Porosity

Porosity is the first of two essential requirements for a rock to act as a hydrocarbon reservoir. It is simply a
measurement of the pore or void spaces in a rock and is usually expressed as a percentage using the formula:

Porosity (%) = 100

Porosity is often represented by the Greek letter phi (  ).

Figure 1 shows the frequency of oil and gas reservoirs plotted against porosity. Almost all reservoirs have porosities
in a range of five to thirty percent with the majority falling between ten and twenty percent.

Figure 1

Any porosity less than five percent is very seldom commercial, and any porosity over thirty-five percent is
extremely unusual. Porosity can be measured in the laboratory from cores and down the borehole using well logs,
especially the sonic, density and neutron logs. Occasionally, it can be estimated from seismic data.

There are three main types of porosity: interconnected, connected and isolated. Interconnected porosity utilizes
multiple pore throat passages to connect neighboring pores ( Figure 2 ).
 Figure 2

Connected, or dead-end, porosity has only one pore throat passage (a) connecting with another pore space ( Figure 3
).
 Figure 3

Isolated porosity has no connections between pores ( Figure 4 ).

 Figure 4

Interconnected and connected pores constitute effective porosity because hydrocarbons can move out from them. In
the case of interconnected porosity, oil and gas flowing through the pore space can be flushed out by a natural or
artificial water drive. Connected porosity is unaffected by flushing but may yield some oil or gas by expansion, as
reservoir pressure drops. Reservoirs with isolated porosity are unable to yield hydrocarbons. Any oil or gas
contained entered the pore spaces before they were closed by compaction or cementation. Thus, isolated porosity
contributes to the total porosity of rock but not to the effective porosity.

Porosity can be classified into two major types according to its origin (Murray, 1960). Primary porosity is formed
when a sediment is deposited. Secondary porosity forms after deposition.