Chapter Outline

▪ Introduction

▪ Wettability Tests

▪ Relative Permeability Measurements

▪ Capillary Pressure Measurements

▪ Geomechanics Tests
Introduction

 Core analysis provides data input for several reservoir

engineering calculations

 Typical routine core analysis (RCA) involves the

measurements of fluid saturation, porosity, air and
Klinkenberg permeability

 Test plugs used for RCA are typically 1’’ or 1.5’’ diameter

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Introduction

Special Core Analysis

(SCAL)

Interfacial Capillary Relative

Wettability
tension Pressure Permeability

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Wettability

 Wettability is the tendency of one fluid to spread on or

adhere to a solid surface in the presence of other
immiscible fluids.

 Wettability refers to interaction between fluid and solid

phases.

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Wetting Phase Fluid

 Wetting phase fluid preferentially wets the solid rock

surface.
 Attractive forces between rock and fluid draw the
wetting phase into small pores.
 Wetting phase fluid often has low mobile.
 Attractive forces limit reduction in wetting phase
saturation to an irreducible value (irreducible wetting
phase saturation).
 Many hydrocarbon reservoirs are either totally or
partially water-wet.

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Nonwetting Phase Fluid

 Nonwetting phase does not preferentially wet the solid

rock surface
 Repulsive forces between rock and fluid cause
nonwetting phase to occupy largest pores
 Nonwetting phase fluid is often the most mobile fluid,
especially at large nonwetting phase saturations
 Natural gas is never the wetting phase in hydrocarbon
reservoirs

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Water-Wet Reservoir Rock

 Reservoir rock is water - wet if water preferentially wets

the rock surfaces
 The rock is water- wet under the following conditions:
• ws > os
• AT < 0 (i.e., the adhesion tension is negative)
• 0 <  < 90

If  is close to 0, the rock is considered to be “strongly

water-wet”

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Water-Wet Rock

ow Oil

 Water
os ws os
Solid

• 0 <  < 90

Adhesive tension between water and the rock surface
exceeds that between oil and the rock surface.

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Oil-Wet Reservoir Rock

 Reservoir rock is oil-wet if oil preferentially wets the

rock surfaces.
 The rock is oil-wet under the following conditions:
• os > ws
• AT > 0 (i.e., the adhesion tension is positive)
• 90 <  < 180
If  is close to 180, the rock is considered to be
“strongly oil-wet”

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Oil-Wet Rock

ow
Water
Oil


os ws os Solid

• 90 <  < 180

The adhesion tension between water and the rock surface
is less than that between oil and the rock surface.

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 WATER-WET OIL-WET

Oil
OIL Oil OIL



 WATER  WATER
 < 90
WATER WATER  > 90
SOLID (ROCK) SOLID (ROCK)
FREE WATER

OIL

GRAIN GRAIN

OIL
RIM

BOUND WATER FREE WATER Ayers, 2001

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Effect of Wettability
1.0 1.0
Relative Permeability, Fraction

Relative Permeability, Fraction

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

Oil Oil Water

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2
Water
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
Water Saturation (% PV) Water Saturation (% PV)

Strongly Water-Wet Rock Strongly Oil-Wet Rock

• Water flows more freely
• Higher residual oil saturation

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Measurement of wettability

The most common methods for measuring wettability on core

samples are:

 Contact Angle method

 Amott - Harvey method (Imbibition and displacement )

The Amott-Harvey test is the
 U.S Bureau of Mines (USBM) method most accepted and widely
used test in the oil industry
 Displacement test with two different fluids (rel. perm.)

 Measurements of nuclear magnetic relaxation (NMR) rate

 Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)

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 Contact Angle method

The contact angle, ,

Oil measured through the
ow denser liquid phase,
Oil  Water Oil defines which fluid wets
the solid surface.
os ws Solid os
AT = adhesion tension, milli-Newtons/m or dynes/cm)

 = contact angle between the oil/water/solid interface measured through the water, degrees

os = interfacial energy between the oil and solid, milli-Newtons/m or dynes/cm

ws = interfacial energy between the water and solid, milli-Newtons/m or dynes/cm

ow = interfacial energy (interfacial tension) between the oil and water, milli-Newtons/m or
dynes/cm
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Adhesion Tension

• Adhesion tension is expressed as the difference

between two solid-fluid interfacial tensions.

