SPE 56559
Water Saturation Modeling: An Upscaling Point of View
S. Ekrann, SPE, Aker Geo Petroleum Services
Copyright 1999, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.
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Abstract
The paper addresses some mathematical aspects of water satura-
tion modeling. The upscaling problem, i.e., the substitution of an
equivalent homogeneous medium for the real heterogeneous
one, is shown to have a simple solution. This solution ensures
reproduction of observed effective saturation in wells, and sug-
gests methods to distribute saturation between wells. Elements
of common practice are shown to be questionable. In particular,
attempts to correlate effective saturation with effective perme-
ability may preclude reproduction of observed saturation, and
may lead to significant errors between wells.
Introduction
To estimate the original oil-in-place in an oil reservoir, one
needs to know the geometry of the reservoir, of course, and the
spatial distribution of porosity and water (and therefore oil) satu-
ration.
The conceptual reservoir model used in this paper is illus-
trated in Fig.1. The reservoir is made up of a set of geological
units. The free water level may be different in different units.
Each unit may be internally heterogeneous, with no limitations
as to the degree of heterogeneity present, as illustrated. The divi-
sion into geological units is supposed to be based on some sort
of internal similarity, however, allowing an assumption that het-
erogeneity statistics varies only slowly with spatial position in-
side each geological unit.
In practice, it is convenient to describe each geological unit
as homogeneous, or with slowly varying properties. This sub-
stitution of an equivalent homogeneous medium for the real het-
erogeneous one is what is referred to as upscaling in the title of
the paper. The core of the problem is determination of the physi-
cal properties of this equivalent medium, the effective properties,
assuming that properties are known on the small (rock) scale.
Effective properties are physical properties of the original me-
dium, but valid on a larger spatial scale. For water saturation
modeling, the main properties of interest are those of porosity
and capillary pressure. Once the effective capillary pressure
curve is determined, the effective saturation distribution can be
inferred, assuming the free water level to be known.
It should be added that the term upscaling in the reservoir
modeling context is often taken to imply translation from grid-
block properties of a fine (geomodel) grid to those of a coarser
(simulator) grid.13 In agreement with (a not very consistent, un-
fortunately) usage in the literature, such grid oriented upscaling
will be referred to as pseudoization.10,2 The construction of
pseudo capillary pressure curves will be briefly discussed.
This paper addresses the upscaling aspects of water satura-
tion modeling. Small scale data are assumed to be known. Also,
reservoir geometry is not an issue. Thus, the problem at hand is
basically a mathematical one, which can be shown to have a
very simple general solution.
Practical procedures are not always published in the open lit-
erature. From experience, typical procedures tend to rely on ob-
served relationships in the rock data. Examples are
1. All participating rock types share a common Leverett-J
function ⇒ Assign effective capillary pressure curve using
the same J-function and prevailing effective permeability.
2. Capillary pressure curves can be organized according to a
limited set of permeability classes ⇒ Assign effective cap-
illary pressure curve according to which permeability class
the effective permeability falls into.
3. Linear relationship between log saturation (at a given height
or capillary pressure) and log permeability ⇒ use same
linear relationship between log effective saturation and log
power averaged permeability.
It will be shown that the implicit assumption inherent in pro-
cedures 1 and 2 (i.e., that the effective capillary pressure curve is
equal to some rock curve) is generally untrue, and may some-
times produce quite significant errors. Similarly, procedure 3
2 S. EKRANN
suggests that effective permeability should be obtained by power
averaging with a power determined by saturation data. This will
be shown to be quite misleading.
The main result is the general solution to the upscaling
problem alluded to above. It does away with such reliance on
special relationships in the rock data. Any mixture of rock prop-
erties can be upscaled, at least in principle.
Effective properties
General
Consider a heterogeneous porous medium, and let signify
arithmetic averaging inside a limited volume V , as illustrated in
Fig.2. Referring an averaged quantity to the centroid position r
of the averaging volume, averaged quantities become functions
of spatial position (moving average). For instance, the arithmetic
average of porosity becomes
1
φ (r ) =
V ∫ φ dV …………………………………… (1)
V (r)
The averaging carried out in Eq.1 is sometimes referred to as
large scale volume averaging,1 and is at the core of most theo-
retical treatments of upscaling. Under certain (strict) conditions
one can define effective properties of the heterogeneous porous
medium, i.e., physical properties valid on the larger (averaging)
spatial scale. Moreover, it can be shown that the mathematical
form of the governing equations remains the same at this larger
scale,2 i.e.,
∂ (φ S p )
= − ∇ ⋅ u p , p = o, w ………………...…… (2)
∂t
k ⋅ k rp
up = − (∇p p − ρp g) , p = o, w …………….. (3)
µp
p o − p w = Pc (S w ) ………………………………….. (4)
for two-phase flow. Here, the bar denotes effective properties
and variables. The choice of symbol signals that effective quan-
tities are not necessarily obtained by arithmetic averaging. For
absolute permeability, for instance, it is well known that arithm-
etic averaging is correct only for along-layer flow in layered
media. Similarly, as will be shown, effective saturation must be
