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Porosity (%) =
100
Porosity is often represented by the Greek letter phi ( ). Figure 1 shows the frequency of oil and gas reservoirs plotted against porosity. Almost all reservoirs have porosities in a range of five to thirty percent with the majority falling between ten and twenty percent. Any porosity less than five percent is very seldom commercial, and any porosity over thirty-five percent is extremely unusual. Porosity can be measured in the laboratory from cores and down the borehole using well logs, especially the sonic, density and neutron logs. Occasionally, it can be estimated from seismic data. There are three main types of porosity: isolated.
interconnected,
connected
and
Interconnected porosity utilizes multiple pore throat passages to connect neighboring pores ( Figure 2 ). Connected, or dead-end, porosity has only one pore throat passage (a) connecting with another pore space ( Figure 3 ). Isolated porosity has no connections between pores ( Figure 4 ).
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Interconnected
and
connected
pores
constitute
effective porosity because hydrocarbons can move out from them. In the case of interconnected porosity, oil and gas flowing through the pore space can be flushed out by a natural or artificial water drive. Connected porosity is unaffected by flushing but may yield some oil or gas by expansion, as reservoir pressure drops. Reservoirs with isolated porosity are unable to yield hydrocarbons. Any oil or gas contained
Figure 4.
entered the pore spaces before they were closed by compaction or cementation. Thus, isolated porosity
contributes to the total porosity of rock but not to the effective porosity. Porosity can be classified into two major types according to its origin (Murray, 1960). Primary porosity is formed when a sediment is deposited. Secondary porosity forms after deposition.
Primary Porosity
Primary porosity is divisible into two types: intergranular or interparticle porosity, which occurs between the grains of a sediment ( Figure 1 ) and intragranular or intraparticle porosity, which actually occurs within the sediment grains themselves ( Figure 2 ).
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Intergranular porosity is more typical of sandstones. It is also generally found within newlydeposited lime sand. However, in lime sands it is seldom preserved because of porosity loss by cementation. With intergranular porosity, the pore spaces are connected, one to another, by throat passages ( Figure 1 ). Unless there is extensive later cementation, reservoirs with intergranular porosity generally have both good interconnected porosity and good permeability. Effective porosity in these reservoirs is equivalent to total porosity. Intragranular porosity is more typical of newly-deposited skeletal lime sands. Figure 2 is a sketch of a thin section of a limestone reservoir showing pore spaces within skeletal grains. It is unusual for such pores to be preserved. They are generally infilled during early burial by cementation but, in some cases, the cement may be leached out to leave the original intraparticle pore.
Secondary Porosity
Secondary porosity is porosity formed within a reservoir after deposition. The major types of secondary porosity are: Fenestral; Intercrystalline; Solution (moldic and vuggy); Fracture.
selective porosity is referred to as moldic, and these pores, therefore, as pelmoldic. Some
irregular pore spaces which crosscut the original fabric of rock should also be noted. These pores are known as vugs and the porosity is referred to as vuggy.
solution, the vugs may become very large, or cavernous. With solution porosity the adjacent pore spaces may not be connected; there fore, the effective porosity may be much lower than the total porosity, and the permeability may also be low. Cavernous pores up to five meters high are found in the Fusselman limestone of the Dollarhide field of Texas (Stormont, 1949) and in the Arab D Jurassic limestone of the Abqaiq field, Saudi Arabia
Figure 2.
(McConnell, 1951).
The last significant type of secondary porosity is fracture porosity. Fractured reservoirs can occur in any brittle rock that breaks by fracturing rather than by plastic deformation. Thus, there are fractured reservoirs in shales, hard-cemented quartzitic sandstones, limestones, dolomites and, of course, basement rocks such as granites and metamorphics. As shown in Figure 3 , fractures may develop from tectonic forces associated with folding and faulting. They may also develop from overburden unloading and weathering immediately under unconformities. Shrinkage from cooling of igneous rocks and dehydrating of shales also causes fracturing.
Figure 3.
