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RESERVOIR ROCK &

FLUID PROPERTIES
PAB1033

PERMEABILITY
Ms. Siti Sarah Salehudin
sitisarah.salehudin@petronas.com.my
Ext : 7101

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LESSON OUTCOME
Permeability Concepts
Types of Permeability

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Permeability Concept

General visualization of the future performance of a new

reservoir becomes apparent when information about range
and trend on rock permeability is available. The following
case illustrate the point:
1. Large reservoir with good permeability, operating
under favorable condition usually lead to a high
production rate for a long period (if the geologic
formation is not highly heterogeneous)
Not unexpectedly, the ultimate oil recovery from
this reservoir is relatively high.
2. Reservoir having low permeability may not produce
commercially for a long period
3. Rocks exhibiting significant variations in permeability
within the same formation may lead to poor oil
recovery during water/gas injection.
The injected fluid tends to bypass oil in low

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Very Important!!
It control
directional
What
is Permeability?
movement and
Flow rate of the
reservoir fluids

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Mathematical Expression of Permeability

First introduced by Darcy in 1856 while
investigating the flow of water through sand
filters for water purification.

h
h
Q KA
1

Q = volumetric flow rate, cm^3/sec

K = constant of proportionality for the medium
(hydraulic conductivity)
K = k/ (permeability/viscosity)
A = cross sectional area of flow, cm^2
h1,h2 = hydraulic head at point 1 and 2
respectively
L = length of porous medium, cm

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Mathematical Expression of Permeability

q
L

kA P
q
L

A porous medium has 1 Darcy permeability when a single

phase fluid of 1 cp viscosity that completely saturates the
pores, flows under viscous flow conditions at a rate of 1
cm3/sec across 1 cm2 cross-sectional area under a pressure
gradient of 1 atm/cm.
NOTE: The negative sign is necessary as the pressure
increases in one direction while the length increases in the

--- Eq. 1

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Dimensions of Permeability
In SI unit, permeability k is expressed in square meter and this is
and enormous unit!
SI :

2
A
(
m
)
dP( pascal )
q(m3 / s ) k ( m 2 ).
.
( pascal .s)
dx(m)

Practical System:

A(cm 2 ) dP (atm)
q(cm / s) k ( Darcy ).
.
(cp) dx(cm)

Field Unit:

A( ft 2 ) dP( psi )
q(bbl / d ) k (darcy ).
.
(cp) dx( ft )

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Permeability Units
Permeability has the units of ft2, cm2, m2
However, because these units are too large a measure

with the porous medium, the petroleum industry

adopted the unit Darcy for permeability.
NOTE: In oil and gas reservoir, the value of permeability
is usually less than 1 Darcy. A more convenient unit of
rock permeability is milidarcy, mD. This is to avoid of
using fractions in describing permeability.
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Permeability Units
I Darcy

1000 mD

9.869 x 10-9 cm2

9.869 x 10-13 m2

9.869 x 10-11 ft2

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Permeability Units
From the Darcys Law equation, permeability is

defined

q
k
A(dP / dx)
Basic linear and radial flow can be derived
General classification of permeability
Classification

Permeability Range

Very Low

1 mD

Low

1 10 mD

Medium

10 50 mD

Average

50 200 mD

Good

200 500 mD

Excellent

500 mD

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Darcys Equation in field units

In petroleum industry, reservoir fluid flowrate always

reported in barrels / day.

A conversion is required for compatibility with Darcy

equation.

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Darcys Equation in field units

Conversion from m3/s to barrels / day

1 m3 = 6.2898 barrels
1 day = 24 hours = 1440 mins =86 400 sec

1m 3 86400 s 6.2898barrels

3
s
1day
1m
1m / s 543438barrels / day
3

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Darcys Equation in field units

Using Conversion factors

Flow rate, Q- bbl/day or cuft/day

Permeability, k darcy
Thickness, h feet
Pressure, P psia
Viscosity, centipoise
Radius, R feet
Length, L - feet
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Darcys Law
For one-dimensional, linear, horizontal flow through
a porous medium
P2

P1

kA dp
q
dL

L
Equation 1 can be integrated when the geometry of the system is known.
L

P2

kA
q dL
dP

P1
0

Thus,
kA
qL
( P 2 P1)

P1 P 2, Re arrange :
kA
q
( P1 P 2)
L

NOTE: Since we know that P1 is greater than P1, the equation above can be
rearranged, which will eliminate the negative term in the equation!

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Darcys Law
For one-dimensional, linear, horizontal flow through
a porous medium
In general

kA
P
L

P2

P1

In oilfield units
2

k ( mD) A( ft )
q (bbl / d ) 0.001127
P ( psi )
(cp ) L( ft )

Darcys Equation in field units:

Measurements in the field often quoted in field units.
A conversion is required for compatibility with Darcy
equation

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Darcys Law
General assumptions in Darcys Equation:
1. Flow occurs in laminar regime, without any turbulence
effect
2. Flow is steady state
3. Only one fluid is present in the system occupying the
entire pore space
4. No chemical reaction between rock and the fluid
5. Fluid is incompressible

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Types of Permeability
Absolute Permeability
Effective Permeability
Relative Permeability

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Absolute Permeability
A measure of the ability of a rock to
transmit a single fluid phase
through its pore structure.
Flowing fluid is
100%
saturating the
medium

P
q

kA P
q
L

L
Absolute
permeability

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Effective Permeability

The ability to preferentially flow or transmit a particular fluid

when other fluids are present in the reservoir (e.g., effective
permeability of gas in a gas-water reservoir).

Less than absolute permeability - Presence of a second fluid

reduces the size of holes available for flow of the first fluid.

If no fluid flows, the effective permeability of the rock to that fluid

is zero.

k i A P
qi
i L

qg
qo
qw

Effective
permeabili
ty

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Relative Permeability

Relative permeability is the ratio of

effective permeability of a specific fluid
to absolute permeability.

Calculation of relative permeability

allows comparison of the different
abilities of fluids to flow in the presence
of each other, since the presence of
more than one fluid generally inhibits
flow.

k
k
k
ri

qg
qo
qw
L

k ri A P
qi
i L

Relative
permeabili
ty

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Relative Permeability
Two phase relative permeability behavior
1

kro

krw
0

0
0

Sw

Graphs of relative permeability curves reflect the capacity of

the rock to produce fluids by showing the permeability of
those fluids as a function of saturation.

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Anisotropic permeability
What is anisotropic??
Exhibiting properties with different values when measured in
different directions.
Geologic formations that do not exhibit uniform rock properties
in all directions are referred to as anisotropic
ky
kx = ky

PERMEABILITY
ISOTROPY

kx
ky
kx > ky

PERMEABILITY
ANISOTROPY

kx
Figure: Illustration of the effects of permeability on the shape of the fluid
bank around an injection well.

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Anisotropic permeability
It is frequently observed that the vertical permeability, Kv is
significantly different (usually less) than the horizontal
permeability, Kh.
This is due to the very nature of the settling and compaction
process during deposition over millions of years ago.
Kh >>Kv

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Anisotropic permeability
Horizontal
permeabilities
can be affected
by the
deposition
process

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QUESTION???