Porosity

Think about a sponge or a sand beach

2 mm wide (white grains, blue epoxy)

2015 James J. Sheng

Several Concepts of Porosity

Conceptual representation of different pores

pore
Pore throat

2015 James J. Sheng

Definitions

Vp

Total Pore Volume

Vb
Bulk volume

(Total) porosity

Interconnected Deadend Isolated

Bulk volume

int connected deadend pore volume

Effective porosity
Bulk volume

Isolated pore volume

Ineffectiv e porosity
Bulk volume
Relation among them?
2015 James J. Sheng

Porosity calculation
Spherical model: uniform spheres packed in a cubic pattens
Sphere completely enclosed in a cube
r=radius
What is the grain volume?
Vsphere=4/3**r3= Vm
Bulk volume= volume of a cube:
Vb=(2r)3=8r3
Pore volume:
Vp= 8r3- 4/3**r3
Porosity:
=Vp/Vb=(Vb-Vm)/Vb=1- Vm/Vb
Vp=(24-4)r3/3
= (24-4)/(3*8)
= 0.476 or 47.6%

2015 James J. Sheng

Why is porosity important?

Porosity is used in calculation of oil:

OOIP = VbSoi/Boi
OOIP = Original Oil-in-Place
Higher

more oil

2015 James J. Sheng

What factors affect porosity?

(Brainstorm)

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Packing of uniform spheres

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Sorting

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Cementation

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Primary and Secondary Porosity

Primary has to do with initial deposition of sediments

Secondary porosity comes from solution, dolomitization,
fractures, vugs, etc.
Solution
CaCO3+2H = Ca(HCO3)2
Magnesium ions replacing calcium ions
2CaCO3 + Mg++ = CaMg(CO3)2 + Ca++
Dolomite crystals are denser and occupy less space
Compaction can reduce porosity

2015 James J. Sheng

Vugs

The vug is larger than many of the surrounding grains of sediment.

The width of the view is approximately 2 mm.

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Dual-porosity model

2015 James J. Sheng

What is Shale
Shale is a fine-grained sedimentary rock
Shales are typically deposited in very slow
moving water and are often found in lakes and
lagoonal deposits, in river deltas, on
floodplains and offshore from beach sands.
Shale is characterized by breaks along thin
laminae or parallel layering
Usually has extra low permeability
2015 James J. Sheng

POROSITY AND PERMEABILITY ANALYSIS

ON NANOSCALE FIB-SEM IMAGING OF
SHALE ROCK

Figure 1. A sample shale gas rock. (a). Optical photograph of the whole thin
section. (b). Close up of yellow box in (a) with light microscope under plain
light. (c). Close up of the yellow box in (b) with SEM

It is clear that porosity cannot be detected by microscope. A further

close up on the yellow box is shown in Figure c using SEM, which
reveals the pores, organic matter and mineral matrix at nano scale.
Shale porosity: a few %
2015 James J. Sheng

Methods of Determination of Porosity

Core plugs
Conventional core analysis
Computerized Tomography (CT)
Special core analysis
Well logging
Density, Neutron, Acoustic, NMR
Covered in a well logging course
Drilled cuttings
Microscopy (thin sections) based on dye color
Micro-CT - pixel size to 1 m
Darcylog (IFT product) based on gas compressibility
2015 James J. Sheng

Question:
1. Sit in a boat without an engine.
2. Sit in a airplane by shutting the engine. What will
happen?
What the difference?

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Archimedes Principle
Fb=Vdisplaced*density
Fb

Which density?

water

Wd

2015 James J. Sheng

Porosity from Core Plugs

Conventional core analysis

Vb Vs

Vb V p Vs
Vb
Vp

Vp

We need to determine two of three parameters:

Vb
Vp
Vs

2015 James J. Sheng

Determine Vb bulk volume

(1) Caliper, if a sample is a cylindrical,
Vb= (d2/4)*L
Because there is always some irregularity in cutting core plugs we take
several measurements of L and D and average them.
(2) Use mercury Sample directly put in a container of mercury.
Vb = displaced mercury
(mercury cannot enter sample pores)
(3) Archimedes Principle
Coat the sample with epoxy and then immerse in water. People also use
paraffin, silicone and heat shrinkable Teflon.

