosity becomes a specific property of rock groups having similar
pore geometry and structure.
As a novelty, the empirical equations are derived to estimate compressional velocity and quality
factor based on petrophysical parameters. Furthermore, this study also establishes empirical equations for
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predicting porosity and permeability by using compressional wave velocity, critical porosity, and PGS rock
typing.
Keywords: rock typing, p-wave velocity, critical porosity, quality factor, permeability prediction

Introduction
Several investigators have been conducted to study the velocity of sonic waves propagating in the porous
media. It is well-explained that the relationship between compressional velocity and porosity is not linear,
as indicated previously by Wyllie et al. (1956). Han et al. (1986) explained that the non-linear behavior is
caused by the presence the clay content and distribution which in turn affects the pore size, pore shape, and
pore connectivity, uniformity of grain size and grain arrangement, the different type of mineral compositions
and rock compaction. Also, there are detailed research on depositional texture controlling the petrophysical
properties (porosity and permeability) and wave velocity behaviors of the rock (Fabricius et al. 2007, 2010;
Weger and Eberli, 2009; and Mokhtar et al. 2010).
Investigations for relationships between P-wave velocity and quality factor (Q) with petrophysical
parameters such as porosity and permeability are also of high importance. Some researchers expected that
Q factor or also well-known as the attenuation factor (Q-1) is strongly affected by the values of porosity,
permeability, water saturation, and clay content. For instance, the ultrasonic experimental data of Han (1987)
and Klimentos and McCann (1990) acquired on sandstone samples show that the attenuation coefficient
(Q-1) is more strongly related to clay content than velocity. Additionally, Klimentos and McCann (1990),
Best et al. (1994) and Martin (1996) show a systematic relationship between clay content and permeability
and they concluded that the attenuation is the critical factor in determining permeability from seismic data.
However, their studies showed the scattered relationship between Q and permeability. Then, the application
of rock typing was used by Prasad (2003) for characterizing the relationship among velocity sonic to
petrophysical parameters. She has been a success to correlate between P-wave velocity and permeability
by applying the hydraulic flow unit concept. The groups of the permeability-velocity plot were distributed
clearly by hydraulic unit, but the relationship between permeability and seismic quality factor still produces
scattered and overlapped cross plot. Some investigators show that the relationship between P-wave velocity
with details of pore architecture can be classified based on the similarity of pore geometry and pore structure
in dry (Prakoso et al., 2016) and saturated (Akbar, 2018) sandstone cores. Furthermore, Prakoso et al.
(2018) presented a method to predict porosity and permeability by involving the concept of critical porosity.
However, their study was conducted by using dry core samples in an ambient condition, which did not
represent the real reservoir conditions in the subsurface.
This paper presents the effects of rock typing on the relationships of P-wave velocity and quality factor
with both porosity and permeability. The used rock typing method is based on the similarity of pore geometry
and pore structure then we called as pore geometry-structure (PGS). This study also offers a straightforward
method to predict porosity and permeability by adopting the concept of critical porosity (Nur et al., 1995)
in saturated and pressurized core samples.

Methods and Data


Pore Geometry-Structure Rock Typing
This study is conducted based on the concept of pore geometry-structure rock typing assisted by critical
porosity concept. The classifying of rock samples follows the rock type curve by Wibowo and Permadi
(2013), which has the basis of similarity of Kozeny constant (Kozeny, 1927). This constant is the product
of the pore shape factor Fs and tortuosity τ. Then, the specific internal surface area Sb plays a role as a
parametric variable for a given rock group. This method of rock grouping enables one to investigate the
SPE-199777-STU 3

main influential factors that systematically control acoustic velocity in porous rocks. Re-arrangement of
Kozeny equation in PGS rock typing can be expressed in two forms as follows:

