SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

DETERMINATION OF RELATIVE PERMEABILITY CURVES IN TIGHT GAS SANDS USING LOG DATA Adel Ibrahim, Zaki Bassiouni, and Robert Desbrandes Department of Petroleum Engineering Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA 70803

Abstract ss This paper presents an approach to relative permeability determination integrating well log and petrophysical data. The proposed technique is based on matching a log-derived water saturation profile in the transition zone to empirically determined capillary pressure type curves. The technique is particularly useful in tight formations where the transition zone extends over a large interval. The match yields an estimation of absolute permeability, the free water level, and a capillary pressure curve specific to the formation studied. The capillary pressure data thus derived is used to generate relative* permeability curves using a modified Purcells equation. Field examples are presented to illustrate the application of the proposed technique to tight gas-bearing sands.

Introduction Laboratory measurements of relative permeability characteristics of tight sand cores A technique that can be used to extrapolate are very complex and time consuming. (1*2*3*4) existing core data to cases where such data is absent or not representative of in-situ conditions is of interest.596 Such a technique has been developed and is based on using log data to derive a water saturation versus depth profile in the transition zone of the formation of interest. The log-derived water saturation distribution is then correlated to generalized capillary pressure curves typical of the formation studied. This curve matching yields, by comparison, a capillary pressure curve specific to the formation of interest. The capillary pressure type curves are generated from already available core data and other petrophysical information. Relative permeability curves are subsequently generated using correlations based on Purcells model. The formulation of the proposed requires the development of: technique for tight gas-bearing sand formations

1) 2)

A capillary pressure (PC) to water saturation representative of tight sands;

(S,)

empirical

relationship

A water saturation to relative permeability relationship based on the previously developed PJS, relationship;

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

3) 4)

Generalized

capillary pressure type curves for tight sands; and

A normalization method to reduce the number of variables affecting the logderived water saturation profile.

The core and log data used to develop and test the proposed relationships are representative of the Cotton Valley, Travis Peak and Falher formations. Petrophysical data, including absolute permeability, porosity, and capillary pressure, available for nine core samples are listed in Table 1. The absolute permeability and porosity of the cores ranged from 13.6 to 260 pd and from 7.9 to 12.5%, respectively. -

Capillary Pressure-Water

Saturation Relationship

in Tight Sands

Examining the petrophysical data of available tight sand core samples suggested that the capillary pressure-water saturation relationship can be approximated over most of the saturation range by a linear trend. Thus the P,/S, relationship for tight sands can be expressed empirically by: PC = (1)

a s,

where: capillary pressure, psi P, = water saturation, fraction, and s, = a and b are coefficients reflecting the formation pore size distribution. Fig. 1 shows the PO/S, plot for three core samples representative of the Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, and Falher formations. The values of the coefficients a and b of Eq. 1 for these three and the other six tight sand cores are listed in Table 1. The empirical relationship of Eq. 1 is used to simplify the evaluation of the integral in Purcells equation relating relative permeability to water saturation.

Capillary Pressure-Relative a.

Permeability

Relationship

Drainage Regime

Purcell derived a theoretical expression relating relative permeability to capillary pressure and water saturation. (7) His derivation is based on the analogy between Darcys empirical law for sand packs and Poiseuilles formula that models the reservoir rock with a bundle of capillary tubes of the same length but different diameters. To simulate the probability of the interconnection of pores, Wyllie and Grander modified Purcells model, cutting the bundle of tubes into a large number of thin slices and reassembling them in a random way. (8) This modification in the model accounts for the tortuosity and results in two

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SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

equations expressing the relative permeability drainage conditions:

for the wetting and non-wetting

phases under

K TWt = CO2

sw dSJPC2 d v;
dS,JC2 d WI

(2)

ss
(3) where: is Kmwt is is SW is PC is S,

Kw

the the the the the

relative permeability to the wetting phase, relative permeability to the non-wetting phase, irreducible water saturation, capillary pressure, and effective water saturation defined as:

s; = w Wyllie and Granders agreement with experimentally

wi

1 - swi

equations are selected because they yield values in good determined relative permeabilities.

b.

Imbi bition Regime

Naar and Henderson developed a relative permeability model for imbibition conditions.9~0 Their model accounts for the entrapment of the non-wetting phase during the imbibition process of the wetting phase. The authors relate the drainage and imbibition saturation for equal values of non-wetting relative permeability as: SW(Imb.) where: S W(Imb.) SW(@) is the effective water saturation for imbibition, is the effective water saturation for drainage and
= s W(a) R G&g.)