AT   os   ws    ow cos 
• A negative adhesion tension indicates that the denser
phase (water) preferentially wets the solid surface (and vice
versa).
• An adhesion tension of “0” indicates that both phases have
equal affinity for the solid surface

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Contact Angle method
Schematic of the experimental apparatus to measure the contact
angle. In this system, the contact angle of a water droplet
surrounded by air is measured.

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Amott-Harvey method
The wetting phase fluid will spontaneously imbibe the rock, thus
displacing another non-wetting phase fluid.

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Amott-Harvey method
The Amott-Harvey procedure includes 4 steps:

1. Spontaneous imbibition:
Displaced oil
Oil-saturated sample is placed in an imbibition
cell surrounded by water. The water is allowed
to imbibe into the core sample displacing oil
Rock sample
until equilibrium is reached. The volume of
water imbibed is equal to the oil displaced; 𝑉
Core holder with
rock sample
2. Forced imbibition:
The core is moved to a core holder and water is
pumped through. The volume of oil displaced
Water
may be measured; 𝑉
Oil
𝑉 𝑆 𝐵 −𝑆 𝐴
Water index: 𝐼 = or 𝐼 =
𝑉 +𝑉 𝑆 𝐶 −𝑆 𝐴

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Amott-Harvey method
3. Spontaneous uptake of oil:
The core, now saturated with water at residual Rubber
Oil
tube
oil saturation, is placed in an Amott cell and
surrounded by oil. The oil is spontaneously
Core
taken up and water is displaced. The volume of sample
water displaced is measured; 𝑉 .

4. Forced displacement of water: Displaced

water
The core is removed from the cell after
equilibrium is reached, and remaining water in Core holder with
rock sample
the core is forced out by displacement in a
flooding rig. The volume of water displaced is
measured; 𝑉 Oil
Water
𝑉 𝑆 𝐷 −𝑆 𝐶
Oil index: 𝐼 = or 𝐼 =
𝑉 +𝑉 𝑆 𝐸 −𝑆 𝐶

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Amott-Harvey method

• 𝑆 𝐴 is the initial water saturation present in the core sample before

water spontaneous imbibition,

• 𝑆 𝐵 is the water saturation after spontaneous water imbibition

• 𝑆 𝐶 is the water saturation after forced water injection

• 𝑆 𝐶 is the oil saturation after forced water injection

• 𝑆 𝐷 is the oil saturation after spontaneous oil imbibition

• 𝑆 𝐸 is the oil saturation after forced oil injection

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Amott-Harvey method
Amott-Harvey wettability index
𝑉 𝑉
𝐼 =𝐼 −𝐼 = −
𝑉 +𝑉 𝑉 +𝑉

VO1 = volume of oil produced during water imbibition

VO2 = volume of oil produced during water flooding
VW1 = volume of water produced during oil “imbibition”
VW2 = volume of water produced during oil flooding
Iw = water index
Io = oil index.

𝐼 =1 completely water wetting

𝐼 =0 neutral
𝐼 = −1 completely oil wetting

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Amott-Harvey method
Amott index values for different wettability states:

State Water-wet Intermediate-wet Oil-wet

Amott index 0.3 to 1.0 -0.3 to 0.3 -1.0 to -0.3
(𝐼 )

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U.S Bureau of Mines (USBM)

 The USBM for determining

water-wet
wettability is based on a correlation
between the degree of wetting and
the areas under the capillary
pressure curves.

 The method is often called the

centrifuge method (USBM is
abbreviation for United States Bureau oil-wet
of Mines).

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U.S Bureau of Mines (USBM)

1. A core sample is saturated with brine.

2. The core is then placed in a centrifuge core holder.

3. The core holder is filled with oil and rotated at a certain speeds to obtain the
primary drainage curve.

4. The core is placed in an inverted core holder filled with brine. The brine is
allowed to spontaneously imbibe into the core. Then the core is centrifuged at
incremental steps.

