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Lectur - 3 Core Data Analysis PDF

Core samples are cylindrical rock samples obtained from boreholes using a specialized coring bit and core barrel, allowing direct measurements of important reservoir properties. Common core analysis includes measuring porosity, permeability, and fluid content under UV light. Special analysis provides additional data on properties like relative permeability and capillary pressure.

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Muntasir Mokhtar
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49 views

Lectur - 3 Core Data Analysis PDF

Core samples are cylindrical rock samples obtained from boreholes using a specialized coring bit and core barrel, allowing direct measurements of important reservoir properties. Common core analysis includes measuring porosity, permeability, and fluid content under UV light. Special analysis provides additional data on properties like relative permeability and capillary pressure.

Uploaded by

Muntasir Mokhtar
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Cores and Coring Process

The Coring Process


• The core bit can be visualized as a hollow
cylinder with cutters on the outside. The
cylinder of rock that is cut by the bit is
retained within the core barrel by an
arrangement of steel fingers or slips. Core
diameters are typically from three to seven
inches and are usually about 90 feet long.
Coring Assembly and Core Bit
Drill collar
connection

PDC Cutters

Thrust bearing

Outer barrel

Inner barrel
Fluid
vent
Core retaining
ring

Core bit
The Coring Process
• Once the core is retrieved from the well, it is
common to do a lithologic description at the
well site. In addition, to keep the core from
drying out, it is sometimes sealed in a coating
of hot wax and foil.
The Coring Process
The Coring Process
• At the laboratory, the core is photographed
under normal and ultraviolet light. (UV light
will reveal the presence of hydrocarbons.)
Routine and special core analysis may then be
conducted.
The Coring Process
• Cores from the reservoir allow direct
measurements of important reservoir
properties. It is important to gather cores
from a representative part of the reservoir, as
reservoir properties vary horizontally and
vertically. If a reservoir is known to be highly
heterogeneous, many core samples will be
required to describe the reservoir accurately
Types of Core Samples
• Whole-core
• Full-Diameter Core
• Core-Plug

1-1.5 in.
6 in.
Up to
2 ft
Sidewall cores
The sidewall sampling tool can be used to obtain small
plugs from the formation. The tool is run on a wireline after
the hole has been drilled. Some 20 to 30 bullets are fired
from each gun at different depths. The hollow bullet will
penetrate the formation and a rock sample will be trapped
inside the steel cylinder. When the tool is pulled upwards,
wires connected to the gun pull the bullet and sample from
the borehole wall.
Sidewall cores are useful for identifying hydrocarbons
zones, when viewed under UV light. Qualitative inspection
of porosity is possible; however, the cores may have been
crushed during the collection process, so quantitative
sampling of porosity is questionable.
Sidewall Coring Tool

Coring bit

Samples
Sidewall Sampling Gun

Core bullets

Formation rock

Core sample
Objectives of Core Analysis
Allow direct measurement of reservoir properties
Used to correlate indirect measurements, such as
Wireline/LWD logs
Used to test compatibility of injection fluids
Used to predict borehole stability
Used to estimate probability of formation failure and sand
production
Core Analysis
Routine Analysis Special Core Analysis
• Porosity • Vertical permeability to air
• Horizontal permeability to air • Relative permeability
• Grain density • Capillary pressure
• Cementation exponent (m) and
saturation exponent (n)
Allocation of Core Data
Tests may also be carried out on full diameter core
samples. This is necessary if plug sized
samples do not contain a representative pore size
spectrum. Fractures, vugs (very large pores)
. The measurements made are the same as for plug
samples, but a special core holder is necessary if
horizontal permeabilities are required
Core Photography

• •The photos can be taken in white light and ultra-


violet (UV) light.
• •Since most hydrocarbons fluoresce under UV
light, the presence or absence of hydrocarbons is
easily seen.

• Photographs provide a permanent visual record


of the core in its freshest state
Core Digital Images
Unconsolidated Core

• Unconsolidated core gives rise to particular problems


in coring, storage, handling and
• plugging. Its extremely friable nature means that any
rough handling damages the pore
• structure irreversibly, and samples can turn into a pile
of mud in your hand. The most
• common method of handling, shipping, storage, and
plugging this type of core is in a frozen
• state.
Unconsolidated Core

• The core is frozen with liquid nitrogen or dry ice as


soon as it emerges from the coring
• barrel. It is then placed in a special core holder for
the relevant experiment to be carried out.
Plug Sampling and Cleaning
• Standard techniques are applied unless the core is very
heterogeneous or likely to be damaged
• by routine cleaning methods
• Plugs are taken at regular intervals (often
• every 25 cm), parallel to bedding
• planes for horizontal permeability
Plug Sampling and Cleaning
• Plugs are cleaned by alternate extraction with hot
toluene and methanol in Soxhlet extractors until no
further discolouration of solvent occurs. This may take
from a few, to several hundred hours depending upon
permeability. Low permeability plugs are
• seldom completely free of residual brine and oil at this
stage. Complete removal of residual fluids can only be
achieved by prolonged Soxhlet extraction.
Depth Mismatch
• Most laboratories match core depth with log
depth by running a gamma ray survey over
the core. However, when the recovery is
poor and the core is short, the match is often
unsatisfactory. It may even happen that the
cores are wrongly labeled or put upside own
in their boxes

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