REN5415 Y19 Lec8

Reservoir Engineering I
Barham S. Mahmood
E-mail: [email protected]
Petroleum Engineering Department
2
Capillary pressure
3
• Fluid rock interaction
• Surface tension
• Interfacial tension
• Wettability
• Capillary pressure
• Application of capillary pressure
• Average of capillary pressure

4
Having worked through this chapter the Student

will be able to:
• Briefly describe the capillary pressure and why it is important for reservoir
engineers.
• Express the capillary pressure Pc as two equations, one in terms of

interfacial tension, contact angle and pore radius, and the other in terms of
height and density of fluids.
• Define imbibition and drainage in the context of capillary pressure.
• Explain the impact of capillary pressure effects on the saturation

distribution of stratified formations.
• Be able to Calculate the height of water saturation and free water level
(FWL)
5
Fluid rock interaction
The study of fluid-rock interaction is of fundamental importance to

reservoir engineering, due to:
1. Interaction influence fluid flow through the reservoir.
2. Plays a dominant role in the distribution of fluids within the reservoir’s

pore space.
3. More importantly, it dictates the maximum amount of a fluid that can

be withdrawn from the reservoir.
We shall start with the simplest form of such interaction and then move
up to more complex ones.
6
Surface tension
• The molecules of any substance are held together by inter-molecular
forces whose magnitude depends on:
a) The molecular composition
b) Structure of the substance.
• Different substances may display different levels of forces, and one

way of illustrating such difference is to bring samples of two
substances into contact.
• Since fluids are more noticeable in their interaction than rigid solids,
we will conduct a simple experiment with water and air.
7
Surface tension cont..

• Fill a slim and clean glass cylinder
with water, and observe the shape
of the water surface. You will notice
that it is concave
• The cause of surface concavity is

that water molecules at the surface
are pulled downward by other
Figure 25 Curvature of water meniscus
water molecules beneath them,
while from above, they are pulled
by air molecules with their much
weaker inter-molecular forces
8

• At the edge of the surface where
water meets the wall of the
cylinder, the opposite effect takes
place. There, water molecules are
attracted by glass molecules
stronger than by air molecules
• The result is that water creeps up

the inner wall of the cylinder Figure 25 Curvature of water meniscus
causing the surface to deform. This
phenomenon is well known in
surface science and is called
surface tension.
9

• To quantify surface tension, we need to imagine another experiment
• fill the container with a liquid, say water, and leave the container to
stand in equilibrium
• to enlarge the surface area of the water, we need to pull the movable
side outwards. In doing so, a certain force, F, is required to overcome
the resistance by the water
• Therefore, if the side is moved for a distance ΔL, the work done is
equal to:
10
Therefore, surface tension, σ, is defined as the amount of energy, Es,

needed to create a unit area of new surface. This energy is equal to
where B is the container width. The units of surface tension are thus
Joules/cm2; but since a Joule is equivalent to one dyne-cm, surface
tension is commonly expressed in dyne/cm
11
Interfacial tension
• Suppose the experiment of the glass cylinder is repeated with water
covered by crude oil.
• Tension would still exist at the oil-water interface, which would still be
concave but to a lesser degree as oil-water attractive force is
stronger than air-water.
• Such tension is called interfacial tension
• Units and direction of interfacial tension

are the same as surface tension
12
Interfacial tension cont..

Formula to compute interfacial tension is:
where :
σ12: interfacial tension between substances 1 and 2, dyne/cm
σ1: surface tension of substance 1, dyne/cm
σ2: surface tension of substance 2, dyne/cm
A typical value of water-oil interfacial tension, σwo, at room temperature is
32 dyne/cm.
13
Wettability
• All of us have observed how mercury drops tend to retain their
spherical shape when they are placed over a glass surface while
water drops tend to spread
• We would normally say that water wets the glass, but mercury
doesn’t. In reservoir engineering terminology, we characterize water
as a wetting phase to glass and mercury as a non-wetting phase.
• To understand the mechanics of wettability of a phase in relation

to a particular solid, let us inspect closely a drop of water placed
over a clean sheet of glass
14
Wettability cont..
At point a three forces are acting
on the water surface:
1. σgw (between glass and water)