(5)

Both are expressed by Eq. 4. R is the residual saturation of the non-wetting porosity by:() phase which is empirically related to

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SPWLA 33rd AMU~ Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

R = 0.617 - 1.2841 where 41is the porosity. The relative conditions using: permeability of the wetting phase is calculated under

(6)

imbibition

K,

= -

@*3cT2
K

dS

where:
0

is the interfacial tension, is the absolute permeability, and is the reduced porosity defined as: W=@(l -SW> (8)

The Naar and Henderson models are selected because they predict values that are in good agreement with steady-state measurements of core relative permeabilities.

Relative Permeability Water Saturation Relationships for Tight Sands a. Drainage Regime

Substituting the empirical expression of P, given by Eq. 1 into Eqs. 2 and 3 yields The final expressions for the wetting and nonintegrals that can be solved analytically. wetting phase are:

K,

= Si2

(9)

(10)
where:

(11)
b. Imbibition Regime
Eq. 1 in Eq. 6 and integrating analytically results in:

Substituting

(12)

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

Capillary Pressure Type Curves for Tight Sands Leverett pioneered the generalizations of capillary pressure data based on experimental study of sand pack co1umns(2S3*4).Leveretts generalization is based on a dimensionless factor known as the J-function. The J-function is defined as:

J where: J P, CT K cb = = = = = Leveretts J-function (dimensionless) Capillary pressure (dyne/cm2) Interfacial tension (dyne/cm) Permeability (cm2) Porosity (fraction)

(13)

ss

To include the wettability effect, the contact angle (e) has been incorporated above equation.

into the

J =

PC
0 cos 8

K Q,

(14)

Fig. 2 shows the values of the J-function calculated using the capillary pressure data available for tight sand core samples. In these calculations values of 74 dynes/cm and 90 were used for o and 8 respectively. When theJ-function is plotted versus water saturation on log-log scale, a linear trend emerges as shown in Fig. 3. A best fit of the data results in:
J=?

where: a P = = 0.039, and 2.308

S!

(15)

Eq. 14 is of the same form as Eq. 1, as should be expected. Combining Eqs. 1 and 15 gives:

h -,

A practical presentation of type curves is in terms of height above the free water level, which is related to the capillary pressure and water and gas densities by:

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SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

= 0, PC
where g is the acceleration Combining of gravity.

-P,)h,,

(17)

Eqs. 16 and 17 and using practical units yields: h_= 10.66

(18)

s,P (P/P,)
where: height above free water level, ft. = = Interfacial tension, dynes/cm ; = Contact angle, degrees Water saturation, fraction s, = coefficients c&P = absolute permeability, md ; 1 porosity, fraction pw,pg= water and gas densities, g/cm3 h,,

K 1 T

Fig. 4 shows an example of type curves generated using Eq. 18 and the following parameters: a = = = =
0.039

P
; o

2.308 74 dyne/cm 90, and 0.15

Each curve is for a specific absolute permeability value. Each curve is characterized by an irreducible water saturation value derived from the correlation of Fig. 5 obtained for studied tight sand core samples. Each core is also characterized by the value of coefficient a in Eq. 1. Using the approximation of b = p, a is calculated from:
a =

Water Saturation Profile

r
K T -6-

cos 8

(1%

Water saturation values are calculated from log data using known interpretation techniques. These techniques take into account the effect of fluid properties and shaliness on different log measurements used in the interpretation. The generated water saturation profile (S, vs. depth) is seldom smooth since it reflects variations in petrophysical properties.

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

Variations in porosity and permeability follow from variations in pore characteristics. To facilitate curve matching the log-derived water saturation profile is normalized to the average porosity in the transition zone, &VP The normalized water saturation, S,, at any level is defined as the water saturation value calculated from the measured formation resistivity, R,, and average porosity, 41~~. Using Archies equation: R, = - Rw = - RvJ OrnSwn cp:,s: where: R, is the formation water resistivity m is the cementation exponent n is the saturation exponent solving for S,:

ss

(21)
and if m is assumed equal to n:

(22)
The normalized water saturation profile still reflects variations in permeability, i.e. pore size. These variations are shown schematically in Fig. 6. According to this figure, based on a capillary tube model, the J-function vs. saturation profile is subdivided into Each of these segments must be segments reflecting zones of different permeabilities. matched separately, as illustrated later by field examples.