computed by porosity weighted averaging.
For Eqs.2-4 to hold, we need to assume that averaged quan-
tities are approximately constant on the spatial scale of averag-
ing.2 In turn, this requires the averaging scale to be much larger
than the spatial scale of heterogeneity (and other small scale
variation), and much smaller than that of any possible large scale
variation, such as variation of heterogeneity statistics. This is the
separation of scales condition.
SPE 56559
In the context of Eq.1, separation of scales makes φ (r ) in-
sensitive to small scale variation in r , at the same time allowing
sensitivity to large scale variation. This is illustrated in Fig.3,
showing a 1D distribution of porosity, and averaged porosity
φ (x) for three different sizes of the averaging window. Poros-
ity varies on a spatial scale of one length unit in this example. At
the same time, there is a slow trend (at a scale of 200 length
units, say) to the left of x = xb , at which point an abrupt change
in average porosity takes place. Consider first x < x b . The small
and large windows both show significant variation of averaged
porosity at the averaging scale, caused by the underlying small
scale variation and by the large scale trend, respectively. The
medium sized window produces an averaged porosity distribu-
tion with relatively small variation at the averaging scale, at the
same time capturing the slow trend in porosity, as required. It
should be added, perhaps, that the 1D nature of this example
actually makes the separation of scales condition difficult to
satisfy, since a large averaging window is necessary to suffi-
ciently smoothen the small scale variation. If a window length of
N length units is necessary in 1D, a linear scale of approxi-
mately N1/3 length units should suffice with 3D averaging.
At x = xb , not even the medium sized window produces an
acceptable result. An effective porosity can in principle not be
assigned in this region. This problem is solved by introducing a
discontinuity in averaged porosity at x = xb , as indicated by the
dashed extensions of the medium window curve. In some appli-
cations, one may have to introduce “skin effects” at such internal
boundaries. Such effects will be neglected here. The internal
boundary x = xb would correspond to a boundary between
geological units in Fig.1.
The conceptual framework outlined above is a slight for-
malization of standard practice. The petrophysicist/geologist, for
instance, is routinely faced with the challenge of dividing a for-
mation into a set of layers/zones, based on some measure of in-
ternal similarity, and with assigning effective (“average”) poros-
ity and permeability to individual layers/zones, based on log and
core (small scale) data.
It is often claimed that petroleum reservoirs contain hetero-
geneity on all scales.3 If so, the concept of effective properties
will not be rigorously applicable, because the separation of
scales condition cannot be satisfied. Such a situation would
seem to require a reservoir model handling even small (cm?)
scale heterogeneity explicitly, which would be very cumber-
some. Even in such situations, therefore, it is conceivable that
the concept can be used to provide an approximate description.
With two fluid phases, separation of scales must apply also
to the distribution of saturation. In displacement situations, this
may be difficult to ascertain. Also, we need to assume a well-
defined correspondence between effective saturation S w and the
SPE 56559 WATER SATURATION MODELING: AN UPSCALING POINT OF VIEW
underlying small scale saturation distribution S w (x ) , see below.
In many situations, such a correspondence is by no means obvi-
ous. Indeed, two-phase upscaling is an open field of research,
where rigorous results are few and hard to come by.4 The prob-
lem is much simpler in the stationary case of interest here, how-
ever, as we shall see.
Effective porosity, saturation, and capillary pressure
For water saturation modeling, it is required to determine ef-
fective porosity φ , effective saturation S w , and effective cap-
illary pressure function Pc (S w ) . From Eq.1,
φ ⋅V = ∫ φ dV ……………………….…………… (5)
V
Thus, arithmetic averaging is appropriate for porosity, since it
conserves the total pore volume, i.e.,
φ = φ ………………..……………………………. (6)
Effective water saturation S w must be defined such as to
conserve total volume of water, i.e.,
S w ⋅φ = φ S w …………...………………………… (7)
or
Sw =
φ Sw
=
φ Sw
…………………..………… (8)
φ φ
The choice of Eqs.6 and 8 for effective porosity and effective
saturation is unambiguous. For the present purpose, the choice
of averaging for pressure is unimportant. The simplest and most
convenient choice is ,1
pp = pp , p = o, w ……………………….…….. (9)
By Eq.4, there follows
Pc ( S w ) = p o − p w = p o − p w = Pc ( S w ) ……… (10)
Thus, to determine the effective capillary pressure curve one
needs to know the small scale distribution of saturation, S w (x ) ,
corresponding to a given large scale (effective) saturation S w .
The determination of S w (x ) is the central task in all two-phase
upscaling problems, as alluded to above. Neglecting gravity
forces locally, S w (x ) is generally governed by the balance be-
tween viscous and capillary forces, and may be very difficult to
determine. We are concerned with stationary situations, how-
ever, in which viscous forces are completely absent. Capillary
pressure must therefore be constant locally. If not, pressure gra-
3
dients are set up in at least one of the fluids, and flow will occur.
In this situation, the averaging of capillary pressure is trivial,
Pc = p c ……………………………………………. (11)
where p c is the prescribed (constant) capillary pressure. There
remains only to determine the effective water saturation S w .
Now, S w (x) must obviously satisfy
Pc (x , S w ) = p c …………………………………….. (12)
where Pc ( x , S w ) is the capillary pressure curve at position x .
Inverting Eq.12, there corresponds a saturation distribution
S w ( x , p c ) to each prescribed p c , and