2. σg (between glass and air)
3. σw (between water and air)
each force is acting to

decrease the area of
interface between the two
substances concerned
15
Wettability cont..
Since the drop is at static equilibrium, the resultant force acting on the
edge of the drop must be zero
where θw is called the contact angle in water-air-glass system. Define

the adhesion tension as:
16
Wettability cont..
• If the contact angle is less than 90, as in the case of θw, At will be
positive, which makes glass pull the water drop to spread over. In other
words, the glass prefers to be in contact with water rather than with air,
which makes water the wetting phase to glass in the presence of air
• If the contact angle is greater than

90, as in the case of mercury (see
figure), At will be negative, causing
the glass to repel the mercury drop
forcing it to contract. This makes air
the wetting phase to glass in the
presence of mercury
17
Wettability cont..
• Wettability in an oil reservoir can be determined by a similar
experiment with reservoir water, crude oil and a crystal of the
predominant mineral in the reservoir rock.
• In general, water is the wetting phase to quartz in the presence of oil,
while oil is the wetting phase to carbonate minerals in the presence
of water. Natural gas is always the non-wetting phase in the
presence of other liquids except mercury.

18
Wettability cont..
The composition of the surface also affects the interfacial tension. Figure
28 shows the effect of octane and napthenic acid on a water droplet on
silica and calcite surfaces. The water is not affected by the change in
surface in the water/octane system, however, the napthenic acid causes
the water to wet the silica surface, but to be non-wetting on the calcite
surface.
19
Capillary pressure
• Capillary pressure is another manifestation of fluid-solid interaction
• To explain this phenomenon, we have to recall a familiar experiment

in which one end of a glass capillary tube is immersed in a beaker full
of water, which causes water to rise in the tube up to a particular
height
• The force that pulls water

into the tube against
gravity has to do with the
adhesion tension.
20
Capillary pressure cont..

At the periphery of the meniscus, the adhesion tension is given by
equation below and it acts vertically upwards along the inner wall of the
tube
Since this tension is a force per unit length of periphery, the adhesion
force, Ft, is then computed by:
where r is the radius of the capillary tube

21

At equilibrium, the adhesion force must be equal to the weight of the
water column in the tube, Fg, given by:
where h is the height, in cm, of the water column above the free water
surface. Equating the two forces yields
22

To understand the concept of capillary pressure, let us examine figure
below, from the prospective of pressure. The pressure at the free
water surface (level 2) outside the tube is atmospheric in both the air
and water phases:
Because of hydrostatic equilibrium, the water

pressure inside the tube at level 2 should be
atmospheric too. Due to the negligible density
of air, the pressure in the air phase just above
the water meniscus (level 1), Pa,1, is also
atmospheric
23

We are ready now to calculate the pressure in the water phase just below
the meniscus, Pw,1. Due to the weight of the water column, this pressure is:
which is less than atmospheric. In other words, there is a drop in pressure

as we move across the meniscus from the air phase into the water phase.
Such a drop in pressure is termed the capillary pressure, Pc, and it
arises as a result of the preferential wettability of a solid (glass) towards
one phase (water) over another phase (air) when both phases are in
contact with the same solid
24

• We can look at it as a difference in pressure which is created between
the non-wetting and wetting phases as soon as these two phases come
in contact with the solid. In terms of interfacial parameters, the capillary
pressure in our example can be computed by combining below two
equations:
25

Suppose Following the same analysis above we conclude that:we
repeat the capillary tube experiment but with oil overlaying the water
as shown in figure below
However, the hydrostatic pressure drop

in the oil phase cannot be ignored in this
case because oil density, ρo, is
appreciable, and Po,1 is computed to be:
26
The capillary pressure would then be given by:
Performing a force balance as previously, the adhesion force is given by:
where σwo is the water-oil interfacial tension and θwo is the water-oil contact
angle
27

When computing the weight of the water column, the effect of
buoyancy has to be included this time. The buoyancy force, Fb, acting
on the water column is equal to the weight of displaced oil, which is:
Equating adhesion force equation and buoyancy force equation given:

28
By substituting above equation into previous capillary pressure

equation , the capillary pressure can also be expressed by:
29
Capillary pressure in porous rock

• The pore space within reservoir rock is comprised of a large number
of pores of different sizes and shapes, which are interconnected into a
complex network of channels and pathways
• This fact plays a crucial role in the distribution of fluids within the pore
space as will be illustrated shortly.
• When two or more fluids share the pore space of a rock, the wetting
fluid will readily coat the walls of the pores whenever possible, and a
capillary pressure will exist at the interface between the wetting fluid
and the non-wetting fluid(s).
• The magnitude of the capillary pressure will vary from pore to pore according
to pore geometry
30
Capillary pressure in porous rock cont..

