E.1. Rock Properties: Porosity

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview E. RESERVOIRS E.1.
Rock Properties Porosity

Porosity is the first of two essential requirements for a rock to act as a hydrocarbon reservoir. It is simply a measurement of the pore or void spaces in a rock and is usually expressed as a percentage using the formula:
Porosity (%) =
100
Porosity is often represented by the Greek letter phi ( ). Figure 1 shows the frequency of oil and gas reservoirs plotted against porosity. Almost all reservoirs have porosities in a range of five to thirty percent with the majority falling between ten and twenty percent. Any porosity less than five percent is very seldom commercial, and any porosity over thirty-five percent is extremely unusual. Porosity can be measured in the laboratory from cores and down the borehole using well logs, especially the sonic, density and neutron logs. Occasionally, it can be estimated from seismic data. There are three main types of porosity: isolated.
interconnected,
connected
and
Interconnected porosity utilizes multiple pore throat passages to connect neighboring pores ( Figure 2 ). Connected, or dead-end, porosity has only one pore throat passage (a) connecting with another pore space ( Figure 3 ). Isolated porosity has no connections between pores ( Figure 4 ).
Figure 1.
Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview
Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Interconnected
and
connected
pores
constitute
effective porosity because hydrocarbons can move out from them. In the case of interconnected porosity, oil and gas flowing through the pore space can be flushed out by a natural or artificial water drive. Connected porosity is unaffected by flushing but may yield some oil or gas by expansion, as reservoir pressure drops. Reservoirs with isolated porosity are unable to yield hydrocarbons. Any oil or gas contained
Figure 4.
entered the pore spaces before they were closed by compaction or cementation. Thus, isolated porosity
contributes to the total porosity of rock but not to the effective porosity. Porosity can be classified into two major types according to its origin (Murray, 1960). Primary porosity is formed when a sediment is deposited. Secondary porosity forms after deposition.
Primary Porosity
Primary porosity is divisible into two types: intergranular or interparticle porosity, which occurs between the grains of a sediment ( Figure 1 ) and intragranular or intraparticle porosity, which actually occurs within the sediment grains themselves ( Figure 2 ).
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Intergranular porosity is more typical of sandstones. It is also generally found within newlydeposited lime sand. However, in lime sands it is seldom preserved because of porosity loss by cementation. With intergranular porosity, the pore spaces are connected, one to another, by throat passages ( Figure 1 ). Unless there is extensive later cementation, reservoirs with intergranular porosity generally have both good interconnected porosity and good permeability. Effective porosity in these reservoirs is equivalent to total porosity. Intragranular porosity is more typical of newly-deposited skeletal lime sands. Figure 2 is a sketch of a thin section of a limestone reservoir showing pore spaces within skeletal grains. It is unusual for such pores to be preserved. They are generally infilled during early burial by cementation but, in some cases, the cement may be leached out to leave the original intraparticle pore.
Secondary Porosity
Secondary porosity is porosity formed within a reservoir after deposition. The major types of secondary porosity are: Fenestral; Intercrystalline; Solution (moldic and vuggy); Fracture.

Fenestral porosity is developed where there is a gap in the rock framework larger than the normal grain-supported pore spaces. Fenestral porosity is characteristic of lagoonal pelmicrites in which dehydration has caused shrinkage and buckling of the laminae. This type of porosity is less frequently encountered. Intercrystalline porosity occurs between crystals and is the type of porosity found in several important oil and gas fields. In recrystallized limestones, intercrystalline porosity is negligible. However, crystalline dolomites often possess high intercrystalline porosity. Figure 1 is a sketch of a thin section of a crystalline dolomite reservoir. These reservoirs are usually composed of secondary dolomite formed by "dolomitization", the process whereby a preexisting calcium carbonate deposit is replaced by dolomite. It is this type of intercrystalline porosity that gives secondary dolomites their characteristic saccaroidal (sugary) texture, and can make them such good reservoirs. Several types of secondary porosity can be caused by solution. This is a critical process in developing porosity in carbonates, but it can develop secondary porosity in sandstones as well. There are several ways the solution process actually occurs. Figure 2 shows secondary solution pores developed in a limestone. Some of the pores are round. These are where pellets of lime mud have been leached out. This type of fabricFigure 1.
selective porosity is referred to as moldic, and these pores, therefore, as pelmoldic. Some
irregular pore spaces which crosscut the original fabric of rock should also be noted. These pores are known as vugs and the porosity is referred to as vuggy.