(1)

and

(2)

where k is permeability and ϕ is porosity. The term (k/ϕ)0.5 characterizes the pore geometry, frequently called
the "mean hydraulic radius", and (k/ϕ3) is called the "pore structure term" that accounts for all features of
the internal structure of pore spaces. The other parameters τ, FS, and Sb are tortuosity, pore shape factor,
and specific internal surface area, respectively. For the use of rock typing, Equation 1 can be written in the
form of power law equation as follows:

(3)

Plotting (k/ϕ)0.5 against (k/ϕ3) on a log-log scale yield a straight line with constant a = 1 and maximum
exponent slope of line b = 0.5 for perfect rounded pore shape and smooth capillary tube. For natural porous
rocks, the b value must be less than 0.5. The more complex the pore system of the rock, the lower the b
value will be. The constant a is well-known as a correction factor for volumetric fluid flow efficiency for
irregular pore systems (Wibowo and Permadi, 2013).

Bulk Modulus and Critical Porosity


The critical porosity ϕc concept in this study is adopted from the investigation of Nur et al. (1995) which
modified the Voigt bound. He defined the critical porosity ϕc as the value of porosity that separates the
behavior of P-wave velocity in porous media on the load-bearing frame and fluid bearing suspension. He
employed a perfect and simplest example of rocks which is clean sandstone. However, many reservoir rocks
are very heterogeneous. Then, Mavko et al. (2009) found that rock texture and diagenetic processes could
play an essential role in determining the critical porosity. Then, extensive research by Prakoso et al. (2018)
stated that in each rock type has its critical porosity ϕc for porosity and permeability estimations in dry-rock
sandstone. The following equation for critical porosity ϕc is formulated as:

(4)

The Voigt bound for shear modulus can be modeled as follows (Mavko et al. 2009):

(5)

where B and μ is bulk modulus and shear modulus, respectively. The symbols of Bm and μm are bulk and
shear modulus of solid mineral, while Bc and μc are bulk and shear modulus at critical porosity.

Petrophysical Data Used for Rock Typing


The data used in this study was gained from Akbar (2018) for 67 sandstone core samples. These samples
were selected from Prasad (2013) which compilation of several studies by Assefa and Sothcott (1997),
Prasad et al. (1999), Klimentos and McCann (1990), Lucet (1989), Prasad and Manghnani (1997), and
Tao et al. (1995). The data provides the measurements of P-wave velocity and attenuation at a similar
pressure around 40 MPa and saturated by distilled water along with porosity and permeability. All the P-
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wave velocity and quality factor values used here were measured in the ultrasonic frequency range (between
0.5 to 1 MHz) on saturated rocks under varying pressures using the pulse transmission technique (Prasad,
1998). The source of the sample is from several formations located in the United Kingdom, China, Europe,
and USA.
The carbonate data is gathered from Weger and Eberli (2009) for parameters of compressional wave
velocity, porosity, and permeability. One hundred twenty (120) core samples were measured in the saturated
condition with distilled water and pressurized with 20 MPa. The source of the samples is from several
formations located in the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Australia.
In general, both sandstone and carbonate rocks have a wide range of porosity and permeability values
and it will be beneficial for investigating the effects of rock quality and compressional velocity behaviors.
By plotting parameters of porosity, permeability, and P-wave velocity as described in Fig. 1, we can see
how the heterogeneity of the sandstone and carbonate samples could affect the relationship between P-wave
velocity, porosity, and permeability. In both sandstone and carbonate, the correlations between permeability
and porosity are not good. Moreover, the relationship between P-wave velocity and permeability is also
very scattered. Only P-wave velocity and porosity relatively have a linear trend. Therefore, this data would
be useful to understand the effects of pore architecture details to compressional sonic velocity.