• To illustrate this phenomenon, we shall follow the developments of
a simple experiment
• Assume that a sandstone core sample is fully saturated with water,

the wetting phase, and is loaded in the setup shown in figure below.
• Oil, the non-wetting

phase, can be injected
at one end and water
can be produced from
the other.
31

A magnified picture of the core’s inlet, Fig. 32-a, shows water filling all
the pores and oil is just coating the inlet face of the core.
To start the displacement, we

would have to increase the oil
pressure until the pore(s) with
the smallest Pc give way first,
at which instant the oil-water
pressure difference, ΔP, would
be just above the required Pc
32

• such pores would be the largest ones. This minimum Pc is called the
threshold pressure, Pc,th, and is thus given by:
Once oil enters the core

through the largest pores, it will
continue displacing water until
it reaches a pore whose
diameter requires a larger ΔP
to push through
33

At this stage, raising the oil pressure would carry water displacement
forward in these pores as well as invading the next smaller pores at
the inlet. Successive increases in oil pressure, hence, Pc, would cause
more water to be displaced out of the core and reduce the water
saturation progressively
34

Therefore, a relationship between Pc and Sw can be deduced where a larger
Pc leads to a smaller Sw. Such a relationship can actually be obtained by
plotting the Pc versus Sw values computed from the experiment producing
what is termed the capillary pressure curve for the water-oil-rock system.
A typical and interesting feature of

the Pc curve is observed at the lower
range of Sw where it seems that the
curve approaches a certain
saturation in an asymptotic mode
35

In other words, it appears that there exists a saturation value, which can
never be achieved no matter how large a capillary pressure is exerted.
Such a saturation is called the irreducible water saturation, Swi
It results from isolated droplets of water surrounded and trapped in some

pores by oil
36

• The process described above in which the wetting phase (water)
is displaced out of a porous medium by a non-wetting phase (oil)
is called a drainage process,
• The Pc curve that results is called a drainage curve.
• A question may be raised as to what would happen if at the end

of the drainage process, water were reintroduced into the core
sample.
• Such a process is called imbibition, and the resulting capillary

pressure curve would look like curve 2 in the figure
37
• A striking feature of this figure

is the difference between the
two curves. Specifically, the
drainage Pc is greater than
the imbibition Pc at every Sw
• This phenomenon is attributed to

three effects
38

1. It has been shown that the contact angle when the wetting phase
is receding is smaller than when it is advancing, which reduces
the Pc for any given Sw
2. The second effect has to do with hysterisis, which is, basically, a

gradual shift in the wettability preference of a solid towards a fluid
that it has been coated with for a prolonged time. Therefore,
originally water-wet grains that were coated with oil during drainage
become less water wet with time, causing them to display a
somewhat larger contact angle.
39

3. because of complex pore geometry, some pores may have two inlets with
different diameters. It may well happen that one such pore could not be invaded
by oil from one side during drainage because of its small pore throat. See figure
The Pc at the prevailing Sw would be

high. Yet, during imbibition, this same
pore would be invaded by water
through the other larger inlet, at a
lower Pc, causing complete oil
displacement and restoring Sw to its
former value. Therefore, for the same
Sw, a smaller Pc is required during
imbibition
40

• Another feature of the imbibition Pc curve is an apparent maximum
Sw, or an apparent minimum So. This residual oil saturation, Sor,
is caused by a similar entrapment process where oil globules
become isolated within large pores
• A reservoir engineer should apply the capillary pressure curve that

is appropriate to the process taking place in the reservoir
• Usually, all reservoir rock becomes saturated with water during

sedimentation or shortly thereafter. Migrating hydrocarbons that
accumulate in the rock gradually displace water out of the pores in a
drainage process
41