If limestone has undergone extensive
solution, the vugs may become very large, or cavernous. With solution porosity the adjacent pore spaces may not be connected; there fore, the effective porosity may be much lower than the total porosity, and the permeability may also be low. Cavernous pores up to five meters high are found in the Fusselman limestone of the Dollarhide field of Texas (Stormont, 1949) and in the Arab D Jurassic limestone of the Abqaiq field, Saudi Arabia
Figure 2.
(McConnell, 1951).
The last significant type of secondary porosity is fracture porosity. Fractured reservoirs can occur in any brittle rock that breaks by fracturing rather than by plastic deformation. Thus, there are fractured reservoirs in shales, hard-cemented quartzitic sandstones, limestones, dolomites and, of course, basement rocks such as granites and metamorphics. As shown in Figure 3 , fractures may develop from tectonic forces associated with folding and faulting. They may also develop from overburden unloading and weathering immediately under unconformities. Shrinkage from cooling of igneous rocks and dehydrating of shales also causes fracturing.
Figure 3.
Fractures are generally vertical to subvertical with widths varying from paper thin to about 6 mm ( Figure 4 ). When this type of porosity is developed, the reservoir may have an extremely high permeability, although the actual porosity may not be very high.

ne must be able to distinguish between fracture porosity and porosity which occurs within the rock itself. Very often fractures are an important part of storage capacity, and sometimes only oil or gas from the fracture pore space itself is actually produced. Fracture porosity can result in high production rates during initial testing of a well, followed by a rapid decline in production thereafter. When a rock has been
Figure 4.
fractured,
the
fractures
do
not
necessarily remain open. They may be infilled by later cementation by silica, calcite or dolomite ( Figure 5 ). In summarizing this account of the different types of porosity, generally remember contain that sandstones primary
intergranular porosity, but may also contain secondary solution porosity. Carbonates generally show only secondary porosity. Fracture porosity can be present in any brittle rock. Choquette and Pray (1970) provide an excellent discussion of porosity types in carbonates, as well as a bibliography, and a glossary of porosity terms. Other methods to classify porosity
Figure 5.
have been presented by Robinson (1966) and Levorsen (1967).
Permeability
Permeability is a measure of a rock's ability to conduct fluids. Figure 1 shows how the permeability of a rock sample can be measured. A fluid of known viscosity is pumped through a rock sample of known cross-sectional area and length. The pressure drop across the sample is measured through pressure gauges.
Figure 1.
The unit of permeability is the Darcy. A rock having a permeability of one darcy allows a fluid of one centipoise viscosity to flow at a velocity of one centimeter per second for a pressure drop of one atmosphere per centimeter. The formula for Darcy's Law as formulated by Muskat and Botset (Botset, 1931; Muskat and Botset, 1931; Muskat, 1937) is as follows:
Where: q = rate of flow k = permeability (P1 - P2) = pressure drop across the sample A = cross-sectional area of sample = viscosity of fluid L = length of the sample Since most reservoirs have permeabilities that are much less than a Darcy, the millidarcy ( one thousandth of a Darcy ) is commonly used for measurement. Permeability is generally referred to by the letter k. In the form shown above, Darcy's law is only valid when there is no chemical reaction between the fluid and rock, and when there is only one fluid phase present completely filling the pores. The situation is far more complex for mixed oil or gas phases, although we can apply a modified

Darcy-type equation. Average permeabilities in reservoirs commonly range from 5 to 500 millidarcies. Some reservoirs , however, have extremely high permeabilities. Some of the Cretaceous sandstone reservoirs of the Burgan field in Kuwait, for example, have permeabilities of 4,000 millidarcies (Greig, 1958). Since flow rate depends on the ratio of permeability to viscosity, gas reservoirs may be able to flow at commercial rates with permeabilities of only a few millidarcies. However, oil reservoirs generally need permeabilities in the order of tens of millidarcies to be commercial.
Grain Size
Porosity is independent of grain size. Permeability, however, is very different. All other things being equal, finer grain sizes of sediment mean lower permeabilities. This is because the finer the grain size, the narrower the throat passages between pore spaces and, therefore, the harder it is for fluids to move through a rock. Therefore, permeability declines with decreasing grain size. The effect of grain size on porosity and permeability can be illustrated by Figure 1 . Porosity is generally unaffected by grain size but permeability increases with increasing grain size.
Figure 1.
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Grain Sorting

Figure 1 is a sketch of a poorly-sorted sand and a well-sorted sand. In the poorly-sorted sand, there are many fine-grained particles occurring between the framework of coarser grains. The pore spaces are being plugged up by the finer particles; thus porosity and permeability may both be low. By contrast, in the well-sorted sand, the grains provide a clean framework, with no finergrained material to fill the pore spaces or block the throat passages. Such well-sorted sands will have relatively high porosity and permeability.
Figure 1.
Figure 2 illustrates the effect of sorting on porosity and permeability: the better sorted the sand, the higher are both the porosity and permeability.
Figure 2.
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Rock Fabric

