Section 1E_1

Fundamentals of Rocks
 Outline
Properties for Reservoir Evaluation

Basic Rock Types

Porosity
Water Saturation
Viscosity
Permeability
Capillary Pressure
Recovery Estimate
Source and Reservoir Rocks

Important Oil and Gas Sedimentary Rocks

Clastic Carbonate
Sand (SiO2) Limestone (CaCO3)
Shale Dolomite (CaCO3)(MgCO3)
Rock Nomenclature
 Common Sedimentary Rocks

CLASTIC ROCKS
Formed from the detrital material derived from mechanical
erosion of preexisting rocks.

Conglomerate, Sandstone, Siltstone, Shale

CHEMICAL AND DIAGENETIC ROCKS

Formed by chemical precipitation and/or low temperature
replacement & re-crystallization

Carbonates Limestone, Dolomite, Siderite

Evaporites Anhydrite, Halite (salt)
Chert (amorphous microscopic silica crystals, flint)
These can also be mechanically
weathered, transported, and
re-deposited to form clastics.
Tad Smith, 2007
 Common Rocks
Reservoir rocks
(rocks capable of containing movable fluids)
Sandstones
Carbonates
Limestone
Dolomite
Coal
A few Shales
Non-reservoir rocks
(everything else)
Most Shales (can be seals and/or source rocks)
Evaporites (e.g. anhydrite, halite)
Coal
Igneous rocks
Others (reservoir and non-reservoir)?

Tad Smith, 2007

 Sand

Sand Loosely considered to be a rock composed of

quartz grains

Sand is actually a textural term which refers to a

specific grain size (1/16 2mm diameter)
Can be comprised of any detrital material - mineral(s) and/or
rock fragment(s)
Quartz
Feldspars
Calcite
Heavy minerals
Chert
Lithic (other rock) fragments

Tad Smith, 2007

 Silt

Silt is loosely considered to be a rock composed of both

sand and shale.

Silt is a textural term which refers to a specific grain size.

Tad Smith, 2007

 Shale

Shale loosely considered to be a rock composed

primarily of clay minerals and incapable (for the most
part) of fluid flow.
Common clay minerals include:
Illite
Kaolinite
Chlorite
Smectite (Montmorillonite, Bentonite)

Shale is a rock term but again, related to texture

(grain size)
Clay is both a mineralogical and textural term

Tad Smith, 2007

 Clay Occurrence
Clays can be distributed within the rock in a variety of ways. Note that
clay occurrence may not affect our classification of silt or shaley
sand, but may have significant impact on reservoir and seismic
properties.

Common clay distributions include:

Framework or Structural grains
Laminations
Dispersed clays within the pore structures

Structural Laminated Dispersed

Tad Smith, 2007

 Grain Size vs. Mineralogy

Upper Size Fragment Aggregate Mineralogy COMMON TERM

Limit
2 mm SAND Sandstone Any mineral SAND
Arenite Rock
fragments
1/16 mm SILT Siltstone Any mineral SILT
Argillite Rock
fragments
1/256 mm CLAY Clay >40% clays SHALE
Shale + micas
Lutite + qtz or other

Tad Smith, 2007 (Udden, 1914; Wentworth, 1922)

 Properties of Common Clays

Tad Smith, 2007

 Key Issues

9 Be aware that using the terms sand, silt, shale have

textural, not mineralogical meaning.

9 Logging tools respond to minerals not grain size.

9 100% shale 100% clay minerals

9 Understand the terms and classification and the

fact that people routinely use these terms
incorrectly

Tad Smith, 2007

 Carbonates

Limestone (calcite) CaCO3

Dolomite CaMgCO3
Siderite (ankerite) CaFeCO3
Solid-solution, so mixtures are common, particularly between
limestone and dolomite
Development of secondary porosity is common in carbonates
because of their water solubility
Dissolution (e.g. vugs)
HTD hydrothermal dolomitization
Limestone alters to dolomite, often associated with decreased matrix volume
and thus, increased porosity.

Tad Smith, 2007

 Siliciclastic Lithologic Nomenclature
claystone: all fine-grained siliciclastic rocks consisting entirely of clay,
whether lithified or not. Includes clay, claystone.

mudstone: fine-grained siliciclastic rocks containing between silt and clay

sized particles, but not less than 33% of either. May be lithified or not.
Includes mud, mudstone.