5. The core is placed in a core holder filled with oil and the secondary drainage
curve is obtained.

6. The areas under the two curves are determined

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U.S Bureau of Mines (USBM)
SWI
Primary
DRAINAGE
(Forced)
PC
(+) Secondary
DRAINAGE
(Forced)
IMBIBITION
(Spontaneous) A1
SWS SOS
0
 S ws Swt
rw 
 S wt A2 (Residual
Oil)
IMBIBITION
 S os
ro  (Forced)
(-)  S wt
WIAmott = rw-ro Secondary
DRAINAGE
(Spontaneous)
A1
W I USBM  log
A2
0 SW % 100
From N.R.Morrow (JPT, Dec. 1990)
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U.S Bureau of Mines (USBM)
• The logarithm of the area ratio is defined as the USBM-wettability index;
𝑾𝑰𝑼𝑺𝑩𝑴 = 𝒍𝒐𝒈 𝑨𝟏 ⁄𝑨𝟐

• The relative wetting tendencies of the liquids in a porous medium and the
distribution of pore sizes determine the shape of the capillary-pressure curves.

• In general, water-wet systems should have a larger area in the water-

displaced-by-oil curves (area A1) than the area under the oil-displaced-by-
water curves (area A2).

• Therefore, the logarithm of the area ratio for the water-wet system is greater
than zero. Conversely, the area ratio is less than unity for oil-wet systems and
the logarithm of the ratio is negative.

𝑊𝐼 =∞ completely water wetting

𝑊𝐼 =0 neutral

𝑊𝐼 = −∞ completely oil wetting

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Exercise
A core sample initially contained Sw= 25%. The core was placed in an
Amott cell surrounded by water for a few days. After extracting the core, it
was found that the water saturation increased to 68%.

When the core sample was placed in the core holder and water was
injected at a high flow rate, the water saturation in the core after water
injection was found to be 72%.

When the core sample was placed in an Amott cell surrounded by oil, very
little oil imbibition occurred and the water saturation decreased to 71%.

When the core sample was placed in the core holder and oil was injected
to displace the water, the water saturation reduced to 32%.

Based on the data collected, what is the wettability of the core sample?

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Relative Permeability

 Relative permeability is defined as the ratio of the

effective permeability to a fluid at a given saturation to
the effective permeability to that fluid

ko kg kw
k ro  k rg  k rw 
k k k

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 Relative Permeability
1.00
kro @ Swi • Wettability and direction of
Relative Permeability (fraction)

saturation change must be

0.80 considered
•drainage
Two-Phase Flow •imbibition
0.60 Region
• Base used to normalize this
Oil relative permeability curve is
0.40 kro @ Swi

• As Sw increases, kro decreases

0.20 and krw increases until
krw @ Sor reaching residual oil
Water saturation
0
0 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
Water Saturation (fraction)
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Hysteresis Effect on Rel. Perm.

Non-wetting
100 phase

Wetting phase
80
Relative Permeability, %

60 Imbibition krnw krw

krnw Drainage

40

20 Irreducible wetting Residual non-wetting

phase saturation phase saturation
0
0 20 40 60 80 100

Wetting Phase Saturation, %PV

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Hysteresis Effect on Rel. Perm.

 During drainage, the wetting phase ceases to flow at the irreducible

wetting phase saturation

 This determines the maximum possible non-wetting phase

saturation

 Common example: Petroleum accumulation

 During imbibition, the non-wetting phase ceases to flow when its
saturation reaches the residual non-wetting phase saturation

 This determines the minimum possible non-wetting phase

saturation displacement by the wetting phase

 Common example: waterflooding water wet reservoir

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Measurement of Relative Permeability

Relative permeability on core samples can be determined

using three principal test methods:
1. Unsteady state
2. Steady state
3. Centrifuge

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Steady state (SS) method

Purpose: to determine
– two phase relative permeability functions
– irreducible wetting phase saturation (drainage)
– residual non-wetting phase saturation (imbibition)

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Steady state (SS) method

• Process (oil/water, water wet case):

– simultaneously inject constant rates of oil and water
until steady state behavior is observed
• production will be constant at same oil and water
rates as injection
• pressure drop for each phase will be constant
– determine saturation of core sample
• usually by resistivity or weighing
• this is typically not the same as the injection ratio
– change injection ratio and repeat

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 Steady state (SS) method
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions
– Stage 1: Preparation for
drainage
• core saturated with wetting
phase
• steady state injection of
wetting phase used to
determine absolute
permeability
– Stage 2: Irreducible wetting
phase
• inject non-wetting phase
until steady state, measure
saturation
– no wetting phase will
be produced at steady
state
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 Steady state (SS) method
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions (continued)
– Stage 3 (A-C): determination of
points on imbibition relative
permeability function
• steady state injection at
constant rates of wetting
and non-wetting phase
– Initially ratio qw/qnw is
small
• measure saturation and
phase pressure drops at
steady state
– saturation ratio will in
general, not be the
same as injection ratio
• repeat with increasing
ratio, qw/qnw
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Steady state (SS) method
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions (continued)
– Stage 4: determination of
residual non-wetting phase
saturation
• inject wetting phase until
steady state behavior
observed
• measure saturation and
wetting phase pressure
drop