φ S w ( pc )
S w ( p c ) = S w ( Pc ) = ………………... (13)
φ
determines one point on the effective capillary pressure curve.
Although the discussion so far has been in terms of spatial
distributions of porosity and saturation, the actual spatial ar-
rangements do not influence the final result, Eq.13. Thus, the
angular brackets may as well be interpreted as statistical aver-
ages, i.e.,
S w ( p c ) = S w ( Pc ) =
∫ f (φ, S w | pc ) φ S w dφ dS w
∫ g (φ) φ dφ
φ S w ( pc )
≡ …………………………….……… (14)
φ
where f (φ, S w | p c ) and g (φ ) are probability density func-
tions.
Fig.4 illustrates the determination of S w ( p c ) in a case with
n = 3 distinct rock types. Let f i be the fractional occurrence of
rock type # i , in which case Eq.14 takes the form
∑i =1 f i φi S wi ( pc )
n
S w ( p c ) = S w ( Pc ) = ……... (15)
∑ i=1 f i φi
n
If true rock endpoint capillary pressures are finite, curves can
be extended vertically to ±∞ at the ends of the saturation inter-
val, as illustrated in Fig.4, to allow rock saturation S wi to be
determined for any prescribed capillary pressure p c . For all
p c > Pci max , for instance, we set S wi = S wri .
In practice, to construct an effective capillary pressure curve,
one lets p c run through a set of discrete values in the interval
Pc min ≤ p c ≤ Pc max , where minimum and maximum values are
4 S. EKRANN
taken over all participating rock types. At each p c , the effective
saturation is computed according to Eq.14 or 15, to produce one
point on the effective capillary pressure curve.
This construction is completely general, in the sense of not
requiring any particular correlation or “similarity” between par-
ticipating rock types. Indeed, in Fig.4 two of the capillary pres-
sure functions are typical of water-wet rocks, but with different
saturation intervals, and the third function is typical of mixed-
wet rocks.
Eqs.6 and 14/15 easily accommodate truly non-net rock, i.e.,
with zero porosity, its inclusion serving only to reduce the ef-
fective porosity. Thus, there appears to be no formal need to
distinguish between net and non-net rocks inside a given geo-
logical unit (as long as the separation of scales condition is satis-
fied).
Similarly, the standard practice of introducing a cut-off in
porosity is unnecessary in the scheme outlined. Indeed, to the
present author, the introduction of such an arbitrary cut-off does
not seem to have much to recommend it. It implies that mobile
oil (in low porosity/permeability rocks) will be excluded from
the ensuing oil-in-place estimate, at the same time including
immobile (residual) oil in high porosity/permeability rocks. A
persuasive argument for this practice seems to be missing.
There is one additional point that needs to be covered. The
previous analysis neglected gravity. This may seem unaccept-
able, since gravity is important in determining the final satura-
tion distribution. However, gravity effects were neglected only
locally. Basically, this is again an assumption of separation of
scales, inasmuch as the variation of effective saturation caused
by gravity is assumed to take place on a spatial scale much
larger than is the variation caused by material heterogeneity.
The usual manipulation of Eqs.3 and 4 shows the stationary
distribution of effective saturation in an effectively homogene-
ous unit to be governed by
Pc (S w ) = ∆ρg( z − z 0 ) …………………….………. (16)
Here, z is the vertical co-ordinate, positive upwards, and z 0 is
the free water level (i.e., the vertical position at which Pc = 0 ).
This saturation distribution is illustrated in Fig.5. Also illustrated
is the saturation distribution in the underlying heterogeneous
medium.
In the figure, separation of scales is actually not very well
satisfied, since effective saturation varies quite significantly on
the spatial scale of heterogeneity. The substitution of a heteroge-
neous medium by its homogenous (effective) counterpart may
seem somewhat questionable in such situations. However, indi-
cations are that the separation of scales condition is overly con-
servative in practice.5,14 Also, since the final answer wanted in
water saturation modeling is the total volume of oil- in-place,
unsystematic errors will tend to cancel.
SPE 56559
As a final point, we reiterate that the scheme above allows
effective porosity to be a slowly (relative to the size of the aver-
aging volume) varying function of position, as shown in Eq.1.
Similarly,
Pc = Pc (r , S w ) ………………………………..…… (17)
in general. For instance, in distributing water saturation between
wells, one generally needs to assume that the capillary pressure
curve is a function of horizontal position inside a given geologi-
cal unit, i.e.,
Pc = Pc (x, y, S w ) ……………….…………………. (18)
Eq.18 assumes the unit to be effectively homogeneous vertically,
eliminating variation of the effective capillary pressure curve in
this direction. This assumption may not always be warranted. In
a unit consisting of a coarsening upwards (or downwards) se-
quence, for instance, one may have to let the capillary pressure
curve also vary with z inside the unit, i.e.,
Pc = Pc (x, y, z , S w ) ……………………………….. (19)
Such a z -dependence will complicate the description, and will
generally be disallowed in the treatment to follow.
Survival of rock capillary pressure functions
Introduction
Practical procedures sometimes make the implicit assumption
that the effective capillary pressure curve is equal to (some) rock
capillary pressure curve, i.e.,
Pc ( S w ) = Pc ( S w , φ , k ) …………………………… (20)
assuming, for the discussion to follow, rock capillary pressure
Pc ( S w ) to be a well-defined function of rock porosity and per-
meability. (Recall that the general solution given in Eqs.14 or 15
does not make this assumption. In the general case, therefore,
there is no “common” rock curve to be inherited by the effective
medium, making irrelevant the point investigated below). Co m-
bining Eqs.13 and 20,
 φ S w ( pc ) 
Pc ( S w ) = p c = Pc  , φ , k  …….….. (21)
 φ 
 