Fractures are generally vertical to subvertical with widths varying from paper thin to about 6 mm ( Figure 4 ). When this type of porosity is developed, the reservoir may have an extremely high permeability, although the actual porosity may not be very high.
fractured,
the
fractures
do
not
necessarily remain open. They may be infilled by later cementation by silica, calcite or dolomite ( Figure 5 ). In summarizing this account of the different types of porosity, generally remember contain that sandstones primary
intergranular porosity, but may also contain secondary solution porosity. Carbonates generally show only secondary porosity. Fracture porosity can be present in any brittle rock. Choquette and Pray (1970) provide an excellent discussion of porosity types in carbonates, as well as a bibliography, and a glossary of porosity terms. Other methods to classify porosity
Figure 5.
Permeability
Permeability is a measure of a rock's ability to conduct fluids. Figure 1 shows how the permeability of a rock sample can be measured. A fluid of known viscosity is pumped through a rock sample of known cross-sectional area and length. The pressure drop across the sample is measured through pressure gauges.
Figure 1.
The unit of permeability is the Darcy. A rock having a permeability of one darcy allows a fluid of one centipoise viscosity to flow at a velocity of one centimeter per second for a pressure drop of one atmosphere per centimeter. The formula for Darcy's Law as formulated by Muskat and Botset (Botset, 1931; Muskat and Botset, 1931; Muskat, 1937) is as follows:
Where: q = rate of flow k = permeability (P1 - P2) = pressure drop across the sample A = cross-sectional area of sample = viscosity of fluid L = length of the sample Since most reservoirs have permeabilities that are much less than a Darcy, the millidarcy ( one thousandth of a Darcy ) is commonly used for measurement. Permeability is generally referred to by the letter k. In the form shown above, Darcy's law is only valid when there is no chemical reaction between the fluid and rock, and when there is only one fluid phase present completely filling the pores. The situation is far more complex for mixed oil or gas phases, although we can apply a modified
Grain Size
Porosity is independent of grain size. Permeability, however, is very different. All other things being equal, finer grain sizes of sediment mean lower permeabilities. This is because the finer the grain size, the narrower the throat passages between pore spaces and, therefore, the harder it is for fluids to move through a rock. Therefore, permeability declines with decreasing grain size. The effect of grain size on porosity and permeability can be illustrated by Figure 1 . Porosity is generally unaffected by grain size but permeability increases with increasing grain size.
Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Figure 2 illustrates the effect of sorting on porosity and permeability: the better sorted the sand, the higher are both the porosity and permeability.
Figure 2.
expect sediments which are deposited under the influence turbidites, looser and down currents.
Figure 1.
of to
post-depositional compaction causes rapid packing adjustments and porosity loss during early burial. The above discussion of packing is based on the assumption that sediment particles are spherical. This is seldom true of any sediment except for olites. Most quartz grains are actually slightly elongated. Sands which contain flaky grains of mica or clay and those which are constituted of skeletal carbonates have still more eccentric grain shapes. Thus, the second element of fabric, orientation, is probably more significant than packing when considering porosity and permeability variations. Although the way in which grains are oriented has little affect on porosity, it has a major effect on permeability. Figure 2 is a sketch of a typical bedded sandstone consisting of quartz grains elongated parallel to current direction and mica flakes and other particles aligned parallel to the bedding. Current direction is from left to right along the X axis. Permeability along the X axis will generally be at a
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Figure 2.
Exercise 1. a) Sketch the three basic types of pore structure which contribute to the total porosity of a rock. b) Which type(s) contribute to effective porosity? a) Figure 1
Figure 1.
b) Only interconnected and connected pores contribute to the effective porosity of a reservoir.
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TYPES ORIGIN
Primary 1. At time of deposition 2. Secondary 3. replacement 4. solution 5. 6. tectonics, etc.
TYPES ORIGIN
Primary 1. Intergranular at time of deposition 2. Intragranular Secondary 3. Intercrystalline replacement 4. Moldic solution 5. Vuggy 6. Fracture tectonics, etc. Exercise 3. What two factors effect the rate of flow of a fluid through a rock? Pressure differential and viscosity.
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Figure 1.
BCA
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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview E.2. Diagenesis Sandstone Burial
Most modern sands are deposited with porosities of somewhere between 40 and 50 percent. In general, this porosity is lost with increasing depth of burial. Sandstones lose porosity with burial at various rates according to several factors. Figure 1 illustrates the effect of mineralogy. Chemically unstable volcanic sands of Japan lose porosity very quickly with burial. At depths of 2 to 3 kilometers porosity is less than 10 percent. For the feldspar-rich arkosic sands of the North Sea, porosity can survive to somewhat greater depths. For the chemically stable pure quartz sands of the Niger delta, porosity can be preserved to depths of 4 to 5 kilometers. Therefore, the chemical composition of a sand is one of the controlling factors on its overall rate of porosity loss. Dodge and
Figure 1.
