Petrophysics Intro

Foundations of
Petrophysics
-- Introduction --
Petrophysics
Petro = Rock
Physics = Physical Properties
• Cuttings
• Core (conventional and sidewall)
• Logs
• Seismic
Effects on Log Response
Many factors affect log response and petrophysical calculations.
Dominant factors include (but are not limited to) the following:
• Lithology • Variants of logging tool

• Fluid type • Tool position/orientation
• Porosity • Borehole diameter
• Permeability • Mud type and weight
• Temperature and pressure • Invasion profile
• Cement/casing type
IMPORTANT: Many of these factors force critical corrections to
be made in calculating certain petrophysical information.
Failure to make appropriate corrections
may yield erroneous results
The Nature of Sedimentary Rocks
Most of the world’s hydrocarbons are sourced from and are

trapped in sedimentary rocks.
Two broad divisions:
1) Clastic – mechanically derived; include conglomerates,

sandstones, and shales (some argue shales are chemical due
to change in mineralogy due to clay formation)
2) Chemical – carbonates, evaporites, chert and coal

Texture of Clastic Rocks
Texture of Clastic Rocks
Sandstone composition is highly dependent upon

1. Source
2. Climate
3. Environment of transport and deposition
Examples:
Quartz-dominated – far transport
Feldspar-dominated – less transport near granitic source.
Shales – primarily composed of clays; mainly near-shore

marine; rest are deep marine, fluvial or lacustrine.
Shales can be important source rocks and reservoir rocks.

Carbonates
Carbonates comprise 10% of section, but account for 50% of

world’s hydrocarbon reserves.
Calcium-dominated = limestone
Magnesium-calcium = dolomite
Others less common.

Evaporites
Halite – NaCl; can represent important seal, and its lower

density leads to enhanced mobility and thus important for
structure.
Gypsum/anhydrite – Ca sulfates; again can represent important

seal.
Phosphatic rocks – can have high organic carbon content and

can thus represent important source rock beds.
Chert – microcrystalline silica from deep-marine

microorganisms; important replacement mineral in shales
and limestones; generally tight.
Porosity
• Porosity is a measure of the fluid volume of the rock, and is typically
expressed in percent.
f = Vpore/Vtotal * 100%
• Porosity of rocks varies dramatically dependent upon lithology, cement, and

diagenesis.
• Lithology
• Unconsolidated mud can have tens of % of porosity.
• Consolidated mud (e.g., shale) typically have low values of porosity due
to reorientation of clay minerals.
• Sandstone porosity is primarily dependent upon grain size(s) and
shape(s), and packing arrangement. Generally ranges from a few percent
up to about 25%.
• Carbonate rocks can have extremely high porosity (tens of %), e.g., even
cavernous porosity may form.
• Cementation reduces porosity.
• Diagenetic effects may increase or decrease porosity and include compaction

(decr.), cement growth (decr.), or secondary porosity (incr.; fracturing, solution,
and dolomitization)
Permeability
• Permeability is a measure of the degree to which the rock can conduct fluid.
k = Qm / A(DP/L), where
Q = flow per unit time
m = viscosity of flowing medium
A = cross section of rock
L = length of rock
DP = pressure differential (drop)
• Permeability is measured in terms of Darcies (D) or milliDarcies (mD). One

Darcy = single phase fluid of one centipoise viscosity (viscosity of water at
68ºF) that completely fills pore volume and flows through material at 1 cm3/sec
per cm2 of cross-section area under pressure gradient of 1 atm/cm.
• Permeability types
• Absolute permeability = single fluid (water, oil, or gas) in rock
• Effective permeability = permeability of a fluid (kw, ko, and kg) in a rock
when another fluid is present. Sum of effective permeabilities will always
be lower than absolute permeability due to mutual interference of fluid
types.
• Relative permeability = effective permeability / absolute permeability.
Core Permeability
Porosity and Permeability
• Typically, Permeability increases with an increase in Porosity.
• However, there are cases where the two do not correlate.

