Core & Core Analysis

Objective (Core & Core Analysis)

• To bring a sample of the formation and

its pore fluid to the surface in unaltered
state, preserve the sample and
transport it to a laboratory for analysis.

Type of Coring

1. Wireline Coring
2. Conventional Coring
3. Diamond Coring
1. Wireline Coring
i. Side Wall Cores
• The body of the gun carries a number of hollow steel
bullets that can be fired selectively into the
formation.
• The gun is equipped with an SP electrode, which
allows the tool to be placed at the correct depth in the
well prior to sampling by correlation of a short section
of SP log with other open hole logs.
• Gun has variety of shapes and sizes
• When all the samples have been collected, the gun
is raised to the surface and each core plug is stored
in a glass jar marked with the well name and the
depth from which it was cut.
 Using a wireline coring system saves
valuable rig time since the coring
Bottom Hole Assemblage (BHA) does
not have to be tripped out of the hole
to retrieve each core sample. With the
capability to replace the inner
assembly with a drill plug, drillers can
also drill ahead until they reach
another core point and are ready for
the next coring run

Core Guns

Conventional Sidewall Core

Gun, Halliburton
Wireline Coring
ii. Core Plugger
• Uses a motorized circular bit to bore
physically into the wall of the formation in
order to retrieve its sample.
• Core size recovery 15 or 16 in (diameter) and
1- 3 or 4 ft (long).
• Works better than the conventional sidewall
core gun in consolidated formation and
cause no physical damage to the sample.
2. Conventional coring
 Conventional Coring
• The drill pipe is removed from the hole
and dressed with a hollow core bit and
hollow barrel equipped with a non-
rotating inner barrel.
• Core can be from 10 to 60 ft long
and diameter of 1 – 4 in.
• For unconsolidated formations, a rubber
sleeve is used to hold the friable material
more securely.
 A core drill string is a series of connected long
hollow tubes (called rods or pipes), with a barrel at
the end connected to a special hollow cutting bit at
the bottom of the hole. As the drill moves further
into the earth, the driller adds rods onto the end,
lengthening the drill string.

 Advantages:
 i. large diameter core obtain
 ii. High percentage recovery of the formation cored
 iii. Adaptability to most formation
 iv. No additional surface drilling equipment
required
3. Diamond Coring
- Use of diamond core bit to improve penetration rates
over conventional drilling
- Mostly applied for hard formation
- The core barrel is very similar to conventional coring
type

Advantages:
i. longer bit life
ii. Possibility of cutting up to 90 ft of core at one run
iii. High percentage recovery
iv. Economic for hard formation

Disadvantages:
i. High initial expenses for the barrel and bits
ii. Requirement of precise operating condition
iii. Need expert or person knowledgeable in diamond
drilling
 Coring Fluids
• The coring fluids used will either increase or
decrease the initial saturation of gas, oil and
water in the formation.

• Saturation changes in cores can take place at

three different times, at the time the core is cut,
as it travels in the core barrel from the reservoir
to the surface, and at the surface during
transportation and storage.
-The fluid in the borehole can
have an enormous effect on the
tool and hence its type,
properties and additives must
be known.

-Different fluids are used to drill

different rock types. Oil based
mud is often employed to drill
shales which would swell on
contact with water.