Loucks (1979) present data to show how the more mineralogically stable
sands of the Texas Gulf Coast are better able to retain their porosity with depth. The geothermal gradient also affects the rate of the chemical reactions that cause porosity destruction. In general, the higher the geothermal gradient, the greater the rate of porosity reduction with depth (Galloway, 1974). Figure 2 shows porosity: depth relationships for sandstones associated with two different temperature gradients in northeast Pacific basins. It indicates a greater rate of porosity reduction associated with the higher temperature gradient.
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Figure 2.
Overpressure can help to preserve porosity at great depths (Plumley, 1980). Figure 3 is a graph of porosity versus depth in a well in the United States Gulf Coast; it shows preservation of porosities below the top of the super-normal pressure zone.
Figure 3.
The presence of hydrocarbons also preserves porosity (Fuchtbauer, 1967). Once oil or gas invade a reservoir, connate waters are prevented from moving through it with the chemicals which can precipitate as cements, destroying the porosity. Even after hydrocarbon invasion, however, porosity may still be diminished by compaction.
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Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 2 is a sketch of a thin section of a sandstone showing porosity having been totally destroyed by a cement of large calcite crystals. A third important type of cement in sandstone reservoirs is provided by the authigenic clay minerals. There are several types of clay. Two particularly important ones are kaolin and illite. Figure 3 is a sketch of a sandstone with interstitial kaolin crystals. These generally occur with a chunky euhedral habit. As you can see, these kaolin crystals occupy pore space, but they do not significantly affect the permeability of the rock. Figure 4 is a sketch of a sandstone with illite in the pore spaces. Authigenic illite generally occurs as long thin angular crystals which radiate from the quartz grains on which they grow. Thus, a small amount of illite may affect the permeability to a very large extent by bridging over and blocking the throat passages between the pores.
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Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5 is a graph on which porosity is plotted against permeability on a logarithmic scale, showing the porosity: permeability distributions for illite-cemented sands and kaolin-cemented sands from some North Sea gas fields. It should be noted that the porosity is mostly between 5 to 25 percent, irrespective of the type of clay, but the permeabilities for kaolin-cemented sands are far higher than the permeabilities of the illite-cemented sands.
Figure 5.
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leaching of carbonate cements and grains, including calcite, dolomite, siderite and shell debris. It also involves the leaching of unstable detrital minerals, particularly feldspar. In this latter case, leached porosity is generally associated with kaolin cementation, both replacing feldspar and occurring as an authigenic cement in its own right. The predominance of kaolin and the fact that
Figure 1.
carbonate has been leached out suggest that the leaching was caused by acidic solutions moving
through the rock. The source of these solutions is still a matter for debate. Many examples of secondary porosity occur beneath unconformities. It is likely that in these cases, meteoric water causes weathering of sandstone inducing secondary porosity. These sands are then buried beneath onlapping sediments above the unconformity. Secondary leached porosity in sandstones is also reported to be common at all depths, from the near surface to the deep surface in Lower Tertiary sandstones of the Texas Gulf Coast (Loucks et al, 1979).
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Figure 1.
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deposition initial porosities are as high as 50 percent (a). If burial takes place very quickly without early diagenesis, porosity may be reduced, largely by compaction as the shells and grains are squashed (b). Residual porosity may then be in filled by a sparite cement
Figure 1.
(c).
In
some early
environments
diagenesis takes place with a rim cement of sparry calcite crystals (d), sometimes accompanied by solution of the original cells or grains giving rise to bimoldic porosity (e). If hydrocarbons invade the reservoir, further porosity loss by cementation is prevented and the rim cement gives the rock sufficient resistance to compaction (f). At any time in its history, even if all porosity has been destroyed by compaction and cementation, secondary solution porosity can form (g). This can be either fabric-selective moldic porosity or vuggy porosity, which cross-cuts the original grains and fabric of the rock. This later secondary porosity can also be invaded by hydrocarbons preventing any further cementation of the secondary pores (h). If petroleum invasion does not occur, the secondary pores may be infilled with a sparry calcite cement (i). Thus, it can be seen that the diagenetic pathways of carbonates are extremely complex and that carbonate reservoirs are very difficult to develop. Porosity distribution may be unrelated to the original depositional facies.
