PETROPHYSICS – FMEV 2003

MODULE 4 - Permeability

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 OBJECTIVES
• Define permeability
• Understand Darcy’s Law
• Distinguish among absolute, effective and relative
permeability.
• Understand the significance and use of Klinkenberg
pemeability.
• Understand the factors that affect permeability
• Give qualitative descriptions of permeability ranges based
on an established classification.

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 PERMEABILITY
Permeability is the capacity of a porous material to allow fluids
to pass through it. It depends on the number, geometry and
size of interconnected pores, capillaries and fractures .

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 UNDERSTANDING
DARCY’S LAW
The earliest attempt at quantifying permeability was the work of
Henry Darcy in 1856. Conducting many experiments on beds of
packed sand and using different liquids, Darcy observed the
following relationships:

Darcy's law at constant elevation is a simple proportional relationship

between the instantaneous discharge rate through a porous medium, the
viscosity of the fluid and the pressure drop over a given distance.
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DARCY’S EXPERIMENT SET UP

Pressure Pressure
in out

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The new constant, k, was found to be the same for a given porous
medium regardless of its dimensions, the type of fluid used or the
pressure drop applied. It was an inherent property of the medium that
controlled its ability to conduct fluids. Darcy termed this property the
coefficient of permeability, which was later called simply the
permeability, and Equ. 6.2 became known as Darcy’s law. It should be
noted that implicit in the definition of permeability is the requirement
that the fluid saturates the porous medium completely.
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 PERMEABILITY UNITS
Permeability units: 1 darcy = 9.869 x 10-9 cm2.

A more common unit of reservoir rock permeability is the millidarcy

(md). In geological applications the darcy is commonly too large for
practical purposes, so the millidarcy (mD) is used, where:
1000 mD = 1D.
The permeability of most petroleum reservoir rock is less than one Darcy.

Since the petroleum industry still uses the system of field units, a
conversion factor is introduced in Darcy’s law as follows:

where q, k, A, ∆P, µ and L are in bbl/day, darcy, ft2, psi, cp and ft,
respectively.

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 DIFFERENT FORM OF
DARCY’S EQUATION

Equation 6.2 can be used in situations where the flow is

linear and at steady state, i.e. the flow streamlines are
parallel and all variables are constant with time at any
given location. These conditions are highly idealized and
are seldom encountered in real situations. The differential
form of Darcy’s law, which is more general and can be
the starting step in the solution of any flow problem, is
expressed by Equ. 6.4.

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where s is the coordinate along which flow is calculated and
subscript s denotes the value of the variable in the s-direction.
Since flow always takes place in the direction of decreasing
pressure, which means the pressure gradient – the partial
derivative in Equ. 6.4 - is always negative, the negative sign is
added in Equ. 6.4 to make the flow positive in the s-direction.
Equation 6.4 applies to any flow system, and it can be used to
compute the flow in the s-direction at any given point in the
system.

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 TYPES OF PERMEABILITY

Permeability measured with a single fluid in the rock is called absolute or intrinsic
permeability (Ka). It is often measured using dry air, giving rise to the term "air
permeability" (Kair). Nitrogen and carbon dioxide are also used. When water is
used as the single fluid, the result is called "liquid permeability" (Kliq). Air perm is
usually a little higher than liquid perm. The Klinkenberg correction is used to reduce
air perm to an equivalent liquid perm.

Effective permeability is the permeability of a rock to one fluid in a two phase

system. For example, the effective permeability of oil in an oil-water system (Ko) will
be less than absolute permeability. In the same rock and fluid system, the effective
permeability of water (Kw) could be higher or lower than Ko.

Relative permeability is the ratio of the effective permeability of a fluid at a given

saturation to some base permeability. Base permeability is typically defined as
absolute permeability (Ka), air permeability (Kair), or effective permeability to non-
wetting phase at irreducible wetting phase saturation, for example Ko @ Sw = SWir.
Because the definition of base permeability varies, the definition used must always
be confirmed before applying relative permeability data noted along with tables
and figures presenting relative permeability data.
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 CLASSIFICATION OF
PERMEABILITY
• Primary Permeability: also known as the matrix permeability
originated at the time of deposition and lithification
(hardening) of sedimentary rocks.

• Secondary Permeability: this resulted from the alteration of

the rock matrix by compaction, cementation, fracturing,
and solution.

It’s important to mention that compaction and cementation

generally reduce the permeability; but fracturing and solution
tend to increase it. In some reservoirs rocks, particularly low
porosity carbonates, secondary permeability provides the
main flow conduit for fluid migration.
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 RESERVOIR PERMEABILITY
CLASSIFICATION
Depending on the value of the permeability calculated or
obtained, the permeability can be classified as:

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 CONTROLS ON PERMEABILITY

Intuitively, it is clear that permeability will depend on porosity; the

higher the porosity the higher the permeability. However,
permeability also depends upon the connectivity of the pore
spaces, in order that a pathway for fluid flow is possible.

