RELATIVEPERMEABILITY

Definition:Measureoftheabilityoftheporoussystemto conductonefluidinpresenceofotherfluids

Itisthecompositeeffectof

poregeometry fluiddistribution wettability saturationhistory appliedforcesequilibrium

CapillaryNumber,Ca=V/IFT ratioofviscoustocapillaryforces BondNumber,Bo=rgh/(2IFT/r) Ratioofgravitytocapillaryforces

RELATIVEPERMEABILITY
Wettability: Tendencyofonefluidtospreadortoadheretoasolid surfaceinpresenceofotherimmisciblefluids

Waterwet, Oilwet, Intermediatewet

mixedwetorfractionallywet

RELATIVEPERMEABILITY
Drainage: Decreaseofthewettingphasesaturation Imbibition: Increaseofthewettingphasesaturation Butmostofthereservoirsarenotstronglywaterwetnoroil wet.Thusthewettingandnonwettingfluidscannotbe defined. Byconvention! Drainage: Decreaseofthewatersaturation Imbibition: Increaseofthewatersaturation Inpetrophysicsandinreservoirsimulatorsthenotionofreference fluidisused waterinoil/waterdisplacements liquidingas/liquiddisplacements

RELATIVEPERMEABILITY

Drainage: oildisplacementbywater oilwetsand

Imbibition: oildisplacementbywater waterwetsand

Craig,1971

STEADYSTATEIMMISCIBLEFLOW

Kr

DP 1 Q1 Q2
Fluid1 Fluid2 Fluid1 Fluid2

DP 2

K A DP 1 1 Q1 = m1 L K2A DP 2 Q = 2 m 2 L

K1,K2effectivepermeabilities Kr1=K1/K Kr2=K2/K

relativepermeabilities

TWOPHASERELATIVEPERMEABILITY

Basepermeability Kair Kwater Koil@Swi

Krw<Krnw Krw+Krnw<1 Kr=(contactangle)

TWOPHASERELATIVEPERMEABILITY:HYSTERESIS

Fluiddistributionatthe porelevel Strongfornonwetting phase Lessimportantfor wettingphase

TWOPHASEKrANDWETTABILITY

TWOPHASEKrANDWETTABILITY

TWOPHASEKrANDWETTABILITY

Craigsrulesofthumb:
Waterwet Connatewater Usually>2025% PV saturation Crosspointof Krcurves Oilwet
Gener ally<15% PV Fr equently<10% PV

>50% water saturation <50% water saturation 0.5 maybeupto1

Krw@max Gener ally<0.3 watersaturation

Mostofformationsareofintermediatewettability

TWOPHASEKrANDWETTABILITY
ImportantnoticewhenmeasuringwateroilKr: Reproducewithinthesamplewettabilitypreferenceoftheformation

Nativestate
Wettabilityalteredby exposuretooxygen Wettabilityalteredthrough

Restoredstate
Avoiddryingofcorethatcan

resultindehydrationand collapseofclays (effectonrockpermeability)

lossoflightendsinoilby evaporation (roleofasphaltenes)

TWOPHASEKrANDWETTABILITY
Fluidselectionforwateroilandgasoilrelpermtests

WateroilKr
reservoiroil formationorsynthetic

GasoilKr
refinedorreservoiroil saturatedgas reservoirorlabP,T

brine (saturatedwithgas)
reservoirP,T

CHARACTERISTICSOFWATEROILRELPERMS

1 0,9 0,8 0,7 0,6 Kr 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 0 0,2 0,4 Sw 0,6 0,8 1 Sw i Krw Sor Kro

Krwendpoint Crosspoint

CHARACTERISTICSOFWATEROILRELPERMS
0 1 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1

0,1

Kro

Kr

0,01

0,001 Sw i 0,0001 Sw

Krw Sor

Forhomogeneousrocks: ExtrapolatesmoothKrwcurvetolowSwvalues AssessKrovaluesatlowSovalues

CHARACTERISTICSOFWATEROILRELPERMS
Krovsnormalizedsaturation
0,1 1 1

0,1 Kro 0,01

Son =
0,001

S o - S or = 1- Sw- S or 1- Swi - S or 1- S wi - S or
Son

Son So Sw Swi Sor

=normalizedoilsaturation =oilsaturation =watersaturation =irreduciblewatersaturation =residualoilsaturation