Application Methodology
Capillary pressure type curves are constructed in terms of height above the free water level versus water saturation. The curves are constructed using Eq. 17, with specific fluid properties and an average porosity, for different permeability values. The log-derived water saturation profile is normalized to the same value of average porosity used in generating the type curves. The normalized water saturation profile is laid over the type curves and shifted vertically, i.e. along the hFwL axis, to obtain an acceptable match. The matched capillary pressure curve defines the following parameters:

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SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

1)

2) 3) 4)

absolute permeability, K. irreducible water saturation, &. depth of the free water level, at h,, the parameter a of Eq. 1.

= 0; and

The defined parameters are then used to generate relative permeability 9, 10 and 12.

curves using Eqns. 5,

Stratified formations yield a segmented water saturation. Each segment is matched separately to generate a capillary pressure and relative permeability characteristics specific to that segment. Only the free water level depth is the same for all segments.

Field Example 1
The well logs obtained in a tight gas-bearing sand formation in a well in Colorado are shown in Fig. 7. Fig. 8 shows the porosity, water saturation, and normalized water saturation profiles. The normalization to the average porosity of 7.6% results in a smoother saturation profile, which gives the reasonable match illustrated in Fig. 9. The match, which shows that the permeability varies within a narrow range, yields the following match parameters: Average Permeability = 0.08 md Irreducible Water Saturation = 17% a = 13 psi Free water level depth = 7,922 ft The determination of the free water level by visual inspection the increase in formation shaliness with depth. of the logs is difficult due to

Field Example 2
The second field example represents a tight gas-bearing sand in Colorado. Fig. 10 shows the well log data, Fig. 11 shows the porosity and saturation profiles, and Fig. 12 shows the best match obtained. Unlike Example 1, the transition zone of this formation seems to be composed of three strata of distinct properties sharing a common free water level at a depth of 8,130 ft. The match ammeters for the three strata are: Strata A K, md swi, % a, psi 0.3 6 5.6 Strata B 0.08 15 10.9 Strata C 0.05 19 13.8

43_

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

The decrease of permeability with depth is consistent with the increase in shaliness.

Field Example 3
Figs. 13, 14, and 15 show the data and interpretation for a tight gas-bearing sand in Wyoming. The match show three strata x, y and z sharing a common free water level at a depth of 9,162 ft. The match parameters for the three strata are:

SS
I 1

I Strata x
K, md
1

I 1

Strata y
0.1 20 15.4

Strata z
0.08 22 18.3 using the

0.05 25 21.7

Swir 96
a, psi

An example of the relative permeability curves which can be constructed match parameters is shown in Fig. 16 representing strata y.

Cores available for interval Y show permeabilities ranging from 0.08 to 0.16 md and averaging 0.108 md, which agree extremely well with the match permeability. Because the sand is reasonably clean the Tixier method, based on the resistivity gradient, can be used to estimate the permeability of the transition zone. (16) The Tixier method results in an average permeability of 0.05 md for the three strata. This value is also in agreement with the match values. The saturation profile in the top interval of the sand is complex analyzed using the proposed technique. and cannot be

Conclusions
A capillary pressure-water saturation empirical relationship is developed for tight sand formations. This relationship is used to adapt available relative permeability models to the case of tight sands. The capillary pressure-water saturation relationship is used in conjunction with the Jfunction to develop generalized capillary pressure curves typical of tight sand formations. When matched to the capillary pressure type curve, a log-derived normalized saturation profile yields reasonable estimates of the absolute permeability, irreducible saturation, the free water level and relative permeability characteristics. water water

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SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

Limitations The development of the type curves is based on petrophysical parameters derived from curve fitting of core data. The parameters used in this study are the average of nine cores representing Cotton Valley, Travis Peak and Falher tight sand formations. The addition of more core data when available should improve the statistical representation of the match results. The petrophysical models discussed in this paper should only be used in the analysis of other tight formations if a petrophysical similarity is demonstrated. Although the water saturation profile is normalized to an average porosity, the use of the proposed technique should be limited to cases where porosity variations fall within a reasonable range.

