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Pn .Mazuin Jasamai
mazuin_jasamai@petronas.com.my
Ext : 7075

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Interfacial Tension

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LESSON OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, you

should be able to:
Describe interfacial tension
Differentiate between oil wet and water wet rocks
Sketch to demonstrate the result of IFT between oil, water

and solid, and locate the contact angle

Describe values of contact angle for different wettability

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SURFACE / INTERFACIAL TENSION

Multiphase flow in porous medium needs terms such as

capillary pressure, relative permeability and wettability to

be defined.
For a two-fluid system reservoir, the forces to consider:
Rock

Fluid 1
Fluid 2

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SURFACE / INTERFACIAL TENSION

Surface tension (ST)
characterizing the gas-liquid surface
forces
Interfacial tension (IFT)
describing interfacial forces of two
immiscible fluids (liquid-liquid force)

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SURFACE / INTERFACIAL TENSION

Oil

Water

Unbalanced attraction force create membrane

(surface with measureable tension)

Surface tension (or IFT) is denoted by .
Units: dynes/cm

Imbalance
force
Rise IFT

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Why water and oil do not mix?

IFT
water molecules come together, they form a network

of hydrogen bonds which results in a very high IFT.

Both oil and water have high IFT.
Adhesion between them is weak and they do not
mix.

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Effect of Temperature (T) & Pressure (P)

Variation of IFT and ST with T & P strongly

influences transport of fluid in the reservoir.

ST

with

of T & P

IFT (between oil water) depends on the condition.

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Measurement in Lab
Tensiometers measure force
Wilhelmy Plate Tensiometer
Du Noy-Padday method
Du Noy Ring Tensiometer

Not applicable at reservoir condition ( high P & T)

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ST/ IFT Measurement

Surface tension (or IFT) usually can be obtained

from pendant drop method

The drop is generated in a second immiscible fluid
and the drop shape image is captured
From this image, the IFT can be computed

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Wettability

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What is wettability ?
Wettability
describe the relative adhesion of two fluids to a
solid surface
Surface tension between fluid and solid
Key parameters that affects petrophysical
properties of RR.

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Why wettability is important?

Because Wettability influence .
Distributions of gas, oil, water within RR
Capillary pressure and relative permeability

characteristics
Production of HC

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WETTABILITY
In a porous medium containing two or more immiscible

fluids,wettability is a measure of the preferential tendency

of one of the fluids to adhere to the surface.
Measure of the attraction between rock surface and the
fluids in the reservoir
The wetting fluid the one most attracted to the rock
surface

Water Wet
(most fields , sandstone)

Oil Wet
(clay&carbonates)

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Adhesion Tension (AT)

Spreading tendency of fluid can be expressed as

adhesion tension (AT)

AT determine which fluids preferentially wets the solid

AT So Sw

soIFTbetween
sw
cos solid and
fluid
denser
ow

IFT between
solid and
ow
lighter fluid

AT ow cos ow
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Wetting on Reservoir Rocks

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CONTACT ANGLE
A liquid droplet on a plane solid surface can take various

shapes. The respective shape depends on the wettability

of the considered solid.
The contact angle, measured through the denser fluid,
defines which fluid wets the solid surface. It varies from 0
to 180o.
< 90o = water-wet
> 90o = oil-wet
90o = intermediate wettability

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CONTACT ANGLE

Under equilibrium of forces at a water-oil-solid

interface, the contact angle can be found from:

so sw
cos ow
ow

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CONTACT ANGLE

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What can you conclude for water?

Contact Angle

Degree of
wetting

Solid / liquid
interaction

Liquid/liquid
interaction

Perfectly
wetting

Strong

Weak

0 90

High
wettability

90 180

180

Strong
Weak

Strong
Weak

Low
wettability

Weak

Strong

Perfectly
Non wetting

Weak

Strong

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Type of wettability

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What is Fractional wettability ?

What is mixed wettability?

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How to measure wettability?

Amott wettability measurements
USBM (U.S. Bureau of Mines) method
NMR longitudinal relaxation and other wettability

methods

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Effect of contact angle on Pc

Different contact angel
Due to different solid materials
Due to different liquid properties

Same capillary radius

Smaller contact angel higher

Pc
Why ?
Because greater height of liquid
rise, so higher Pc

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Pn .Mazuin Jasamai
mazuin_jasamai@petronas.com.my
Ext : 7075

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Learning Objectives
Explain definition of capillary pressure
Describe application of capillary pressure
Describe how capillary pressure is measured

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What is capillary pressure (Pc)?

Pressure difference between interface

of 2 immiscible fluids.
generated where interfaces between

two immiscible fluids exist in the pores

(capillaries) of the reservoir rock.

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What is capillary pressure?

Consider capillary tubes with
extremely small ID placed
in large vessel filled with
liquid
The attraction of the solid for the liquid (adhesion
tension) will draw the liquid up into the tube. This
phenomenon is called capillarity.
The liquid will rise in the tube until the upward force is
balanced by the weight of the column of the liquid.
As radius of tube increase,
what happen to capillary pressure?

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Oil water system

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Why we need to know about Pc?

Prediction of initial saturation in reservoir
Prediction of free water level (FWL)
Prediction of contact in reservoir (WOC)
Prediction of rock properties (permeability)
Calculate pore distribution

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Initial saturation distribution in reservoir

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What is FWL and OWC ?

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Capillary pressure of reservoir rock

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100% saturation
above FWL = WOC
Free Water level,
FWL
Irreducible water
saturation

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3 main system
Oil - water system

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3 main system
Gas water system

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3 main system

Gas oil system

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capillary pressure formula

General formula for Pc is

Pc is function of
adhesion tension
and inversely
proportional to the
pore size
(capillary radius)

IFT
r cross sec tion pore radius
contact angle

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ExerCise 3
Calculate the capillary pressure and capillary rise
in an oil-water system from the following data:

57.9

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Dependence of Pc on rock and fluid

properties
Effect of Capillary Radius
Different capillary radius
Same angle
Bigger tube radius lower Pc
Why ?
Because weight of liquid

column increase , so Pc
decrease.

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Dependence of Pc on rock and fluid

properties
Effect of contact angle
Different contact angel
Same capillary radius
Smaller contact angel
higher Pc
Why ?
Because greater height of
liquid rise, so higher Pc

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How to measure Pc?

Porous Plate Dynamic Capillary Pressure
Anti Centrifuge
Dynamic Capillary Pressure
Mercury Injection

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Averaging Pc
Using Leverett J-funtion

Good averaging if the lithologies is the same, with

different permeability and porosity.

It is not accurate for different lithology

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Exercise

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Converting lab data

When lab measurement are used, they must be

corrected to reservoir condition.

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Exercise

The SCAL results for a core sample taken from an

exploration well is as follows :

Capillary
pressure, Pc
(psia)

Water density = 64 lb/ft3

Oil density = 45 lb/ft3

Water
saturation,
Sw
(%)

100

4.4

100

5.3

90.1

5.6

82.4

10.5

43.7

15.7

32.2

35.0

29.8

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Exercise
i.

Convert the capillary pressure table to water saturation and height,

H in ft. Plot H vs Sw.

ii. Indicate the FWL, OWC and transition zone on the plot.
iii. A sample was taken from a depth 80 ft above the OWC. What is the

expected Sw of the sample at that elevation.