Figure 1—The relationships among Permeability and Porosity, P-wave velocity and porosity, and
P-wave velocity and Permeability in sandstone (red points) and carbonate (green points) rocks

Results and Discussion


Classifying Data into Rock Type
The relationships between P-wave velocity with pore geometry and pore structure in both sandstone and
carbonate rocks were generated by grouping the rocks based on the similarity of the pore structure. This
grouping was done by means plotting the combination of porosity and permeability values into the rock type
curve published by Wibowo and Permadi (2013). Figure 2 presents the result of the grouping the sandstone
and carbonate where the data falling on the same line are determined as having the similar rock architecture
including the rock texture, such as grain sorting, grain size, grain shape, types of cement distribution, and
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other microscopic rock properties. In term of carbonate, this rock is mainly very unstable material on which
various diagenetic processes produce complex pore systems. Through this investigation, in the same rock
type number, the samples mainly have similar diagenesis background which means that the grouping results
not only depend on the classifying the petrophysical properties but also the microscopic geological features
of the rock.

Figure 2—Rock typing results for sandstone (left) and carbonate (right)

As can be seen in Figure 2, all the data points cover nine (RT-4 to RT-13) and eight (RT-3 to RT-10)
rock type lines, respectively for sandstone and carbonate. It should be emphasized that the larger rock type
number, the more complex the pore structure with lower the slope of the line. Also, it means that the lower
reservoir quality (low porosity and permeability) of the rock type having greater hardness. In term of the
clay content, the increase in the clay volume will also tend to lower the quality of rock. Good-quality rock
types tend to contain low clay volume.

P-wave Velocity Characterization


After grouping sandstone and carbonate rock samples, each rock type was propagated to the new relationship
between compressional velocity with pore geometry and pore structure. All the rock type lines converge in
the same point at which both pore geometry and pore structure and later we call it a convergence point. The
physical meaning of this point was demonstrated by Wibowo (2014) as the indistinguishable point, where
we cannot distinguish the rock type number. He determined the convergence point at (k/ϕ)0.5 = 0.045 and
k/ϕ3 = 0.002 which means that porous rocks, at this convergence point, have the same property, possibly
including the P-wave velocity, Vp. Since no distinction of both pore geometry and structure could be made
among all rock types at the convergence point, we assumed for practical purposes that this situation holds
for infinitely small capillary tubes at porosity value of 1.0, representing Vp of the fluid filling the pores. So,
the theoretical compressional velocity in this point is the velocity of the saturated fluid (i.e., distilled water),
which is assumed 1500 m/s. Consequently, the correlations of Vp against either (k/ϕ)0.5 or k/ϕ3 developed in
the present study has a convergence point at a point (Vp, (k/ϕ)0.5) = (1500, 0.045) or (Vp, k/ϕ3) = (1500, 0.002).
Then, either plot Vp versus pore geometry or Vp versus pore structure exhibits that all the data points are
separated to form clusters with very large coefficients of determination R2 (more than 0.9) in both sandstone
and carbonate, each specifically representing a particular rock type (see Figure 3). The general equations
based on these relationships are established as

(6)
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and

(7)

where c and d are constants, p and q are exponents, which are all rock type dependent.

Figure 3—The relationships among P-wave velocity with pore geometry and pore
structure grouped based on PGS method in both sandstone and carbonate rock samples

One can observe that all rock types have the same behavior, Vp tends to increase with Kozeny constant.
However, for a given porosity ϕ for all the groups, Vp increases remarkably with a decrease in Kozeny
constant. On the other hand, Vp increases with either an increase in the complexity of pore systems or, at
the same pore complexity, a decrease in specific internal surface area. Vp tends to become higher as pore
geometry and pore structure variable increase. As pore geometry here is equivalent to the mean hydraulic
radius, Vp increases with this radius.
Meanwhile, plot Vp against pore structure has much similar behavior as the relationship between pore
geometry variable and Vp. However, some overlapping points show several lower quality rock types where
numerical values of pore structure variable among the very low-quality rock types are very similar. The
concept of rock typing as given by Eq. 3 assumes the same tortuosity and pore shape for all the members
of a rock type. Consequently, to the group, k/ϕ3 is strongly influenced by specific internal surface area Sb.
By ignoring the effect of materials composing the rock samples, the effect of the permeability increase on
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the velocity might be suppressed by the influence of both the higher porosity and Sb because the increase
in these two parameters reduces the velocity.