Acknowledgements Support for this work was 5089-211-1842, CER subcontract technical support of the members Special thanks to Brenda Macon, References 1. Jones, F. 0. and W. W. Owens, 1980. A Laboratory Study of Low-Permeability Sands. Journal of Perroleum Technology (September): 1631-1640. Gas provided by the Gas Research Institute under contract no. no. PO233-0275-S. The authors wish to acknowledge the and staff of the LSU petroleum engineering department. who generously assisted in editing the manuscript.

2.

Luffel, D. L. and W. E. Howard, 1988. Reliability of Laboratory Measurement of Porosity in Tight Gas Sands. SPE Formation Evaluation (December): 705-7 10. Wells, J. S. and J. 0. Amaefule, 1985. Capillary Pressure and Permeability Relationships in Tight Gas Sands, SPE/DOE Paper 13879. Presented at the SPE/DOE Joint Symposium on Low Permeability Gas Reservoirs, May 19-22, Denver, co. Ward, J. S. and N. R. Morrow, 1985. Capillary Pressure and Gas Relative Permeabilities of Low-Permeability Sandstone, SPE Formarion Evaluation (September): 345-356. Raymer, L. L. and P. M. Freeman, 1984. In-Situ Determination of Capillary Pressure Pore Throat Size and Distribution and Permeability from Wireline Data. Presented at the Society of Professional Well Log Analysts 25th Annual Logging Symposium, June lo- 13.

3.

4.

5.

-lO-

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

6.

Alger, R. P., D. L. Luffel, and R. B. Truman, 1987. New Unified Method of Integrating Core Capillary Pressure Data with Well Logs, SPE Paper 16793. Presented at the 62nd Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, September 27-30, Dallas, TX. Purcell, W. R., 1949. Capillary Pressures: Their Measurement Using Mercury and the Calculation of Permeability Therefrom. Petroleum Transactions of AIME 186: 39-48. Wyllie, M. R. and G. H. F. Grander, Equation. World Oil (April): 210-227. Naar, J. and J. H. Henderson, Behavior and the Prediction Journal (June): 61-70. 1958. The Generalized Kozeny-Carman ss

7.

8.

9.

1961. An Imbibition Model: Its Application to Flow of Oil Recovery. Society of Petroleum Engineers

10.

Naar, J. and R. J. Wygal, 1961. Three-Phase Imbibition Relative Permeability. Society of Petroleum Engineers Journal (December): 254-258. Katz, Donald L., Max W. Legatski, M. Rasin Tek, L. Gorring, and R. L. Nielsen, 1966. How Water Displaces Gas from Porous Media. The Oil and Gas Journal (January 10): 55-60. Capillary Leverett, M. C., 1941. Transactions of AIME 142: 152-169. Brown, H. W., 1951. of AIME 192: 67-74. Behavior in Porous Solids. Petroleum

11.

12.

13.

Capillary Pressure Investigations.

Petroleum Transactions

14.

Heseldine, G. M.: 1974. A Method of Averaging Capillary Pressure Curves. Presented at the Society of Professional Well Log Analysts 15th Annual Logging Symposium, June 2-5. Rose, W. and W. A. Bruce, 1949. Evaluation of Capillary Character in Petroleum Reservoir Rock. Petroleum Transactions of AIME 186: 127-142. Tixier, M. P., 1949. Evaluation of Permeability Gradients, Oil and Gas Journal (June): 113-122. from Electric-Log Resistivity

15.

16.

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SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

Formation Cotton Valley Cotton Valley Cotton Valley Cotton Valley Cotton Valley Cotton Valley Cotton Valley Travis Peak Travis Peak Falher SS Falher SS TABLE 1.

core # 5A 10B 7A 8A IllAl 12A 13A 17A NAl NA2 NA3 Petrophysical

K cud) 80 194 97 65 49 51 30 260 100 19.8 13.6

Q, (%I
12.0 8.2 12.5 8.8

&vi

(%I
32.0 10.5 23.0 30.0

a (psi)
35.200 9.030 35.694 11.929

b 2.304 2.167 2.132 3.400

I,
9.9 9.8 9.4 9.4 10.5 16.0 30.0 32.0 2.574 4.264 19.648 26.156 2.647 1.468 2.623 2.385

data from tight sand core samples used in this study.

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SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

ss

1 -2

I -1

Ln (SW)

Fig. 1.

Logarithmic P, vs. S, plot for three core samples Cotton Valley, Travis Peak, and Falher tight sands.

representative

of the

40

60

Water saturation, percent

Fig. 2.

