Porosity, permeability, grain density, and mineralogy of reservoir rocks are important elements in a
reservoir description. We can estimate these properties from well logs or measure them from rock
samples in the laboratory. The rock samples are obtained by cutting a piece of rock from the well
bore; the process is called coring.
Conventional cores are cut using a specialized subassembly at the bottom of the drill string. This
consists of a coring drill bit (usually a diamond bit), a core barrel to hold the recovered core, and
fingers in the core barrel to hold the core in place while the coring assembly is pulled out of the hole.
At the surface, the core is retrieved from the core barrel and placed in transport boxes, which are
transported to a laboratory for further study.
If coring while drilling is impractical, small cores can be taken on wireline using a sidewall core gun or
a sidewall rotary coring tool. The sidewall core gun uses black powder explosives to fire a steel bullet
into the rock adjacent to the tool. The hollow bullet captures a small piece of rock that is pulled to
the surface by the tool. Such guns can recover up to 48 samples in one trip in the hole. Depth control
is monitored using a gamma ray log to correlate to previous logs run in the well.
The rotary coring tool uses an electrically driven diamond bit to drill a small core from the formation
adjacent to the tool. Several cores can be taken at different depths before the tool is brought to the
surface.
Rotary core drill on wireline Sidewall core gun with steel bullets
Core slab, core plug, full diameter, and whole core definition Core photo of slabbed core
Taking core plugs for horizontal and vertical rock properties requires care and attention to dipping
beds, fractures, lithology variations, and porosity heterogeneity. Do NOT high-grade the selection of
core plugs by choosing only good porosity points - this will not provide useful information to control
petrophysical evaluations, reserves, productivity or other performance calculations.
Before measuring porosity and permeability, the core samples must be cleaned of residual fluids
using solvents, then thoroughly dried. There are numerous lab techniques available to do this. Most
methods also provide the oil and water saturation of the core samples on an “as-received” basis.
The number of cycles or amount of solvent which must be used depends on the nature of the
hydrocarbons being removed and the solvent used. Often, more than one solvent must be used to
clean a sample. The solvents selected must not react with the minerals in the core. Toluene and
benzene are most frequently used to remove oil and methanol and water is used to remove salt from
interstitial or filtrate water. The cleaning procedures used are specifically important in special core
analysis tests, as the cleaning itself may change wettability.
The core sample is dried to removing connate water from the pores, or to remove solvents used in
cleaning the cores. When hydratable minerals are present, the drying procedure is critical since
interstitial water must be removed without mineral alteration. Drying is commonly performed in a
regular oven or a vacuum oven at temperatures between 500C to 1050C. If problems with clay are
expected, drying the samples at 600C and 40 % relative humidity will not damage the samples.
The solvent is injected into the sample in a continuous process. The sample is held in a rubber sleeve
thus forcing the flow to be uniaxial.
Centrifuge Flushing
A centrifuge which has been fitted with a special head sprays warm solvent onto the sample. The
centrifugal force then moves the solvent through the sample. The used solvent can be collected and
recycled.
Gas Driven Solvent Extraction
The sample is placed in a pressurized atmosphere of solvent containing dissolved gas. The solvent fills
the pores of sample. When the pressure is decreased, the gas comes out of solution, expands, and
drives fluids out of the rock pore space. This process can be repeated as many times as necessary.
Soxhlet Extraction
A Soxhlet extraction apparatus is the most common method for cleaning samples, and is routinely
used by most laboratories. As shown in the illustration, toluene is brought to a slow boil in a Pyrex
flask; its vapors move upwards and the core becomes engulfed in the toluene vapors at
approximately 1100C. Eventually, water within the core sample in the thimble will be vaporized. The
toluene and water vapors enter the inner chamber of the condenser, the cold water circulating about
the inner chamber condenses both vapors to immiscible liquids. Recondensed toluene together with
liquid water fall from the base of the condenser onto the core sample in the thimble; the toluene
soaks the core sample and dissolves any oil with which it come into contact.
When the liquid level within the Soxhlet tube reaches the top of the siphon tube arrangement, the
liquids within the Soxhlet tube are automatically emptied by a siphon effect and flow into the boiling
flask. The toluene is then ready to start another cycle.
A complete extraction may take several days to several weeks in the case of low API gravity crude or
presence of heavy residual hydrocarbon deposit within the core. Low permeability rock may also
require a long extraction time.
Dean-Stark Distillation-Extraction
The Dean-Stark distillation provides a direct determination of water content. The oil and water area
extracted by dripping a solvent, usually toluene or a mixture of acetone and chloroform, over the
plug samples. In this method, the water and solvent are vaporized, recondensed in a cooled tube in
the top of the apparatus and the water is collected in a calibrated chamber (Figure 2.1b).