Wim Fb

Fb=Vdisplaced*water density
Vdisplaced = ?
water

Wd 2015 James J. Sheng

Vb

Determine Vp pore volume

Use weight of dry sample (Wd) and weight of sample saturated with water
(Wsat)
Difference: Saturated core has water
Gained weight: Wsat-Wd= pore volume*density of liquid

Wd

Wsat

Unsaturated
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Saturated

Determine Vs Solid grain volume

Use the Archimedes Principle
This time the sample is not coated.
Water will enter pores. What is the displaced volume?

Fb=Vdisplaced*water density

Wim Fb

Vdisplaced = ?
water

Wd 2015 James J. Sheng

Vs

Example calculation #1

If the weight in the air is 110 g, and

the weight in the water is 73 g,
what is the porosity of this plug?

2015 James J. Sheng

Example calculation #2

1. What is the bulk volume, Vb?

2. What is the weight in the air?
3. If coated with epoxy or paraffin and
Immersed in water, what is the weight?
4. If no coating, how much is the weight?
5. If no coating, how much is the buoyancy?
6. If saturated with water, what is the bulk density?

2015 James J. Sheng

Review of Boyles law

p1V1 = p2V2
T maintained the same
Closed system
Ideal gas

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Boyles_Law_animated.gif

2015 James J. Sheng

 2015 James J. Sheng

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Determine Vs Solid grain volume

Gas Porosimeter
Measurement schematic

V2=V1+VR
Sample Holder Volume

Gas

VR

V1
Reference Volume

P2

P1
P2

P1V1 = P2V2 =P2V1 + P2VR

VR = (P1V1 P2V1)/P2

P2: Off
P2 TEST Valve (open)
P1 Lock in to off
2015 James J. Sheng

Measurement schematic

V2=V1+VR-VB
Sample Holder Volume VR

Gas

V1
Reference Volume
Billet VB

P3

P4
P2

P3V1 = P4V1 + (P4VR P4VB)

P2: Off
P2 TEST Valve (open)
P1 Lock in to off

V1 = P2VBP4/(P4P1 P2P3)
V 2 = V1 + V R

2015 James J. Sheng

Every V is known.

Measurement schematic

V3=V1+VR-Vgr
Sample Holder Volume VR

Gas

V1
Reference Volume
Core Vgr

P5

P6
P2

P5V1 = P6V3=P6V1 + (P6VR P6Vgr)

P2: Off
P2 TEST Valve (open)
P1 Lock in to off

Vgr=VR+V1-V1P5/P6
Vp=Vb-Vgr
= Vp/Vb

2015 James J. Sheng

Why using Helium or Nitrogen?

Small molecules to enter small pores
Inertness to avoid reaction and adsorption
on grains
Ideal gas equation can be used.

2015 James J. Sheng

X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) - measurement

Computed Tomography (imaging)
Computerized Tomography
CT scan
Initially used in medical society
We use it to measure porosity
Imaging principle (pages 22-23):
X-ray are adsorbed;
Different parts have different adsorption;
Detector will record x-ray strength, resulting in an image.
Images are characterized by CT number;
CT numbers represent radiodensity (attenuation coefficient)
2015 James J. Sheng

CT numbers:

x water
Hounsfield unit ( HU )
1000
water
water and air are the linear attenuation coefficients
of water and air, respectively.
CT numbers (Hounsfield unit):
Pure water: 0
Air: -1000

2015 James J. Sheng

CTN vs. bulk density

Calibration with known media (fluids and rocks)

y

Density ()
=a(CTN)+b
CTN

CTN vs. bulk density

2015 James J. Sheng

y=ax+b

Calculation of porosity (CT)

