PTRE 303

Technical Assignment 1
Presented by Mohamad Faysal Baalbaki

Submitted to the Department to

Petroleum Engineering

To Dr. Kamel Bou Hamdan

EFFECTS OF PORE TYPES ON ELECTRICAL

PROPERTIES OF CARBONATE ROCKS AND
DETERMINATION OF ELECTRICAL
PARAMETERS FROM NMR LOGGING DATA

1
When and Where? :
This paper was published by the Society of Petro Physicists and Well Log Analysts in the SPWLA annual logging symposium
Between July 24 and July 29, 2020 to study the effects of pore structures on electrical properties. In the Ordos Basin in China,
Carbonate Reservoirs exist with various pore types and structures, so it is important to understand the Resistivity variations with the
heterogeneity of these rocks due to the various pore structures.

Why? :
The main target of this paper is to study the effect of the variations in the pore structure in heterogenous carbonate reservoirs on the
measured water resistivity and other electrical properties used to calculate the water saturation using Archies Equation. Usually, when the
water saturation is measured, the cementation exponent “m” and the saturation exponent “n” have a fixed value, this can lead to large
errors when measuring Sw , because the presence of micro pores and fractures especially in tight reservoirs, leads to a higher bound
water saturation and hence, will decrease the value of m, as a relation between “m” , “n” and bound water saturation will be studied later,
and all these parameters should be taken into consideration when measuring water saturation. Also, this study aimed to understand the
effect of micropores and fractures on water resistivity, and whether the matrix and vug porosities affects the resistivity measurements.

What?
In this study, the matrix, vug, and fracture porosity of different types of core samples of the Ordovician formation in the Ordos basin
was collected to study the pore structure of each type, type 1 where interconnected pores dominates, type 2 where isolated vugs
dominate, and type 3 where fractures dominates. Then a relation between the matrix porosity and vug porosity for each type with the
formation water resistivity is made to see which porosity type have a large effect on resistivity. Then the T2 spectra was measured in type 1
samples to study the pore size distribution and micro pores structure, since lower T2 values indicate smaller pore radius and presence of
micropores, showing low resistivities . Finally bound water saturation is measured to get the “m” and “n” values using specific equations.

How?
The pore throats distribution and structure in each sample type was studied by CT imaging, CT is a computerized tomography used to
study microstructure and fractures in core samples which helped to measure the matrix, vug and fracture porosity of each sample. The
T2 spectra of type 1 samples was measured using NMR logs, which measured the T2 values of each sample with different pore sizes.
NMR logs generate echoes in the formations lasting for a small interval of time showing an exponential decay, this decay is the T2
value. The NMR logging helped to measure bound water saturation, used to measure “m” and “n” values for accurate water saturation.

2
Limitations:
To be able to use CT imaging for the type 1 samples (with intergranular porosity) and obtain a clear image of the pore structure of the
medium, using a 20 um resolution would not show the intergranular pores, so the method requires drilling a smaller diameter of the
sample and using a 1 um resolution for imaging.

Results:
After matrix and vug porosities are measured, the relation of formation resistivity with matrix porosity was better than with vug porosity,
resulting in a higher correlation coefficient compared with vug porosity as resistivity was decreasing with increasing porosity in both
types of porosities, but relation with matrix porosity was clearer. NMR logging measurements for type 1 samples detected samples
having micropores that showed lower resistivity compared to samples with higher pore size, due to the conductivity of micropores. Finally,
bound water saturation measurements was higher in fractured formations and micropores resulting in a decrease in the “m” values.

Conclusion:
Finally, it can be deduced that formation resistivity is more affected by matrix porosity than by vug porosity. Rock having micropores
and fractures show lower resistivity values as electric currents can have path through fractures. When fractures are present, bound water
Saturation increases, and the cementation exponent “m” decreases, and n will decrease or increase depending on “m” values.

Summary:

The application of resistivity logs is important to estimate the water saturation in carbonate rocks, first it determines the formation
resistivity, and then using Archies equation, water saturation is calculated. These measurements are made considering a fixed
cementation exponent “m” and saturation exponent “n” assuming a homogeneous carbonate reservoir with same pore structure through
all of it. These assumptions lead to large errors in water saturation calculation due to the complexity and heterogeneity of pore structures
in carbonate rocks, as interconnected pores may be present, isolated vugs and naturally fractured formations in tight reservoirs. It is
critical to consider the pore structure variations through the rock to get a correct value for the water saturation, since the electrical
properties “m” and “n” are affected by the type of pore structure in the rocks. To evaluate the effect of the pore type on the electrical
properties, core samples of different pore structures are collected and tested to study resistivity variations with different pore types,

3
 and NMR logging tools are used to measure the bound water saturation and to calculate later “m” and “n” values.

To study the effect of pore structure on the resistivity, core samples from the Ordovician Formation in Ordos basin are collected,
classified into 3 types: Type 1 dominated by interconnected pores ; Type 2 is dominated by isolated vugs due to secondary porosity
process; Type 3 dominated by fractures interconnected to the pore matrix. First, CT Imaging is used to study pore structure of each
sample, CT is a computerized tomography used to study microstructure and fractures in carbonate rocks, CT imaging helped to measure
the vug porosity and fracture porosity, to calculate the matrix porosity, and a relation between matrix porosity and formation resistivity is
obtained. Second, the relation of fractures and isolated vugs with the electrical properties is studied to see which parameters have a large
effect on the resistivity. And finally, using NMR logging, bound water saturation is calculated first to calculate later the “m” and “n”
values to get an accurate value for formation water saturation.