This equation is satisfied only if
φ S w ( p c ) = φ S w ( p c , φ , k ) ……….…………. (22)
Since saturation is generally a non-linear function of permeabil-
ity (and porosity), Eq.22 is not automatically satisfied. If we
attempt to take Eq.22 to define effective permeability k , the
data ( S w ( p c , φ, k ) ) must be such as to satisfy the equation for
SPE 56559 WATER SATURATION MODELING: AN UPSCALING POINT OF VIEW
all capillary pressures p c , with one fixed effective permeability
k . Even with data satisfying this requirement, this is an ap-
proach that cannot be recommended, as we shall see.
We shall investigate three typical situations in the light of
Eq.22:
Common J-function
Suppose that capillary pressure curves for all participating rock
types scale by a common Leverett-J function,6 i.e.,
1 φ
Pc = Pc ( S w , φ, k ) = J ( S w ) ………….……… (23)
c k
where c = 1 /(σ cosθ) is a constant. Inverting Eq.23,
S w ( p c , φ, k ) = J −1 ( c k / φ p c ) ………….……….. (24)
Assuming that φ is a constant, Eq.22 is satisfied for all pc ,
−1
with k = k , if J is a linear function of k , i.e.,
k less the argument of the logarithm function. Variation with po-
J −1 (c k / φ p c ) = a − b c 2 p c2 …………...…… (25)
φ rosity is assumed to be negligible. Eq.27 is a type of relationship
where a and b are constants. Inverting,
a − Sw
J (S w ) = ……….……………………… (26)
b
This function is not a realistic J-function, however, being con-
cave downwards. Thus, in practice, one should never expect a
common rock J-function to be inherited by the effective capil-
lary pressure curve.
Fig.6 shows an example, with J (S w ) = S w−2 . Permeability is
uniformly distributed between 1 md and 100 md, and φ / c= 1
bar md 1/2 . Shown are rock capillary pressure curves at three dif-
ferent permeabilities, and the true effective capillary pressure
curve according to Eq.14. Also shown is (1 / c) φ / k J (S w ) .
This is the naïve effective capillary pressure curve obtained by
assuming proportionality with the rock Leverett-J curve, i.e.,
according to procedure 1 in the introduction. In the figure, we
have taken k = k = 50.5 md.
As can be seen, the naïve effective capillary pressure curve is
different from its true counterpart. Also, it is clear from the fig-
ure that no alternative choice of k will make the two curves
coincide, i.e., the true effective capillary pressure curve is not
proportional to the rock Leverett-J function. Ref.7 shows what is
apparently an example of this effect with real data. The devia-
tion appears to be on the order of that shown above.
5
To what extent using the rock Leverett-J function for the ef-
fective capillary pressure curve will produce significant errors in
any given practical situation, would depend on the actual data. In
any case, the strict non-survival of the Leverett-J function, ex-
cept for the special function of Eq.26, should serve as a warning
against procedures implicitly based on this assumption. For
similar reasons, the wide-spread practice of using simple para-
metric representations of vertical water saturation distributions
may seem somewhat questionable.11,12 Even if rock capillary
pressure data can be fitted to a particular parametric representa-
tion, there is no guarantee that so can the resulting effective cap-
illary pressure curve.
Linear relationship between l nk and l nSw
The second situation we consider is that where data shows a
linear relationship between logarithms of saturation and perme-
ability, for a given capillary pressure p c ,
ln S w = a ln(k / k 0 ) + b ……………………...…….. (27)
Here, k 0 is a reference permeability put in to make dimension-
that is observed quite frequently in practice. A straightforward
manipulation yields
S w = e b ⋅ (k / k 0 )a ……………...…………………. (28)
Suppose now that all variation with p c is taken up by b ,
i.e., a is a constant and b = b ( p c ) . It is easy to see that Eq.22 is
then satisfied for all p c , provided the effective permeability is
chosen as
1/a
k = ka …………..……………...……………. (29)
This is power averaging, with a being the “averaging power”.9
With a = -1, 0, 1, harmonic, geometric, and arithmetic averag -
ing is recovered, respectively. In practice, with water-wet rocks,
one would expect S w to be non-increasing with k , implying
a ≤0.
Saturation a function of porosity alone
For yet another situation, assume the data to satisfy
S w ( p c ) = S w ( pc , φ , k ) ……………..….………… (30)
and
k = k (φ) ………………………………………….… (31)
Co mbining the equations,
S w = S w ( p c , φ) …………………………………… (32)
6 S. EKRANN
Eq.22 now takes the form
φ S w ( pc , φ ) = φ S w ( p c , φ ) …………….…….. (33)
Again, we must conclude that the equation is not necessarily
satisfied, due to the non-linear relationship normally existing
between (rock) saturation and porosity. In fact, we need to as-
sume S w independent of φ to trivially guarantee satisfaction of
Eq.33. In general, we must expect
S w ( p c ) ≠ S w ( p c , φ ) ……………………….…... (34)
Summary
In summarizing this section, the main conclusion is that the ef-
fective capillary pressure function valid for a heterogeneous me-
dium as a whole is generally not equal to any of its constituent
rocks’. Thus, any practice trying to force such identity between
effective and rock capillary pressure curves is questionable.
Even in the special cases specified by Eqs.26 and 27, a
strong warning must be issued. While k = k and