Porosity Predictions Based on Acoustic Velocity and Critical Porosity


Porosity prediction is suggested based on the general equation of P-wave velocity (Vp) which is formulated
as a function of density (ρ), bulk modulus (B) and shear modulus (μ)

(8)

alternatively, it can be written in another form as


(9)
The substitution of Eqs. 4 and 5 to Eq. 9 is conducted for establishing a porosity approach as a function
of critical porosity and P-wave velocity.

(10)

Then, re-arrangement of Eq. 10 is made by grouping into the same variable.

(11)

Furthermore, the porosity can be formulated as:

(12)

Regarding the value of shear modulus in critical porosity condition is nearly zero (μc≈0), then the final
porosity equation can be simplified as follows:

(13)

where Vm is the P-wave velocity in the matrix of the rock, the units for Vp and Vm are in km/s and ρ in g/
cm3. While, all units of Bm, Bc, μm, and μc are in GPa.
Using Eq. 13, the porosity prediction in both sandstone and carbonate based on velocity and critical
porosity in saturated condition can be implemented with several assumptions as follows:

• Sandstone samples are dominantly composed by quartz (SiO2) mineral, while the carbonate ones
are dominantly composed by calcite (CaCO3).
• Bulk modulus for quartz and calcite minerals are 37.9 GPa and 76.8 GPa, respectively.

• Shear modulus for quartz and calcite minerals are 44.3 GPa and 32.0 GPa, respectively.

• P-wave velocities derived from these bulk modulus and shear modulus are 5.98 km/s and 6.64 km/
s for both sandstone and carbonate respectively.
In the ideal condition, there are two borders in elastic moduli of material which known as Voigt upper
bound and Reuss lower bound. Voigt (1890) described the material with solid fraction having the contact
of each grain entirely. Meanwhile, the Reuss (1929) assumed the stress for all components in a medium
are the same and it represents to the suspension line which means that the grains in the medium having no
contact to each other. Therefore, through the critical porosity investigation by Nur et al. (1995) and Prakoso
et al. (2018), The critical porosity can be defined from the intersection curve between bulk modulus Voigt
average of porous medium with bulk modulus Reuss average curve in each rock type. As a result, Figure
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4 shows the crossplot between P-wave velocity and porosity with defined its critical porosity in each rock
type in both sandstone and carbonate rocks. Additionally, the bulk modulus at the critical porosity (Bc) can
be defined by using the Eq.14

(14)

where Bf is the bulk modulus of the fluid occupying the pores. Therefore, we used 2.12 GPa representing
to the bulk modulus of the distilled water. Later, the detail values of ϕc and Bc in each rock type in both
lithologies are presented in Table 1. In particular of RT-12 and RT-13 in sandstone, the ϕc and Bc are the same
value in both rock type due to overlapping data points. This overlapping happens because of the numerical
values of the pore structure variable among the very low-quality rock types are very similar.

Figure 4—Plot P-wave velocity versus porosity for each rock type in both sandstone (left) and
carbonate (right) – colored dashed line is derived with different critical porosity value for each rock type

Table 1—Critical porosity and its bulk modulus for both sandstone and carbonate rocks

Through this method, the porosity prediction results for both lithologies are validated against the porosity
measurements (see Fig. 5). The accuracy of the prediction result is observed based on the coefficient of
determination R2, which demonstrates a strong relationship between the estimation result with the observed
data. The R2 values obtained for both sandstone and carbonate are 0.99 and 0.98, respectively, whereas the
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slope and intercept of the regression lines are 1.002 and 0.998 for sandstone and carbonate, respectively. If
the constant value is close to 1.0, this indicates that the prediction results are very close to the measured data.