K ro = Sonno
n o =Coreyexponent

CHARACTERISTICSOFWATEROILRELPERMS
Krwvsnormalizedsaturation
0,1 1 1

0,1

Krw

0,01 nw=4 0,001

0,0001 Sw n

Sw - Swi Swn = 1- Swi - S or

Krw = Krw- end - point *Swnnw

n w =Coreyexponent

BumpflowtogettrueKrwendpointvalue

CHARACTERISTICSOFWATEROILRELPERMS
Coreyexponents
1 0,9 0,8 0,7 0,6 Kr 0,5 0,4 0,3 0,2 0,1 0 0 0,2 0,4 Swn 0,6 0,8 1
no=4 nw=3 nw=5 no=3

Krw Krw Kro Kro

CHARACTERISTICSOFWATEROILRELPERMS
Coreyexponentsshouldbeconsistentwithwettabilitymeasurements

Wettability

OilCor eyexponent, Water Cor eyexponent, n o n w

Water wet Inter mediatewet Oilwet

2to4 3to6 6to8

5to8 3to5 2to3

MEASURINGWATEROILRELPERMS
Wettabilityissues
intermediatewettability needforappropriaterepresentationinlabtests testsatreservoirP,Twithreservoirfluids

Restoringreservoirwettability

thoroughcleaning(solvents) milddrying saturationwithwater establishingSwi injectionofviscousoil(plugsorcomposite) porousplate(plugsorcomposite) centrifuge(plugs) injectionofcrudeoil aging(atTforseveralweeks) displacementofcrudeoilwithliveoil

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS

Steadystate Unsteadystate(dynamicdisplacement) Centrifuge

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS SteadyState
DP 1 Q1 Q2
Fluid1 Fluid2 Fluid1 Fluid2

DP 2

KKr 1 A DP 1 Q = 1 m1 L KKr2A DP 2 Q = 2 m 2 L

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS

STEADYSTATE

Advantages
DirectdeterminationofKr@largerangeofS Nomathematicaldevelopments Reservoirconditions(P,T)

Shortcomings
Timeconsuming,expensive Capillaryendeffects longcompositecores Representativityofflowinthereservoirquestionable

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS
DP 1 Q1 Q2
Fluid1 Fluid1

nw
Fluid2

Nonuniformsaturation

w DP 2 DP 1

Fluid2

Q1 Q2

Fluid1 Fluid2

Fluid1

Solution1
Fluid2

DP 2
NumericalSimulationsifPcknownSolution2

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS Unsteadystatemethod
DP
water oil
Swi

Oil Vnr

Water Vr

AnalyticalcalculationonlyforPc=0 WelgeKro/Krw JBN Kro,Krw

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS Unsteadystatemethod:experimentalprocedure
Coreinitially@Swi MeasurementofKeo@Swi Waterinjection@constantflowrate Measurementoftheproducedoilvolume,water volumeandpressuredropwithtime MeasurementofKew@Sorw Calculations

WelgeKro/Krw JBN Kro,Krw

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS
UNSTEADYSTATE

Advantages Fast Representativityofflowinthereservoir Reservoirconditions(P,T) Shortcomings Calculationsnotstraightforward Strongassumptionsforanalyticalcalculations homogeneoussamples Pc=0 Narrowrangeofsaturations(onlyafterBT) Toovercomeshortcomings Performinsitusaturationmeasurements(Xrayorgray absorption,CTscanner) Numericalinterpretationofthedisplacementdata

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS

UNSTEADYSTATE
Numericalinterpretationofthedisplacementdata Fluidproduction Pressuredrop Saturationprofiles Reliablecapillarypressure representativeofrock/fluids/process

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS
UNSTEADYSTATENumericalInterpretation(1)
Fluidproduction
40 35

30 Cum ulativeoilvolum e(cm 3)

25
200

Pressuredrop
180

20

Voilexp Voilmod

15

160

10

Overallpressuredrop(m bar)

140

120

Saturationprofiles
0.9

100

0 0 50 100 150

200 80

250 Tim e(mn)

300

350

400

450

500
0.8

DPexp DPmod

60

40

0.7 Swj@40mn

20

0.6

Swj@80mn Swj@120mn Swj@160mn

0 0 50 100 150 200 250 Tim e(mn) 300

Sw

0.5

350
0.4

400

450

500

Swj@200mn calc40 calc80 calc120 calc160 calc200

0.3

0.2

0.1

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Corelength(cm)

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS
UNSTEADYSTATENumericalInterpretation(2)
Fluidproduction
40 35

Cumulativ eoilv olume(cm3)

Pressuredrop
180

30

25

Voilexp Omodnew15

20

160

15

Ov erallpressuredrop(m bar)