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Unsteady state (USS) method
• Unsteady State Method for relative permeability provides
– Relative permeability ratio (kr,nonwet/kr,wet) as a function of
wetting phase saturation (Swet)
– Irreducible wetting phase saturation (drainage)
– Residual nonwetting phase saturation (imbibition)

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Unsteady state (USS) method
Saturation in Production
Core Plug Rates
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Ratio Function
– Stage 1: Preparation for
drainage
• core saturated with wetting
phase
– Stage 2: Irreducible wetting
phase (drainage)
• inject non-wetting phase
until steady state, measure
saturation
– no wetting phase will
be produced after
steady state

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 Unsteady state (USS) method
Saturation in Production
• Imbibition Relative Permeability Core Plug Rates

Ratio Function
– Stages 3-6: Inject wetting
phase
• Stage 3 (A) Wetting phase
has not yet reached
outflow face
– only nonwetting
phase produced at
outflow face
• Stage 4 (B) Wetting phase
just reaches outflow face,
called breakthrough
– wetting phase will be
produced at outflow
face
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Unsteady state (USS) method
Saturation in Production
• Imbibition Relative Permeability Core Plug Rates
Ratio Function
– Stages 3-6: Inject wetting
phase
• Stage 5 (C) As injection of
wetting phase continues,
production of nonwetting
phase decreases
(unsteady state)
– Important to take
many data points
during this decrease
» cummulative
nonwetting
phase produced
» production rate
for both phases
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Unsteady state (USS) method
Saturation in Production
• Imbibition Relative Permeability Core Plug Rates

Ratio Function
– Stages 3-6: Inject wetting
phase

• Stage 6 (D) Eventually, no

more nonwetting phase is
produced, allowing
residual nonwetting
phase saturation to be
determined

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Quiz
Given a rock with 80 mD absolute permeability, 6 in length, and 1.5 in
diameter. During a two-phase steady state-relative permeability
experiment, water was injected at a rate of 0.23 cm3/min while oil
was injected simultaneously at a rate of 0.52 cm3/min. The outlet of
the rock was open to atmospheric pressure while the inlet pressure
was measured at 7 psig for both water and oil. The water viscosity is
1 cP and oil viscosity is 0.9 cP. The rock weighs 145.7 g at that stage of
the experiment. The water density is 1 g/cm3 while the oil density is
0.72 g/cm3.

Based on the information given, calculate:

a) Water and oil effective permeability values.

b) Water and oil relative permeability values.

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Capillary pressure

• The pressure difference existing across the

interface separating two immiscible fluids in
capillaries (e.g. porous media).
• Calculated as: 𝑷𝒄 = 𝑷𝒘𝒕 − 𝑷𝒏𝒘𝒕

• One fluid wets the surfaces of the where:

formation rock (wetting phase) in
preference to the other (non-wetting Pc = capillary pressure
phase). Pnwt = pressure in nonwetting phase
• Gas is always the non-wetting phase
in both oil-gas and water-gas systems. pwt = pressure in wetting phase
• Oil is often the non-wetting phase in
water-oil systems.
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Capillary pressure – Oil/Water System

• From a similar derivation, the equation for capillary

pressure for an oil/water system is

2𝜎 cos𝜃
𝑃 =
𝑟

Pc = Capillary pressure between oil and water

ow = Interfacial tension between oil and water, dyne/cm
 = Oil/water contact angle, degrees
r = Radius of capillary tube, cm

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 Pc in Drainage and Imbibition Processes
DRAINAGE
• Fluid flow process in which the saturation
of the wetting phase decreases
IMBIBITION
• Fluid flow process in which the saturation
Drainage of the wetting phase increases

Saturation History - Hysteresis

Pc - Pc depends on both direction of change and

previous saturation history
Pd
- At Sm, the nonwetting phase cannot flow
Imbibition resulting in residual nonwetting phase
saturation (imbibition)
Swi Sm

- At Swi, wetting phase cannot flow, resulting in

0 0.5 Sw 1.0
irreducible wetting phase saturation (drainage)
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Imbibition Process

 Imbibition is a fluid flow process in which the saturation

of the wetting phase increases and the nonwetting
phase saturation decreases.