Figure 5—Crossplot between predicted versus measured porosity for sandstone (left) and carbonate (right)

Permeability Predictions Based on Acoustic Velocity and Critical Porosity


Permeability prediction also can be made based on P-wave velocity and critical porosity by deriving the
Kozeny equation (Eq. 2). We simplified this formula in another form as

(15)

where c is a Kozeny's constant. Alternatively, for calculating the specific internal surface area, it also can
be re-arranged as follows:

(16)

Since the value of c can be calculated based on Mortensen et al. (1998) approach for a simple 3D linear
penetrating tubes model as follows:

(17)

Along we have porosity and permeability from core data, we can define the Sb through Eq. 16. Since P-
wave velocity is dependent on the internal pore structure (Akbar et al., 2019), and large hydraulic radius
arranged by large grain size has a lower Sb. Therefore the P-wave velocity exponentially increases with the
decrease of Sb (Prakoso et al. 2018). For a given rock type, the higher the (k/ϕ)0.5 value indicates the large
value of the hydraulic radius or larger pore size so that the specific surface area is low. Furthermore, Sb can
be approached by P-wave velocity in the form of an exponential equation in each rock type. Through the
investigation described in Fig. 6, the relationship between Sb and Vp is inversely proportional and it can be
written as follows:
(18)
where α and β are rock type dependent constants. Determining values of these constants for each rock
type are obtained from the cross-plot result between Sb and Vp from core sample data (see Fig. 6), and it is
summarized in Table 2 for both lithologies.
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Figure 6—Relationship between P-wave velocity (Vp) and specific surface area (Sb)

Table 2—Values of constant α and β in Eq. 15 for both sandstone and carbonate

By substituting the Eq. 13 and Eq. 18 into Eq. 15, the final form of permeability prediction in each rock
type can be formulated as follows:

(19)

where the unit of k is in Darcy and Vp is in km/s. Equation 19 expresses that P-wave velocity is proportional
to the permeability since the specific internal surface area strongly influences the permeability. The higher
permeability value tends to have a large hydraulic radius with a low specific internal surface area (large
grain size). As a result, P-wave velocity tends to be high with the increase of permeability. This statement
is supported by the previous study by Weger and Eberli (2009) in carbonate rocks which explained that
porous rock having large pore size and simple pore distribution would have a low perimeter over area (POA)
and high P-wave velocity value. Moreover, Prakoso et al., (2018) also proved by their investigation on
unsaturated sandstone cores that the large grain size (low specific surface area) of rock tends to have a
higher dry-rock P-wave velocity.
The estimation results of permeability by using the Eq. 19 is presented in Fig. 7. Overall, the permeability
prediction results in both lithologies are highly reliable. The coefficient determination R2 is around 0.98 and
0.93 for both sandstone and carbonate, respectively. Also, the constant and exponent values in sandstone
SPE-199777-STU 11

are 1.031 and 0.992, while, in carbonate are 0.979 and 0.957, respectively. All these values indicate that the
prediction results obtained are close to the values of the measured data.

Figure 7—Crossplot between predicted versus measured permeability for sandstone (left) and carbonate (right)

Lastly, the reliability of porosity and permeability estimations are crucial in reservoir modeling, especially
for constructing the storage and fluid flow capacities. Since the developed porosity and permeability
equations contain information about acoustic impedance (AI) shown in term of Vp×ρ, and the 3D cube
of acoustic impedance and P-wave velocity are available, then we can integrate AI directly for predicting
porosity and permeability based on seismic parameters effectively.