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Figure 2.
Figure 2 illustrates two types of secondary solution pores: moldic and vuggy, as shown in the previous diagram.
Dolomites
Primary dolomites are those which form contemporaneously with associated sediments, generally limestones and often evaporites. They are commonly found in salt-marsh sabkha sequences and are typically bedded, cryptocrystalline, chalky and floury. Petrophysically, they are like chalks or shales in that they are often porous, but lack significant permeability because of their fine grain size. Secondary dolomites, on the other hand, are those which form by "dolomitization", the replacement of a pre-existing calcium carbonate deposit. They are often coarsely crystalline and, as seen earlier, have intercrystalline porosity that may exceed 30%. When dolomite replaces calcite, there is a bulk reduction of the original rock volume by as much as 13 percent. Whether the observed intercrystalline porosity is related to this volume reduction is a matter of debate.
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Figure 1.
Important examples are: the Jay field in Florida with over 340 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves, mostly from leached dolomites of the Jurassic age Smackover formation (Ottmann et al, 1976); Silurian-Devonian age Hunton gas reservoirs of the Anadarko Basin (Harvey, 1972); and the huge Panhandle-Hugoton field of Texas-Oklahoma-Kansas in which Permian age Wolfcamp dolomites yield a significant portion of the estimated 70 trillion cu. ft. of gas and one billion plus barrels of oil (Pippin, 1970). A variety of dolomite types exist in nature and are the subject of continuing discussion. For a review of the dolomite "problem" and for papers representing diverse opinions regarding the formation of dolomite, the reader is referred to Zenger et al (1980).
Atypical Reservoirs
About 90 percent of the world's discovered petroleum occurs in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs in about equal proportions. The remaining reserves occur in what can best be described as atypical reservoirs. Almost any rock can serve as a reservoir, providing that it has the two properties of porosity and permeability. Atypical reservoirs include shales, granites and other igneous and metamorphic rocks. Generally, porosity that occurs in these is due to fracturing.
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and
solution,
where feldspar
chemically-unstable
grains were leached out to leave a granite wash largely made up of residual quartz grains. Reservoirs such as this are rare, however. Other important examples of fractured reservoirs are: the fractured Franciscan (Jurassic) schist fields of southern California (Truex, 1972); the Spraberry field of Texas with reserves of one billion barrels in fractured shale, siltstone and fine sandstone (Wilkinson, 1953); LaPaz and Mara fields of Venezuela (Miller et al, 1958); and the Asamari limestone fields in Iran (Hull and Warman, 1970).
Exercise 1. Draw porosity/depth gradients for: a) a clean quartz sand; an arkosic sand; and a volcaniclastic sand.
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b) Figure 2
c) Both overpressure and hydrocarbon invasion can help preserve porosity at depths. Exercise 2. Draw on this graph the distribution of porosity: permeability data which may be expected for a sandstone formation which is cemented by kaolin in one area, and illite in another. ( Figure 1 )
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Figure 1.
Basically, your sketch should show that both sands have the same porosities. Permeability is higher for the kaolitic sand than the illitic one. Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Exercise 3. What are the petrophysical differences commonly found between primary and secondary dolomite?
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Figure 1.
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different: the sand is shaling out from right to left across the section, thus for a well drilled at location 2 the net pay of the reservoir is less than the gross pay. There is still one oil accumulation, or at least one major one, but
Figure 2.
oil: water contact in the lower left-hand part of the figure.. Figure 3 shows another situation. series of There is a oil separate
pools with their own oil: water contacts. This is not a genuine trap, of which anticlinal but a out stratigraphic pinch structural series
Figure 3.
traps
structure. For each reservoir, net pay equals gross pay. These figures show the importance of establishing continuity of reservoir beds. This can only be done effectively when the development geologist and the petroleum engineer work together. The geologist tries to establish the depositional environment of the various reservoir units and, using that knowledge, he tries to make predictions about where the reservoir may be expected to thicken and thin.
Areal Continuity
The following is based on the scheme proposed by Potter (1962). Refer to Figure 1. The upper is an areal view of an ideal reservoir, a sheet of great lateral extent with a length: width ratio of about 1 to 1.