Fabric refers to the way in which the grains in the sediment are actually arranged. There are two aspects of the fabric to consider: the way in which the grains are packed, and the way in which the various particles are actually oriented. Theoretically, there are six ways in which spheres can be geometrically packed. These range from the loosest cubic style ( Figure 1 ), where porosity can be as high as 48 percent , down to the tightest rhombohedral style where the porosity can be as low as 26 percent. Intuitively, one might
expect sediments which are deposited under the influence turbidites, looser and down currents.
Figure 1.
of to
gravity, exhibit packing higher traction is most
such as grain flows and grain hence by It
porosity than those laid
probable, however, that
post-depositional compaction causes rapid packing adjustments and porosity loss during early burial. The above discussion of packing is based on the assumption that sediment particles are spherical. This is seldom true of any sediment except for olites. Most quartz grains are actually slightly elongated. Sands which contain flaky grains of mica or clay and those which are constituted of skeletal carbonates have still more eccentric grain shapes. Thus, the second element of fabric, orientation, is probably more significant than packing when considering porosity and permeability variations. Although the way in which grains are oriented has little affect on porosity, it has a major effect on permeability. Figure 2 is a sketch of a typical bedded sandstone consisting of quartz grains elongated parallel to current direction and mica flakes and other particles aligned parallel to the bedding. Current direction is from left to right along the X axis. Permeability along the X axis will generally be at a
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maximum, and along the Y axis at a minimum. The permeability measured in the Z axis will generally be midway between these two values.
Figure 2.
Exercise 1. a) Sketch the three basic types of pore structure which contribute to the total porosity of a rock. b) Which type(s) contribute to effective porosity? a) Figure 1
Figure 1.
b) Only interconnected and connected pores contribute to the effective porosity of a reservoir.
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Exercise 2. In each numbered space fill in the name(s) of the kinds of common pores associated with the Origin given:
TYPES ORIGIN
Primary 1. At time of deposition 2. Secondary 3. replacement 4. solution 5. 6. tectonics, etc.
TYPES ORIGIN
Primary 1. Intergranular at time of deposition 2. Intragranular Secondary 3. Intercrystalline replacement 4. Moldic solution 5. Vuggy 6. Fracture tectonics, etc. Exercise 3. What two factors effect the rate of flow of a fluid through a rock? Pressure differential and viscosity.
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Exercise 4. What effect does grain size have on porosity? None. Porosity is expressed as a percentage of pore space. Exercise 5. What effect does grain size have on permeability? Permeability increases with increasing grain size. Permeability decreases with decreasing grain size. Exercise 6. What effect does sorting have on permeability? porosity? Permeability decreases as sorting decreases, as does porosity. Exercise 7. The current which deposited the block of sandstone moved from left to right. In which direction would permeability be highest? and lowest? ( Figure 1 )
Figure 1.
BCA
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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview E.2. Diagenesis Sandstone Burial
Most modern sands are deposited with porosities of somewhere between 40 and 50 percent. In general, this porosity is lost with increasing depth of burial. Sandstones lose porosity with burial at various rates according to several factors. Figure 1 illustrates the effect of mineralogy. Chemically unstable volcanic sands of Japan lose porosity very quickly with burial. At depths of 2 to 3 kilometers porosity is less than 10 percent. For the feldspar-rich arkosic sands of the North Sea, porosity can survive to somewhat greater depths. For the chemically stable pure quartz sands of the Niger delta, porosity can be preserved to depths of 4 to 5 kilometers. Therefore, the chemical composition of a sand is one of the controlling factors on its overall rate of porosity loss. Dodge and
Figure 1.
Loucks (1979) present data to show how the more mineralogically stable
sands of the Texas Gulf Coast are better able to retain their porosity with depth. The geothermal gradient also affects the rate of the chemical reactions that cause porosity destruction. In general, the higher the geothermal gradient, the greater the rate of porosity reduction with depth (Galloway, 1974). Figure 2 shows porosity: depth relationships for sandstones associated with two different temperature gradients in northeast Pacific basins. It indicates a greater rate of porosity reduction associated with the higher temperature gradient.
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Figure 2.
Overpressure can help to preserve porosity at great depths (Plumley, 1980). Figure 3 is a graph of porosity versus depth in a well in the United States Gulf Coast; it shows preservation of porosities below the top of the super-normal pressure zone.
Figure 3.
The presence of hydrocarbons also preserves porosity (Fuchtbauer, 1967). Once oil or gas invade a reservoir, connate waters are prevented from moving through it with the chemicals which can precipitate as cements, destroying the porosity. Even after hydrocarbon invasion, however, porosity may still be diminished by compaction.
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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Cementation

Figure 1 is a sketch of a thin section of a sandstone reservoir rock from the Brent field in the North Sea. The angular shape of many of the grain boundaries is due to silica cement that has grown over them in continuity with the original grain. It is the crystal faces of the secondary cement which give the pore spaces their angular boundaries. Many sandstone reservoirs have lost some of their porosity by secondary silica cementation of this type. Many other types of cement are found in sandstone reservoirs, especially calcite and the clay minerals.
Figure 1.
Figure 2.
Figure 2 is a sketch of a thin section of a sandstone showing porosity having been totally destroyed by a cement of large calcite crystals. A third important type of cement in sandstone reservoirs is provided by the authigenic clay minerals. There are several types of clay. Two particularly important ones are kaolin and illite. Figure 3 is a sketch of a sandstone with interstitial kaolin crystals. These generally occur with a chunky euhedral habit. As you can see, these kaolin crystals occupy pore space, but they do not significantly affect the permeability of the rock. Figure 4 is a sketch of a sandstone with illite in the pore spaces. Authigenic illite generally occurs as long thin angular crystals which radiate from the quartz grains on which they grow. Thus, a small amount of illite may affect the permeability to a very large extent by bridging over and blocking the throat passages between the pores.
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Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5 is a graph on which porosity is plotted against permeability on a logarithmic scale, showing the porosity: permeability distributions for illite-cemented sands and kaolin-cemented sands from some North Sea gas fields. It should be noted that the porosity is mostly between 5 to 25 percent, irrespective of the type of clay, but the permeabilities for kaolin-cemented sands are far higher than the permeabilities of the illite-cemented sands.
Figure 5.
Secondary Porosity Development