 Mobility of wetting phase increases as wetting phase

saturation increases

• mobility is the fraction of total flow capacity for a

particular phase

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Water-Wet Reservoir, Imbibition

 Water will occupy the smallest pores

 Water will wet the circumference of most larger pores
 In pores having high oil saturation, oil rests on a water
film

Quiz: Fill in the blanks with appropriate terms:

Imbibition - If a water-wet rock saturated with oil is

placed in water, it will imbibe […] into the smallest
pores and displace […]

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Oil-Wet Reservoir, Imbibition

 Oil will occupy the smallest pores

 Oil will wet the circumference of most larger pores

 In pores having high water saturation, water rests on an

oil film

Quiz: Fill in the blanks with appropriate terms:

If an oil-wet rock saturated with water is placed in oil, it will
imbibe […] into the smallest pores and displace […]

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Drainage Process

Fluid flow process in which the saturation of the wetting

phase decreases

Quiz: Fill in the blanks if all of the followings are drainage

processes:

– waterflood of an oil reservoir that is […]

– Injection of […] in an oil-wet reservoir
– Accumulation of gas in trap in a (an) […] wet
reservoir

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Measurement of Capillary Pressure

Methods for determination of Pc(Sw) function

• Porous diaphragm method

• Mercury injection method
• Centrifuge method
• Dynamic method

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Porous Diaphragm Method
Porous diaphragm method of
measuring capillary pressure
Nitrogen
pressure
Saran tube
Crude oil Scale of
Neoprene squared
paper
stopper

Nickel-
Core plated Seal of
spring red oil
Kleenex
paper

Ultra-fine
fritted
glass disk
Brine

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Porous Diaphragm Method

Capillary pressure, psia

Measured
data points

Irreducible
Wetting Phase
Saturation
Displacement
pressure

0 Wetting phase saturation, % 100

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Porous Diaphragm Method

• Advantages
– Very accurate
– Can use reservoir fluids
• Disadvantages
– Very slow (days, weeks, months)
– Range of capillary pressure is limited by “displacement
pressure” of porous disk
• Wetting phase of disk should be same as core sample
• Holes in porous disk act as capillaries, allowing only
wetting to flow out until displacement pressure is
exceeded

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Mercury injection method
0-200 psi pressure gauge
0-2,000 psi pressure
gauge

Regulating valve
To
Lucite window atmosphere
Cylinder

U-tube monometer
Lucite window

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Mercury injection method

• Advantages
– Results obtained quickly (minutes,hours)
– Method is reasonably accurate

– Very high range of capillary pressures

• Disadvantages
– Ruins core / mercury disposal
– Hazardous testing material (mercury)
– Conversion required between mercury/air
capillary data to reservoir fluid systems

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 185
Centrifuge method
Seal Cap Core holder body Window

O - Ring Support disk Tube body

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 186
Centrifuge method

• Advantages
– Results can be obtained fairly quickly (hours, days,
weeks)
– Reasonably accurate
– Can use reservoir fluids
• Disadvantages
– Complex analysis required can lead to calculation
errors

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 187
Dynamic method
Gas Gas
outlet inlet

 Po
Pg Pc

Core

Oil inlet
To
atmosphere Porcelain
plate
Oil burette

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 188
Dynamic method

• Advantages
– Simulates reservoir flow conditions
– Can use reservoir fluids
• Disadvantages
– Very tedious to perform (weeks,
months)
– High cost

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 189
The Leverett J-Function

• The Leverett J-function was originally an attempt to

convert all capillary pressure data to a universal
capillary pressure curve
• Such a universal curve does not exist because the
rock properties affecting capillary pressures in
reservoir have extreme variation with lithology (rock
type)
• BUT, Leverett’s J-function has proven valuable for
correlating capillary pressure data within a lithology

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 190
Definition of Leverett J-Function
The Leverett J-function (in SI units):

𝑃 𝑘
𝐽 𝑆 =
𝜎cos𝜃 𝜙

𝐽 𝑆 is the dimensionless J-function

𝑃 is the capillary pressure [Pa]
σ is the interfacial tension [N/m]
𝜃 is the contact angle [°]
𝜙 is the porosity [dimensionless]
𝑘 is the permeability [m2]