The solvent overflows and drips back over the samples. The oil removed from the samples remains in
solution in the solvent. Oil content is calculated by the difference between the weight of water
recovered and the total weight loss after extraction and drying.
Vacuum Distillation
The oil and water content of cores may be determined by this method. As shown in Figure 2.2, a
sample is placed within a leakproof vacuum system and heated to a maximum temperature of
2300C. Liquids within the sample are vaporized and passed through a condensing column that is
cooled by liquid nitrogen.
Summary
The direct-injection method is effective, but slow. The method of flushing by using centrifuge is
limited to plug-sized samples. The samples also must have sufficient mechanical strength to
withstand the stress imposed by centrifuging. However, the procedure is fast. The gas driven-
extraction method is slow. The disadvantage here is that it is not suitable for poorly consolidated
samples or chalky limestones.
Distillation in a Soxhlet apparatus is slow, but is gentle on the samples. The procedure is simple and
very accurate water content determination can be made. Dean-Stark method crushes the sample, so
it cannot be used for other purposes, but accurate oil, water, and pore volumes can be determined.
However, if clay bound water is present some or all of it may be driven off, adding to the water
recovered from the pore space.
Vacuum distillation is often used for full diameter cores because the process is relatively rapid.
Vacuum distillation is also frequently used for poorly consolidated cores since the process does not
damage the sample. The oil and water values are measured directly and independently of each
other.
CORE POROSITY DEFINITIONS
Porosity is an intrinsic property of reservoir rocks and indicates the storage capacity of the reservoir.
It is used as a primary indicator of reservoir quality, and along with a few other factors, to calculate
hydrocarbon volume in place, and recoverable reserves. Petrophysicists use core porosity values to
help calibrate porosity derived from well log data.
1: Vb = Vg + Vp
2: PHIt = Vp / Vb
Note that "V" in this Chapter stands for Volume, not Velocity. These volumes are usually reported in
cubic centimeters (cc).
The properties Vb, Vg, and Vp can be measured in the lab on full diameter core or on smaller core
plugs drilled from the whole core, or from sidewall percussion or sidewall rotary cores. Whole core is
best in heterogeneous reservoirs and in low porosity reservoirs.
4: Vb = PI * L * D^2 / 4
This method is less accurate due to the roughness of the surfaces of the solid and imperfections in
shape.
ARCHIMEDES METHOD
This technique utilizes the Archimedes’ principle of mass displacement in a liquid (buoyancy):
b. The core sample is then saturated with a wetting fluid and weighed (WTsat)
c. The sample is then submerged in the same fluid and its submerged weight is measured
(WTsub)
d. The bulk volume is the difference between the last two weights divided by the density of the
fluid.
e. The porosity is the difference between the first two weights divided by the density of the
fluid.
9: BulkDens = WTsat / Vb
If clays are present and sample is maintained at a high humidity (not over dried), this last equation
gives PHIe, not PHIt.
Bulk Volume = Volume of Displaced Fluid = Weight Displaced Fluid / Density Displaced Fluid
EXAMPLE:
WTcoated = weight of dry sample coated with paraffin = 20.9 gm (density of paraffin = 0.9 gm/cc)
WTsub = weight coated sample immersed in water at 70 °F = 10 gm (density of water = 1.0 gm/cc)
c. Boyle's Law
A more accurate approach is to use the displaced fluid volume. First the core plug is measured to
obtain its bulk volume, as described earlier Then the sample is crushed to eliminate all porosity and
weighed (WTgr). A glass tube filled with water, called a pycnometer to confuse novices, is weighed
(W1), then the crushed rock is placed in the tube (still filled with water), and weighed again WT2).
The difference in weights gives the volume of displaced fluid.
Displaced Volume = Crushed Sample Weight + Water-filled tube Weight - Combined Weight
If clays are present and sample is maintained at a high humidity (not over dried), this last equation
gives PHIe, not PHIt.
EXAMPLE:
WT2 = Weight of pycnometer filled with water and crushed sample = 75.0 gm
Calculate porosity
This gas transfer technique involves the injection and decompression of gas (Helium, CO2, or N2) into
the pores of a fluid-free (vacuum), dry core sample. Either the pore volume or the grain volume can
be determined, depending upon the instrumentation and procedures.
16: V2 = P1 * Vcell1 / P2
Then 17: Vg = Vt - Vf
In previous sections pore volume Vp was derived from volumetric methods based on weight and
density. Semi-direct measurement of porosity can also be attempted.
18: V2 = P1 * Vcell1 / P2
This technique is used to measure the volume of gas, oil and water present in the pore space of a
fresh or preserved (peel-sealed) core of known bulk volume. The volumes of the extracted oil, gas,
and water are added to obtain the pore volume and hence the core porosity.
This method is used in poorly consolidated rocks such as tar samds and involves disaggregating the
samples and weighing their constituent components. Samples are usually frozen or wrapped in
plastic to preserve the contents during transport. In the lab, the still frozen cores are slabbed for
photography and description, then samples are selected and weighed.