P-wave Quality Factor Characterization


Our Q-factor data is only available for sandstone. Characterizing the Quality factor is as similar as
correlating P-wave velocity to PGS parameters. The difference is only the generalizing some rock types
from nine to six groups. Generalizing the rock type number is important because the Qp is sensitive to
the change of the mineral composition such as the clay presence where higher rock type numbers tend to
contain higher clay volume as cement material. Also, regarding the Q factor is very sensitive with the change
of the frequency, while the sandstone laboratory dataset was measured between 0.5-1.0 MHz frequency
range, therefore there is possible which could inherit problems with finding distinct and unique relationships
between those parameters and these also possibly produce the overlapping group if the number of rock type
is high. As can be seen in Fig. 8, RT-4 represents Group 1, and RT-5 indicates Group 2, while Group 3 is a
combination of the RT-6, RT-7, and RT-8. Group 4 consists of RT-9 and RT-10, Group 5 is from RT-11 and
RT-12. The last group is Group 6, which contains RT-13 and RT-14.
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Figure 8—Rock typing result for classifying the Q factor with


crossplots between its Qp versus pore geometry and pore structure

After this grouping is performed, then the established groups are connected with the P-wave quality
factor in order to investigate the effects of internal pore structure on quality factor. As a grouping result of
Qp in Fig. 8, the critical finding is that grouping of Qp in all rock types have the same behavior. Qp tends to
increase with an increase in permeability in each rock group. In term of Qp versus pore geometry, Qp increase
with pore geometry in each rock type, and it means that Qp also increases with hydraulic mean radius. In
higher group number, Qp relatively increases with the complexity of the rock. It means that Qp increase with
higher tortuosity. However, in the given rock group which similar tortuosity and shape factor condition, Qp
is influenced by internal specific surface area Sb and Qp tend to decrease when the increasing of Sb. Finally,
by understanding this study, we can generate a realistic empirical equation for predicting reliable Qp by
using power law equation by applying the PGS rock typing method in sandstone. The general Qp equation
from this investigation can also be written in the function of porosity and permeability as

(20)

and

(21)

where g and h are constants, r and s are exponents which all are rock type dependent, respectively.

Conclusions
The conclusions of this study can be summarized as follows:
1. Rock typing application in characterizing the behavior of compressional sonic velocity and quality
factor in pressurized and saturated conditions represent an ideal system where P-wave velocity and
quality factor values are systematically controlled by the similarity of internal pore structure which
is similarity in both tortuosity and shape factor.
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2. Rock typing based on pore geometry-structure method can control the specific relation between P-
wave velocity and porosity in pressurized and saturated sandstone and carbonate rocks systematically.
Also, the critical porosity can be distinguished in each rock type as a specific property.
3. Porosity and permeability can be estimated as a function of P-wave velocity in both saturated
sandstone and carbonate rocks once the rock type and critical porosity are determined.
4. All prediction of porosity and permeability in both sandstone and carbonate rocks shows excellent
results. Conceptually, the porosity and permeability predictions can be made by using seismic
parameters of acoustic impedance and P-wave velocity.
5. Furthermore, this method allows us to make realistic estimates of velocity and quality factor in situ
rocks derived from porosity and permeability data by power law equation based on PGS rock typing.
Also, regarding the automatic and robust methods development era, the rock typing presented in this
study can be done by using cluster analysis in the future. For instance, Szabó et al. (2019) applied k-means
cluster analysis in characterizing some petrophysical parameters from core and well log measurements data
in the heterogeneous reservoir. Then, Akbar (2019) in his MSc. Thesis at the Geophysical Department
University of Miskolc successfully developed the most frequent value-based (automated) weighting
procedure introduced by Steiner (1991) in the k-means clustering algorithm. This method gives a robust
solution independent from the nature and statistical distribution of the input dataset for classifying the P-
wave velocity and quality factor based on pore geometry and pore structure parameters.

Acknowledgment
The author would like to thank Professor Norbert Péter Szabó (University of Miskolc) for his technical
review of this paper, and professional support by Professor Mihaly Dobróka (University of Miskolc) and
István Szabó (MOL Group), petrophysical expert.

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