1. Introduction to petrophysics and formation evaluation. Lecture 1.pptx

INTRODUCTION TO PETROPHYSICS &
FORMATION EVALUATION
Petrophysics

Introduction
 Petrophysics is the study of rock properties and their interactions with fluids
(gases, liquid hydrocarbons, and aqueous solutions)
 The geologic material forming a reservoir for the accumulation of
hydrocarbons in the subsurface must contain a three-dimensional network
of interconnected pores in order to store the fluids and allow for their
movement within the reservoir.
 Thus the porosity of the reservoir rocks and their permeability are the most
fundamental physical properties with respect to the storage and
transmission of fluids.
 Accurate knowledge of these two properties for any hydrocarbon
reservoir, together with the fluid properties, is required for efficient
development, management, and prediction of future performance of the
oilfield.

Introduction
 The directional distribution of thickness, porosity, permeability, and
geologic features that contribute to heterogeneity governs the natural
pattern of fluid flow.
 Knowledge of this natural pattern is sought to design the most efficient
injection-production system for economy of energy and maximization of
hydrocarbon production.
 Petrophysical properties of the rocks depend largely on the depositional
environmental conditions that controlled the mineral composition, grain size,
orientation or packing, amount of cementation, and compaction.

Introduction
Definition Of Petrophysics:
the term Petrophysics was coined by G.E Archie and Thomeer.
According to the definition petrophysics is the study of the physical and
chemical properties of rocks and their contained fluids.

Introduction
 The search or economic accumulations of oil and gas starts with the
recognition of likely geological provinces, progresses to seismic surveying,
and the drilling of one or more wild-cat wells.
 If one is lucky, these wells may encounter oil, and if that is the case,
measurements made down the hole with wireline tools are used to assess
whether sufficient oil is present, and whether it can be produced.
 Clearly, the evaluation of sub-surface formations requires the combined
efforts of geologists, petrophysicists, drilling engineers and even
geophysicists.
 However, it is the geologist and petrophysicist that has the most influence.

Introduction
Role of the Geologist:
 The geologist is interested in the lithology, stratigraphy and depositional
environment of the subsurface strata penetrated by the drilling bit.
 The exploration geologist uses wireline tool responses in a number of wells
to create a large scale image of the sub-surface geology.
 This picture is very useful when carrying out initial reservoir modelling and
in the decision where to drill new wells.
 Later the production geologist carries out much the same process with much
more well information to produce a detailed geological model of the
reservoir and related sub-surface formations.
 This model will be the basis of reservoir modeling, and all major reservoir
management decisions from primary drainage to enhanced oil recovery
and shut-down.

Introduction
Role of the Petrophysicst:
 The petrophysicist’s job is to use all available information to analyze the
physical and chemical properties of the rocks in the sub-surface, and their
component minerals, with particular emphasis given to the amount and
distribution of those fluid minerals that we know of as water, oil, and gas.
 The petrophysicist will use extensively wireline log data and data from
experiments done on cores extracted from the well.
 Initially, it is the aim of the petrophysicist to differentiate between oil, gas
and water bearing formations, estimate the porosity of the formations and
the approximate amount of hydrocarbons present in each formation.
 Ultimately, the petrophysicist also uses laboratory data to estimate how
easy it will be to extract the hydrocarbons in place, and to design reservoir
management strategies to optimize long term oil recovery.

Introduction
 There is a large database of information available to both the geologist
and the petrophysicist, and as time passes the amount and variety of
information increases. Table below summarizes a few of the main
measurement that a geologist or petrophysicist will have to access.

Introduction
 It should be remembered at all times that the main job of the petrophysicist
is to evaluate the amount of hydrocarbons in place in the reservoir. Hence,
the evaluation sequence for a straightforward reservoir will be as follows:
 For any given well interval:
1. Distinguish between reservoir and non-reservoir rock
(Reservoir rock contains a reasonably high connected porosity.)
2. For the reservoir intervals only, distinguish between hydrocarbons and
water filling the pores, hence calculate water saturation in reservoir rocks.
(Hydrocarbons are electrical insulators, while water conducts.)
3. For the hydrocarbon fraction, distinguish between oil and gas, hence
calculate gas and oil saturations in reservoir rocks.
(Gas has a much lower density than oil.)

Introduction
 Petrophysics emphasizes those properties relating to the pore system and
its fluid distribution and flow characteristics. These properties and their
relationships are used to identify & evaluate.
 Hydrocarbon Reservoir
 Hydrocarbon quantity
 Seals (traps)
 Aquifers

Introduction
 Petrophysicist and team work together to determine reservoir and fluid
characteristics which are;
 Thickness (bed boundaries)
 Lithology (rock type)
 Porosity
 Permeability
 Fluid identification and characterization
 Fluid saturations
 Fractional flow (oil, gas. Water)

Introduction
 It is easy to define these characteristics and their importance in assessment
of the reserves.
 The difficult part is to quantifying them and make economic decisions
leading to development and production.
 The science of the petrophysics is than used to unscramble the hidden world
of rock and their fluid properties and tries to quantify the reservoir with all
the available data.
 Petrophysics emphasizes the integration of the core data and the well
data, the goal of the calculation is to use all data, calibrate to the best, to
achieve most accurate quantitative values of the petrophysical parameters.