For an oil saturated rock,
Total mass of an oil-saturated rock (o,m) = Total mass of oil (o) +
Total mass of matrix (m)
Vo,m*o,m = Vo*o + Vm*m
o,m = (Vo/Vo,m)*o + (Vm/Vo,m)*m
o,m = *o + (1-)*m
a(CTN)o,m +b= *[a(CTN)o +b)+ (1-)*[a(CTN)m +b]
a(CTN)o,m +b= *a(CTN)o +b+ (1-)*a(CTN)m +b(1-)
a(CTN)o,m = *a(CTN)o + (1-)*a(CTN)m
CTNo,m = *CTNo + (1-)*CTNm
For air-saturated rock,
CTNa,m = *CTNa + (1-)*CTNm
=(CTNo,m- CTNa,m )/(CTNo-CTNa )
If using a water-saturated rock,
=(CTNw,m- CTNa,m )/(CTNw-CTNa )

2015 James J. Sheng

Porosity measurement
Core plugs

Special core analysis

Corrected pressure effect by applying confining pressure

2015 James J. Sheng

Methods of Determination of Porosity

Core plugs
Conventional core analysis
Computerized Tomography (CT)
Special core analysis
Well logs
Density, Neutron, Acoustic, NMR
Covered in a well logging course
Drilled cuttings
Microscopy (thin sections) based on dye color
Micro-CT - pixel size to 1 m
Darcylog (IFT product) based on gas compressibility
2015 James J. Sheng

Estimate porosity from density measurement (DPHI)

b = f + (1 )m
= (b - m )/(f - m )
Densities (g/cm3):
Sandstone: 2.65
Limestone: 2.71
Dolomite: 2.87
Water: 1.0
Oil: 0.6-1.0
Gas: < 0.4
2015 James J. Sheng

Averaging of Porosity
Principle:
Total pore volume = sum of the pore volume of each subdivision

Total porosity = sum of the porosity of each subdivision

Vp Vpi

2015 James J. Sheng

Averaging of porosity

Layer 1

1ft

0.3
Plug

Average porosity for this well in this layer:

Vp Vpi

0.2

0.1

h i (A
h i ) i
A

1ft

1ft

pi

Vbii (Ahi )i

Vp Vb average Vb A h i
h

i i

h i same

Well #1

i i

nh i

0.3(1) 0.2(1) 0.1(1)

0.2
3
0.3 0.2 0.1

0.2
3
2015 James J. Sheng

Averaging of porosity

Layer 1

1ft

0.3
Plug

Average porosity for this well:

0.2

average

1ft

i i
i

0.5ft

0.1

0.3(1) 0.2(1) 0.1(0.5)

0.22
2.5
0.3 0.2 0.1

0.2
3

Well #1

2015 James J. Sheng

Average porosity near one well

V p V pi

h1

h2

pi

Vbii ( Ahi )i

V p Vb average Vb A hi

Layer 1

hi ( A
hi )i
A

Layer 2

h
i

Shale Layer

h3

Layer 3

hi cannotbe the same

Well #1-real situation

2015 James J. Sheng

Average porosity for one layer in a field

V p V pi

Well #1

A1

i represents area near well # i

V pi Vbii ( Ai hi )i

V p Vb Ai hi

A h ( A h )
A

A
i i

i i

2015 James J. Sheng

Well #2
A2

Well #3

A3

Average porosity for a whole field

V p V pi

Well #1

V1

i represents VOLUME near well # i

V pi Vbii ( Ai hi )i

V p Vb Ai hi

A h ( A h )
( A h ) V

A h
V
i i

i i

i i

i i

field

2015 James J. Sheng

Well #2
V2

Well #3

V3

Typical porosity values

Conventional reservoirs: 0.1-0.35

Shale reservoirs: ~5%

2015 James J. Sheng

Study guide Porosity

Remember definitions of different porosities and understand their meaning
Know the pores and pore throats and their difference

Know the primary and secondary porosities and their difference

Can list several factors which affect porosity
Know how to calculate porosity
Know how to determine porosity in lab and their principles
Able to calculate average porosity

2015 James J. Sheng