Figure 1 is a sketch of a thin section of a sandstone. Notice there are several very large pore spaces, so large that it is improbable they were formed when the sediment was originally deposited. These are secondary solution pores where a grain has dissolved and the porosity has been increased.
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Secondary porosity generally involves the
leaching of carbonate cements and grains, including calcite, dolomite, siderite and shell debris. It also involves the leaching of unstable detrital minerals, particularly feldspar. In this latter case, leached porosity is generally associated with kaolin cementation, both replacing feldspar and occurring as an authigenic cement in its own right. The predominance of kaolin and the fact that
Figure 1.
carbonate has been leached out suggest that the leaching was caused by acidic solutions moving
through the rock. The source of these solutions is still a matter for debate. Many examples of secondary porosity occur beneath unconformities. It is likely that in these cases, meteoric water causes weathering of sandstone inducing secondary porosity. These sands are then buried beneath onlapping sediments above the unconformity. Secondary leached porosity in sandstones is also reported to be common at all depths, from the near surface to the deep surface in Lower Tertiary sandstones of the Texas Gulf Coast (Loucks et al, 1979).
Summary: Diagenetic Pathways

Figure 1 shows the diagenetic pathways of sandstone. Sands are deposited with porosity of some 40 to 50 percent (a). As these sands encounter shallow burial, their porosity diminishes by compaction and cementation to some 20 to 30 percent (b). Deep burial can lead to a total obliteration of porosity by extensive cementation and compaction (c). Deeper burial may eventually lead to metamorphism. At any point during burial, either deep or shallow, secondary porosity may be induced by leaching (d). Good reservoir rocks may therefore be found at depths at which one might expect most primary porosity to have been destroyed by compaction and cementation. The best event that can possibly happen to a sand is for oil or gas to invade pore spaces (e). Once this happens, cementation is inhibited and any further porosity loss is minimal, caused only by compaction.
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Figure 1.
Effects of Diagenesis on Carbonate Reservoirs

Porosity in sandstone reservoirs is most typically intergranular and primary. Carbonates generally have secondary porosity which reflects a far more complicated diagenetic history. Detailed accounts of carbonate diagenesis may be found in major texts published by Bathurst (1975), Wilson (1975) and Chilingar et al (1972), as well as in papers by Purser (1978) and Longman (1980). Aragonite is the type of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) which occurs in most recent sands and muds. It is unstable in the subsurface, however, so that one of the first diagenetic changes of a lime sand is the alteration of aragonite to calcite. This can cause extensive modification of the porosity. The original skeletal grains are leached out and a rim cement grows around the original grain boundaries. The second major carbonate mineral is dolomite [CaMg(CO3)2], a mixture of calcium and magnesium carbonate.
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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Limestones