Leveretts J-function for tight sands Travis Peak, and Falher formations.

core

samples

from

Cotton

Valley,

SPWLA

33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

4--

Y-

- 3.2482 . 2.3080~

RA2 - 0.908

-2 -

-3

-2 Ln (SW)

Fig. 3.

Loganthmic

plot of the J-function

data displayed

in Fig. 2.

:a

200

100

0 -I

60

I
taa

Fig. 4.

Example

of capillary

pressure

type

curves.

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

C E 2 & E: 1

ss

0.1

0.2

0.3

SWI

Fig. 5.

Correlailon

between

K J- 5

and S,, for tight sand core samples

from Cotton

Valley, Traws Peak, and Father formations

Fig. 7. Well logs for field example 1

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

High
K

\ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \ \

F.W.L.

.-1-11--1-

0.0

Watrr

srturatlon

100

Hlgh K

F.W.L.

Water

srturatlon

Fig. 6.

Schematic showing variations pore size and permeability.

in water saturation

profile due to changes

in

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17,1992

Water

Salurarlon.

Frachon

771,

1
773c )-

77 50

7770

ss
Fig. 8. Water saturation profiles
for field example 1.

Deplh
FL)

7790

7e:o.

Fig, IO. Well log data foi field example 2.

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium, June 14-17, 1992

240

230 --7700 220 --7710 210 -.7720 200 --77x) 190IL.7740 18C,-

17cI-

= T 0, & ii B g t z 8 m E P 2

16x,-

160

141)-.7790 13c)-

Depth - -7800
--7810 ft

12c )-

,11C

1Oi I-

-.7820

9( )-

--7630

at I-

7( )7660

6( I-

t-

)54

4( I-

3( I-

2l I-

1t I-

t 1-r

Water saturation,

Fig. 9.

Matching normalized water curves for field example 1.

saturation

profile

to

capillary

pressure

type

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

ss

-8080

Depth

-8090
\

-8100

+ \-

-8110

l_ . -8120 . .

40 Water saturation,

60 %

80

100

Fig. 12.

Best match of normalized water saturation to capillary for field example 2.

pressure type curves

SPWLA 33rd AMU~ Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

._

..

... .+-....... .-... .__

(. / . . .... i -....

Fig. 11. Water saturation

.-.. .. . .._.

proflles

for field example 2.

s.:.

-. _ --_-

>i.iCE

1/
:Y
...., . ..

Fig. 13. Well logs for field example 3.

I --

..

i rl -1 .I i l--i

UI

SPWLA 33rd AMU~ Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

9080

ss
9090

9100

------A
I

1 i

Depth (ft)

; i i
I I i 1

9110

-_-.;

Pi

____--sily

9120

lo 15.02% porosity. 9130 0.2 0.4 0.6

/
08

,
1.0

Water

saturation,

fraction

Fig. 14. Water saturation

profile for field example

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

1.0

ss
0.8 : 3 8 z

DeDth &mm

17 ftl

kmw (dr)

0.0 0.4 0.6 0.8

Water

saturation,

fraction

Fig. 16. Calculated

relative permeability curves for strata y of example 3.

SPWLA 33rd Annual Logging Symposium,

June 14-17, 1992

Adel Ibrahim is a Ph.D. candidate in the department of petroleum engineering at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He earned both his B. S. (1984) and M. S. (1988) degrees in petroleum engineering from Suez Canal University in Suez, Egypt. His research interests include formation evaluation, reservoir engineering, and well logging.

Robert Desbrandes holds the position of Distinguished Professor in the petroleum engineering department at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He teaches and performs research in petrophysics, well logging, formation evaluation, MWD/LWD, and production logging. Previously, he taught two years at the University of Houston and 24 years at the French Petroleum Institute. Prior to his teaching career, Dr. Desbrandes worked for Schlumberger for 11 years in South America and in Houston. He earned his B. S. degree in mechanical engineering at Arts et Metiers (1944) and M. S. (1962) and Dr. SC. (1965) degrees in physics at the University of Lyon, France. He is the author of The Encyclopedia of Well Logging.

Zaki Bassiouni is, a professor and chairman of the petroleum engineering department at Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He holds a B. S. degree in petroleum engineering from Cairo University, a diploma in geophysics from the French Petroleum Institute, and a Ph.D. degree from the University of Lille, France.