Properties of Reservoir Rocks:

Permeability

Permeability
 The permeability of a rock is the description of the ease with which fluid can
pass through the pore structure
 Can be so low to be considered impermeable.
 Such rocks may constitute a cap rock above permeable reservoir.
 Also include some clays, shale, chalk, anhydrite and some highly cemented
sandstones.
 Term is used to link flow rate and pressure difference across a section of
porous rock.
 In a rock the pore space , size and interconnection is very complex.
 The application of energy equations developed for flow in pipes is difficult.
 The parameter used for this flow behavior is termed ‘permeability”
 The unit of permeability is the Darcy, named after a French scientist
investigating flow through filter beds.

1
Permeability
 Darcy’s Experiment
 A homogeneous sand pack in cylinder through which water flowed

1
Q  A , Dh,
L

Q  k
A h 1  h 2 
L

where is k constant.
k varied from sand pack to sand
pack.
Datum level

Q = Constant flow rate (m3/s)

A = Cylinder cross section (m2)
h1, h2 = Manometer heights (m) relative to a datum level.

Assumptions in Darcy’s Law

 Darcy’s Law assumes:
 Steady State Flow
 Laminar Flow
 Single phase only occupying 100% of porosity
 No reaction between fluid & rock
 Homogenous rock

2
Darcy’s Law in terms of the pressures

Let the water density be ρ(kg/m3)

and g be the acceleration of gravity
(9.81m/s2)
P1=ρgh’1 and P2=ρgh2
Since h1=h’1+L

Subsequent experimentalists extended Darcy’s experiments to include

different fluids and flow directions. They found that

where μ is the fluid viscosity and ρ is the fluid density.

Darcy’s Experiment-Tilted
For a tilted cylinder as shown

We may express this equation in

terms of a Volumetric Flux, u=Q/A

3
Exercise: 01
In the figure below, assume p2  p1  gl
a. Find the flow rate.
b. Formulate Darcy’s Law for horizontal flow.
c. Formulate Darcy’s Law for vertical flow upwards.
d. Formulate Darcy’s Law for vertical downwards flow

Solution

a.

4
 c

Exercise-02:

5
Solution

6
Up scaling: Permeability
A medium which is heterogeneous but isotropic on a small
scale may be homogeneous and anisotropic on large scale.

In many cases, the reservoir contains distinct layers, blocks, or

concentric rings of varying permeability.

The boundaries parallel to the indicated flow direction are all

assumed to be no-flow boundaries, and a pressure gradient
is applied over the length L of the volume. Regardless what
is taking place inside the volume, the up scaled permeability
K in the given flow direction is given by-

where Q is the volumetric flow

rate

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 Beds in Parallel-Linear flow
Average permeability from Darcy’s Law

Q T  Q1  Q 2  Q 3
k 1 A 1  P1  P 2 
Q  1
mL
k1A1  P1  P2  k 2 A 2  P1  P2  k 3 A3  P1  P2 
QT   
mL mL mL
A i  P1  P2 
Q T  k  mL

k 
 k A i i

 A i

k 
 k i h i
A
 h i

Beds in Series-Linear flow

 Reservoir may have been
folded or faulted.
 Horizontal layers now vertical.
 Average permeability obtained
by adding pressure drop across
each bed.

 P1  P4    P1  P2    P2  P3    P3  P4 
QmL1 QmL 2 QmL3 QmL1
 P1  P4     
k1A1 k 2 A 2 k 3 A3 kA1

k 
L This is the thickness weighted harmonic
L average of layers permeability
 k
i

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 Beds in Parallel-Radial flow
Case of several layers flowing simultaneously in a well

2  h i k i Pe  Pw 
Q i 
r
m ln e
rw

2  h T k  Pe  Pw  2   Pe  Pw 
Q Q i 
r

r
 k 1h 1  k 2 h 2  k 3 h 3 
m ln e m ln e
rw rw

k 
 h ik i
hT

Beds in Series-Radial flow

 Natural variations in permeability.
 Well bore damage.
 Cleaning techniques.
 Injection processes

Q1 
2  k 1h  P1
 Pw 
r1
m ln
rw

Q 
2k 2 h P e  P1 
2
r
m ln e
r1

2  k a v g h  Pe  P w 
T o ta l f lo w : Q T 
r
m ln e
rw

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Beds in Series-Radial flow
Total pressure drop:  Pe  Pw    Pe  P1    P1  Pw 

re r r
Q T m ln Q 2 m ln e Q 1 m ln 1
rw r1 rw
 
2  k avg h 2k 2h 2  k 1h

At steady state flow : Q T  Q 1  Q 2

re
r r r ln
ln e ln e ln 1 rw
rw

r1

rw k avg 
r1 r
k avg k2 k1 ln ln e
rw r1

k1 k2

Exercise: A block of sand contains three horizontal layers.