Like terrigenous sands, lime sands and skeletal carbonates have initial porosities of 45 to 50 percent, but in most ancient limestones that porosity has been almost totally destroyed. We shall now take a close look at diagenetic pathways for carbonates. Figure 1 shows the various routes that may be taken by a skeletal lime sand as it is buried and At undergoes time of diagenesis.
deposition initial porosities are as high as 50 percent (a). If burial takes place very quickly without early diagenesis, porosity may be reduced, largely by compaction as the shells and grains are squashed (b). Residual porosity may then be in filled by a sparite cement
Figure 1.
(c).
In
some early
environments
diagenesis takes place with a rim cement of sparry calcite crystals (d), sometimes accompanied by solution of the original cells or grains giving rise to bimoldic porosity (e). If hydrocarbons invade the reservoir, further porosity loss by cementation is prevented and the rim cement gives the rock sufficient resistance to compaction (f). At any time in its history, even if all porosity has been destroyed by compaction and cementation, secondary solution porosity can form (g). This can be either fabric-selective moldic porosity or vuggy porosity, which cross-cuts the original grains and fabric of the rock. This later secondary porosity can also be invaded by hydrocarbons preventing any further cementation of the secondary pores (h). If petroleum invasion does not occur, the secondary pores may be infilled with a sparry calcite cement (i). Thus, it can be seen that the diagenetic pathways of carbonates are extremely complex and that carbonate reservoirs are very difficult to develop. Porosity distribution may be unrelated to the original depositional facies.
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Figure 2.
Figure 2 illustrates two types of secondary solution pores: moldic and vuggy, as shown in the previous diagram.
Dolomites
Primary dolomites are those which form contemporaneously with associated sediments, generally limestones and often evaporites. They are commonly found in salt-marsh sabkha sequences and are typically bedded, cryptocrystalline, chalky and floury. Petrophysically, they are like chalks or shales in that they are often porous, but lack significant permeability because of their fine grain size. Secondary dolomites, on the other hand, are those which form by "dolomitization", the replacement of a pre-existing calcium carbonate deposit. They are often coarsely crystalline and, as seen earlier, have intercrystalline porosity that may exceed 30%. When dolomite replaces calcite, there is a bulk reduction of the original rock volume by as much as 13 percent. Whether the observed intercrystalline porosity is related to this volume reduction is a matter of debate.
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Figure 1 is a sketch of a thin section of a secondary dolomite, showing that the intercrystalline pores are large and often interconnected. Because of this, they are not only porous but also permeable, and thus they can make excellent hydrocarbon reservoirs. In fact, approximately 80% of North American carbonate reservoirs are dolomite (Zenger et al, 1980).
Figure 1.
Important examples are: the Jay field in Florida with over 340 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves, mostly from leached dolomites of the Jurassic age Smackover formation (Ottmann et al, 1976); Silurian-Devonian age Hunton gas reservoirs of the Anadarko Basin (Harvey, 1972); and the huge Panhandle-Hugoton field of Texas-Oklahoma-Kansas in which Permian age Wolfcamp dolomites yield a significant portion of the estimated 70 trillion cu. ft. of gas and one billion plus barrels of oil (Pippin, 1970). A variety of dolomite types exist in nature and are the subject of continuing discussion. For a review of the dolomite "problem" and for papers representing diverse opinions regarding the formation of dolomite, the reader is referred to Zenger et al (1980).
Atypical Reservoirs
About 90 percent of the world's discovered petroleum occurs in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs in about equal proportions. The remaining reserves occur in what can best be described as atypical reservoirs. Almost any rock can serve as a reservoir, providing that it has the two properties of porosity and permeability. Atypical reservoirs include shales, granites and other igneous and metamorphic rocks. Generally, porosity that occurs in these is due to fracturing.
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An atypical reservoir is shown in Figure 1 , a cross-section through the Augila field of Libya (Williams, 1972). This field consists of an old basement high of weathered granite with onlapping sands and reefal carbonates. Production comes from the carbonates and sands, as well as the granite. One well, the #1 well on the crosssection, penetrated through the cap rock of the field into granite This without penetrating at over either reefal or sand reservoir. well flowed 40,000 barrels of oil per day from the granite. The porosity was a mixture of fracturing
Figure 1.
and
solution,
where feldspar
chemically-unstable
grains were leached out to leave a granite wash largely made up of residual quartz grains. Reservoirs such as this are rare, however. Other important examples of fractured reservoirs are: the fractured Franciscan (Jurassic) schist fields of southern California (Truex, 1972); the Spraberry field of Texas with reserves of one billion barrels in fractured shale, siltstone and fine sandstone (Wilkinson, 1953); LaPaz and Mara fields of Venezuela (Miller et al, 1958); and the Asamari limestone fields in Iran (Hull and Warman, 1970).
Exercise 1. Draw porosity/depth gradients for: a) a clean quartz sand; an arkosic sand; and a volcaniclastic sand.
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b) an arkose in areas of high and low geothermal gradients. c) What two factors can help preserve porosity at depth? Solution 1: a) Figure 1
b) Figure 2
c) Both overpressure and hydrocarbon invasion can help preserve porosity at depths. Exercise 2. Draw on this graph the distribution of porosity: permeability data which may be expected for a sandstone formation which is cemented by kaolin in one area, and illite in another. ( Figure 1 )
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Figure 1.
Basically, your sketch should show that both sands have the same porosities. Permeability is higher for the kaolitic sand than the illitic one. Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Exercise 3. What are the petrophysical differences commonly found between primary and secondary dolomite?
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Primary dolomites tend to be cryptocrystalline, so, though they may be porous, they generally lack permeability. Secondary dolomites tend to have a coarsely crystalline texture and are often porous and permeable. Exercise 4. In which way(s) can basement rocks become reservoirs? Basement rocks can become a reservoir when fractured and/or when solution of unstable minerals has occurred.
E.3. Reservoir Continuity Reservoir Continuity

