NET PAY IN NATURALLY FRACTURED RESERVOIRS

BY ROBERTO AGUILERA, PH.D., P.ENG., SERVIPETROL LTD., CALGARY, CANADA

The recent article Net-To-Gross Ratios by
Etris and Stewart (Etris, N. and Stewart, B.
2003) raised some valid points to clarify
concepts of net pay, net thickness, and net-togross ratios. Their example 2 shows that net
pay is characterized by (relatively) high
porosity, high permeability, and high
hydrocarbon saturation. User-defined cutoffs
of these characteristics determine the
amount of net pay. My note has to do with
naturally fractured reservoirs (NFR) where
intervals with low porosity and low
permeability, which do not meet conventional
cutoff criteria, can constitute net pay.
It has been found through selective perforating,
production logs, and rock mechanics
experiments in cores, that for the same physical
environment and stresses other things being
equal the amount of natural fracturing
increases as porosity and permeability of the
host rock decreases. This in turn leads to the
recommendation, that unless there is
supporting information to the contrary, it is
better not to use porosity and permeability as
cutoff criteria in NFR.The message is not that
we should forget about intervals with high
porosities and permeabilities, but rather that
we should never overlook low permeability and
low porosity intervals in NFR.
Darcys law indicates that fluid rate is equal to
permeability times area times pressure
differential divided by fluid viscosity and
distance. The reservoir area exposed to the
wellbore is typically very small. For low
permeability reservoirs, that small area does
not allow significant hydrocarbon flow into
the wellbore. However, if there is natural
fracturing around the wellbore that extends
throughout a large portion of the reservoir,
the matrix area exposed via the fractures can
become quite significant. In this case the
product of the large area times the small
permeability can allow very efficient
hydrocarbon flow from matrix to fractures
and then to the wellbore, constituting what is
usually known as a dual-porosity reservoir.
In a conventional unfractured reservoir, the
rock must be capable of allowing direct
hydrocarbon flow into the wellbore to
constitute net pay. In a NFR, the rock, usually
called matrix by reservoir engineers, does not
have to necessarily permit direct hydrocarbon
flow into the wellbore to constitute net pay.
Figure 1 shows a schematic of a multi-layered
28

NFR (Aguilera, R. and Aguilera, M. S. 2001).The

production log shows that there are only two
zones where fluids enter the wellbore.
However, the whole section from top to
bottom is net pay.
If porosity and permeability are not advisable
in many cases as cutoff criteria, how can we
estimate net pay in a NFR from wellbore
data? In my experience, water saturation,
shaliness, and pore throat aperture, as well as
keeping an eye on well-testing data, provide
reasonable criteria.
I have many times used water saturation
cutoffs in the order of 55%, although there are
exceptions. When calculating Sw (e.g., Swn =
(aRw)/(mRt)) keep in mind that the dual
porosity exponent m of the fractured intervals
is smaller than the porosity exponent mb of
only the matrix as determined from
unfractured plugs. Be also careful with the
scaling of matrix porosity to avoid potential
errors in the calculation of Sw. (Aguilera, R. and
Aguilera, M. S. 2003).The larger the amount of
natural fracturing, the smaller the value of m
will be. A useful assumption is that the
required water saturation exponent n is
approximately equal to m.
Shaliness is also a very important cutoff
criterion. As plasticity increases there is less
probability of finding fractures. Therefore Vshale
is very valuable for determining net pay in NFR.
The variability of Vshale as a cutoff can be quite
significant from reservoir to reservoir. For
example, there are reservoirs where fractured
shales produce at commercial oil and gas rates.
Pore throat apertures of the matrix can be
estimated from mercury injection capillary
pressures. If not available, there are empirical
correlations that can help in the determination
of the pore throat apertures. Particularly useful
are the Winland r35 pore throat aperture as
explained by Martin et al (Martin,A. J., Solomon,
S.T., and Hartmann, D. J. 1997).The derived rp35
radii can than be superimposed directly on
Pickett plots (Aguilera, R. 2002a, 2002b). Martin
et al provide potential oil rates that can be
obtained from different pore throat sizes.
Well-testing data can help to determine, via
the valley generated by the pressure
derivative, if the tight matrix is contributing
production to the fractures (not to the
wellbore). Also, a derivative with a negative

Figure 1: Schematic of multi-layered, naturally

fractured reservoir. Production log at left shows two
zones where hydrocarbons enter the wellbore.
However, the whole interval from top to bottom is
net pay in this case.

slope of 0.5 might indicate that fractures not

intersected by the wellbore could be
contributing to production.
Determining whether zones of low porosity
and / or low permeability contribute net pay
is not an easy problem. But by keeping in
mind the guidelines presented above, a more
realistic estimate of net pay should be
obtainable for naturally fractured reservoirs.
REFERENCES
Aguilera, R. 2002a. Incorporating Capillary
Pressure, Pore Throat Aperture Radii, Height Above
Free Water Table, and Winland r35 Values on
Pickett Plots. AAPG Bulletin, v. 86/4, p. 605-624.
_________. 2002b. Determination of Matrix
Flow Units in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs.
Paper 2002-157, presented at the Petroleum
Society Canadian International Petroleum
Conference. Calgary, Canada, June 11-13, 2002.
Aguilera, R. and Aguilera, M. S. 2001. Well Test
Analysis of Multi-Layered Naturally Fractured
Reservoirs with Variable Thickness and Variable
Fracture Spacing. Journal of Canadian Petroleum
Technology, v.40/12, p. 9-12.
________________________. 2003. Improved
Models for Petrophysical Analysis of Dual Porosity
Reservoirs. Petrophysics, v.34/1, p. 21-35.
Etris, N. and Stewart, B. 2003. Net-To-Gross
Ratio. CSPG Reservoir, v. 30/4, p. 24-25.
Martin, A. J., Solomon, S. T., and Hartmann, D. J.
1997. Characterization of Petrophysical Flow
Units in Carbonate Reservoirs, AAPG Bulletin, v.
81/5, p. 734-759.