Laboratory Determination of

Fluid Saturations

Conventional Core Analysis

Two common methods will be discussed
Retort Distillation
Solvent Extraction

Retort Distillation Apparatus

Heating
element
1000-1100 F

Core
sample

Cooling
water in
Cooling
water out

Condenser

Graduated Cylinder

Retort Distillation Method

Advantages
Rapid (less than one hour)
Direct measurement of both oil and water
volumes recovered
Adequate accuracy

Retort Distillation Method

Disadvantages
High temperatures (1,000 - 1,100 F):
destroys core sample
water of crystallization in clays may vaporize and
must be accounted for
cracking and coking of oil
cracking is breaking of long chain hydrocarbons into
smaller chain hydrocarbons, which may not be
recondensed
coke is impure carbon residue formed from oil

Determining Water of Crystallization

Water from pores is
recovered first
If flattening of curve is not
apparent then estimating
water recovered from pore
space can be innaccurate

Later, water of
crystallization is recovered
at higher temperatures
This destroys the core sample

Effects of Coking and Cracking of Oil

Coking and cracking
tend to cause only part
of oil from pores to be
recovered
We must scale up the
volume of recovered oil
to reflect the volume of
oil originally in the pores
Scaling factor depends on
API gravity of oil

Coke formation destroys

core sample

Retort Distillation: Scaling Factor for Recovered Oil

Retort Distillation Calculations

Sw =

(Vw )measured
Vp

Vp = Vb ( )from another source

Vo = Fcorrection (Vo )measured

Vo
So =
Vp
Sg = 1 S w So

Vw

= Volume of water, cm3

Vo

= Volume of oil, cm3

Vp

= Pore volume, cm3

Fcorrection = Volume correction factor,

dimensionless

Solvent Extraction Apparatus

Condenser

Graduate tube
Thimble and core
Solvent
Electric Heater
Modified from Amyx, Bass and Whiting, 1960

Solvent Extraction Method

Advantages
accurate determination of water saturation
non-destructive to core samples
determination of water saturation by solvent
extraction can be made part of the core sample
cleaning process for small incremental cost

Solvent Extraction Method

Disadvantages
slow (can take several days)
oil volume not directly measured
oil remains in solvent

Solvent Extraction Calculations

Sw =
Vo =

(Vw )measured

(W

Vp

Wdry ) (Vw )measured w

o

Vo
So =
Vp
Sg = 1 S w So

Wi

= Initial core weight, gm

Wdry

= Core weight after leaching, gm

Vw

= Volume of water collected, cm3

Vo

= Volume of oil, cm3

Vp

= Pore volume, cm3

= Density of water, gm/cm3

= Density of oil, gm/cm3

= Density of gas is assumed negligible