• Low Porosity rocks may have high Permeability.
• Open fractures
• Typically, k = 0.544x108 * w2, where w = fracture width (in.)
• Thus, a 0.01” fracture has k of 5,440 D!
• Solution channels with circular to near-circular openings
• k = 0.2x108 * d2, where d = diameter of opening (inches)
• Thus, a solution channel of 0.001” has k of 20 D.
• Porosity can be determined from several log types and core analysis.
• Permeability can be determined from well testing (e.g., DST), core analysis, or
estimated through correlation to well log data. Use caution!
Timur Equation
k (mD) = 0.136 * f4.4 / Swi2, where f and Swi2 are in %
Morris and Biggs Equation
k (mD) = [Cf3 /Swi ]2, where C = {250 for oil; 80 for gas}, and f and Swi2
are decimal fractions (not %!)
Formation Fluid Properties
• Subsurface waters represent diversity of sources
• newly formed waters
• atmospheric waters
• ocean waters
• waters from diagenetic reactions
• Complex histories
• filtrations through clays
• ion exchange
• precipitation of minerals
• reactions with rock matrix and other fluids
• creation/introduction of hydrocarbons
• Initial water in most rocks is sea water = conductive
• Salinity generally increases with depth and thus conductivity increases with
depth. Reversals may occur, and considerable variation may exist especially
due to filtration through clays.
Formation Fluid Properties
• Water density depends on salt content, temperature, and pressure.
• Density of water decreases with increased temperature.
• Density of water increases with increased salt content and pressure.
• Resistivity ranges from 0.02 ohm-m to several ohm-m at formation temp.
• Resistivity of formation water (Rw) can be determined by direct resistivity

measurement on a sample, by chemical analysis, or estimated by NaCl
concentration.
• Temperature corrections are critical, not only are formation water resistivities
dependent upon temperature, but so are drilling fluid waters.
Resistivity of Saline Solutions
Equivalent NaCl concentrations from other ions
Oil and Gas Properties
• Specific gravity related to API gravity by:
• rho (density at 60 degrees F) = 141.5 / (API gravity + 131.5)
• Dissolved gas in oil decreases specific gravity as gas/oil ratio increases.
• Dry gas density is a function of reservoir pressure and temperature.
• Viscosity of gas-free oil decreases with temperature.
• Viscosity of gas-saturated oil can be determined from corrections.

Reservoir Oil Density
as function of API gravity and gas-oil ratio (GOR)
Specific Gravity of Oil versus Temperature
Viscosity of Gas-Free Oils
Viscosity of Gas-Saturated Oils
Subsurface Pressure Regimes – Hydrostatic Pressure
• Hydrostatic pressure – weight of vertical fluid column; size and shape has no
effect on magnitude.
Phy = r * g * D, where r = average density, g = gravity value, D = height
• Hydrostatic pressure gradient is affected by concentration of dissolved solids

and gases in the fluid column and different or varying temperature gradients.
• More salts increase gradient
• More gases and/or higher temperature decrease gradient
• Hydrostatic pressure gradient (in psi/ft) = 0.433 * r

Typical Hydrostatic Pressure Gradients
Niger Delta 0.465-0.475

Subsurface Pressure Regimes – Overburden Pressure
• Overburden pressure originates from the combined weight of formation
matrix (rock) and the fluids (water, oil, and/or gas) in the pores overlying the
formation of interest.
• Po = weight (rock matrix + fluid) / area
• In general overburden pressure increases uniformly with depth.
• e.g., Tertiary Gulf Coast exhibit overburden pressure gradient of 1.0 psi/ft,
corresponding to average bulk density of 2.31 g/cc.
• Maximum overburden gradient in clastic rocks may by up to 1.35 psi/ft.
• Varying overburden pressures have important implications for fracture

pressure gradient predictions in drilling and completion.
Subsurface Pressure Regimes – Formation Pressure
• Formation pressure (Pf) is the pressure acting upon the fluids in the pore
spaces in the formation.
• Normal formation pressure will equal hydrostatic pressure of water from

