Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS

Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering Department

Reservoir Rock and Fluid properties Laboratory

Lab Experiment No. 2: Porosity Test (Liquid Saturation Method)

Objectives:
To determine the porosity of core plug sample by using the Saturation Method.
Apparatus:
Vacuum pump
Beaker filled with distilled water
Container
Liquid reservoir
Balance

General Concepts
From the viewpoint of petroleum engineers, the two most important properties of a reservoir
rock are porosity and permeability. Porosity is a measure of the storage capacity of a reservoir. It is
defined as the ratio of pore volume to bulk volume, and it may be expressed as either a percent or a
fraction. In equation form

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Two types of porosity may be measured: total or absolute porosity and effective porosity.
Total porosity is the ratio of all the pore spaces in a rock to the bulk volume of the rock. Effective
porosity e is the ratio of interconnected void spaces to the bulk volume. Thus, only the effective
porosity contains fluids that can be produced from wells. For granular materials such as sandstone,
the effective porosity may approach the total porosity, however, for shales and for highly cemented or
vugular rocks such as some limestones, large variations may exist between effective and total porosity.
Bulk Volume Measurement
Although the bulk volume may be computed from measurements of the dimensions of a
uniformly shaped sample, the usual procedure utilizes the observation of the volume of fluid displaced
by the sample. The fluid displaced by a sample can be observed either volumetrically or
gravimetrically. In either procedure it is necessary to prevent fluid penetration into the pore space to
the rock. This can be accomplished (1) by coating the sample with paraffin or a similar substance, (2)
by saturating the core with the fluid into which it is to be immersed, or (3) by using mercury.
Gravimetric determinations of bulk volume can be accomplished by observing the loss in weight of
the sample when immersed in a fluid or by observing the change in weight of a pycnometer with and
without the core sample.
Pore Volume Measurement
In this experiment, we will determine the pore volume of the sample by extracting out the
initial fluid inside the sample by using vacuum. Then, we will replace the void pore spaces of the
sample with distilled water. The difference between the dry weight of the rock sample and the wet
weight of the rock sample will give us the value of pore volume.
Procedure:
1) Measure the size of the core plug sample to determine its bulk volume.
2) Measure the volume of the core plug sample by immersing it into a beaker of known volume of
fluid.
3) Measure the core plug samples dry weight.
4) Place the sample into the container and extract all the fluid out from the core plug sample using a
Vacuum pump.
5) Saturate the sample with distilled water with a very slow saturation rate (dropwise) in order to
achieve complete saturation.
6) Take out the sample from the container and weigh carefully.

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Laboratory Report for Exp. No 2:

Porosity Test (Liquid Saturation Method)

Universiti Teknologi Petronas

Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering Department
Reservoir Rock and Fluid properties Laboratory

Core plug sample diameter

mm

Core plug sample length

mm

Initial Volume of Core plug sample ( Using Dimensions )

cm3

Initial Volume of Core plug sample ( Using Water Displacement )

cm3

Average Initial Volume of Core plug sample

cm3

Weight of Dry Core plug sample

gram

Weight of Wet Core plug sample

gram

Pore Volume

cm3

Bulk Volume

cm3

Porosity
Date
GA name

Signature

Discussions:
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Conclusions:
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Do not submit the information pages with the Lab report