Samples are then heated and crumbled to drive off water, and weighed again. The weight loss gives
the water weight. Solvents are used to remove oil or tar. The sample is weighed again and the weight
loss is the weight of oil. The matrix rock is separated into clay and mineral components by flotation,
dried and weighed again, giving the weight of clay and weight of the mineral grains.
By dividing each weight by its respective density and adjusting each result for the total weight of the
sample, the volume fraction of each is obtained. Porosity is the sum of water plus oil volume
fractions Because the bound water in the clay is driven off by the drying sequences, this porosity is
the total porosity.
Assuming clay bound water is driven off by heating and drying, then PHIcore equals total porosity.
From comparison to log analysis results, it appears that some clay bound water remains in many
cases, so PHIcore lies between total and effective porosity from log analysis.
Example of Dean-Stark porosity (dots) showing that it is less than total porosity
from logs (black curve) due to incomplete drying of clay. Trying to match log
porosity directly to core may be futile in many cases. Scale is 0.50 to 0.00.
If not provided on the core listing, the equivalent value of tar mass from core analysis is derived from
porosity, oil saturation, and an assumed oil density:
Where:
PHIcoreStar Swtr Vol Tar Vol Wtr GR_ DEN WT Tar WT Sand WT Wtr WT Rock
Tar Mass Wtar Wtr Mass WwtrRock Mass Wrock
frac frac frac frac frac kg/m3 frac frac frac
0.306 0.301 0.699 0.092 0.214 2.650 0.092 1.839 0.212 2.143 0.043 0.099 0.858
0.271 0.236 0.764 0.064 0.207 2.650 0.064 1.932 0.207 2.203 0.029 0.094 0.877
0.279 0.306 0.694 0.085 0.194 2.650 0.085 1.911 0.193 2.189 0.039 0.088 0.873
0.244 0.304 0.696 0.074 0.170 2.650 0.074 2.003 0.168 2.246 0.033 0.075 0.892
0.298 0.217 0.783 0.065 0.233 2.650 0.065 1.860 0.233 2.158 0.030 0.108 0.862
0.273 0.298 0.702 0.081 0.192 2.650 0.081 1.927 0.191 2.199 0.037 0.087 0.876
If saturations (or pore volume) are known, as well as core porosity, all other terms can be calculated.
Some core analysis reports do the math for you, some do not.
Since GR_DENScore represents a mixture of quartz and shale, this value should vary with shale
volume. However shale volume is never reported on core analysis, so the composite grain density
from the rock sample is used. If grain density is not recorded in the core analysis, we must assume a
constant of 2650 kg/m3 or lower.
If not provided on the core listing, the equivalent value of tar volumes from core analysis are derived
from porosity, tar mass fraction, and an assumed oil density:
Where:
0.306 0.301 0.699 0.092 0.214 2.650 0.092 1.839 0.212 2.143 0.043 0.099 0.858
0.271 0.236 0.764 0.064 0.207 2.650 0.064 1.932 0.207 2.203 0.029 0.094 0.877
0.279 0.306 0.694 0.085 0.194 2.650 0.085 1.911 0.193 2.189 0.039 0.088 0.873
0.244 0.304 0.696 0.074 0.170 2.650 0.074 2.003 0.168 2.246 0.033 0.075 0.892
0.298 0.217 0.783 0.065 0.233 2.650 0.065 1.860 0.233 2.158 0.030 0.108 0.862
0.273 0.298 0.702 0.081 0.192 2.650 0.081 1.927 0.191 2.199 0.037 0.087 0.876
If tar mass fraction and water mass fraction are known, as well as core porosity, all other terms can
be calculated. Some core analysis reports do the math for you, some do not.
Porosity is directly calculated from high resolution digital images such as those shown below. This
calculation is the ratio of the number of voxels that fall into the pore space (black and dark-gray) to
the total number of voxels in a 3D image. The task of separating the pores from grains in such 3D
objects is called image segmentation. The main technical challenge in image segmentation is the
gradual transition from dark to light shade of gray at the edges of the pore space. Proprietary image-
processing algorithms are used, which include statistical analysis of the gray-scale images. As a
result, the pore space is accurately separated from the mineral matrix and the porosity is computed.
Source: www.ingrainrocks.com.
Clean sand 39% Tight sand 5% Poorly sorted 12% Silty Shale 8%
Samples of core analysis and core description plots, with a few of the posible histograms and
crossplots that can be made.