The connectivity of the pores depends upon many factors including

the size and shape of grains, the grain size distribution, and other
factors such as the operation of capillary forces that depend upon
the wetting properties of the rock. 14
However, we can make some generalizations if all other factors
are held constant:

· The higher the porosity, the higher the permeability.

· The smaller the grains, the smaller the pores and pore throats,
the lower the permeability.

· The smaller the grain size, the larger the exposed surface area to
the flowing fluid, which leads to larger friction between the fluid
and the rock, and hence lower permeability.
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 FACTORS AFFECTING
PERMEABILITY
1. Textural Properties
a. Pore size / grain size
b. Grain size distribution
c. Shape of grains
d. Packing of grains
2. Gas slippage
3. Amount, distribution and type of clays
4. Type and amount of secondary porosity
5. Overburden fluids
6. Reactive fluids
7. High velocity flow effects.
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 FACTORS THAT AFFECT K:
TEXTURAL PROPERTIES
• Grain size, sorting / distribution
Experimental evidence has shown
that k M cd2, where c is a
characteristic of the rock properties
and d is the grain diameter. The
dimensions of permeability are L2,
which is directly related to the cross-
sectional area of the pore throats.
Therefore as grain size increases, so
will the pore throat size and a
subsequent increase in permeability
occurs. In Figure 3.1, an artificial
mixing of sands illustrates the
significant effect of grain size on Figure 3.1: is the effect of sorting on the
permeability. As can be seen, an permeability. It is not as dramatic as
approximate 25:1 increase in grain size, however, the illustration does
permeability occurs from coarse to show an increase in sorting (better or
very fine grains. well sorted) will improve the
permeability.
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 Effect of shape and packing

The more angular the grains or the flatter the grain shape, a more 18
pronounced anisotropy develops.
 will be very high,
whereas vertical Permeability will be
permeability will be considerably high and of
medium-to-large. same magnitude in both
directions

Permeability of reservoir rocks is generally

lower, especially in the vertical direction, if the
sand grains are small and of irregular shape.
Most petroleum reservoirs fall in this category.
Reservoir with directional permeability are
called anisotropic. Anisotropic greatly affects
fluid flow characteristics of the rock.
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 FACTORS THAT AFFECT K: GAS
SLIPPAGE – KLINKENBERG EFFECT
Gas is a compressible fluid, hence if gas is flowing at the same mass
per unit time through the core, it will actually be travelling more
slowly when measured in volumes per time at the input (high
pressure) end of the sample because it is compressed into a smaller
volume, than at the output end (low pressure) where it expands.
The equation used to calculate the permeability value from the
measured parameters has to be modified to take the gas
compression into account.
At low gas pressures, there can be very few molecules of gas
occupying some of the smaller pores. If this happens, the laws that
we are using breakdown, and their use causes an overestimation in
the permeability. This is known as gas slippage or the Klinkenberg
Effect. The problem becomes smaller as the pressure is increased
because the gas is compressed and there are more gas molecules
per unit volume, and does not arise in liquids because liquids are
very much denser than gasses.
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Gas slippage is corrected for by making permeability
measurements with gas at multiple pressure differences and
constructing a graph of the measured apparent
permeability against the reciprocal of the mean pressure in
the core. If the input gas pressure is Pi and the output
pressure is Po, then the permeability is plotted as a function
of
1/Pav = 2/(Pi + Po)
The points should now lie on a straight line, which intersects
the y-axis at 1/Pav = 0. This value is called the Klinkenberg
permeability, and effectively represents the permeability at
which the gas (which is near to a perfect gas) is compressed
by infinite pressure and becomes a near perfect liquid. It is
because of this that the klinkenberg permeability is often
given the symbol kL.
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 FACTORS THAT AFFECT K:
OVERBURDEN PRESSURE
With increasing confining pressure the absolute permeability of
the rock will also decrease. This is in response to the reduction
in the pore throats; subsequently reducing the ability of the
porous media to transmit fluids. The strength or competency of
the rock therefore plays a role in the magnitude of the
permeability reduction. Figure on slide 24 illustrates the
permeability reduction for well-cemented, friable, and
unconsolidated rocks.

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 FACTORS THAT AFFECT K:
REACTIVE FLUIDS & CLAYS
Many porous reservoir rocks contain clay material that swell on contact with fresh
water. Naturally occurring saline connate waters do not cause such swelling, but
drilling operations or laboratory procedures may introduce fresh water into the rock
matrix. If water-sensitive clays are present, the resulting swelling can reduce the rock's
permeability by several orders of magnitude.

This phenomenon in itself does not invalidate Darcy's Law, it simply makes the correct
determination of permeability more difficult in laboratory flow tests that rely on Darcy's
Law to calculate permeability. The factors important in clay-water reaction include
the following:
a. type of clay b. amount of clay
c. distribution of clay d. water composition
e. order in which fluids contact the rock f. presence of residual hydrocarbons
g. water pH 25
 CLAYS CONTINUED
Lamination: Occurs when platy minerals such as muscovite,
and shale laminations, act as barriers to vertical permeability
. Sometimes, however, is higher than due to
fractures or vertical jointing and vertical solution channels.