a 1/a
k= k , respectively, make the effective capillary pressure
curve coincide with a rock curve, this is not to say that these
averages are the correct effective permeability for fluid flow. In
deducing the formulae, no reference whatsoever was made to
spatial arrangement of the rocks, which is known to strongly
influence effective permeability. We will return to this point
shortly.
Areal distribution of water saturation
Introduction
Once the upscaling problem has been solved at the well posi-
tions, as discussed in previous sections, there remains to deter-
mine the water (and therefore oil) saturation between wells. In
principle, this requires the effective capillary pressure curve to
be known at any point in the reservoir. Inverting Eq.16,
−1
S wl = Pcl (x, y, ∆ρ g (z − z l0 )) ……….…………..... (35)
where superscript l has been introduced to distinguish between
geological units. Different units are allowed to have different
free water levels, see Fig.1. In Eq.35, each unit is assumed to be
effectively ho mogeneous vertically.
Only in wells is it possible to actually measure the saturation
distribution (and hence deduce the effective capillary pressure
function). The needed ( x, y) functionality of Pcl could be de-
termined via correlation with one or more mapped parameters.
1/ a
The discussion above suggests k and ka as correlating
parameters in special cases. We shall discuss correlating pa-
rameters in general, and effective permeability k and porosity
SPE 56559
φ in particular. Also, unaided interpolation between well val-
ues will be briefly addressed.
Parameters in p.d.f.s
By Eq.14, variation in Pcl (S w ) is caused by variation in the
probability density functions f l (φ , S w | pc ) and g l (φ ) . Thus,
in principle, one needs to specify these functions across the field.
If their variation can be correlated to one or a few parameters,
these parameters should be chosen as correlating parameters
even for Pcl (S w ) , provided they can be mapped, i.e., provided
the parameters themselves can be sensibly distributed across the
field. As a simple example, consider the capillary data of Fig.4.
Assume these three rock types to have the same porosity, and
assume the fractional occurrence of rock type #1 to always be
1/3, while fractional occurrence of rock type # 2 (and 3) varies
across the field. Fig.7 shows the effective capillary pressure
Pcl (S w ) for this system, according to Eq.15, for three different
values of f 2 . In this case, if the inter-well distribution of f 2 is
known or can be estimated, Pcl (S w , x, y) can be inferred.
If, in addition, one assumes that rock types # 2 and 3 have
the same permeability, neither effective porosity nor effective
permeability will vary with variation of f 2 . Thus, the example
also demonstrates that variation of Pcl (S w ) with ( x, y) is pos-
sible even when φ l
and k l are constants.
In this type of situation, where one is essentially able to dis-
tribute f l (φ , S w | p c ) and g l (φ) across the field, there is no
need to rely on a particular structure in the rock data, as the ex-
ample shows, due to the availability of a general solution
(Eq.14/15). Whether such control over the p.d.f.s is achievable
in practice in a given case must be judged from the actual data,
however.
Effective permeability
In situations where rock saturation is correlated to permeability,
effective permeability may seem a promising candidate to cor-
relate effective capillary pressure. However, this is generally a
bad choice, since k is sensitive to the spatial arrangement of
rocks, which the effective capillary pressure curve is not. To
demonstrate this point, consider power averaging as a method to
estimate effective permeability. Fig.8 shows averaging power as
a function of the ratio between horizontal and vertical correla-
tion lengths, L / H . L / H → ∞ corresponds to a layered me-
dium, and L / H → 0 corresponds to a medium consisting of
vertical cylinders. The figure also shows the ensuing (horizontal
component of) effective permeability in an example where per-
meability is uniformly distributed between 1 and 100 md.
SPE 56559 WATER SATURATION MODELING: AN UPSCALING POINT OF VIEW
As can be seen, effective horizontal permeability is sensitive
to L / H , although sensitivity is not dramatic in this particular
example. From Eqs.14 and 15, however, the effective capillary
pressure curve is completely insensitive to this parameter. Thus,
one may imagine situations where Pcl (S w ) is constant across
the field (because f l (φ, S w | p c ) and g l (φ) do not vary), while
k hl varies due to variation in L / H .
If using independent permeability data to correlate capillary
pressure functions, e.g. from well tests, acceptable reproduction
of the saturation actually observed in wells may be precluded:
As an example, assume rock data to satisfy Eq.27, with a = –
0.3, and the porosity constant. Averaging Eq.28,
S wtrue = e b ( p c ) ( k / k 0 ) −0 .3 ……………………..…. (36)
is the correct effective saturation at a given p c . Let
1 /ω
k = kω ……………………………………… (37)
be the permeability observed in a well test. In practice, the aver-
aging power ω may be close to unity, if the medium is nearly
layered. A negative averaging power is unrealistic for horizontal
flow. Naïvely using Eq.37 in Eq.28, there results
− 0 .3
 1 /ω 
S wapprox = e b ( p c )  k ω / k0  ………...…….
 