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 191
Definition of Leverett J-Function
The Leverett J-function (in field units):

𝑃 𝑘
𝐽 𝑆 = 0.21645
𝜎cos𝜃 𝜙

𝐽 𝑆 is the dimensionless J-function

𝑃 is the capillary pressure [Psia]
σ is the interfacial tension [dyne/cm]
𝜃 is the contact angle [°]
𝜙 is the porosity [dimensionless]
𝑘 is the permeability [mD]

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 192
 Example for J-Function
10.00

9.00
Jc
Jmatch
8.00 Jn1
Jn2
7.00 Jn3

6.00
J-function

5.00

4.00

3.00

2.00

1.00

0.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
Water saturation, fraction
12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 193
 Pc(Sw) Depends on k, φ
Core Pore Petrophysical Gamma Ray Flow
Core Lithofacies
Plugs Types Data Log Units
vs k Capillary
Pressure
High Quality 5

1
Low Quality

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 194
Leverett J-Function for Conversion of Pc Data

𝑃 𝑘 𝑃 𝑘
𝐽 𝑆 = =𝐽 𝑆 =
𝜎cos𝜃 𝜙 𝜎cos𝜃 𝜙

J(Sw) = Leverett J-function, dimensionless

Sw = water saturation, fraction
Pc = capillary pressure, psia
 = interfacial tension, dynes/cm
 = contact angle, degrees
k = formation permeability, md
 = porosity, fraction

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 195
Leverett J-Function Usage
• J-function is useful for averaging capillary pressure data
from a given rock type from a given reservoir

• J-function can sometimes be extended to different

reservoirs having same lithologies (extremely cautious)

• J-function is usually NOT accurate correlation for

different lithologies

• If J-functions are not successful in reducing the scatter in

a given set of data, then this suggests that we are dealing
variation in rock type

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 196
Exercise
Use Excel to calculate and graph the Leverett J-Function, J(Sw) for the following
laboratory data. Remember that J(Sw) is dimensionless and to work in consistent
units.
Sample 10A 48D 77C Other Lab Data
Depth 9304.1 ft 9342.6 ft 9374.8 ft Fluid System: Air-
Water
k(md) 45 6.3 11  = 0 degrees
 0.197 0.129 0.133  = 72 dynes/cm

Lab Pc Sample Sample Sample

(psia) 10A 48D 77C
(Sw) (Sw) (Sw)
0.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
2.0 0.820 0.941 1.0
5.0 0.541 0.581 0.726
10.0 0.381 0.443 0.527
25.0 0.285 0.279 0.410
50.0 0.228 0.221 0.314
100.0 0.179 0.181 0.238
200.0 0.152 0.144 0.191
500.0 0.125 0.094 0.138
1000.0 0.115 0.057 0.109
12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 197
Exercise
A core was extracted from a producing oil reservoir, with a porosity and
permeability of 12% and 50 mD, respectively. The capillary
pressuresaturation data were obtained experimentally and found to be
related through the following equation:
𝑃 = 0.5𝑆 .

The interfacial tension is measured at 40 dyne/cm with a contact angle of 0°,

and the irreducible water saturation is 0.2.

After measuring the porosity and permeability on several samples, the

average porosity and permeability of the reservoir was found to be at 16%
and 85 mD, respectively.

Use the previous information to generate a representative capillary

pressure data for the reservoir

12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 198
Exercise
Capillary pressure measurement on a reservoir rock in the laboratory
gavethe following results:
Lab conditions
Lab Pc (Sw) 𝜎 [N/m] 0.005
/
[bar]
2.4 0.16 𝜃 / 0o
1 0.16
0.75 0.2 Reservoir conditions
0.5 0.35 𝜎 [N/m] 0.03
/
0.25 0.85
0.1 0.96 𝜃 / 25o
0.05 1
a) What is the flow process for this capillary pressure curve: drainage or
imbibition? Explain?
b) What is the irreducible water saturation? Why?
c) Convert the capillary pressure to oil/water (reservoir conditions)
system and plot it using a semi-log scale [Pa].
12/30/2024 Dr. Mai Cao Lân, Faculty of Geology & Petroleum Engineering, HCMUT, Vietnam 199