Unfortunately, most oil fields do not occur in single sheet-shaped reservoirs of great lateral continuity with uniform porosity and permeability distributions. Most oil accumulations occur in heterogeneous reservoirs with permeability barriers because of shale breaks or local cemented zones. Figure 1 , Figure 2 , and Figure 3 show cross-sections of a simpleanticlinal trap illustrating differing degrees of continuity of a sandstone reservoir rock. Figure 1 is the reservoir engineer's dream: a blanket sand of uniform porosity and permeability distribution. This occurs with a single oil: water contact. In this case for a well drilled at location 1 or through the reservoir of any other location, gross pay equals net pay.
Figure 1.
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Figure 2 is somewhat
different: the sand is shaling out from right to left across the section, thus for a well drilled at location 2 the net pay of the reservoir is less than the gross pay. There is still one oil accumulation, or at least one major one, but
Figure 2.
there is a small separate accumulation with its own
oil: water contact in the lower left-hand part of the figure.. Figure 3 shows another situation. series of There is a oil separate
pools with their own oil: water contacts. This is not a genuine trap, of which anticlinal but a out stratigraphic pinch structural series
Figure 3.
traps
towards the crest of the
structure. For each reservoir, net pay equals gross pay. These figures show the importance of establishing continuity of reservoir beds. This can only be done effectively when the development geologist and the petroleum engineer work together. The geologist tries to establish the depositional environment of the various reservoir units and, using that knowledge, he tries to make predictions about where the reservoir may be expected to thicken and thin.
Areal Continuity
The following is based on the scheme proposed by Potter (1962). Refer to Figure 1. The upper is an areal view of an ideal reservoir, a sheet of great lateral extent with a length: width ratio of about 1 to 1.
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The remaining map views show different types of elongated reservoirs with a length: width ratio greater than 1 to 1. The belt variety is essentially a sheet sand with isolated holes replaced width by ratios shale. which The are dendroid variety has length: generally greater than 3 to -1. This is typically encountered in fluvial and deltaic sands which trend perpendicular to the The of paleo-shoreline. depositional environment
this type of sand body is illustrated in Figure 2 . The ribbon or shoestring sands are characteristically produced by
Figure 1.
marine barrier bar sands and usually trend parallel to the
paleoshoreline. The depositional environment of this type of sand body is illustrated in Figure 3 .
Figure 2.
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Lastly, there may be
isolated pods which are hard to find and harder still to develop. These often Occur where erosion has removed much of the sand and replaced it with shale, leaving isolated pods of sand.
Figure 3.
Cross-Sectional Continuity
Reservoir continuity in cross-section is an important consideration in determining reservoir quality(Harris and Hewitt, 1977). Figure 1 , Figure 2 , and Figure 3 illustrate different degrees of vertical continuity. In all instances, the individual sand bodies shown represent ideal channel deposits with flat tops and concave upward bases. The same terms and reservoir conditions would apply for barrier sands or any other generic type, though the cross-sectional shapes are different. The ideal case for a reservoir is shown in Figure 1 where the sands show great vertical continuity. These are sometimes called multistory sand bodies. In such a reservoir, there is good fluid movement throughout the field, and oil and gas can be produced easily. Secondary recovery by water-flood can effectively be used in these reservoirs since water can be injected at the base to help production from the crest.
Figure 1.
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The next cross-section ( Figure 2 ) shows a sand body with great lateral continuity where a series of channels has coalesced. Oil entrapment in this case would be stratigraphic.
Figure 2.
Isolated sand bodies ( Figure 3 ) occur with no vertical continuity whatsoever. In this type of situation, oil entrapment can only be stratigraphic. There is no fluid communication between reservoirs. If the sand body with lateral continuity, shown in Figure 2 , were deformed structurally, oil entrapment would become structural rather than stratigraphic ( Figure 4 ).
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Case History: Handil Field, Indonesia
The following account of the Handil field, Indonesia is based on work published by Verdier, Oki, and Atik (1980). This field is essentially a broad anticlinal trap. The gross pay is some 2,000 meters thick. This is split up, however, into many separate accumulations with their own gas caps and oil: water contacts. These separate accumulations have been caused partly by faulting but largely by the overall formation having a sand: shale ratio of about 1 to 1 with many individual reservoir units of some 5 to 20 meters in thickness. Subsurface facies analysis has been extensively used to identify the different sedimentary environments of the sands and to make predictions about their geometry and orientation. Figure 1 is a detailed cross-sect ion which shows the lenticular nature of the sands which comprise a portion of the field, the 19-7 reservoir. This illustration was based on log interpretation, the coal beds providing the most reliable marker horizons. Two main types of sand bodies have been recognized: laterally-extensive bar sands and the areally more restricted channel sands which have essentially a shoestring geometry.
Figure 1.
Isopach maps were prepared after development drilling had been completed. From these, the extent both of the channel sands ( Figure 2 ) and of three separated bar sand units ( Figure 3 , Figure 4 , and Figure 5 ) can be seen. Note that the channels have cut down into the more extensive sheet geometry of the bar sands. Porosity in this field is essentially of the primary intergranular type with minimal diagenetic modification. The key to developing and producing this field has been to use subsurface facies analysis to work out the geometry and orientation of the sand bodies.
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Figure 2.
Figure 3.
Figure 4.
Figure 5.
Case History: Intisar Field, Libya