surface to subsurface.
• BUT, abnormal formation pressures are not uncommon.
• Pf > Phy  geopressured (or suprapressured or surpressured).
• Pf < Phy  subpressured.
• In normal pressure (Pf = Phy), matrix stress supports overburden load due to
grain-to-grain contact. Any reduction of grain-to-grain stress (s 0) causes
pore fluid to support part of overburden, thus formation pressure exceeds
hydrostatic pressure. Overburden may effectively be “floated” by high
formation pressures. Mainly due to rapid burial and formation of impermeable
zones.
Subsurface Pressure Gradients
Offshore Louisiana Well
Fluid Saturation Distribution
• Fluid saturation is the percentage of the porosity of a rock occupied by a
specific fluid.
• Water saturation of 50% (Sw = 0.5) means 50% of the pore volume is occupied
by water.
• In water/oil scenario, the So = 1 – Sw.
• Water saturation is key factor determined from logs (though So is obviously

important!), as it controls the reservoir production behavior and the amount of
hydrocarbons in place.
• An oil reservoir at irreducible water saturation (Sw irr) produces water free,
but with increasing Sw above Sw irr produces more water.
• THERE IS NO UNIQUE, SINGLE WATER SATURATION VALUE TO USE AS

CUTOFF FOR COMMERCIAL OR WATER-FREE PRODUCTION.
-- EACH RESERVIOR HAS ITS OWN UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS --

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Foundations of

Many factors affect log response and petrophysical calculations.

• Lithology • Variants of logging tool

Most of the world’s hydrocarbons are sourced from and are

Two broad divisions:

1) Clastic – mechanically derived; include conglomerates,

2) Chemical – carbonates, evaporites, chert and coal

Sandstone composition is highly dependent upon

Shales – primarily composed of clays; mainly near-shore

Shales can be important source rocks and reservoir rocks.

Carbonates comprise 10% of section, but account for 50% of

Others less common.

Halite – NaCl; can represent important seal, and its lower

Gypsum/anhydrite – Ca sulfates; again can represent important

Phosphatic rocks – can have high organic carbon content and

Chert – microcrystalline silica from deep-marine

• Porosity of rocks varies dramatically dependent upon lithology, cement, and

• Cementation reduces porosity.

• Diagenetic effects may increase or decrease porosity and include compaction

• Permeability is measured in terms of Darcies (D) or milliDarcies (mD). One

• However, there are cases where the two do not correlate.

• Initial water in most rocks is sea water = conductive

• Density of water decreases with increased temperature.

• Density of water increases with increased salt content and pressure.

• Resistivity ranges from 0.02 ohm-m to several ohm-m at formation temp.

• Resistivity of formation water (Rw) can be determined by direct resistivity

• rho (density at 60 degrees F) = 141.5 / (API gravity + 131.5)

• Dissolved gas in oil decreases specific gravity as gas/oil ratio increases.

• Dry gas density is a function of reservoir pressure and temperature.

• Viscosity of gas-free oil decreases with temperature.

• Viscosity of gas-saturated oil can be determined from corrections.

Phy = r * g * D, where r = average density, g = gravity value, D = height

• Hydrostatic pressure gradient is affected by concentration of dissolved solids

• Hydrostatic pressure gradient (in psi/ft) = 0.433 * r

Niger Delta 0.465-0.475

• Po = weight (rock matrix + fluid) / area

• In general overburden pressure increases uniformly with depth.

• Varying overburden pressures have important implications for fracture

• Normal formation pressure will equal hydrostatic pressure of water from

• BUT, abnormal formation pressures are not uncommon.

• Pf > Phy  geopressured (or suprapressured or surpressured).

• Pf < Phy  subpressured.

• In water/oil scenario, the So = 1 – Sw.

• Water saturation is key factor determined from logs (though So is obviously

• THERE IS NO UNIQUE, SINGLE WATER SATURATION VALUE TO USE AS

-- EACH RESERVIOR HAS ITS OWN UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS --

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