• When the reservoir is discovered, capillary forces would have distributed
water in such a way that Sw is close to Swi within the oil column, then
comes an interval over which Sw increases gradually from Swi to 100%,
and finally the water aquifer lies beneath
• The depth interval over which Sw changes from Swi to 100% changes
is called the transition zone, and its characteristics must be analyzed
according to the drainage Pc curve.
42
The free water level,

FWL, is the the point
which has zero capillary
pressure
FWL can be expressed as:
144 PC
FWL=WOC +
(ρw − ρo )
43
Application of capillary pressure

1) Determine the thickness of transition zone (h) and water
saturation profile
• The most important application of capillary pressure data is, probably,
the construction of the Sw profile within the transition zone.
• First, we have to define the free water table. As mentioned earlier

FWL is the point where Sw is naturally 100% and Pc = 0.
• Above the free water table, pc increases with height according to this.
Equation rewritten as follows
Pc = ρw − ρo gh
44
and in field units:
This equation, thus, provides the Pc profile within the transition zone.
Recall that every Pc corresponds to a water saturation. Hence, above
equation establishes the Sw profile in the transition zone too.
Example 12
Calculate the height of water saturation (Sw =0.35), if the capillary

pressure at laboratory condition is 18 psi , σwo = 24 d/cm, σwg = 72
d/cm, density of water =68 Ib/ft and density of oil = 53 Ib/ft
45
Solution:
First of all we have to convert PC lab to Pc reservoir
2 σwg cos θwg

PcL =
r
2 σwo cos θwo

PcR = P 18
r PcR = cL = =6.0 psi
3 3
PcL = PcR
PcR σwo 24 1
Thus, = = =
PcL σwg 72 3
144 ×6
From equation h= =58 ft
68−58
Thus, the water saturation of 0.35 exists at a height of 58 ft above free water level.
46
Application of capillary pressure

2) Determine permeability from capillary pressure curve
• As noted in the capillary pressure curve previously presented, the

capillary pressure is a function of the fluid properties and of
saturation. For a given rock-fluid and saturation history, the
saturation at a given capillary pressure is some function of the pore
geometry.
• The equation presented by Purcell for the calculation of permeability

from the properties of a rock is developed as follows:
47
The minimum capillary pressure required to displace a wetting fluid from or

inject non-wetting fluid into a capillary tube of radius r is given by
2σ cosθ
Pc = (29)
r
The flow rate from a single tube of radius r is given by Poiseuille’s law:
π r 4 ∆P
Q= (30)
8μL
Since the volume of the capillary is V = 𝜋 𝑟 2 𝐿, substituting the volume in

equation above gives
V 𝑟 2 ∆𝑃
Q= (31)
8 μ 𝐿2
48
Solving Eq. (29) for r and substituting in Eq. (31) yield:
V σ cosθ 2 ∆P
Q=
2 μ L2 Pc 2
If the porous medium is conceived to be comprised of n capillary tubes

of equal length but random radii, the total rate of flow is given by
2 i=n
σ cosθ ∆P Vi
Qt = ෍ (32)
2 μ L2 Pc i
2
i=1
From Darcy’s law fluid flow in porous media
A K ∆P
Q= (33)
μL
49
Combining Eq. (32) and Eq. (33) a relation for permeability as a function
of pore volume and capillary pressure is obtained, Eq. (34):
2 i=n
σ cosθ Vi
K= ෍ (34)
2AL Pc i
2
i=1
The volume Vi of each capillary can be expressed as a function of Si of

the total void volume VT of the system, so that
Vi
= Si
VT
Since A L is the bulk volume of the system and  is the fractional porosity,
VT
= ∅
AL
50
Substituting in Eq. (34),
2 i=n
σ cosθ Si
K= ∅෍ (35)
2 Pc i
2
i=1
To account for the deviation of the actual pore space from the simple
geometry used in the derivation, Purcell introduced a lithology factor 
into the final equation. Introducing conversion factor and generalizing
Eq. (35) reduces to:
s=1
ds
K = 10.24 (σ cosθሻ2 ∅ න (36)
s=0 Pc 2
51
Where:
K: permeability, millidarcy
: Fractional porosity
S: fraction of total pore space occupied by

