Oil & Gas Engineering Dept. Petroleum Geology / 6 MSc. Hussein A.

Petroleum System
( Part Four )

Physical Characteristics of Reservoir (continued)

Permeability and Capillary pressure

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4. Permeability

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Permeability (K): is the capability of a rock to transmit a fluid. It

depends crucially on the connections between the pores. Darcy’s law

establishes the basic relationship between pressure, flow rate and

permeability. The higher the permeability, the greater the presence of

those flow channels and the greater the potential for maximum recovery

of hydrocarbon from the reservoir rocks.

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Recovery of hydrocarbons from the reservoir is an important process in

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petroleum engineering and estimating permeability can aid in

determining how much hydrocarbons can be produced from a reservoir.

Permeability is a measure of the ease with which a formation permits a

fluid to flow through it. To be permeable, a formation must have

interconnected porosity (intergranular or intercrystalline porosity,

interconnected vugs, or fractures).

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To determine the permeability of a formation, several factors must be

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known: the size and shape of the formation, its fluid properties, pressure

exerted on the fluids and the amount of fluid flow. The more pressure

exerted on a fluid, the higher the flow rate.

The more viscous the fluid, the more difficult it is to push through the

rock. Viscosity refers to a fluid’s internal resistance to flow, or its

internal friction.

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Permeability is measured in Darcy. Few rocks have a permeability of 1

Darcy, therefore permeability is usually expressed in millidarcies (mD)

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or 1/1000 of a Darcy. Permeabilities in an oil reservoir are rated as

follows:

Poor 1-10 mD

Fair 10-100 mD

Good 100-1000 mD

Excellent >1000 mD

Note: For a gas reservoir, the permeabilities are ten times lower for
a given rating.
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Darcy’s Law

K = permeability, in Darcy.

L = length of the section of rock, in centimeters.

Q = flow rate in centimeters / sec.

P1, P2 = pressures in bars.

A = surface area, in cm2.

µ = viscosity in centipoise. 6
The oil industry has applied this “Darcy Equation” to hydrocarbon
reservoirs, and it has become one of the most important equations in
Petroleum Engineering. The larger the permeability value, the greater

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the presence and/or size of flow channels within the reservoir system,
and in the case of reservoir rock, the more easily hydrocarbons stored
within that rock can be produced.
Permeability is usually measured parallel to the bedding planes of the
reservoir rock and is commonly referred to as horizontal permeability.
This is generally the main path of the flowing fluids into the borehole.
Vertical permeability is measured across the bedding planes and is
usually less than horizontal permeability. The reason why horizontal
permeability is generally higher than vertical permeability lies
largely in the arrangement and packing of the rock grains during
deposition and subsequent compaction.
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For example, flat grains may align and overlap parallel to the

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depositional surface, thereby increasing the horizontal permeability,

see figure below. High vertical permeabilities are generally the

result of fractures and of solution along the fractures that cut across

the bedding planes. They are commonly found in carbonate rocks or

other rock types with a brittle fabric and also in clastic rocks with a

high content of soluble material.

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 Examples of variations in permeability and porosity

• Some fine-grained sandstones can have large amounts of

interconnected porosity; however, the individual pores may be quite

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small. As a result, the pore connecting individual pores may be quite
restricted and tortuous; therefore, the permeabilities of such fine-
grained formations may be quite low.
• Shale and clays: which contain very fine-grained particles: often
exhibit very high porosities. However, because the pores within these
formations are so small, most shale and clays exhibit virtually no
permeability.
• Some limestone may contain very little porosity, or isolated vuggy
porosity that is not interconnected. These types of formations will
exhibit very little permeability. However, if the formation is naturally
fractured (or even hydraulically fractured), permeability will be
higher because the isolated pores are interconnected by the fractures. 18
Note: Intergranular material in a rock, such as clay minerals or cement,
can reduce permeability and diminish its reservoir potential. It is

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evident, however, that mineral grains must be cemented to some degree
to form coherent rock and that permeability will reduce to some extent
in the process.

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5. Capillary Pressure

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Large pore throat diameters

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Generally yield a lower capillary pressure because of the decrease in
the amount of surface tension.

Large pores that are often associated with large pore throat diameters
will also contain lesser amounts of adsorbed (adhered) water because
the surface-to-volume ratio of the pore is low.

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Small pore throat diameters

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Generally yield higher capillary pressures because of the greater
amount of surface tension.

Small pores that are often associated with small pore throat diameters
will have a high surface-to-volume ratio, and therefore may contain
greater amounts of adsorbed (adhered) water.

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 Examples of the Reservoir rocks in Iraq

1- Khabour Quartzite Formation

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2- Alan Formation
3- Gotnia Anhydrite Formation
4- Najmah Limestone Formation
5- Yamama Formation
6- Sulaiy Formation
7- Ratawi Formation
8- Zubair Formation
9- Shuaiba Formation
10- Nahr Umr Formation
11- Rumaila Formation
12- Mishrif Formation
13- Hartha Formation 24
14- Lower Fars (Fatha) Formation
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Figure: stratigraphic
section of the
formations in Iraqi
south oil fields.

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Table: Reservoirs and
oil characteristics in
Iraqi Fields.

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 Reservoir Waters

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Water is the most common fluid encountered in the subsurface. In

a most uncharacteristic definition, “dry hole”is one which contains no

commercial hydrocarbons, but contains water. As the fluids separate out

within a reservoir, water having the highest specific gravity, will form

the base of the fluid column. The water below the oil/water contact is

known as “bottom-water” or “edge-water”

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Classification of Reservoir Waters

Most hydrocarbons reservoirs form in aquifers. These aquifers

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being formed from either meteoric water (water fallen as rain and
percolating downwards) or connate water (the sea water in which the
sediments were deposited) filling the pore spaces within the rocks.
There will be interstitial water filling the pore spaces within the
formation that is absorbed on the mineral surface of the rock or held in
capillary openings by capillary pressure. The amount of this interstitial
water will range from 10 to 50 percent, or more, of the pore space, the
remainder being filled by hydrocarbons.
As this interstitial water increases towards the bottom of the
reservoir, it grades into free water (filling the interconnections between
the pore spaces), eventually becoming the bottom-water. 28