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this type of sand body is illustrated in Figure 2 . The ribbon or shoestring sands are characteristically produced by
Figure 1.
paleoshoreline. The depositional environment of this type of sand body is illustrated in Figure 3 .
Figure 2.
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isolated pods which are hard to find and harder still to develop. These often Occur where erosion has removed much of the sand and replaced it with shale, leaving isolated pods of sand.
Figure 3.
Cross-Sectional Continuity
Reservoir continuity in cross-section is an important consideration in determining reservoir quality(Harris and Hewitt, 1977). Figure 1 , Figure 2 , and Figure 3 illustrate different degrees of vertical continuity. In all instances, the individual sand bodies shown represent ideal channel deposits with flat tops and concave upward bases. The same terms and reservoir conditions would apply for barrier sands or any other generic type, though the cross-sectional shapes are different. The ideal case for a reservoir is shown in Figure 1 where the sands show great vertical continuity. These are sometimes called multistory sand bodies. In such a reservoir, there is good fluid movement throughout the field, and oil and gas can be produced easily. Secondary recovery by water-flood can effectively be used in these reservoirs since water can be injected at the base to help production from the crest.
Figure 1.
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Figure 2.
Isolated sand bodies ( Figure 3 ) occur with no vertical continuity whatsoever. In this type of situation, oil entrapment can only be stratigraphic. There is no fluid communication between reservoirs. If the sand body with lateral continuity, shown in Figure 2 , were deformed structurally, oil entrapment would become structural rather than stratigraphic ( Figure 4 ).
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Case History: Handil Field, Indonesia
The following account of the Handil field, Indonesia is based on work published by Verdier, Oki, and Atik (1980). This field is essentially a broad anticlinal trap. The gross pay is some 2,000 meters thick. This is split up, however, into many separate accumulations with their own gas caps and oil: water contacts. These separate accumulations have been caused partly by faulting but largely by the overall formation having a sand: shale ratio of about 1 to 1 with many individual reservoir units of some 5 to 20 meters in thickness. Subsurface facies analysis has been extensively used to identify the different sedimentary environments of the sands and to make predictions about their geometry and orientation. Figure 1 is a detailed cross-sect ion which shows the lenticular nature of the sands which comprise a portion of the field, the 19-7 reservoir. This illustration was based on log interpretation, the coal beds providing the most reliable marker horizons. Two main types of sand bodies have been recognized: laterally-extensive bar sands and the areally more restricted channel sands which have essentially a shoestring geometry.
Figure 1.
Isopach maps were prepared after development drilling had been completed. From these, the extent both of the channel sands ( Figure 2 ) and of three separated bar sand units ( Figure 3 , Figure 4 , and Figure 5 ) can be seen. Note that the channels have cut down into the more extensive sheet geometry of the bar sands. Porosity in this field is essentially of the primary intergranular type with minimal diagenetic modification. The key to developing and producing this field has been to use subsurface facies analysis to work out the geometry and orientation of the sand bodies.
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Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
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Figure 1.
1,200 feet in an approximate distance of only 2.5 miles. Figure 2 is a geological cross-section showing the various lithological facies of the reef. Figure 3 is a petrophysical cross-section showing the distribution of zones of different porosity. Both crosssections are drawn along the line from A to B in Figure 1 . It should be noted that there is no correlation between the lithological and the petrophysical units.
Figure 2.
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Figure 3.
These two cross-sections illustrate very clearly the problems of developing carbonate reservoirs. When the reef was first deposited, primary porosity was closely related to the depositional environments of the original rock units. However, as the reef was buried, primary porosity was largely destroyed and secondary porosity developed in an irregular manner due to solution. Thus, there is now no simple correlation between the lithological units and the petrophysical ones. Exercise 1. On this graph ( Figure 1 ) show the position of:
1) shale; 2) a fractured granite; 3) a vuggy limestone (with vugs isolated) (with vugs connected);
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Exercise 2. The reservoir of this oil field ( Figure 1 ) consists of an upper barrier bar sand sequence interbedded with shales, and a lower part of interbedded shales and channel sands. They were deposited on a westerly sloping shoreline. a) In which direction is the optimum reservoir continuity likely to be in zones A, B, C and D? b) How and why might the porosity in Zone B differ from D?
Figure 1.
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