One role of the petrophysicist is to characterize the fluids encountered in the reservoir. Detection of a change in fluid type in the rocks while drilling is usually straightforward with the use of gas and chromatographic measurements. Gas shows and oil shows while drilling are time-honored indicators of zones that need further investigation through logs, testers, and cores. In the rare case of gas-bearing, high-permeability rock drilled with high overbalance, gas will be flushed from the rock ahead of the bit, will not be circulated to the surface in the mud, and will not produce a gas show. Because hydrocarbons are not always part of a water-based-mud formulation, sophisticated analytical chemical techniques can be used on the oil and gas samples circulated to the surface and captured to determine the properties of hydrocarbons in a given zone penetrated by the drill bit.

Obtaining and analyzing cores is crucial to the proper understanding of any layered, complex reservoir system. To obtain the data needed to understand the fluid flow properties, the mechanical properties and the depositional environment of a specific reservoir requires that cores be cut, handled correctly, and tested in the laboratory using modern and sophisticated laboratory methods. Of primary importance is measuring the rock properties under restored reservoir conditions. The effect of net overburden pressure (NOB) must be reproduced in the laboratory to obtain the most accurate quantitative information from the cores. To provide all the data needed to characterize the reservoir and depositional system, a core should be cut in the pay interval and in the layers of rock above and below the pay interval. Core from the shales and mudstones above and below the pay interval help the geologist determine the environment of deposition.

Evaluation of reservoirs as candidates for cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) requires an assessment of the reservoir and an understanding of the key success factors for this technology. This article discusses what is known in these areas. The range of reservoir characteristics for CHOPS comes largely from Canadian experience. Table 1 contains the range of reservoir characteristics. Because Venezuelan heavy-oil deposits in the Faja del Orinoco represent a huge oil reserve, it is worth repeating that the physical properties and geological histories are similar.[1]

Historically, reservoir simulation has accounted for rock mechanics by simple use of a time-invariant rock compressibility cR, spatially constant or variable. In reality, rock mechanics is intimately coupled with fluid flow. Rock mechanics is coupled with fluid flow in two aspects. Therefore, rigorous reservoir simulation should include simultaneous solution of multiphase flow and stresses as well as the appropriate dependencies between these processes. While these couplings physically exist to some extent in all reservoirs, they can be often ignored or approximated when the reservoir behaves elastically.

Carbonate sediments are commonly formed in shallow, warm oceans either by direct precipitation out of seawater or by biological extraction of calcium carbonate from seawater to form skeletal material. The result is sediment composed of particles with a wide range of sizes and shapes mixed together to form a multitude of depositional textures. The sediment may be bound together by encrusting organisms or, more commonly, deposited as loose sediment subject to transport by ocean currents. A basic overview of carbonate-reservoir model construction was presented by Lucia,[1] and much of what is presented herein is taken from that book. Depositional textures are described using a classification developed by Dunham.[2] The Dunham classification divides carbonates into organically bound and loose sediments (see Figure 1). The loose sediment cannot be described in simple terms of grain size and sorting because shapes of carbonate grains can vary from spheroid ooids to flat-concave and high-spiral shells having internal pore space.

A number of early successful and unsuccessful gas injection projects are summarized by Muskat in his 1949 classic book Physical Principles of Oil Production.[1] Immiscible gas injection has been used in oil fields with a wide range of characteristics. Two of these projects were termed successes, and two were viewed as having poor response. This 1,400-acre anticlinal 31 to 36 API oil field had a maximum closure of 75 ft and 53 producing wells. The reservoir is an oolitic limestone and had an initial gas cap.

In this paper, we examine fluids interpretation techniques in a prolific oil field in offshore West Africa. A sourceless logging program, consisting of logging-while-drilling (LWD) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), resistivity, and formation tester, was chosen to log the reservoir section in 6.5-in. holes. The purpose of this study is to answer questions related to asset appraisal and development with these limited measurements. Core data available are porosity, permeability, water salinity, Archie m and n, and Dean-Stark Sw. A comparison of the core and NMR log indicates that NMR total porosity is not affected by hydrocarbon in the pore space. We use a statistical method called factor analysis to deconvolve independent fluid modes from the T2 distribution and pick the T2 cutoff. The NMR irreducible water saturation (Swirr) computed with this cutoff agrees with Dean-Stark Sw. Continuous Sw is calculated with Archie’s equation with lab-measured parameters and validated against Dean-Stark Sw above the transition zone. The Timur-Coates model is used to estimate matrix permeability. The first application of this interpretation workflow is to confirm the free-water level (FWL) derived from pressure gradients. We found the Sw profile largely controlled by heterogeneity in rock textures. The presence of both good and poor-quality rocks makes log-based FWL picking difficult. We use Swirr from NMR to indicate rock quality and simplify our final interpretation. The FWL found by sourceless log interpretation is consistent with the initial FWL found by pressure gradients. The second application is perforation design. Zones with good porosity and low mobile water volume are selected for perforation, and a safe distance is maintained from FWL. As a result, all producer wells exhibit zero water cut.

This page provides an overview of Pulsed-Neutron-Lifetime (PNL) devices and their applications. They probe the formation with neutrons but detect gamma rays. Chlorine has a particularly large capture cross section for thermal neutrons. If the chlorine in the formation brine dominates the total neutron capture losses, a neutron-lifetime log will track chlorine concentration and, thus, the bulk volume of water in the formation. For constant porosity, the log will track water saturation, Sw.

Mechanical failure in rocks generally means either fracturing or permanent deformation as a result of compression. While many methods for calculating failure relationships exist, an initial measure of the compressive strength of reservoir rocks is still needed for use in those calculations. General rock failure criterion can be reduced to a few parameters dependent on lithology (m) and the uniaxial compressive strength (C0). Lithology is commonly derived during log analysis, so m may be estimated (Table 1)[1]. What is needed still is an initial measure of rock strength provided by C0.

Before selecting a method of determining permeability in a specific reservoir, one must first be assured that the core measurements are appropriate for reservoir conditions. Sample collection, selection, and preparation are important steps in ensuring that the data set represents the geology at in-situ conditions; some precautions are discussed in Relative permeability and capillary pressure. Adjustments may be necessary for the type of test fluid and for pressure effects. The permeability of a sample to a gas varies with the molecular weight of the gas and the applied pressure, as a consequence of gas slippage at the pore wall. The correction parameter b is determined by conducting the test at several flowing pressures and extrapolating to infinite pressure.