Fig.9 shows S wapprox / S wtrue as a function of averaging power ω .
Permeability is again taken to be uniformly distributed between
1md and 100md in the example shown. As can be seen from the
figure, water saturation can be quite severely underestimated by
this procedure.
Such a discrepancy between observed and “modeled” satu-
ration at a well location will introduce a need for corrections.
Indeed, whole maps are sometimes constructed to distribute such
corrections across the field. The need to introduce correction
maps should generally be taken as a sign of faulty modeling, as
illustrated above.
Effective porosity
If rock saturation is correlated to porosity alone, Eqs.30 and 31,
effective (average) porosity would seem a promising candidate
to correlate effective capillary pressure curves. As shown in the
previous section, however, a rigorous functional relationship
between effective porosity and effective capillary pressure func-
tion can not be expected even in this ideal situation.
Nevertheless, effective porosity does not have the perme-
ability’s inherent weakness of being sensitive to the spatial ar-
rangement of rocks. Also, average porosity is normally mapped,
and remains an attractive candidate, therefore.
7
By the previous discussion, the quality of this correlation is
not obvious, and should be checked in each case. One test would
compare effective capillary pressure curves and average porosity
derived at well locations. Ideally, two effective capillary pres-
sure curves should be identical if average porosity in a given
unit is equal in two wells, regardless of other differences in the
data.
If information is available on variation of the probability
density functions f l (φ , S w | pc ) and g l (φ ) across the field,
the quality of correlation between Pcl (S w ) and φ can be
judged mathematically, i,e., by computing (or at least estimat-
ing) effective saturation and effective porosity according to
Eqs.14 and 6 in a series of cases.
Interpolation in saturation
If a rigorous correlating parameter did exist, the effective satu-
ration could be distributed unambiguously between wells once
the correlating parameter had been mapped. In general, possible
correlating parameters are less than perfect, as we have seen, and
complementary approaches should be considered:
Let ( xi , yi ) denote the horizontal position of well # i . (We
shall assume all wells to be vertical, for convenience.) By Eq.35,
the vertical effective saturation distribution in unit l at the well
location is
(38) S wl = S wl ( xi , yi , z − z l0 ) …………………………… (39)
Eq.39 is written without reference to the geological unit’s
actual vertical position or thickness at the well location. This
would not be possible if Pcl (S w ) were a function of z inside the
unit. This more general situation is left as an open problem.
The task is now to estimate the horizontal distribution of
S wl ( z − z 0l ) , based on knowledge of the function in a set of dis-
crete points ( xi , yi ) . Except for the z -dependence, this is the
classical geostatistical problem. If point values
S wl ( xi , yi , z − z 0l ) are the only information available, ordinary
krieging suggests itself for this task. If one or more correlating
parameters are also known at the well points, cokrieging would
seem to be the method of choice. The geostatistical approach has
the additional advantage of offering a framework for uncertainty
estimation.8
Even if most of the preceding discussion has been in terms of
effective capillary pressure curves Pcl (S w ) , Eq.39 suggests that
water saturation modeling may conveniently be formulated in
terms of saturation only, without invoking the concept of capil-
lary pressure. After all, saturation distributions are what we ob-
serve in wells, and saturation is what we aim to distribute be-
tween wells. If core data are used, we also need to make the
identification p c = ∆ρg ( z − z 0 ) .
8 S. EKRANN SPE 56559