CT imaging for the type 1 samples having intergranular pores show good uniform interconnected pores which can only be seen by using
1um resolution illustrated in Fig1. For type 2 samples, CT imaging showed secondary vugs developed in the core samples due to
Compaction pressing grains together and isolating the pores, showed in figure 2. As for type 3 samples, imaging showed open fractures
In the samples clearly seen in fig.3. Using CT imaging data, the vug and fracture porosity of each sample type was measured and
Substituted in the following equation to get the matrix porosity: φm = φ - φv – φf, where φ stands for helium porosity. After calculating
Matrix porosity, a relation between water resistivity R0 and φm is obtained, and between R0 and φv to see which type of porosity
Affects the resistivity. Fig 4. Shows that φm have good relation with R0 with a correlation coefficient of 0.85, on the other side, no clear
Relation between R0 and φv with a correlation coefficient of 0.52.

Fig1-Left part show the CT slice for type 1 with 20um resolution Fig2- CT slice of type 2 sample Fig3- CT slice of type 3
And right part show a 1um resolution to see the micropores with secondary vugs sample with open fractures

4
The second step now is to see if electrical properties are related to the matrix porosity or to the vug porosity, so type 2 samples having
Multiple vugs was tested, resistivity measurements(water saturated) are obtained and plotted against the vug porosity as shown
Figure 4 , it is obvious that there is not a clear relation between them, hence isolated vugs have no effect on the resistivity, in the same
picture it is shown that the matrix porosity have a good relation with resistivity, with a high correlation coefficient. This is an indication
that matrix pores have a big effect on the conductivity of the pores, while isolated vugs have a weak effect on it. However, the relation
still show some divergence, because there is other factors that control the resistivity measurements which will be discussed later.

Figure 4- relation between R0 and φm and between R0 and φv

To further investigate the effect of matrix pores on resistivity measurements, NMR logs are used on 3 groups of type1 samples dominated
by matrix interconnected pores, to study the pore size in each group of samples, then the measured resistivity of each group is plotted
against porosity to see how resistivity varies with matrix porosity. NMR logs for group A samples showed T2 spectra measurements
between 200 and 500ms , group B with 100ms, and group C with less than 100ms, shown in Figure 5. The low T2 spectra measurement
indicates presence of micropores, as curve shifting to the left shows a decrease in pore size. Then, group A, B and C(water saturated)
resistivities are measured and plotted against porosity, shown in figure 6, resistivity gradually decrease by increasing porosity, indicating
that matrix pores have a significant effect on resistivity. Another important note can be deduced is, taking resistivity measurements at

5
same porosity, and comparing resistivity values of A, B and C groups, group C that have the lowest T2 spectra, indicating presence of

micropores is showing the lowest resistivity measurement, shown in figure 6. Group C sample showed the lowest resistivity, which makes
sense, as samples having micropores have an electric path for currents through pores, decreasing resistivity values. To more investigate
effect of fractures on resistivity, the resistivity of each sample type is plotted against porosity to see at the same porosity which type
shows the lowest resistivity, Fig 7 shows that type 3 samples with fractures showed smaller resistivity compared to other types at same
porosity.

Fig-5: NMR T2 spectra of type 1 samples A, B and C Fig-6: Relation between water saturated resistivity R0 and φm
For type 1 samples

6
Figure 7: relation between water resistivity and porosity for the 3 sample types

The final step in this study is to study how cementation exponent ”m” and saturation exponent “n” vary with pore structure. Using NMR
Logging, the bound water saturation of samples was measured, and “m” value is plotted against bound water saturation shown in figure
8, an increase in the bound water saturation lead to a decrease in the ”m” values. NMR logs measured the bound water saturation, Swir
And m can be obtained by the following equation: m = -0.937Swir + 2.5. Usually the presence of micropores and fractures increase the
Bound water saturation, showing low resistivities, hence decrease the value of “m”. Now saturation exponent “n” have to be determined,
Similarly, using NMR logs, a relation between “m”, “n” and bound water saturation is obtained to see how “n” varies, this variation can
Be seen in figure 9. After calculating bound water saturation, n can be calculated by the following equations:

If m<2: n= -1.957Swir + 2.919

If m>2, n = 2.342Swir + 0.857

7
Figure 8- variation of “m” with bound water saturation Figure 9- variation of “n” with bound water saturation and “m”

We can conclude that when m is greater than 2, the value of n increases, and when m is less than 2, the value of n decreases linearly.

Finally, this study was important to see which factors control water resistivity and the electrical properties of a rock, micropores and
Factures have a great impact on resistivity measurements and conductivity of a medium with lower “m” values and higher bound water
Saturation. Calculating the exact value of “m” and “n” helps to get more accurate values for water saturation considering pore structure
Complexity and variations.

8
9