"shale": fine-grained siliciclastic rocks containing unknown proportions of clay

and silt, but containing at least 33% clay. May be lithified or not. Avoid using
this category, except in cases where the proportions of clay and silt are not
known. This will be a catch-all category for poorly described fine-grained
siliciclastic rocks.

siltstone: fine-grained siliciclastic rocks containing less than 33% clay and
more than 67% silt size particles. May be lithified or not.

sandstone: siliciclastic rocks composed dominantly of grains less than 2 mm

in diameter and greater than 65 (roughly the limit of what is visible with a
10x hand lens)

conglomerate: siliciclastic rocks dominantly composed of grains greater than

2 mm.
 Carbonate Lithologic Nomenclature
marl: a rock consisting of 35% to 65% clay and 35% to 65% lime mud.

lime mudstone: a limestone composed almost entirely of lime mud (micrite) and less than 10%
grains (ooids, peloids, bioclasts, or intraclasts). Note that a lime mudstone is a carbonate rock. A
rock composed of siliciclastic mud but with carbonate cement should be treated as one of the fine-
grained siliciclastic rocks ("shale", claystone, mudstone, siltstone).

wackestone: a limestone composed of lime mud (micrite) and greater than 10% grains (ooids,
peloids, bioclasts, or intraclasts). Wackestones are matrix-supported, that is, grains do not support
one another with lime mud simply filling in between grains.

packstone: a limestone composed of grains (ooids, peloids, bioclasts, or intraclasts) and lime
mud (micrite). Rock is grain-supported and micrite simply fills in spaces between grains that are in
contact with one another.

grainstone: a limestone composed of grains, but lacking lime mud (micrite). Spaces between
grains are filled with spar (cement).

"reef rocks": carbonate rocks in which growing organisms trapped and bound sediment between
them. Includes bafflestone, boundstone, etc.

"limestone": category to use when a limestone cannot be classified into one of the preceding
lithologies. Avoid using if possible. Chalks should be placed into this category.

dolomite: category to use for all carbonate rocks composed primarily of dolomite.

"carbonate": category to use for a carbonate rock that cannot be classified as either a limestone
or a dolomite. Avoid using if possible.
Porosity
 Porosity
Porosity = = [Void Volume] / [Bulk Volume]
Porosity
 Porosity
All of this leads, of course, to a discussion of the
many different types of porosities. In order for a
pore space to be included in most conventional
measurements, it has to be connected to other pore
spaces. This, of course, raises the concept of
effective porosity. By definition, effective porosity is
the ratio of the interconnected pore volume to the
bulk volume of the rock. That all pore space are
connected is a fundamental assumption in Biot-
Gassmann theory.

The other type of porosity we are often concerned

with is total porosity, which by definition is the ratio
of the volume of all the pores to the bulk volume of a
rock; note that the concept of total porosity says
nothing about whether or not pores are connected.
This would include clay porosity, as well as micro-
porous materials such as chert.

Phie
Phit
Sand
Bound
water

Dry Clay
Note that: T >= E and T = E + Sh
Tad Smith, 2007
 Types of Geologic Porosity
Primary porosity is the main or original porosity system in a rock.
Secondary porosity is a subsequent or separate porosity system in a rock, often
enhancing overall porosity of a rock. This can be a result of chemical leeching of
minerals or the generation of a fracture system. This can replace the primary porosity or
coexist with it.
Fracture porosity is porosity associated with a fracture system or faulting. This can
create secondary porosity in rocks that otherwise would not be reservoirs for
hydrocarbons due to their primary porosity being destroyed (for example due to depth of
burial) or of a rock type not normally considered a reservoir (for example igneous
intrusions).
Vuggy porosity is secondary porosity generated by dissolution of large features (such
as macrofossils) in carbonate rocks leaving large holes, bugs, or even caves.
Effective porosity (also called open porosity) refers to the fraction of the total volume
in which fluid flow is effectively taking place (this excludes dead-end pores or non-
connected cavities). This is very important for petroleum flow.
Dual porosity refers to the conceptual idea that there are two overlapping reservoirs
which interact. In fractured rock aquifers, the rock mass and fractures are often
simulated as being two overlapping but distinct bodies. Delayed yield, and leaky aquifer
flow solutions are both mathematically similar solutions to that obtained for dual
porosity; in all cases water comes from two mathematically different reservoirs (whether
or not they are physically different).

Wikipedia, Porosity
 Porosity/ Matrix Definitions

Tad Smith, 2007

Water Saturation
 Saturated Reservoir

Evaluation of a Reservoir
Porosity - Permeability - Saturation
 Water Saturation
SW = [Volume of water] / [ Total Pore Volume]
Density
= (Mass of rock) / (Total Volume)
= (1) s + f
f = (1SW) h + SW H2O
f = fluid
s= solid grain material
h = hydrocarbon
Capillary Pressure
 Capillary Pressure
Influence of pore throat size, height and Sw

Marginal reservoir rock

Good reservoir rock

Tad Smith, 2007

 Some Common Concepts

At this water saturation, water flows in

borehole rather than hydrocarbons.

