Petrophysics: The Study of Physical and Chemical Rock Properties
Petrophysics
Is the study of physical and chemical rock properties and their interactions with fluids.A major application of petrophysics is in studying reservoirs for the hydrocarbon industry. Petrophysicists are employed to help reservoir engineers and geoscientists understand the rock properties of the reservoir, particularly how pores in the subsurface are interconnected, controlling the accumulation and migration of hydrocarbons. Some of the key properties studied in petrophysics are lithology, porosity, water saturation, permeability and density. |
| Petrophysics: The Study of Physical and Chemical Rock Properties |
A key aspect of petrophysics is measuring and evaluating these rock properties by acquiring well log measurements - in which a string of measurement tools are inserted in the borehole, core measurements - in which rock samples are retrieved from subsurface, and seismic measurements. These studies are then combined with geological and geophysical studies and reservoir engineering to give a complete picture of the reservoir.
While most petrophysicists work in the hydrocarbon industry, some also work in the mining and water resource industries. The properties measured or computed fall into three broad categories: conventional petrophysical properties, rock mechanical properties, and ore quality.
Petrophysical studies are used by petroleum engineering, geology, mineralogy, exploration geophysics and other related studies.
Conventional petrophysical properties
Lithology: A description of the rock's physical characteristics, such as grain size, composition and texture. By studying the lithology of local geological outcrops and core samples, geoscientists can use a combination of log measurements, such as natural gamma, neutron, density and resistivity, to determine the lithology down the well.
Porosity:
The percentage of a given volume of rock that is pore space and can therefore contain fluids. This is typically calculated using data from an instrument that measures the reaction of the rock to bombardment by neutrons or by gamma rays but can also be derived from sonic and NMR logging.Water saturation: The fraction of the pore space occupied by water. This is typically calculated using data from an instrument that measures the resistivity of the rock and is known by the symbol
.
Permeability: The quantity of fluid (usually hydrocarbon) that can flow through a rock as a function of time and pressure, related to how interconnected the pores are. Formation testing is so far the only tool that can directly measure a rock formation's permeability down a well.
Methods of analysis
Coring and core analysis is a direct measurement of petrophysical properties. In the petroleum industry rock samples are retrieved from subsurface and measured by core labs of oil company or some commercial core measurement service companies. This process is time consuming and expensive, thus can not be applied to all the wells drilled in a field.
Well Logging is used as a relatively inexpensive method to obtain petrophysical properties downhole. Measurement tools are conveyed downhole using either wireline or LWD method.
An example of wireline logs is shown in Figure 1. The first “track”, shows the natural gamma radiation level of the rock. The gamma radiation level “log” shows increasing radiation to the right and decreasing radiation to the left. The rocks emitting less radiation have more yellow shading. The detector is very sensitive and the amount of radiation is very low. In clastic rock formations, rocks that have smaller amounts of radiation are more likely to be coarser grained and have more pore space, rocks with higher amounts of radiation are more likely to have finer grains and less pore space.
In the third track, the electrical resistivity of the rock is presented. The water in this rock is salty and the salt in the water causes the water to be electrically conductive such that lower resistivity is caused by increasing water saturation and decreasing hydrocarbon saturation.
The fourth track, shows the computed water saturation, both as “total” water (including the water bound to the rock) in magenta and the “effective water” or water that is free to flow in black. Both quantities are given as a fraction of the total pore space.
The fifth track shows the fraction of the total rock that is pore space, filled with fluids. The display of the pore space is divided into green for oil and blue for movable water. The black line shows the fraction of the pore space which contains either water or oil that can move, or be “produced.” In addition to the what is included in blackline, the magenta line includes the water that is permanently bound to the rock.
The last track is a representation of the solid portion of the rock. The yellow pattern represents the fraction of the rock (excluding fluids) that is composed of coarser grained sandstone. The gray pattern represents the fraction of rock that is composed of finer grained “shale.” The sandstone is the part of the rock that contains the producible hydrocarbons and water.