At the transfer to a reservoir simulator, however, we gener- 5. Effective permeability should not be used as a correlating
ally need to translate vertical saturation distributions to capillary parameter for effective capillary pressure, being strongly
pressure curves. sensitive to features the capillary pressure curve is not.
6. Effective porosity may sometimes be a candidate correlating
Oil in place parameter for effective capillary pressure, see Eqs.30 and
The discussion has so far been in terms of continuous distribu- 31. The reliability of such a relationship is not obvious, and
tions of saturation (and porosity). The oil in place is implicitly should be checked in each case.
assumed to be found from numerically evaluating 7. Special cases, Eqs.26 and 27, have a well-defined correlat-
ing parameter for effective capillary pressure.
OIP = ∑ ∫ φ l (1 − S wl ) dV …………………..….. (40) 8. Ideal correlating parameters are generally those describing
l Vl
the variation of p.d.f.s f l (φ, S w | p c ) and g l (φ ) across the
It is realized that commercial modeling software not always field.
conform to this scheme of things. For instance, saturation some- 9. Estimation of the effective saturation distribution between
times has to be entered with one value per layer (or geological wells is most conveniently carried out by interpolating di-
unit), necessitating part of the integration in Eq.40 to be carried rectly in the effective saturation function, e.g., by krieging
out prior to input. Similarly, some geomodeling software is grid- or cokrieging between well values, compare Eq.39
based. If a gridblock is large enough that the saturation distribu- 10. With a gridded reservoir description, pseudoization of ef-
tion is significantly non-linear inside the gridblock, pseudoiza- fective capillary pressure curves may be required.
tion of the effective capillary pressure curve may be necessary,
see appendix. Again, this work must generally be carried out
prior to input to the modeling software. This is a state of affairs Nomenclature
that is not entirely satisfactory. Symbols
a , b, c = generic constants
Summary and conclusions
Under certain separation of scales conditions, a heterogeneous f = probability density function,
medium has a homogeneous equivalent, the physical properties fractional occurrence
of which are referred to as effective. For water saturation mo d- g = probability density function,
eling, porosity, saturation, and capillary pressure are the impor- acceleration of gravity
tant quantities in question. Knowledge of the effective capillary g = − g e z = acceleration of gravity vector
pressure curve allows the effective saturation to be inferred at J = Leverett-J function
any point. Effective properties should be assigned separately to
k, k = permeability
separate geological units. Effective properties are “measured” at
well locations, and must be distributed between wells by corre- kr = relative permeability
lation with other map-able parameters, or by some sort of inter- L/H = ratio between horizontal and vertical correlation
polation between well values. Once the spatial distribution of lengths
effective porosity and effective capillary pressure is known, as p = pressure
well as the free water level, for each geological unit, OOIP can
pc = capillary pressure value
be determined, at least in principle, by spatial integration. We
refer to the determination of effective porosity, saturation, and Pc = capillary pressure curve/function
capillary pressure curves from known small scale (rock) data as r = radius vector, = x e x + y e y + z e z
the upscaling problem. The following conclusions are drawn:
S = saturation
1. The upscaling problem has a simple, general solution, al- t = time
lowing all types of rock properties/capillary pressure func- u = velocity
tions to be mixed. V = volume
2. Effective saturation must be computed by porosity weighted x = radius vector
averaging, Eq.8. zd = depth point
3. Except in special cases, Eqs.26 and 27, the effective capil- z0 = free water level
lary pressure curve is different from that of any of its con-
φ = porosity
stituent rocks’.
4. Simple parametric representation of effective capillary pres- ∆ρ = density difference, ρw − ρo
sure curves is not recommended. µ = fluid viscosity
SPE 56559 WATER SATURATION MODELING: AN UPSCALING POINT OF VIEW
ρ = fluid density
ω = averaging power
Superscripts
l = geological unit
Subscripts
h = horizontal
i = rock type,
gridblock
o = oil
p = phase, oil or water
r = residual
w = water
Averaging
= arithmetic averaging
= effective property or variable
ˆ|
= pseudo property or variable
Acknowledgement
The author is very grateful to Brita Holstad and Dagfin Arstad
for discussions on the practices of water saturation modeling.
Opinions expressed in the paper are the author’s, however, and
do not necessarily agree with those of these two people. Thanks
are also due to the management of Aker Geo Petroleum Services
for their interest in the topic, and for their permission to publish.
References
1. Quintard, M. and Whitaker, S.: “Two-phase flow in heterogeneous
porous media: The method of large scale averaging,” Transport in
Porous Media 3, 1988, 357-413.
2. Ekrann, S. and Dale, M.: “Averaging of Relative Permeability in
Heterogeneous Reservoirs,” The Mathematics of Oil Recovery,
P.R. King (ed.), Proceedings of ECMOR (Cambridge 1989),
Claredon Press, Oxford 1992, 173-199.
3. Allison, E. and Babcock, H.D.: “Discussion Group #5,” Reservoir
Characterization II (Lake, L.W., Carrol, H.B., and Wesson, T.C.,
eds.), Academic Press, 1991, 488-491.
4. Ekrann, S. and Aasen, J.O.: “Steady-State Upscaling,”, Proceedings
of ECMOR VI held in Peebles, Scotland, EAGE, paper C-27, Sept.
1998.
5. Quintard, M. and Whitaker, S.: “Two-Phase Flow in Heterogeneous
Porous Media I: The Influence of Large Spatial and Temporal
Gradients,” Transport in Porous Media 5, 1990, 341-379.
6. Leverett, M.C.: “Capillary Behaviour in Porous Solids,” Trans.
AIME (1941), 142, 152-169.
7. Flølo, L.H., Menard, W.P., Weissenburger, K.W., Kjærefjord, J.M.,
and Arnesen, D.M.: “Revealing the Petrophysical Properties of a
Thin-Bedded Rock in a Norwegian Sea Reservoir by the Use of
Logs, Core, and Miniperm Data,” paper SPE 49326 presented at
the 1998 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New
Orleans, Sept. 1998.
9
8. Isaaks, E.H. and Srivastava, R.M.: Applied Geostatistics, Oxford
University Press, 1989.
9. Nætinger, B. and Haas, A.: “Permeability Averaging for Well Tests
in 3D Stochstic Reservoir Models,” paper SPE 36653 presented at
the 1996 SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Den-
ver, Oct.1996.
10. Kyte, J.R. and Berry, D.W.: “New Pseudo Functions to Control
Numerical Dispersion,” SPEJ, Aug. 1975, 269-276.
11. Rafdal, J. and Wilson, O.B.: “Prediction of Water Saturation as a
Function of Porosity,” paper presented at the 15th SPWLA Euro-
pean Formation Evaluation Symposium, Stavanger, May 1993.
12. Cuddy, S., Steele, R., and Allison, G.: “A Simple Convincing
Model for Calculating Water Saturations in Southern North Sea
Gas Fields,” paper presented at the 34th SPWLA Annual Logging
Symposium, Calgary, June 1993.
13. King, P.R. and Williams, J.K.: “Upscaling Permeability: Mathe-
matics of Renormalization,” Proceedings of ECMOR IV held in
Røros, Norway, June 1994.
14. Dale, M., Ekrann, S., Mykkeltveit, J., and Virnovsky, G.: “Effective
Relative Permeabilities and Capillary Pressure for One-
Dimensional Heterogeneous Media,” Transport in Porous Media
26, 1997, 229-260.
Appendix. Pseudo capillary pressure
An effective capillary pressure curve, if it exists, is a physical
property of the porous medium itself. The concept allows the
true heterogeneous porous medium to be treated as an equivalent
homogeneous medium. In practice, reservoir descriptions are
often gridded. In particular, full field simulator grids may be so
coarse as to allow the effective stationary water saturation to
vary significantly over the gridblock thickness, see Fig.10.
In a gridded description saturation is assumed constant inside
each gridblock. In a stationary situation, the gridblock saturation
is read from the capillary pressure curve at the gridblock depth
point. This is equivalent to assigning the depth point saturation
to the whole gridblock. This depth point saturation may be dif-
ferent from the average saturation in the gridblock, as illustrated
in the figure. This effect may produce significant discrepancies
between oil-in-place estimates in the original reservoir model,
and in the reservoir simulation model to be used for production
forecasting. One solution is to assign a modified (pseudo) capil-
lary pressure curve to the gridblock itself, with the task of get-
ting the water (and oil) volume right.
The pseudo capillary pressure curve should be such that the
saturation read at the depth point is equal to the true average
saturation in the gridblock, i.e.,
∫V φ (r ) S w (r ) dV
Pˆci−1 ( ∆ρg ( z di − z 0 )) = i
≡ Sˆ wi ….. (A-1)
∫V φ (r ) dV
i
Here, P̂ci is the pseudo capillary pressure function in grid-
block # i , z di is the vertical position of the gridblock’s depth
10 S. EKRANN SPE 56559

