What is a Reservoir

A reservoir is a porous rock which contains fluids and consists of several elements:
Source Rock, that essential to reservoir formation.

Cap Rock, a structural trap usually a shale or anhydrite with extremely low or no porosity and permeability.

Reservoir Rock, usually a sandstone, limestone or dolomite which must have porosity and permeability.

THE UNDISTURBED RESERVOIR

An idealized view of porous hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir rock is shown below The rock matrix consists of grains of sand,
limestone, dolomite, or mixtures of these. Between the grains is pore space filled with water, oil, and perhaps gas. The water
exists as a film around the rock grains and as hour-glass rings at grain contacts; it also occupies the very fine crevices. The water
forms a continuous path, although very tortuous, through the rock structure. Oil occupies the larger pore spaces. If gas is present,
it will occupy the largest pores, leaving oil in the intermediate spaces.

The rock properties important in log analysis are porosity, water saturation, and permeability. The former two determine the
quantity of gas or oil in place, and the latter determines the rate at which that hydrocarbon can be produced.
Idealized Porous Rock
An idealized view of porous
hydrocarbon-bearing reservoir rock is
shown below The rock matrix consists
of grains of sand, limestone, dolomite, or
mixtures of these. Between the grains is
pore space filled with water, oil, and
perhaps gas. The water exists as a film
around the rock grains and as hour-glass
rings at grain contacts; it also occupies
the very fine crevices. The water forms
a continuous path, although very
tortuous, through the rock structure. Oil
occupies the larger pore spaces. If gas is
present, it will occupy the largest pores,
leaving oil in the intermediate spaces.
Idealized Porous Rock
Porosity, Water Saturation
& Permeability

The rock properties important in log

analysis are porosity (), water
saturation (Sw), and permeability (K).

The former two determine the

quantity
of gas or oil in place, and the latter
determines the rate at which that
hydrocarbon can be produced.
Water Saturation
The fractions of pore space containing
water is termed water saturation,
denoted Sw. The remaining fraction
containing oil or gas is termed
hydrocarbon saturation, Sh, which of
course, equals (1 Sw). The general
assumption is that the reservoir was
initially filled with water and that
over geologic time oil or gas that
formed elsewhere migrated into the
porous formation, displacing water
from the larger pore spaces.
However, the migrating hydrocarbons
never displace all of the interstitial
water.
Irreducible water saturation

There is an irreducible water

saturation, Swi, representing the water
retained by surface tension on grain
surfaces, at grain contacts, and in the
smallest interstices. Its value varies
from about 0.05 in very coarse
formations with high surface area.
The irreducible water will not flow
when the formation is put on
production. The fraction of total
formation volume that is
hydrocarbons is then Sh or (1-Swi).
Irreducible water
saturation (continue)

A major objective of logging

is to determine this quantity.
It can vary from zero to a
maximum of (1 Swi).
Permeability
Permeability, denoted, k, is the flowability of the
formation. It is a measure of the rate at which fluid
will flow through a given area of porous rock under a
specified pressure gradient. It is expressed in
millidarcies (md); 1,000 md is a high value and 1.0 is
a low value for producing formations.
In contrast to porosity, permeability depends
strongly on absolute grain size of the rock. Large-
grained sediments with large pores have high
permeabilities, whereas fine-grained rocks with small
pores and more tortuous flow paths have low
permeabilities.
Table 11 lists porosities and permeabilities of
some well-known producing formations. Porosity
varies only by a factor of 3, whereas permeability
varies by a factor of about 4,000.
Hydrocarbons Bearing Rocks

Hydrocarbon-bearing rocks are

primarily sands (SiO2), limestones
(CaCO3), and dolomites (CaCO3 Mg
CO3). Most sands are transported by
and laid down from moving water.
The greater the water velocity (the
energy of the environment), the
coarser the sand will be. Because of
this mechanism, sands tend to have
fairly uniform intergranular-type
porosity.
Limestones

Limestones, on the other hand, are

not transported as grains but are laid
down by deposition from seawater.
Some is precipitation from solution;
some is the accumulated remains of
marine shell organisms. Original pore
space is often altered by subsequent
redissolution of some of the solid
matter. Therefore, porosity tends to
be less uniform that in sands, with
vugs and fissures, termed secondary
porosity, interspersed with the
primary porosity.
Dolomites

Dolomites are formed when

magnesium-rich water circulates
through limestones, replacing some
of the calcium by magnesium.This
process generally results in a
reduction of the matrix volume.
Therefore, dolomitization is an
important mechanism in providing
pore space for hydrocarbon
accumulation.
Clean & Dirty Formations

Formations containing only sands

or carbonates are clean formations.
They are relatively easy to interpret
with modern logs. When such
formation contain clay, they are
called dirty or shaly formations.
Such reservoir rocks can be quite
difficult to interpret.
Clay and Shale

Clays are common components of

sedimentary rock. They are
aluminosilicates of the general
composition Al2O3 SiO 2 (OH)x.
Depending on the environment in
which they are formed, they may be
of several basic types: illite, chlorite,
montmorillonite, or kaolinite.
 Clay & Shale (continue)

Matrix Shale Porosity

Clean formation Structural shale

Porosity Porosity

Shale
Matrix Matrix

Laminar shale Dispersed shale

Porosity Porosity Shale
Shale

Matrix Matrix
Clay & Shale (continue)

Clays have very small particle sizes

1 to 3 orders of magnitude less than
those of sand grains. Surface-to-
volume ratios are very high, 100-
10,000 times those of sands. Thus,
clays can effectively bind large
quantities of water that will not flow
but that do contribute to log response.

Shales are primarily mixtures of clay

and silt (fine silica) laid down from
very slow-moving waters. While they
may have good porosity, permeability
is essentially zero.
Clay & Shale (continue)

Pure shales are therefore of little

interest in hydrocarbon production,
although they are source rocks for
petroleum. On the other hand, sands
or carbonates containing modest
amounts of clay or shale may be
important hydrocarbon producers.

Accounting for clay and shale when

analyzing hydrocarbon-bearing
formations substantially complicates
log interpretation.
 Clay Minerals
b N (thermal) Pe
Kaolinite 2.54 59.6 1.85
Illite 2.52 47.9 3.97
Smectite 2.02 87 1.70
Chlorite 2.73 59.6 4.07

Most shales are comprised of these clay

minerals.
Clay minerals frequently occur together in
"mixed layers", e.g. Illite - Montmorillonite.

Kaolinite Al, Si, little K

Illite K, Fe, Mg, Si
Smectite Very high porosity.
Chlorite Fe, Mg, no K