The top layer has a permeability of 2.1D and a thickness of
12m. The middle layer has a permeability of 3.6D and a
thickness of 6 m. The bottom layer has a permeability of
4.0 D and a thickness of 8 m. Find the up scaled
horizontal and the up scaled vertical permeability for this sand
block

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Solution

Permeability
 Unit of permeability - Darcy
 Permeability which will permit flow of one centipoises fluid to flow at
linear velocity of one cm per second under a pressure gradient of one
atmosphere per centimeter.

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Unit of Permeability
 Practical unit-millidarcy, mD, 10-3 Darcy.
 Formations vary from a fraction of a millidarcy to more than 10,000
millidarcy.
 Clays and shale have permeability of 10-2 to 10-6 mD.
 These very low permeability make them act as seals between layers.

Dimension of Permeability
Darcy’s Equation k  dP g dz 
Vs     
m  d s 1 .0 1 3 3  1 0 6 d s 
Dimensions L M M
Vs  m  =
T LT L3
M L dP M
P= 2
g  2 = 2 2
LT T dS L T
L kLT  M M 
  2 2  3 2 
T M L T LT 

L k

T LT

k  L2

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Field Units
Measurements in the field often quoted in


field units. A conversion is required for

kA  P1  P2 
compatibility with Darcy equation.
Q
mL
 Flow rate, Q - bbl/day or ft3/day or m3/day
 Permeability, k - darcy to oil field units gives
 Thickness, h - feet or metre
bbl kA  P1  P2 
 Pressure, P - psia Q  1.1271
day mL
 Viscosity, m- centipoise
 Radius. R - feet or metre
 Length, L - feet or metre

Measurement of Absolute Permeability

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Introduction:
There are essentially two approaches to measuring the permeability-

1. The steady state: the pressure drop for a fixed flow rate is measured.
2. The unsteady state: the flow in the transient regime is measured.

Steady State Permeability Method

 The most conventional permeability measurement approach has been to
use the measurement of the pressure drop associated with a fixed flow
rate.

 To determine specific permeability nitrogen or air is usually caused to

flow through a prepared sample of measured dimensions.

The pressure differential and flow rates are measured and the
permeability calculated from the Darcy equation.

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 steady state permeability measurement

Case Study: Core sample liquid permeability

Problem statement:

A cylindrical core sample is properly cleaned and all remains of

hydrocarbons are removed from the pore space. The core is saturated
with water and then flushed horizontally. The core length is 15 cm, it’s
diameter is 5 cm and the water viscosity is 1.0 cp. The pressure drop ∆p,
is measured for three different flow-rates are as follows-

What is the absolute liquid permeability?

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Solution:
Permeability can be calculated by using the formula below directly

d is the core sample diameter

Permeability is calculated using the above formula,

Core sample Gas permeability

Due to certain interactions between the liquids and the porous rock,
absolute permeability is routinely measured in the laboratory by flowing
gas (usually inert gas) through the core sample. Because gas is a highly
compressible substance, i.e. the gas rate is pressure dependent, the
Darcy’s law may not be utilized directly.
The gas permeability could be estimated using Eq.

Qb 
 2
kA P1  P2
2

2mLPb

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Case Study: Gas permeability
Problem statement:

A gas permeability test has been carried out on a core sample, 1in in
diameter and length. The core has been cleaned and dried and
mounted in a Hassler core holder. The gas is injected and the pressure,
p1 measured, at one end of the core sample, while the gas rate, q2 is
measured at the other end, at atmospheric pressure, i.e., p2 = 1at m.
Given the pressure p1 and the gas rate q2

Solution:
The mean pressure in the core sample,

The pressure drop across the core, ∆p, (p1-p2)

The gas permeability k is found as a function of the mean core

pressure.

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 Factors Affecting Permeability Values
Permeability is introduced as a proportional coefficient in Darcy’s law.

