Reservoir Rock Properties

First Lecture 2nd Stage 2023-2024 Eng. Fouad Alaa Yaseen

Prior to the discovery of petroleum, mankind used coal as the main source of
energy to operate their machines. Since the first commercial well drilled in the
United States in 1859, the dependence on petroleum as a source of energy
has increased tremendously. From that point onwards, petroleum has been
and will continue to be the main source of energy for decades ahead due to
its availability, efficiency, and low price.

In addition, hydrocarbons are not only used as fuel for our machines, but also
as lubricants and raw materials for many modern industrial products such as
plastics, paints, and rubber.

1.1 What is Petroleum?

Petroleum is a naturally occurring hydrocarbon (composed of hydrogen and

carbon atoms) that can exist as a solid, liquid, or gas. The physical state of the
hydrocarbon is a function of the pressure and temperature to which it is
exposed as well as its structure (chain length/molecular weight).

However, most of the hydrocarbons found within the ground are either liquid
or gas, and are referred to as crude oil and natural gas, respectively.

1.2 Origin of Petroleum

There are two theories for the origin of petroleum. They are the organic and
inorganic theories, as stated in Table 1.1.

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 Reservoir Rock Properties
First Lecture 2nd Stage 2023-2024 Eng. Fouad Alaa Yaseen

The organic theory is the commonly accepted theory.

1.3 Petroleum System

A petroleum system consists of different geological components needed to

generate and store hydrocarbons. These components are source rock,
migration path, reservoir rock, trap, and seal.

Source rock is the rock containing organic matter in sufficient quantity, and is
under suitable conditions for the formation of hydrocarbons.

Migration path is the pathway that the hydrocarbons take to move away from
the source rock to the point where they can find a suitable trap.

The forces driving the movement of hydrocarbons out of the source rock come
from tectonic stresses, which are coupled with capillarity (this topic is
explained later) and buoyancy (density difference); since hydrocarbons are
lighter than water, they move upward.

Reservoir rock is the rock that is able to store hydrocarbons in its pores. The
hydrocarbons will continue migrating upward until they reach a seal. This is an
impermeable layer of rock that blocks the hydrocarbons from further
migration.

Finally, a trap is a configuration of rocks, ensuring that the hydrocarbons are

stored in it. Traps can be structural, stratigraphic, or a combination of both.
Figure 1.1 shows the components and processes in a petroleum system.

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First Lecture 2nd Stage 2023-2024 Eng. Fouad Alaa Yaseen

Figure 1.1: Schematic showing (a) the process of hydrocarbon formation and (b) the migration
of matured hydrocarbon until it reaches an impermeable seal and attains static equilibrium.

1.3 What is a Reservoir ?

In petroleum engineering, a reservoir is the place where the hydrocarbons

reside. Our job as petroleum engineers is to access reservoirs and extract the
hydrocarbons (natural gas and/or crude oil) in an economical and
environmentally safe manner.

Reservoirs can be classified into three types: oil, gas, and gas-oil reservoirs, as
shown in Figure 1.2. Natural gas, if present in a reservoir, is always on top
because it has the lowest density, while water is always at the bottom because
it has the highest density among the three reservoir fluids (gas, oil, and water).

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First Lecture 2nd Stage 2023-2024 Eng. Fouad Alaa Yaseen

Figure 1.2: Schematic showing typical hydrocarbon distributions in (a) an oil reservoir, (b) a
gas reservoir and (c) a gas–oil reservoir.

1.5 Lithology of Petroleum Reservoirs

Lithology is the study of the general physical characteristics of a rock. All types
of rock (igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic) can act as reservoir rocks if it can
accommodate and drain hydrocarbons.

Reservoir rocks around the world is dominated by sedimentary rocks because

generally it has primary porosity. Igneous and metamorphic rocks can be
reservoir if there are in fracturing state (secondary porosity).

Figure 1.3: Scheme of classification of reservoir rocks (sedimentary rocks).

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First Lecture 2nd Stage 2023-2024 Eng. Fouad Alaa Yaseen

Reservoir rocks (sedimentary rocks) can be divided into two lithological types,
namely, sandstone and carbonates.

Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock which formed from grains that have
undergone sedimentation, compaction, and cementation. The relatively high
porosity and permeability of sandstones make them good reservoir rocks.

Carbonates are principally formed on carbonate platforms by a combination

of biogenic and abiogenic processes.

The major characteristics of both sandstone and carbonate rocks are shown
in Table 1.2.

1.6 What is Petrophysics ?

Petrophysics is the study of rock properties and rock-fluid properties. These

properties, which we will study extensively in the following lectures, include:
porosity, rock compressibility, single-phase permeability, fluid saturation,
electrical properties of reservoir rocks, wettability, capillary pressure, and
relative permeability.

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First Lecture 2nd Stage 2023-2024 Eng. Fouad Alaa Yaseen

Petrophysics can be divided into core and wireline petrophysics. In our

lectures, we will mainly cover core petrophysics that requires conducting
laboratory experiments on core samples brought from the reservoir to the
surface. Wireline petrophysics, which involves using logs to determine
properties.

Rock samples are extracted from the reservoir through cuttings or coring, can
be subjected to two categories of laboratory analysis: routine core analysis
and special core analysis.

1.6.1 Routine Core Analysis (RCAL)

Routine core analysis attempts to find the basic properties of the reservoir
rock such as porosity, grain density, permeability, and fluid saturation, as
shown below:

1.6.2 Special Core Analysis (SCAL)

Special core analysis is an extension of RCAL, and attempts to measure data

that is more representative of the reservoir conditions. These measurements
include electrical properties of reservoir rocks, wettability, capillary pressure,
and relative permeability, as shown below:

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First Lecture 2nd Stage 2023-2024 Eng. Fouad Alaa Yaseen

1.7 Why Do We Need to Understand Petrophysics?

Petrophysics is a fundamental science for petroleum engineers. Most of the

petroleum engineering topics branch out from petrophysical concepts.

An understanding of petrophysical properties helps us in:

1. Estimating the quantity of hydrocarbons present in the reservoirs (e.g.

porosity and fluid saturation).

2. Understanding how the hydrocarbons will flow from the reservoir to the
well during production (e.g. permeability, wettability, and relative
permeability).

In our course, we will study each petrophysical property extensively.