-Air and foam drilling are used

in cases where there is a weak
formation which will crack if
mud is used.
 Core Analysis
A Vast range of rock and fluid properties that can be
measured using core sample:
•Porosity
•Fluid Saturation
•Permeability
•Relative permeability
•Wettability
•Capillary pressure
•Pore throat distribution
•Grain size distribution
•Mineral composition
•Electrical properties
•Effects of overburden stress
•Sensitivity to fluids
•Hydrocarbon analysis
 Sample Selection and Preparation:
• The analyst may be able to select only samples that
originate from the depth interval of interest.
• To some extent selection is made at the time the sample
is taken.
For example; side wall cores are usually shot at
preselected depths determined from wireline logs.
• Cuttings are collected at 2, 5, 10 or 20 ft intervals.
• Core sample will start with the core gamma ray.
 Types of Cores
• Fresh core: A core that is in the same state as when it was
brought to the surface. A fresh core is sealed as soon as possible
after retrieval from the well to minimize the loss of fluids and
exposure to air. The term implies that the core is analyzed before
being stored, after storage it is known as preserved core
• Native state/ Preserved core: A core that has been preserved in
the same state as when it was brought to the surface. The term
implies that the core has been stored for a period before analysis.
The goal of preservation is to maintain the original fluid content,
fluid distribution, rock wettability and mechanical integrity.
• Restored state core: A core that has been cleaned but then
flushed with reservoir fluids to reestablish the in situ condition of
the rock. The main purpose of a restored state core is to measure
the wettability and related properties such as 
relative permeability.
 Porosity

• Two components in a porous rock

system:
The grain volume (Vg) V =V +
B p
The pore volume (Vp) V g
Vp
=
VB
V
−VVB
g
Vp
φ
= Vg +
Vp
Commonly employed methods of
measuring porosity:

1. The summation of fluids method

2. The Boyle’s Law method
3. The Washburn bunting method
4. Liquid restoration method
5. Grain density method
 Permeability (k)

• Measured by causing a fluid to flow

through the core sample -+ Darcy law

qµL
k=
A∆P
• Measurement of permeability using fluid, but
if the measurement using air, then it will need
a correction factor which is known as
Klinkenberg, 1941 correction factor.
Relative Permeability, Wettability and
Sensitivity
• For relative permeability and wettability we
require samples from native state core (If possible
to avoid chances that the rock wettability was
altered as a result of the coring procedures).

• The wettability tests depend to some extent on

the time the wetting fluid remains in contact with
the surface that is being tested.

• Sensitivity test is carried out at the same time

permeability is measured, to see if fresh water in
any way damages the permeability of the core.
 Fluid Saturation
• Gas saturation:
1. Core sample is subjected to injection of mercury at
about 750 psi which causes all the gas present to go
into solution with the liquids in the pore system. The
volume of mercury injected gives the fraction of Vp
occupied by gas.

2. Core sample is subjected to rapid evacuation of all free

gas. Water is then forced into the sample, and the
increase in weight is used to measure the fraction of Vp
that held gas.
• Oil Saturation:
-Measured by a rotating process in which the
core sample is heated to between 450 °F and
1200 °F (according to the technique used), and
the oil distilled off is collected in a calibrated
condenser.
-The volume of oil represents the fraction of Vp
that contained oil, from this, oil saturation may
be deduced.
• Water saturation:
measured at the same time as oil saturation
when the rotating methods are employed
oil and water recovered by the distillation
are separated and their volumes are
measured individually.
 Capillary Pressure
• Depends on forcing a fluid into the core and
measuring how much fluid goes in at a fixed
pressure.
• The contact angles and interfacial tensions of the
fluid used in the lab may be different from those that
exist in the reservoir. It is useful to be able to convert
the lab measurement to equivalent reservoir
capillary pressures and hence to a plot of water, oil
and gas saturation in the reservoir as a function of
height above the free water level.
 P
h=
PWC−
Pa TCosθlab
2TCosθ
PC r
=
= TCosθRe s
 Hydrocarbon Analysis
• Pyrochromatic analysis of residual
hydrocarbons may be carried out by heating
the core samples and passing the vaporized
hydrocarbons directly through a
chromatographic column.

• The chromatograph analysis gives the

percentage of each component of the
hydrocarbon.

• The cumulative percentage is plotted versus the

hydrocarbon number, the resulting curve may
be compared with type curves for gas, oil and
non productive formations.
Chromatographic curves types for residual hydrocarbon in
core samples. After Mannes and Price, 1979
Thank You