Capillary pressure

Simultaneous existence of two or more fluid phases in a pore space of

a reservoir rock requires clear understanding and characterization
of the following terms so that the production potential of a given
hydrocarbon-bearing formation can be evaluated.

Interfacial tension Wettability Capillary pressure

Relative permeability
Capillary phenomena occur in porous media when two or more
immiscible fluids are present in the pore space
A difference in the pressure across the interface due to interfacial
energy between two immiscible phases results in a curvature of the
interface
When two immiscible fluids are in contact, a discontinuity in
pressure exists between the two fluids, which depends on the
curvature of the interface that separates the fluids. This particular
difference in pressure is called the capillary pressure and normally
denoted by Pc .
If a porous medium is completely saturated with non-wetting fluid 2
and contacted by the wetting fluid 1, then fluid 1 spontaneously
intrudes into the pore space. Fluid 1 will displace fluid 2, until
equilibrium is achieved and fluid 1 uniformly occupies the pore
spaces with greatest possible interfacial curvature.

Fluid 2

Fluid 1
The presence of capillary forces in a porous medium causes retention
of fluids in the pore space against gravity

Capillary pressure = pressure in the nonwetting phase –

pressure in the wetting phase Pc = Pnw - Pw
Gas-oil capillary pressure = Pcgo = Pg - Po
Gas-water capillary pressure = Pcgw = Pg - Pw
oil-water capillary pressure = Pcow = Po – Pw (water is wetting phase)
If all three phases are continuous, then Pcgw = Pcgo + Pcow
However, the capillary pressure is a combined effect of surface and interfacial
tension, pore size, geometry, and wetting characteristics of a given system
 CONTACT ANGLE

Oil
sow
Oil  Water Oil

sos sws sos

Solid
In a multiphase situation, the tendency of a fluid phase to spread over the surface
of a solid is an indication of the wetting characteristics of the fluid for the solid and
the spreading tendency of a fluid can be expressed as Adhesion tension (AT) and is
expressed as the difference between the two solid-fluid interfacial tension

AT = sos - sws
sos = interfacial tension between the solid and lighter fluid phase
sws = interfacial tension between the solid and denser fluid phase
 DEFINITION OF ADHESION TENSION

In a multiphase situation, the tendency of a fluid phase to spread

over the surface of a solid is an indication of the wetting
characteristics of the fluid for the solid and the spreading tendency
of a fluid can be expressed as Adhesion tension (AT)

Adhesion tension is expressed as the difference between two solid-fluid

interfacial tensions.

AT = sos - sws
sos = interfacial tension between the solid and lighter fluid phase
sws = interfacial tension between the solid and denser fluid phase
 Oil By definition,
sow sow
Oil  Water Oil
sos - sws
Cosow = ------------
sos sws sos sow
Solid

AT = sos - sws = sowCosow

• A positive adhesion tension indicates that the denser phase (water) preferentially wets the
solid surface.
• A negative value of adhesion tension indicates a wetting preference by the lighter phase
(oil in this case).
• An adhesion tension of “0” indicates that both phases have equal wettability or affinity
for the solid surface
 THE RISE OF LIQUID IN CAPILLARIES

The height to which the liquid rises in the capillary

tube depends on the balance between the total
force acting to pull the liquid upward and the
weight of the column of liquid supported in the
tube
Force up = AT X 2r
Force down = r2hg

P1 = Pa - gh

Pa – P1 = gh = Pc
From force balance, AT X 2r = r2hg
2salcos 2AT 2salcos
Pc = ------------------- h = --------- = ----------------
r rg rg
 Dependence of capillary pressure on
Rock properties
Fluid properties
2salcosal
Pc = ------------------
r

• Adhesion tension remains constant • the smaller the contact angle

• For higher capillary tube radius, the the stronger the adhesion tension
gravity forces are dominating because • the greater the height of the liquid
the weight of the liquid column increases rise due to higher capillary pressure
and consequently the Pc decreases
WATER-WET OIL-WET

Air Oil




WATER WATER
 Capillary pressure with saturation

As the relative saturation of the phases change, the pressure

difference across the fluid interfaces also change, resulting in a
change in the capillary pressure.