Joints act as barriers to horizontal permeability only if they

are filled with clay or other minerals. The importance of the
clay minerals as a determinant of permeability is often
related not only to their abundance but also to their
mineralogy and composition of the pore fluids. Should the
clay minerals, which coat the grain surfaces, expand and/or
become dislodged due to changes in the chemistry of the
pore fluids or mud filtrate invasion, the permeability will be
considerably reduced. 26
 FACTORS CONTINUED
Cementation: Refers to ions carried in groundwater chemically
precipitating to form new crystalline material between
sedimentary grains. In this case, the permeability and porosity of
sedimentary rocks are influenced by the extent of the
cementation and the location of the cementing material within
the pore space.

Fracturing and solution: In sandstone rocks, fracturing is not an

important cause of the secondary permeability, except where
sandstones are interbedded with shales, limestones, and
dolomites. In carbonates, the solution of minerals by percolating
surface and subsurface acidic waters as they pass along the
primary pores, fissures, fractures, and bedding planes, increase
the permeability of the reservoir rock. 27
 PERMEABILITY
DETERMINATION
Permeability is almost always determined experimentally, and
only if no laboratory data is available , we resort to empirical
correlations.

Permeability is measured on cores in the laboratory by flowing a

fluid of known viscosity through a core sample of known
dimensions at a set rate, and measuring the pressure drop
across the core, or by setting the fluid to flow at a set pressure
difference, and measuring the flow rate produced.

At this point we must make a distinction between the use of

gaseous fluids and the use of liquids. In the case of liquids the
measurement is relatively straightforward as the requirement for
laminar flow and incompressibility of the fluid are almost always
met at surface geological conditions. 28
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FIGURE 6.2. COMPUTATION OF
PERMEABILITY

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 EXAMPLE CALCULATION
OF PERMEABILITY
Compute the permeability of the core sample whose flow
data is shown in fig 6.2 if the sample is 5cm in diameter
and 10 cm long. The fluid used in the experiment is an oil
with a viscosity of 1.6 cp.

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 IN CLASS EXERCISE
Given the following data from an experiment performed on an
unconsalidated sand pack.
Q (cc/s) ∆ ( )
0 0
0.0014 0.0476
0.0556 1.4284
0.0889 3.0573
0.1333 4.5439
0.2222 7.5303
0.3111 10.4650

Using Dow Corning mineral oil. The fluid and sand pack properties
were as follow:
= 105.363
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L= 115.6 cm
d=4.961 cm
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 OBSERVATIONS
Several precautions must be observed with this method.

(1) if the sample is sandstone that contains shale (clay

particles), distilled water must not be used.

(2) the flow rate must be reasonably low, as Darcy’s law does
not apply at excessive rates.

(3) The inlet pressure should not be closed to the confining

pressure, as the fluid may bypass the sample and flow along
the inner wall of the rubber sleeve.
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Permeability is generally anisotropic in a rock, partly
because of depositional effects, and partly because of
the in-situ stress field in the crust. To account for this,
permeability measurements are made both parallel to
and perpendicular with bedding. The permeability
perpendicular to bedding will be about a third to half of
that parallel to bedding. Clearly this has implications for
extracting oil from a reservoir, as oil would usually much
rather travel laterally than vertically.

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 PERMEABILITY SUMMARY
• The permeability k, in this equation represents the
“absolute” permeability if the rock is 100% saturted with a
single fluid (or phase), such as oil, gas, or water.
• In presence of more than one fluid, permeability is called
“effective” permeability (Ko,Kg or Kw being oil, gas or
water effective permeability respectively)
• Reservoir fluids interface with each other during their
movement through the porous channels of the rock;
consequently, the sum of the effective permeabilities of all
the phases will always be less than the absolute
permeability.
• In presense of more than one fluid in the rock, the ratio of
effective permeability of any phase to the absolute
permeability of the rock is known as the relative
permeability of the oil, gas and water would be Kro=Ko/K,
Krg=Kg/K, Krw=Kw/K respectively.
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 ONLINE RESOURCES
• http://www.slb.com/resources/oilfield_review/~/media/Files/resou
rces/oilfield_review/ors14/aut14/define_perm.ashx

• http://infohost.nmt.edu/~petro/faculty/Engler524/PET524-2a-
permeability.pdf

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Permeability_%28earth_sciences%29

• http://homepages.see.leeds.ac.uk/~earpwjg/PG_EN/CD%20Cont
ents/GGL-66565%20Petrophysics%20English/Chapter%203.PDF

• http://bayanbox.ir/view/1542959345004660050/1.a-flow-in-porous-
media-landi.blogfa.com.pdf
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