Tad Smith, 2007

 Capillary Pressure

A primary control on water saturations are the capillary

properties of a rock. One outcome of capillary pressure
theory is that smaller pore spaces preferentially imbibe the
wetting phase; in most rocks this is water. Thus, for any
given height above free water, finer grained rocks will
have higher water saturations than coarser grained
rocks.

KEY POINT: Water saturations are variable; for any given

height above the free water level, Sw will vary primarily as a
function of the pore size; this assumes we are far enough
above the free water level for full saturation.

Note: in most rocks water is the wetting phase. Thus,

hydrocarbons have to overcome a certain pressure in
order to displace the water that is trapped in the pores.
Most definitions define capillary pressure as the non-
wetting fluid pressure the wetting fluid pressure:

Pc = pnw - pw = 2cos/r
= interfacial tension between hydrocarbon and water
= contact angle
r = pore throat radius

QUESTION: How will grain size effect water

saturations?
http://pangea.stanford.edu/PetEng/pe221/notes2.htm Tad Smith,
Tad2007
Smith
Permeability
 Permeability
MEASURE OF THE ABILITY FOR PORE-FILLING FLUIDS TO FLOW
FUNCTION OF THE TORTUOSITY OF PATHS THROUGH THE
PORE SPACE

MEASURED IN millidarcies (md) or Darcies

CRITICAL TO RESERVOIR ENGINEERING

PERMEABILITY IS GIVEN BY DARCYS LAW

Tad Smith, 2007

Permeability - Darcy Experiment
Fluid mobility
 Viscosity
Viscosity is a measure of the resistance of a fluid to deform under shear stress. It is commonly perceived as "thickness",
or resistance to pouring. Viscosity describes a fluid's internal resistance to flow and may be thought of as a measure of
fluid friction. Thus, water is "thin", having a lower viscosity, while vegetable oil is "thick" having a higher viscosity. All real
fluids (except superfluids) have some resistance to shear stress, but an idealized fluid which has no resistance to shear
stress is known as an ideal fluid (Symon 1971).

Newton postulated that, for parallel and uniform flow,

the shear stress, , between layers is proportional to
the velocity gradient, u/y, in other words, the relative
motion of the layers. = u/ y where is
viscosity.

The cgs physical unit for dynamic viscosity is the poise (P) named after Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille. It is more commonly
expressed, particularly in ASTM standards, as centipoise (cP). The centipoise is commonly used because water has a
viscosity of 1.0020 cP (at 20 C; the closeness to one is a convenient coincidence).
1 poise = 100 centipoise = 1 gcm1s1 = 0.1 Pas. 1 centipoise = 1 mPas.
 Pitch Drop Experiment
Timeline

The pitch drop experiment is a long-term experiment. Pitch is a highly

viscous liquid that appears solid, most commonly bitumen. Tar pitch
flows at room temperature, but very slowly. In 1927, Prof. Thomas
Parnell of the University of Queensland poured a sample of pitch into a
sealed funnel and allowed it to settle for three years. In 1930, the seal
at the neck of the funnel was broken, allowing the pitch to start flowing.
Large droplets form and fell over the period of about a decade. The
eighth drop fell on November 28, 2000, allowing experimenters to
calculate that the pitch has a viscosity approximately 100 billion times
that of water.

1927 Experiment set up

1930 The stem was cut

1938 (Dec) 1st drop fell

1947 (Feb) 2nd drop fell

1954 (Apr) 3rd drop fell

1962 (May) 4th drop fell

1970 (Aug) 5th drop fell

1979 (Apr) 6th drop fell

1988 (Jul) 7th drop fell

2000 (Nov) 8th drop fell

Clastic Properties Affecting Permeability

Sorting and Grain Size

Spherical Grain Packing

Rules of Thumb
Increase porosity Increase permeability
Better sorted rocks have higher permeability
Clastic Properties Affecting Permeability

(Growth in Place)

Permeability
Limestone Properties Affecting Permeability

(Growth in Place)
Reserve Estimate
 Oil Prospect
Recoverable Oil and Gas 1320 x 660 ft
(app 400 x 200 m)

25% porosity
SW =.30
20 ft thick
(7m thick)

Depth = 9000 ft
Temp = 180 F

Gas dev = 1
1 acre = 43560 ft2

Would you take

$500,000 for
reservoir ?

N(BBL) =
7758 * .2 * 0.25 * (1-.3) * 20 * [(1320*660)/43560]*(1/1.2)
 What Do We Want from Log Data ?
For Reservoir Calibration

Lithology [Gamma, SP, & Neutron-Density]

Porosity [Density]
P-wave Velocity [Sonic]
Water-Saturation [Resistivity]
Quality Control [Caliper]
Permeability [SP, Resistivity suite ?]