02181815W4
#23708
731011
S#
Top
Base
Len
Kmax
K90
Kvert
Poros
GrDen
BkDen
Soil
Swtr
Lithology
feet
feet
feet
mD
mD
mD
Frac
kg/m3
kg/m3
frac
frac
1
3499.19
3500.17
0.98
742.0
0.0
180.0
0.283
0.129
0.448
SS VF-F
3500.17
3501.16
0.98
1196.0
0.0
694.0
0.297
0.123
0.450
SS VF-F
3501.16
3502.17
1.02
622.0
0.0
266.0
0.276
0.111
0.520
SS VF-F
3502.17
3503.16
0.98
223.0
0.0
50.5
0.271
0
0.129
0.479
SS VF-F
3503.16
3503.88
0.72
837.0
0.0
171.0
0.278
0.110
0.504
SS VF-F PY
3503.88
3504.57
0.69
407.0
0.0
113.0
0.287
0.118
0.466
SS VF-F
7
3504.57
3504.67
0.10
0.0
0.0
SH
3504.67
3505.26
0.59
514.0
0.0
365.0
0.253
0.151
0.398
3505.26
3505.49
0.23
100.0
0.0
2.6
0.201
0.134
0.358
SS VF-F SH INC
10
3505.49
3505.98
0.49
401.0
0.0
120.0
0.254
0
0.143
0.268
SS VF-F SHBKS
11
3505.98
3506.96
0.98
478.0
0.0
302.0
0.282
0
0.131
0.471
SS VF-F
12
3506.96
3507.88
0.92
431.0
0.0
100.0
0.243
0.156
0.399
3507.88
3508.47
0.59
777.0
0.0
556.0
0.277
0.119
0.389
SS VF-F
14
3508.47
3508.87
0.39
831.0
0.0
383.0
0.275
0.136
0.422
SS VF-F CARB BK
15
3508.87
3509.88
1.02
413.0
0.0
262.0
0.281
0.132
0.440
SS VF-F
16
3509.88
3510.87
0.98
604.0
0.0
425.0
0.277
0.131
0.323
SS VF-F SH INC
17
3510.87
3511.88
1.02
320.0
0.0
35.1
0.229
0
0.146
0.422
SS VF-F SH INC
18
3511.88
3512.87
0.98
616.0
0.0
437.0
0.239
0.103
0.354
SS VF-F
19
3512.87
3513.79
0.92
259.0
0.0
62.0
0.261
0.073
0.418
SS VF-F
20
3513.79
3514.38
0.59
320.0
0.0
26.8
0.219
0.096
0.441
21
3514.38
3515.07
0.69
431.0
0.0
82.5
0.236
0.119
0.387
SS VF-F
22
3515.07
3515.16
0.10
0.0
0.0
SH PY
23
3515.16
3516.18
1.02
969.0
0.0
628.0
0.270
0
0
0.044
0.492
SS VF-F
24
3516.18
3516.77
0.59
837.0
0.0
634.0
0.280
0.042
0.501
SS VF-F
25
3516.77
3517.46
0.69
556.0
0.0
201.0
0.273
0.050
0.531
26
3517.46
3518.28
0.82
706.0
0.0
338.0
0.262
0.046
0.487
SS VF-F
27
3518.28
3519.07
0.79
502.0
0.0
377.0
0.238
0.079
0.494
28
3519.07
3519.99
0.92
1136.0
0.0
183.0
0.263
0.063
0.501
SS VF-F
29
3519.99
3520.58
0.59
825.0
0.0
291.0
0.265
0
0
0.052
0.563
30
3520.58
3521.46
0.89
1346.0
0.0
706.0
0.274
0.055
0.516
SS VF-F
31
3521.46
3522.48
1.02
389.0
0.0
102.0
0.246
0.064
0.450
32
3522.48
3523.47
0.98
165.0
0.0
11.9
0.219
0.058
0.408
33
3523.47
3524.48
1.02
586.0
0.0
66.0
0.219
0.082
0.411
34
3524.48
3525.47
0.98
1035.0
0.0
395.0
0.244
0.051
0.391
SS VF-F
35
3525.47
3526.48
1.02
514.0
0.0
187.0
0.199
0
0.073
0.360
36
3526.48
3527.47
0.98
526.0
0.0
89.0
0.205
0.046
0.481
SS VF-M
37
3527.47
3528.16
0.69
1375.0
0.0
208.0
0.216
0.042
0.548
SS VF-M PY CARB
38
3528.16
3528.88
0.72
287.0
0.0
95.0
0.207
0.066
0.462
Arithmetic Averages
0.78
618.8
0.0
240.7
0.253
0.0
0.0
0.095
0.443
THIS PAGE
Coring Methods
Core Cleaning
Porosity Definitions
Direct Method
Archimedes Method
Calibrated Displacement
Assumed Value
Fluid Displacement
Boyle's Law
Summation of Fluids
Dean-Stark Method
Examples
THIS CHAPTER
Core Saturation
Core Permeability
Wettability
Capillary Pressure
Relative Permeability
Rock Compressibility
Infra-Red (FTIR)