140

10

120

Saturationprofiles
250 300 350 400 450 500

100

80

0 0 50 100 150

200 60

DPexp DPmodnew15
0.9

Time(mn)
0.8

40

20

0.7 Swj@40mn Swj@80mn 0.6

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450 500

Swj@120mn Swj@160mn Swj@200mn calc40new15 calc80new15 calc120new15 calc160new15 calc200new15

Sw

Time(m n)0.5
0.4

0.3

0.2

0.1

0 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Corelength(cm)

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS
UNSTEADYSTATE TwodifferentPc
0.15
1.00

TwodifferentKrsets

Pcowold Pcownew 0.1

krwnew
0.90

krownew krwold krowold

0.80

Water oilcapillar ypr essur e(bar)

0.70

0.05
0.60

Kr

0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

0.50

0.40

0.05

0.30

0.20

0.1
0.10

0.15

0.00 0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 Sw 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90

Water satur ation

WATEROILKr:MEASUREMENTMETHODS
CENTRIFUGE

Advantages Fast Onespeedstepsufficient Stabledisplacement Krooverwidesaturationrange Shortcomings Calculationsnotstraightforward Strongassumptions Krofonlytheproducedphase(Kro) Plugsonly@TbutnotP(representativewettability?)

GASLIQUIDRELATIVEPERMEABILITIES

GASOILKrneededwhen: expansionofgascap gasinjection solutiongasdrive gasstorage gascondensate WAG GASWATERneededwhen: activeaquiferingasreservoir WAG

GASLIQUIDRELPERM:CRITICALGASSATURATION

Sgc:Gassaturationabovewhichgasiscontinuous

Veryimportantforsolutiongasdrive(P<Pbubble) Lessimportantforgasinjection

Dependson: Poresizedistribution,aspectratio,connectivity Displacementmechanism(higherforpressure depletionthanforgasinjection

GASLIQUIDRELPERMMEASUREMENTS
Steadystategasfloods CorePlugsorCompositecores Saturationdeterminationendeffects Roomorreservoirconditions(refinedoil&inertgas orreservoiroilandgas) Unsteadystategasfloods CorePlugsorCompositecores Endeffectslocalsaturationmeasurements Roomorreservoirconditions(refinedoil&inertgas orreservoiroilandgas) Centrifuge Lesscapillaryeffects OnlyKro(andendpointKrg) Roomconditions(refinedoil&inertgas)

GASLIQUIDRELPERM:NORMALIZEDVALUES
1- Sg - Swi - S or Son = 1- Swi - S or

K ro = Sonno K rg = Sgnng

Sgn =

Sg - Sgc

1- S wi - S or - S gc

Son So Sgn Sg Swi Sor Sgc

=normalizedoilsaturation =oilsaturation =normalizedgassaturation =gassaturation =irreduciblewatersaturation =residualoilsaturation =criticalgassaturation

n o =Coreyexponentforoil(4to8) n g =Coreyexponentforgas(2to4)

GASOILRELATIVEPERMEABILITIES

Unsteadystatemeasurementsoncompositeor longcoresarethemostreliable Reducedproblemswithwettabilityandendeffects StillexperimentsatreservoirP,Tshouldbegiven preference ObtainKroKrgcurvesunderrepresentative

displacementmechanisms

EQUATIONS2DDISPLACEMENT
kkr 1 P 1 u = r g 1 1 m 1 x S1 + S2 = 1
u S 1 1 +j = 0 x t u2 S2 +j = 0 x t

kkr2 P 2 u2 = r g 2 m 2 x

P S 2 - P 1 = P c ( 1)

EQUATIONS2DDISPLACEMENT
U j
F 1 S S S 1 1 1 + Y + S x x 1 x t = 0 1

k 1 P c Y1 = U m 1 + m 2 S 1 kr1 kr2

m 2 k( r 1 - r 2 )g + kr2 U F 1 = m 1 m 2 + kr1 kr2

CASEOFNEGLIGIBLECAPILLARYPRESSURE

U j

F 1 S S 1 1 + S x t = 0 1

BuckleyLeverettequation

Y1 = 0

m 2 k(r 1 - r 2 )g + kr2 U F 1 = m 1 m 2 + kr1 kr2

Krunsteadystate@constantflowrate
LQ m w P w = AK
* * P o =

P*:pressureduringflowofonlywater oronlyoilattheinjectionrateQ

LQ m o AK
' (V w - tV w)

Sw = Swi -

Sw:watersaturationattheendface

V P

' * V P w Krw = w Q P- tP'

Kr:relativepermeabilities

' * V P o Kro = o Q P- tP'