The characteristics than the porous medium have important influence on

the numeric value of the permeability determination are-

1. Overburden pressure

2. Fluid used in laboratory tests (due to some interaction between the

fluid and the porous medium).

3. The use of gases introduce other problems, such as turbulent flow

behavior, increased uncertainty in gas rate measurements and at low
pressure, the Klinkenberg effect.

The rock permeability to gas is not the same as for liquids, since gas

permeability is pressure dependent, i.e. ,k  k ( p )

Relative Permeability

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 Introduction
1. Relative permeability is a concept used to relate the absolute permeability
(100% saturation with a single fluid) of a porous system, to the effective
permeability of a particular fluid in the system, when that fluid occupies
only a fraction of the total pore volume. **

2. When measuring a flow-rate of a fluid versus the pressure difference in a

core sample, we can obtain (single phase flow),

Here ke is called effective permeability. For 100% saturation, the effective

permeability is identical to the absolute permeability; i.e. ke = k.

3. In multiphase flow a generalization of Darcy law has been accepted

where j denotes a fluid phase j, and kje is called the effective (phase)
permeability.

In a vast number of laboratory experiments it has been observed that a

sum of effective permeability’s is less than the total or absolute
permeability, i.e.

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4. Effective (phase) permeability is a function of quite a number of
parameters, such as:
Fluid saturation,
Rock property,
Absolute permeability,
Fluid property, and
Reservoir conditions (pressure, temperature)

5. The effective permeability can be decomposed into the absolute

permeability and the relative permeability, as shown below,

6. Relative permeability provides an extension of Darcy’s Law to the presence

of more than a single fluid within the pore space.

A DP qo
Oil mo
qw
Water
L mw
kk ro A dP kk rw A dP
qo  qw 
mo dl m w dl
k - absolute permeability
kro,krw - relative permeability

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The relative permeability to oil, Kro

The relative permeability to water, Krw

The relative permeability to gas, Krg

Effective and Relative Permeability

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Normalized Relative Permeability Curve
ko (Sw = Swc ) =k x k′ro

Typical Relative permeability Curve

water -oil system

Irreducible
water
saturation

Residual oil
saturation

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 Typical Relative permeability Curve
Gas -oil system

Relative permeability: Drainage/Imbibition

 Imbibitions
 Displacement of non-wetting phase by wetting phase causing the
increased wetting phase saturation within the system. For example-
1. Oil- water system where rock is water wet- imposing water flooding to
improve oil recovery.
2. In a gas-oil systems- movement of an oil zone into depleting gas cap
zone.
 Drainage.
 Displacement of wetting phase by non-wetting phase causing the
increased non-wetting phase saturation within the system. For example-
1. Oil- water system where rock is water wet- oil from source rock is
displacing water from the reservoir rock/
2. Gas oil system where gas expulsion occurs during primary depletion.

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 Oil-water system:
Starting with the porous rock completely filled with water, and displacing
by oil, the drainage relative permeability and capillary pressure curves
will be defined:

Reversing the process when all mobile water has been displaced, by
injecting water to displace the oil, imbibition curves are defined

Note: The above curves are typical ones for a completely water-wet system.
For less water-wet systems, the capillary pressure curve will have a negative
part at high water saturation. The shape of the curves will depend on rock
and wetting characteristics.

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 Drainage: Oil-gas systems
Starting with the porous rock completely filled with oil, and
displacing by gas, the drainage relative permeability and capillary
pressure curves will be defined:

Imbibition: Oil-gas systems

If the process is reversed when all mobile oil has been displaced, by
injecting oil to displace the gas, imbibition curves are defined:

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 Factors Affecting Relative Permeability
I. Fluid saturations
II. Geometry of the pore spaces and pore size distribution
III. Wettability
IV. Fluid saturation history (i.e., imbibition or drainage)

Use of Relative and Effective Permeability

1. To model a particular process, for example, fractional flow, fluid

distributions, recovery and predictions.
2. Determination of the free water surface; i.e., the level of zero capillary
pressure or the level below which fluid production is 100% water.
3. Determination of residual fluid saturations
The permeability of a sample to a gas varies with the molecular
weight of the gas and the applied pressure, as a consequence
of gas slippage at the pore wall. Klinkenberg[1] determined that
liquid permeability (kL) is related to gas permeability (kg) by kL
= kg/(1+b/p), where:

p is the mean flowing pressure

b is a constant for a particular gas in a given rock type

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