Introduction
Important Calculations:
 In practical terms , petrophysics is used for two types of calculations;
determination of original hydrocarbon in place ( OOIP & OGIP) and their
distribution.
 To make accurate calculation of OOIP & OGIP, accurate foot by foot
calculations of lithology, net pay, porosity, water saturation are necessary.
 These calculations need to be made not only as overall calculations, but
also that the variation and distribution of these parameters are
determined appropriately.

Introduction
Calculating Hydrocarbon Volumes in a Reservoir:
 We can define a reservoir rock as one that has a porosity and
permeability that allows it to contain a significant amount of extractable
hydrocarbon, AND contains hydrocarbons.
 A non-reservoir rock may have a porosity that is too low, a permeability
that is too low, or a low or zero hydrocarbon saturation.
 The major control is often the basic lithology. For example, shales often
contain hydrocarbon with high saturations, but have porosities and
permeabilities that are much too low for the hydrocarbon to be
extractable.
 Shales are considered to be non-reservoir rock. In contrast a high porosity,
high permeability sandstone could be a reservoir rock providing that the
hydrocarbon saturations are sufficiently high, i.e., above the oil water
contact.

Introduction
Calculating Hydrocarbon Volumes in a Reservoir: (Contd)
 The calculation of hydrocarbon volume requires us to know the volume of
the formations containing the hydrocarbons, the porosity of each formation,
and the hydrocarbon saturation in each formation.
 In practice each reservoir will be made up of a number of zones each with
its own thickness, areal extent, porosity and hydrocarbon saturation.
 For example, reservoir sandstones may alternate with non reservoir shale,
such that each zone is partitioned.
 Such zonation is mainly controlled by lithology.
 Hence, it is an early requirement to identify the lithology in a particular
well.

Introduction
 The volume of reservoir rock in a single zone depends upon the area
of the zone ‘A’, and the thickness of reservoir rock in the zone ‘h’.
The area is obtained usually from seismic data (from the reservoir
geologist), and is the only data used in the calculation of
hydrocarbon volumes in place that is not derived from petrophysical
techniques.
 The thickness of reservoir rock is derived from the zonation of the
reservoir based upon an initial lithological interpretation and
zonation of the reservoir from the Wireline logs.
 The bulk volume of the reservoir Vbulk=A x h.

Introduction
 The majority of this volume is occupies by the solid rock matrix, and
the remainder is made up of the pore space between the minerals.
 The pore space is denoted by the porosity, Φ.
 Hence, the pore volume in any given zone will be, Vpore= Φ x A x h.
 In general the porosity is completely occupied by either water and
hydrocarbon, where the saturation of the water is Sw, and that of the
hydrocarbon is Shc, and Sw + Shc = 1.
 Now we can write the hydrocarbon saturation as Shc = (1 – Sw).
 Hence the volume of hydrocarbons in place can be written as
Vh = Ah Φ (1- Sw)

Introduction
Hence, for an oil reservoir zone of A acres and h feet thickness, the volume of
oil in place (OIP) is; OIP = 7758 Ah Φ (1- Sw) (bbl).
and for a gas reservoir of the same dimensions, the volume of gas in place
(GIP) is; GIP = 43560 Ah Φ (1- Sw) (cu. Ft).
Note: 7758 & 43560 are the conversion constant from acre ft to bbl and
cu.ft respectively.

Introduction
 Also note that the oil and gas will be at raised temperature and
pressure in the reservoir. The compressibility of oil and especially
gas, and their coefficients of expansion with temperature means that
they will occupy different volumes at surface pressure and
temperature conditions, For this reason reserves are often quoted
corrected for the changes in temperature and pressure at the
conditions of the stock tank. If this has been done the stock tank oil
and gas originally in place is given as STOOIP and STOGIP.

Introduction
 The expansion or reduction in volume undergone by oil and gas as its
temperature and pressure conditions change from that in the reservoir to
that in the stock tank depend upon the changes in pressure and
temperature and the composition of the oil or gas.
 The change is expressed by what are called formation volume factors.
 The oil formation volume factor Bo is the ratio of the volume of oil at
reservoir conditions to that at stock tank conditions.
 Hence, we can calculate now the amount of oil originally in place at stock
tank conditions.

Introduction
 Similarly, the gas formation volume factor Bg is the ratio of the volume of
gas at reservoir conditions to that at stock tank conditions.
 Hence, we can calculate now the amount of gas originally in place at stock
tank conditions;
 Note that, Bo>1, hence the volume of oil is less at the surface than at
depth. This is because the effect compressibility of oil and Bg<<1, hence
the volume of gas is much greater at the surface than at depth. This is
because the effect compressibility of gas.

Introduction
Introduction to Formation Evaluation:
 In petroleum exploration and development, formation evaluation is used to
determine the ability of a borehole to produce petroleum.
 It is actually the process of recognizing a commercial well when you drill
one.
 The formation evaluation problem is matter of answering two questions;
1. What are the lower limits for porosity, permeability and upper limits of
water saturation that permit profitable production from a particular
formation or pay zone?
2. Do any of the formations in the well under consideration exceed these
lower limits?

Introduction
Introduction to Formation Evaluation:
Formation Evaluation
Before Drilling During Drilling After Drilling
Geo-physical Mud logging DST
Geo- chemical Well logging Well Testing
Coring

1. Introduction to petrophysics and formation evaluation. Lecture 1.pptx

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