Figure 1 is an isopach map of one of the Intisar (formerly Idris) reef fields located in the Sirte basin of Libya. This field is a stratigraphic trap contained within a reef or carbonate buildup. In the map, notice the simple sub circular geometry of the reservoir. The thickness of the reservoir increases from zero to about 1,200 feet in an approximate distance of only 2.5 miles.
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Figure 1.
1,200 feet in an approximate distance of only 2.5 miles. Figure 2 is a geological cross-section showing the various lithological facies of the reef. Figure 3 is a petrophysical cross-section showing the distribution of zones of different porosity. Both crosssections are drawn along the line from A to B in Figure 1 . It should be noted that there is no correlation between the lithological and the petrophysical units.
Figure 2.
33
Figure 3.
These two cross-sections illustrate very clearly the problems of developing carbonate reservoirs. When the reef was first deposited, primary porosity was closely related to the depositional environments of the original rock units. However, as the reef was buried, primary porosity was largely destroyed and secondary porosity developed in an irregular manner due to solution. Thus, there is now no simple correlation between the lithological units and the petrophysical ones. Exercise 1. On this graph ( Figure 1 ) show the position of:
1) shale; 2) a fractured granite; 3) a vuggy limestone (with vugs isolated) (with vugs connected);
34

4) an uncemented sand; 5) a chalk. see Figure 2
Exercise 2. The reservoir of this oil field ( Figure 1 ) consists of an upper barrier bar sand sequence interbedded with shales, and a lower part of interbedded shales and channel sands. They were deposited on a westerly sloping shoreline. a) In which direction is the optimum reservoir continuity likely to be in zones A, B, C and D? b) How and why might the porosity in Zone B differ from D?
Figure 1.
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Solution 2: a) North-south, parallel to the shoreline in A and C. East-west, perpendicular to the shoreline in B and D. b) Porosity in Zone B may be higher than in Zone D, because: 1) The presence of secondary solution porosity caused by weathering beneath the unconformity in Zone B. 2) Cementation continued in the water Zone D after oil invaded Zone B inhibiting further porosity loss by pore-filling cements. Exercise 3. Why do carbonate reservoirs frequently present more development problems than do sandstone ones? Solution 3: In sandstone reservoirs, porosity is largely primary and intergranular and therefore related to facies. In carbonate reservoirs, by contrast, primary facies-related porosity has often been cemented. Secondary solution porosity may then have developed in irregular zones which crosscut the original depositional facies.
36
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview References