liquid injected or forced out of sample
Pc: capillary pressure, psi
𝜎 : Interfacial tension, dynes/cm
: Contact angle
Purcell assumed that the contact angle for mercury was 140ᵒ and that the
interfacial tension of mercury was 480 dynes/cm. therefore, using mercury
capillary pressure data, Eq. (35) further reduce to:
52
s=1
ds
K = 14260 ∅ න (37)
s=0 Pc 2
To evaluate Eq. (37), the integral is founded by reading values of Pc from
the capillary pressure curve at various saturations, calculating values of
(1/Pc2), and plotting these values as a function of the corresponding values
of saturation which existed on the original capillary pressure curve. The
value of the integral is the area under the curve. See figure
53
54
Average capillary pressure data

• Leverett in 1941 generated a function which related capillary pressure
to porosity and permeability, which is commonly termed the Leverett J
Function
• The application of this function was to be able to generate capillary

pressure information when laboratory data was not available
• Capillary pressure data are obtained from core samples which

represent an extremely small part of the reservoir. The ‘J’ function is
used to combine all the capillary data to classify a particular reservoir.
55
based on figure below, considering flow through a core, which is

assumed to be a bundle of capillary tubes.
The laminar flow of fluid

through a pipe is given by
Poiseuille’s equation
For n tube
56
The porosity of the bundle of tubes is
and the permeability is
If φA is substituted for nπr and then

57
On the assumption that the reservoir rock has the same tortuosity
at all points, then
and substituting for r in the definition of capillary pressure gives:
Or
Sometimes the J function is written

without the Cosθ term
58
Example
A set of capillary pressure data from a set of 9 core plugs taken from
different depths in a well is shown in figure below and shows the wide
variation in shape of these curves reflecting the different pore
characteristics as given in the table below.
59
60
A plot of the J function for a set of capillary pressure curves is given in

figure below and shows the impact of bringing together different rocks
under one curve
61

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Reservoir Engineering I

• Fluid rock interaction

• Application of capillary pressure

• Average of capillary pressure

Having worked through this chapter the Student

• Express the capillary pressure Pc as two equations, one in terms of

• Define imbibition and drainage in the context of capillary pressure.

• Explain the impact of capillary pressure effects on the saturation

Fluid rock interaction

The study of fluid-rock interaction is of fundamental importance to

1. Interaction influence fluid flow through the reservoir.

2. Plays a dominant role in the distribution of fluids within the reservoir’s

3. More importantly, it dictates the maximum amount of a fluid that can

a) The molecular composition

b) Structure of the substance.

• Different substances may display different levels of forces, and one

Surface tension cont..

• The cause of surface concavity is

Surface tension cont..

• The result is that water creeps up

Surface tension cont..

Surface tension cont..

Therefore, surface tension, σ, is defined as the amount of energy, Es,

• Such tension is called interfacial tension

• Units and direction of interfacial tension

Interfacial tension cont..

A typical value of water-oil interfacial tension, σwo, at room temperature is

• To understand the mechanics of wettability of a phase in relation

1. σgw (between glass and water)

each force is acting to

where θw is called the contact angle in water-air-glass system. Define

• If the contact angle is greater than

experiment with reservoir water, crude oil and a crystal of the

predominant mineral in the reservoir rock.

• In general, water is the wetting phase to quartz in the presence of oil,

while oil is the wetting phase to carbonate minerals in the presence

of water. Natural gas is always the non-wetting phase in the

presence of other liquids except mercury.

• To explain this phenomenon, we have to recall a familiar experiment

• The force that pulls water

Capillary pressure cont..

where r is the radius of the capillary tube

Capillary pressure cont..

Capillary pressure cont..

Because of hydrostatic equilibrium, the water

Capillary pressure cont..

which is less than atmospheric. In other words, there is a drop in pressure

Capillary pressure cont..

Capillary pressure cont..

However, the hydrostatic pressure drop

Capillary pressure cont..

The capillary pressure would then be given by:

Performing a force balance as previously, the adhesion force is given by:

Capillary pressure cont..

Equating adhesion force equation and buoyancy force equation given:

Capillary pressure cont..

By substituting above equation into previous capillary pressure

Capillary pressure in porous rock

Capillary pressure in porous rock cont..