Static problem involve Dynamic problem consist

1. fluid distribution 1. transport due to gravity
2. fluid contacts 2. capillarity
3. zonation in the reservoir 3. impressed external pressure
 THE DIRECTION OF THE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY CURVES
The direction of the relative permeability curve with regard to saturation history
is another very important characteristics, that is, whether the curve is produced
by drainage process or imbibition process

Drainage relative permeability curve Imbibition relative permeability curve

IMBIBITION: a wetting phase displacing a non-wetting phase
DRAINAGE: a non-wetting phase displacing a wetting phase
 IMBIBITION AND DRAINAGE

IMBIBITION
DRAINAGE
EFFECT OF FLUID SATURATION, HISTORY OF
SATURATIONAND INITIAL WATER SATURATION

The imbibition process causes the non-wetting phase

to lose its mobility at higher values of saturation
than does the drainage process

The drainage process causes the wetting phase to

lose its mobility at higher values of saturation than
the imbibition process
 Capillary pressure and saturation history

Static problem involve Dynamic problem consist

1. fluid distribution 1. transport due to gravity
2. fluid contacts 2. capillarity
3. zonation in the reservoir 3. impressed external pressure

The capillary pressure-saturation relationship is dependent on the size and

distribution of pores, the fluids and the solids that are involved and the history of
saturation process
 Capillary pressure – saturation relationship
Information derived from capillary pressure-saturation relationship
is very much essential to the development of reliable reservoir
description

1. pore size distribution

2. pore throat sorting
3. connate water
saturation
4. zonation, fluid
contacts and initial
saturation distribution
 PORE SIZE DISTRIBUTION
The pore size and its relative distribution
influence fluid saturation distribution 2samcosam
porosity r = ------------------
permeability Pcam
wettability

The pressure with which

mercury penetrates the
sample determines the
pore radius and the
incremental volume
introduced determines the
relative number of pores
with that radius in the
sample
 PORE THROAT SORTING (PTS)

PTS basically provides a measure of

1. pore geometry and
2. the sorting of pore-throats within a rock sample
The value of PTS are computed using the following sorting coefficient equation
3rd Quartile pressure
PTS = -----------------------------
1st Quartile pressure
1st and 3rd quartile pressure represent the capillary pressure at 25 % and75 %
saturation respectively
Thus a value of PTS close to 1 indicates that the porous medium is well sorted,
that is, capillary pressure do not change significantly, and increasing amounts
of mercury can be intruded into the pore space at similar applied pressure.
A value of PTS much greater than 1 indicates that the sample is poorly sorted,
evidenced by rapid jump in the capillary pressure curve after crossing the 25 %
saturation
(a)Typical capillary-pressure curve showing the variation of wetting phase (usually water)
saturation with increasing differential pressure between oil and water that occurs with
increasing height of the HC column. (b) and (c ) the shape of the capillary –pressure curve
is controlled by textural properties of sediments.
 CONNATE WATER SATURATION

Three methods
1. Core analysis
2. Logging
3. Capillary pressure data

The connate water saturation

on the drainage capillary
pressure curve represent the
remaining discontinuous
wetting phase in the pore
space. The point at which the
capillary pressure curve
becomes almost vertical or
asymptotic
Comment on (a) Pore Throat Sorting (PTS) and (b) Connate Water
Saturation of two core plug sample (Sample 1 & Sample 2) from
the below laboratory determined mercury injection capillary
pressure curve.
Capillary pressure

Sample 1

Sample 2

Mercury saturation (%)

Below figure shows the drainage capillary pressure curves for four
rocks: A, B, C and D. Comment on their petrophysical properties
in terms of reservoir quality based on the provided curves.
Below figure represents a layered reservoir with different types of reservoir rocks
along with their representative capillary pressure curve. Comment on their
petrophysical properties in terms of reservoir characteristics and production
potential from each type of layers.