BATHURST, R.G.C., 1975, Carbonate Sediments and Their Diagenesis: Second Edition, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 658 p. BLATT, H., MIDDLETON, G., and MURRAY, R., 1980, Origin of Sedimentary Rocks: Second Edition, Prentice Hall, Inc., New Jersey, 782 p. BOTSET, H.G., 1931, The measurement of permeability of porous alundum discs of water and oils, Rev. Sci. Instr. v. 2, p. 84-95. CHILINGAR, G.V., MANNON, R.W., and RIEKE, H., 1972, Oil and Gas Production from Carbonate Rocks, Elsevier, Amsterdam, 408 p. CHOQUETTE, P.W., and PRAY, L.C., 1970, Geologic nomenclature and classification of porosity in sedimentary carbonates, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 54, p. 207-250. DODGE, M.M., and LOUCKS, R.G., 1979, Mineralogic composition and diagenesis of Tertiary sandstones along Texas Gulf Coast, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 63, p. 440. FRIEDMAN, G.H., and SANDERS, J.E., 1978, Principles of Sedimentology, J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 792 p. FUCHTBAUER, H., 1967, Influence of different types of diagenesis on sandstone porosity, 7th World Petroleum Cong. Proc., p. 353-369 GALLOWAY, W.E., 1974, Deposition and diagenetic alteration of sandstone in northeast Pacific arc-related basins: Implications for Graywacke Genesis, Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 85, p. 379390. GREIG, D.A., 1958, "Oil Horizons in the Middle East" in Habitat of Oil, a Symposium: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists, p. 1182-1193. HARRIS, D.G., and HEWITT, 1977, Synergism in reservoir management. The Geologic Perspective, J. Pet. Tech., July 1977, p. 761-770. HARVEY, R.L., 1972, West Campbell Gas Field, Major County, Oklahoma, in Stratigraphic Oil and Gas Fields, Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Memoir 6, p. 568-578.
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HULL, C.E., and WARMAN, H.R., 1970, Asmari Oil Fields of Iran, in Geology of Giant Petroleum Fields: Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Memoir 14, p. 428-437. LEVORSEN, A.I., 1967, The Geology of Petroleum, Freeman & Co., Oxford, 724 p. LONGMAN, M.W., 1980, Carbonate diagenetic textures from nearsurface diagenetic environments, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 64, p. 461-487. LOUCKS, R.G., DODGE, .M., and GALLOWAY, W.W., 1979, Reservoir quality in Tertiary sandstones along Texas Gulf Coast, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 63, p. 488. McCONNELL, P.C., 1951, Drilling and production techniques that yield nearly 850,000 barrels per day in Saudi Arabia's fabulous Abqaiq field, Oil & Gas Journ., Dec. 20, 1951, p. 197. MILLER, J.B., et al, 1958, Habitat of oil in the Maracaibo Basin, Venezuela, in Habitat of Oil, a Symposium: Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., p. 626-627. MURRAY, R.C., 1960, Origin of porosity in carbonate rocks, J. Sedim. Petrol., v. 30, p. 59-84. MUSKAT, M., 1937, Flow of Homogeneous Fluids Through Porous Media, McGraw Hill, New York, 763 p. MUSKAT, M., and BOTSET, H.G., 1931, Flow of gas through porous materials, Physics, v. 1, p. 27-47. OTTMANN, R.D., KEYES, P.L., and ZIEGLER, M.A., 1976, Jay Field, Florida in North American Oil and Gas Fields, Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Memoir 24, p. 276-286. PIPPIN, L., 1970, Panhandle-Hugoton Field Texas-Oklahoma-Kansas in Geology of Giant Petroleum Fields, Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol,. Memoir 14, p. 204-222. PLUMLEY, W.J., 1980, Abnormally high fluid pressure: Survey of some basic principles, Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 64, p. 414-422. POTTER, P.E., 1962, Late Mississippian sandstones of Illinois Basin, Illinois Geol. Surv. Circ. p. 340. PRYOR, W.A., 1973, Permeability - porosity patterns and variations in some Holocene sand bodies, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 57, p. 162-189.
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PURSER, B.H., 1978, Early diagenesis and the preservation of porosity in Jurassic limestones, Jl. Pet. Geol., v. 1, p. 83-94. ROBINSON, R.B., 1966, Classification of reservoir rocks by surface texture, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 50, p. 547-559. SELLEY, R.C., 1982, Introduction to Sedimentology: Second Edition, Academic Press, London, 475 p. STORMONT, D.H., 1949, Huge caverns encountered in Dollarhide Field, Oil & Gas Journ., April 7, 1949, pp. 66-68 & 94. TERRY, C.E., and J.J. WILLIAMS, 1969, The Idris "A" Bioherm and Oilfield, Sirte Basin, Libya its Commercial Development, Regional Paleocene Geologic Setting and Stratigraphy, in: The Exploration for Petroleum in Europe and North Africa, Hepple, P. (ed.) . ; Elsevier Publishing Co., Ltd., Amsterdam. TRUEX, J.N., 1972, Fractured shale and basement reservoir Long Beach Unit, California, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 56, p. 1931-1938. VERDIER, A.C., OKI, T., and ATIK, S., 1980, Geology of the Handil field (East Kalimantan, Indonesia). In: Giant Oil and Gas Fields of Decade 1968-1978, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Memoir 30, p. 399-422. WILKINSON, W.M., 1953, Fracturing in Spraberry reservoir, W. Texas, Am. Assoc. Petrol. Geol. Bull., v. 37, p. 250-265. WILLIAMS, J.J., 1972, Augila Field, Libya: Depositional environment and diagenesis of sedimentary reservoir and description of igneous reservoir. In: Stratigraphic Oil and Gas Fields, Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol., Memoir NOR. 16, p. 623-632. WILSON, J.L., 1975, Carbonate Facies in Geologic History, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 471 p. ZENGER, D.H., DUNHAM, J.B., and ETHINGTON, R.L., editors 1980, Concepts and Models of Dolomitization, Soc. Econ. Paleontologists and Mineralogists, Spec. Pub. No. 28, Preface.
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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Recommended Reading

For details of the petrography of reservoir rocks see: Friedman, G.H., and Sanders, J.E., 1978, Principles of Sedimentology, J. Wiley & Sons, New York, 792 p. This major text deals not only with petrography but also with wider aspects of reservoir rocks. Bathurst, R.G.C., 1975, Carbonate Sediments and Their Diagenesis, (2nd Edition), Elsevier, Amsterdam, 658 p. Pettijohn, F.J., Potter, P.E., and Siever, R.J., 1972, Sand and Sandstone, Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 618 p. Selley, R.C., 1982, Introduction to Sedimentology, (2nd Edition), Academic Press, London, 475 p. The first two of the above books deal with carbonates and sandstones in great detail. The third deals with both at a less advanced level, but deals with the application of petrography to porosity and permeability predictions.
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E.1. Rock Properties: Porosity

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E.1. Rock Properties: Porosity

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PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview E. RESERVOIRS E.1.

Rock Properties Porosity

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

have been presented by Robinson (1966) and Levorsen (1967).

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Grain Sorting

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Rock Fabric

gravity, exhibit packing higher traction is most

such as grain flows and grain hence by It

porosity than those laid

probable, however, that

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Cementation

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Secondary Porosity Development

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Summary: Diagenetic Pathways

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Effects of Diagenesis on Carbonate Reservoirs

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview Limestones

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

E.3. Reservoir Continuity Reservoir Continuity

Dicky Haris Hidayats Library: Reservoirs

PETROLEUM GEOLOGY Series 1 Introduction and Overview

there is a small separate accumulation with its own