point, and V i is its volume. ∫V φ (r ) dV is the total pore volume

i

in the gridblock, and ∫Vi

φ (r ) S w ( r) dV is the total volume of

water inside the gridblock, at the given free water level z 0 . Al-
though the illustration in Fig.10 is very simple, note that Eq.A-1
is quite general, allowing non-Cartesian gridblocks, and even
gridblocks cutting across two or more geological units with dif-
ferent properties.
The effective saturation distribution is determined from the
effective capillary pressure curve(s),
S w (r ) = Pc−1 (r , ∆ρg ( z − z 0 )) …………………….. (A-2)

The r -dependence of Pc keeps track of different Pc -curves

in different geological units, if need be, and variation with posi-
tion inside individual units. The free water level z 0 is now as-
sumed to be equal in all units in question.
Applying P̂ci on both sides of Eq.A-1,

Pˆci ( Sˆ wi ) = ∆ρg ( z di − z 0 ) …………………………. (A-3)

By running z 0 through all relevant values, a complete pseudo

capillary pressure curve can be generated by this procedure.
Fig.11 shows an example, with different size Cartesian grid-
blocks, all inside one (effectively) homogeneous unit.
Deviation between physical and pseudo curves increases
with vertical gridblock dimensions. Also, deviation increases
downwards, because the physical curve becomes more non-
linear downwards. In particular, deviation is large for saturations
corresponding to the oil-water contact inside the gridblock.
Even inside a single effectively homogeneous geological
unit, only gridblocks with the same size and geometrical shape
are guaranteed to have identical pseudo capillary pressure
curves. Thus, in irregular grids one may in principle have to
pseudoize each gridblock separately, which is not very attrac-
tive. In practice, such extensive pseudoization is usually not
necessary.
The need for pseudoization is related to the size of grid-
blocks. Two pseudoization steps may actually be needed, one at
the transition from the “physical” model to a gridded “geo-
model”, and one at transition from the geomodel to a (coarser)
simulation model.
In fact, the pseudoization step(s) may be considered as a sec-
ond (and third) “upscaling” step, where the first step is that of
constructing effective capillary pressure curves for individual
geological units. In a homogeneous medium, this first step is
unnecessary. The second step is unnecessary if geomodel grid-
block dimensions are small enough for the stationary effective
saturation distribution to be approximately linear inside each
gridblock (assuming the depth point to be taken at the grid-
block’s centre of gravity).
SPE 56559 WATER SATURATION MODELING: AN UPSCALING POINT OF VIEW 11

Pc

l=4 2 Pc3max
l=1
pc
3

l=3 l=5 1 Sw
0 1
z1 Sw2(pc) Sw3 (pc )
l =2 z3 Sw1(pc) Pc3min

Fig.4. Determination of saturation in individual rock types with pre-

Fig.1. Reservoir made up of a set of 5 heterogeneous geological scribed capillary pressure, Eq.12
units. Conceptual figure
Depth
y
t
i

r
s

Sw
Fig.5. Stationary saturation distribution in heterogeneous medium
o

Fig.2. Heterogeneous porous medium with averaging volume. Con- (light curve) and its homogeneous (effective) counterpart. Concep-
ceptual figure tual figure
r

xb 2
0,3 P c(bar)
k = 1md
o

299
Averaging: 9 units
49 k = 10md
P

1
0,25 Averaging: 299 units k = 50.5md Effective P c

Porosity data k = 100md

0
Averaging: 49 units
0,2 Position, x
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8
Sw 1
100 300 500 700 900
Fig.6. Capillary pressure curves for individual rocks, effective cap-
Fig.3. Averaging of porosity in 1D, different size averaging windows illary pressure curve according to Eq.14, and naïve effective capil-
lary pressure curve from average permeability. Permeability uni-
formly distributed between 1 and 100 md. See text for other data
12 S. EKRANN SPE 56559

Pc
f2 = 1/3

f2 = 2/3
f2 = 0 Ŝ wi
z di
Sw
S w ( z di )
0 1
S w ( z)
Sw

Fig.7. Effective capillary pressure curve for a mixture of Fig.4 rocks, Fig.10. Coarse gridblock # i (heavy lines for upper and lower bound-
at different fractional occurrences of rock type #2. Fractional of rock ary) and underlying effective stationary water saturation distribution
type #1 is always 1/3
Pc
1 55
ω Physical
0,8
kh
0,6 Pseudo 1
45
0,4
Pseudo 2
0,2
0
L/H
0 35 0 0,5 1
Sw
0,01 0,1 1 10 100 1000 10000
Fig.11. Physical and pseudo capillary pressure curves. Gridblocks
Fig.8. Averaging power ω for horizontal permeability as a function of two different sizes (vertical bars)
of L / H . From Ref.9. Resulting power averaged permeability with
uniform permeability distribution between 1 and 100 md.

1
Swapprox/ S wtrue

0,9

ω
0,8
0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1

Fig.9. S wapprox
/ vs. averaging power ω for true effective pe r-
S wtrue
meability. Uniform distribution of permeability between 1 md and
100 md. See text for other data