Sw
Zonation, Fluid contacts and initial saturation
distribution in a reservoir
When a value of g is 9.81 m/sec2, Pc is in N/m2 and
the density difference is in Kg/m3, then

This equation provides a relationship between capillary pressure and the height
above the plane of 0 capillary pressure; i.e, capillary pressure dat are easily
converted to height –saturation data based on which the fluid contacts, and fluid
distribution in a hydrocarbon reservoirare determined
It should be noted, however, that prior to converting Pc-Sw data to
h-Sw data, capillary pressure should be converted from laboratory
conditions to representative reservoir conditions
Most important practical application pertains to
1. Zonation
2. fluid contacts
3. initial fluid saturation distribution

Oil Pay Zone/

Clean Oil Zone

Transition Zone

Oil-Water Contact
Free Water Level
 Laboratory measurement of Capillary Pressure

Laboratory measurement is confined to two types of capillary pressure process

Drainage and imbibition
Reservoir rocks are far different from simple geometries:
1. Reservoir rocks are composed of interconnected pores of various sizes
2. Wettability of the pore surfaces varies due to variation in the mixture of
minerals in contact with the reservoir fluids
This leads to a variation of capillary pressure as a function of fluid saturation, pore
geometry and an overall mean wettability of the reservoir rock.
In all laboratory measurement methods, capillary pressures are measured on
cylindrical core plug samples of representative formation. So, all measurement
methods actually measure the average imbibition and drainage capillary pressure
– saturation relationships, somewhat equivalent to measuring these relationships
for a bundle of several capillaries of varying tortuosities.
Two types of core samples can be used
1. Preserved state or native state
2. Cleaned and dried samples
 LEVERETT’S CAPILLARY PRESSURE EXPERIMENTS
Used 6 different unconsolidated sand pack with different mesh
size and two sands contained clay like materials
Long tube filled with sand were saturated with water and suspended vertically

The drainage curves were obtained by desaturating (from 100% water saturation)
the water-saturated sand pack with one of its end lowered into a container having
free water level

The water saturation in the tube was then

determined at various positions above the free
water level in the container
The imbibition curves were obtained by lowering
the tubes packed with dry sand (100 % air or
non-wetting phase saturation) into the water so
that water was imbibed by the sandpack due to
capillary forces and saturations were measured at
various heights above FWL
 Leverett’s plot of imbibition and drainage data
obtained in the experiment
Plot expresses the capillary pressure in terms of a
dimensionless correlating function vs. water saturation:
gh k
Leverett’s dimensionless function = ------- ----
s 

 = density difference between water and air

g = gravitational constant
h = measured height during drainage and imbibition
s= air-water surface tension
k = absolute permeability of the sandpack
 = porosity of the sandpack

Clay-laden sands show different results in comparison with clean sand

More water was retained by the clay-laden sands at large values of h, the height

Leverett ascribed this observation to the fact that clay absorb water, that is, the
water so taken up being held more tightly than the same amount of water would
be held by capillarity.
 MERCURY INJECTION METHOD
Mercury injection apparatus include
1. A mercury pump for injection
2. A chamber to house the core sample
3. Pressure gauges
4. Arrangement for volume measurements
The sample of known pore volume and absolute
permeability is placed in the Hg chamber and
evacuated
Mercury is forced in the core sample under pressure
to displace the air
The volume of mercury injected at each
pressure determines the non-wetting phase
saturation
The injection procedure is continued until the core sample is filled with mercury
The pressures and saturations measured in this fashion determine
the drainage capillary pressure – saturation curve
A Mercury withdrawal capillary pressure curve can be determined by decreasing
the pressure in increments and recording the volume of mercury withdrawn.
The process continues until a limit is approached where the mercury ceases to be
withdrawn
The capillary pressure – saturation relationship determined in this manner
basically constitute the imbibition capillary pressure-saturation curve.
ADVANTAGES
1. significantly reduced test time
2. increased range of pressure investigated
3. ease of implementation
4. determine pore size distribution
DISADVANTAGES
1. Permanent loss of the core sample
2. Toxicity of the mercury vapour - a potential
health hazard
 CENTRIFUGE METHOD
The determination of the capillary pressure curve for an air-water system, begins
with complete water saturation of a cleaned and dried core sample
The sample is placed in a centrifuge tube (like fig below) which can be rotated at a
number of different speeds selected to cover pressure differences between phases
required for the particular core
At each speed, the rate of rotation is maintained constant until no
additional water is displaced by air. The speed of rotation is converted
into capillary pressure at the inlet end of the core according to the
following equation:

(Pc)i = (1.096 x 10-6)N2 (re – 0.5L)L

(Pc)i = the capillary pressure at the inlet end of the core in gm-
force/cm2
 = density difference in gm/cm3
N = speed of rotation in revolutions/min
re = the outer radius of the core in cm
L = length of the core in cm
The average water saturation in the core sample is determined by subtracting the
volume of displaced water from the original water content.
 CHARACTERISTICS OF
CAPILLARY PRESSURE CURVES

1. SATURATION SCALE

Capillary
forces are
dominant
Pd Pc (psi or atm.)

Gravity and
Capillary
forces both
active
2. PRESSURE SCALE

Complete Displacement or threshold

dominance of
gravity forces pressure or pore entry pressure
0
3. CAPILLARY HYSTERISIS
The two capillary pressure – saturation curves
are not the same. This difference in the two
curves is capillary hysterisis
This difference is generally attributed to wettability or
specifically related to the fact that advancing and receding
contact angles of fluid interfaces on solids are different

Ink-bottle effect
For capillary pressure-saturation (wetting
phase) relationship:
For a given capillary pressure, a higher
value of saturation is obtained if the
porous medium is drained than if the
porous medium is being imbibed with the
wetting phase fluid.
 4. CAPILLARY PRESSURE AND PERMEABILITY

Figure below shows air-mercury capillary pressure data for various

core samples having permeability k1>k2>k3>k4>k5

Decrease in permeability have corresponding

increase in the capillary pressure at a
constant value of mercury saturation.
In other words, when iso-saturation data are
compared, the sample having a permeability
of k1 mD has the lowest capillary pressure
whereas the one with permeability of k5 mD
has the highest capillary pressure.
The capillary pressure-saturation-permeability relationship is a reflection of the
influence of pore sizes; since the smaller diameter pores invariably have large
capillary pressure and lower permeabilities
 Averaging Capillary Pressure: The J function
Laboratory determined capillary pressure is based on core plug samples which represent
extremely small part of the reservoir
Because of the heterogeneity of the reservoir rock, no single capillary pressure curve can be
used for the entire reservoir
The capillary pressure-saturation relationships are affected by porosity and permeability of
the sample
Plot expresses the capillary pressure in terms of a
dimensionless correlating function vs. water saturation:
gh k
Leverett’s dimensionless function = -------  ----
s 

 = density difference between water and air

g = gravitational constant
h = measured height during drainage and imbibition
s= air-water surface tension
k = absolute permeability of the sandpack
 = porosity of the sandpack
 Averaging Capillary Pressure: The J function

The capillary pressure-saturation relationships are affected by

porosity and permeability of the sample
The approach that is commonly used in petroleum industry is actually based on
Leverett’s dimensionless function, called J function and expressed as

Pc k ½ Pc = capillary pressure (gh)

J (Sw) = ---- ---- s = interfacial tension

s   = porosity fraction

k = permeability

Pc k ½
J (Sw) = ------- ----
scos 
The j function is a means of converting all the capillary pressure –saturation data from a
formation to a universal curve