1.

Porosity
There are two main classifications of porosity, namely
Fabric selective / Primary porosity
o Intergranular
This is the porosity between the particles of a grain pack. It is the most common form of
primary porosity and is created by the sorting of sedimentary grains during deposition

Intra granular: This refers to porosity within particles

Intercrystalline
This is the porosity between randomly oriented, poorly packed
crystals of a recrystallized carbonate
Non-Fabric selective / Secondary porosity
o Fracture
Fracture porosity is created by expansion of the bulk volume of
the rock along broken surfaces. The fractures form in response
to tensional stress generated by tectonic forces or some form of
differential compaction. fractures usually contribute less than
1% to the rock porosity but can increase transmissibility by
many orders of magnitude
o Vug
Porosity created by solution enhancement of preexisting pores.
Vuggy porosity can be ineffective if not interconnected
Classifications of porosity:
Total porosity
o It is the ratio of the total pore space of the media to the total bulk
volume. It is measured through the density logs.
Effective porosity
o It is the total porosity calculated on the bulk volume excluding the volume
of the clay bound water. It is calculated out from the shale content and the
o
o

Name textural and diagenetic controls on porosity

In general, digenesis in carbonate rocks play a much greater role in determining the
hydrologic properties than it does in sandstones Primary porosity in most carbonate
rocks in basins is often destroyed and many porosity surviving into the burial realm
has a diagentic or secondary origin.

2. Permeability

What permeability definitions are in use and how do they relate?

The permeability of a medium is a proportionality constant that relates the flow

observed in the medium to the pressure difference maintained across it. Though
originally defined for single phase flow, it can be modified to account for
multiphase flow as well. The definitions of permeability are :
Absolute permeability: When the medium is saturated with a single
fluid.
o Effective permeability: It is the permeability of a formation to flow of a
fluid when two or more immiscible fluids are present in the medium.
o Relative permeability: It is the ratio of Effective to absolute
permeability
o Effective and relative permeability are mainly used in practice. The
saturation of fluids must be specified while referring to relative
permeability.
Name textural and diagenetic controls on permeability
o

How does permeability relate to porosity?

Porosity and permeability are related properties of any rock or loose sediment. Both
are related to the number, size, and connections of openings in the rock. The more
porous is rock, the higher will be the permeability of it. Permeability is controlled by
such factors as pore size and pore-throat geometry, as well as porosity. The gold
standard for permeability is to make measurements on core samples and to
determine permeability. However, because core measurements sample such a
minute part of the reservoir other techniques like sidewall samples, wireline logging
correlation, NMR logs or wireline formation tester etc should also be applied in a
widespread fashion across the reservoir. When good-quality core data are not
available, estimates of permeability can be made from empirical equations.

3. Capillarity

What physical processes constitute capillarity?

Capillary action is the tendency of a liquid to rise to be drawn into small openings
such as those between grains of a rock. Capillarity is a result of the intermolecular
attraction within the liquid and solid materials. Forces responsible for it are
cohesion, adhesion and surface tension.

What impact does capillarity have on fluid saturations and fluid

distribution?

Fig. 1 shows a typical capillary pressure relationship for gas invading a porous
medium that is initially saturated with water; the oil/water capillary pressure is
defined as Pcgw=pg-pw. For this example, water is the wetting phase, and oil is the
non-wetting phase. Terminology for saturation changes in porous media reflects
wettability:

"Drainage" refers to the decreasing saturation of a wetting phase, ie, the

process of initial charging of the reservoir by hydrocarbons.

"Imbibition" refers to the increasing wetting-phase saturation, ie, the process

of production from the reservoir, with say, a good aquifer support.

Oil does not enter into the medium until the capillary pressure exceeds the
threshold pressure Pct, which depends on the size and shape of the pores and the
wettability of the sample. As capillary pressure increases beyond this value, the
saturation of the water continues to decrease. It is generally assumed that the oil

cannot flow until its saturation is greater than a critical level Sgc. Below Sw = 1 Sgc,
the capillary pressure increases with decreasing water saturation, with water
saturation approaching an irreducible level Swi at very high capillary pressures.
After completing measurements of capillary pressure for primary drainage, the
direction of saturation change can be reversed, and another capillary pressure
relationship can be measuredit is usually called an imbibition relationship.
Imbibition is often analogous to the production/waterflooding process. The primary
drainage and imbibition relationships generally differ significantly, as shown in Fig.
2 for a gas/water system. This difference is called capillary pressure hysteresisthe
magnitude of capillary pressure depends on the saturation and the direction of
saturation change. For imbibition of a strongly wetting phase, the capillary pressure
generally does not reach zero until the wetting-phase saturation is large, as shown
in Fig. 2.

How is the maximum hydrocarbon column height related to capillarity?

A seal is a low-permeable to impermeable rock or immobile fluid, such as tar, with a

capillary entry pressure large enough to dam up or trap hydrocarbons. The key
equation used in capillary pressure/saturation evaluation of reservoir rocks, seals,
and flow barriers is:

.................... (1)

in which

hc = the maximum hydrocarbon column held

pc = the capillary entry pressure

w = the density of water

hc = the density of the hydrocarbon

How does permeability relate to capillarity?

Generally speaking, higher the permeability, lower would be the transition zone, ie,
the zone in which there is a mixture of both the phases in a mobile state.