C H A P T E R 4

FUNDAMENTALS OF
ROCK PROPERTIES

The material of which a petroleum reservoir rock may be composed

can range from very loose and unconsolidated sand to a very hard and
dense sandstone, limestone, or dolomite. The grains may be bonded
together with a number of materials, the most common of which are sili-
ca, calcite, or clay. Knowledge of the physical properties of the rock and
the existing interaction between the hydrocarbon system and the forma-
tion is essential in understanding and evaluating the performance of a
given reservoir.
Rock properties are determined by performing laboratory analyses on
cores from the reservoir to be evaluated. The cores are removed from the
reservoir environment, with subsequent changes in the core bulk volume,
pore volume, reservoir fluid saturations, and, sometimes, formation wet-
tability. The effect of these changes on rock properties may range from
negligible to substantial, depending on characteristics of the formation
and property of interest, and should be evaluated in the testing program.
There are basically two main categories of core analysis tests that are
performed on core samples regarding physical properties of reservoir
rocks. These are:

Routine core analysis tests

• Porosity
• Permeability
• Saturation

183
184 Reservoir Engineering Handbook

Special tests

• Overburden pressure
• Capillary pressure
• Relative permeability
• Wettability
• Surface and interfacial tension

The above rock property data are essential for reservoir engineering
calculations as they directly affect both the quantity and the distribution
of hydrocarbons and, when combined with fluid properties, control the
flow of the existing phases (i.e., gas, oil, and water) within the reservoir.

POROSITY

The porosity of a rock is a measure of the storage capacity (pore vol-

ume) that is capable of holding fluids. Quantitatively, the porosity is the
ratio of the pore volume to the total volume (bulk volume). This impor-
tant rock property is determined mathematically by the following gener-
alized relationship:

pore volume
f=
bulk volume
where f = porosity

As the sediments were deposited and the rocks were being formed dur-
ing past geological times, some void spaces that developed became iso-
lated from the other void spaces by excessive cementation. Thus, many
of the void spaces are interconnected while some of the pore spaces are
completely isolated. This leads to two distinct types of porosity, namely:

• Absolute porosity
• Effective porosity

Absolute porosity

The absolute porosity is defined as the ratio of the total pore space in
the rock to that of the bulk volume. A rock may have considerable
absolute porosity and yet have no conductivity to fluid for lack of pore
 Fundamentals of Rock Properties 185

interconnection. The absolute porosity is generally expressed mathemati-

cally by the following relationships:
total pore volume
fa = (4 -1)
bulk volume
or

bulk volume - grain volume

fa = (4 - 2)
bulk volume

where fa = absolute porosity.

Effective porosity

The effective porosity is the percentage of interconnected pore space

with respect to the bulk volume, or

interconnected pore volume

f= (4 - 3)
bulk volume

where f = effective porosity.

The effective porosity is the value that is used in all reservoir engi-
neering calculations because it represents the interconnected pore space
that contains the recoverable hydrocarbon fluids.
Porosity may be classified according to the mode of origin as original
induced.
The original porosity is that developed in the deposition of the materi-
al, while induced porosity is that developed by some geologic process
subsequent to deposition of the rock. The intergranular porosity of sand-
stones and the intercrystalline and oolitic porosity of some limestones typ-
ify original porosity. Induced porosity is typified by fracture development
as found in shales and limestones and by the slugs or solution cavities
commonly found in limestones. Rocks having original porosity are more
uniform in their characteristics than those rocks in which a large part of
the porosity is included. For direct quantitative measurement of porosity,
reliance must be placed on formation samples obtained by coring.
Since effective porosity is the porosity value of interest to the petrole-
um engineer, particular attention should be paid to the methods used to
186 Reservoir Engineering Handbook

determine porosity. For example, if the porosity of a rock sample was

determined by saturating the rock sample 100 percent with a fluid of
known density and then determining, by weighing, the increased weight
due to the saturating fluid, this would yield an effective porosity measure-
ment because the saturating fluid could enter only the interconnected pore
spaces. On the other hand, if the rock sample were crushed with a mortar
and pestle to determine the actual volume of the solids in the core sample,
then an absolute porosity measurement would result because the identity
of any isolated pores would be lost in the crushing process.
One important application of the effective porosity is its use in deter-
mining the original hydrocarbon volume in place. Consider a reservoir
with an areal extent of A acres and an average thickness of h feet. The
total bulk volume of the reservoir can be determined from the following
expressions:

Bulk volume = 43,560 Ah, ft3 (4-4)

or

Bulk volume = 7,758 Ah, bbl (4-5)

where A = areal extent, acres

h = average thickness

The reservoir pore volume PV can then be determined by combining

Equations 4-4 and 4-5 with 4-3. Expressing the reservoir pore volume in
cubic feet gives:

PV = 43,560 Ahf, ft3 (4-6)

Expressing the reservoir pore volume in barrels gives:

PV = 7,758 Ahf, bbl (4-7)

Example 4-1

An oil reservoir exists at its bubble-point pressure of 3000 psia and

temperature of 160°F. The oil has an API gravity of 42° and gas-oil ratio
of 600 scf/STB. The specific gravity of the solution gas is 0.65. The fol-
lowing additional data are also available:
 Fundamentals of Rock Properties 187

• Reservoir area = 640 acres

• Average thickness = 10 ft
• Connate water saturation = 0.25
• Effective porosity = 15%

Calculate the initial oil in place in STB.

Solution

Step 1. Determine the specific gravity of the stock-tank oil from Equation
2-68.

141.5
go = = 0.8156
42 + 131.5

Step 2. Calculate the initial oil formation volume factor by applying

Standing’s equation, i.e., Equation 2-85, to give:
1.2
È 0.65 ˆ 0.5 ˘
bo = 0.9759 + 0.00012 Í600 ÊÁ ˜ + 1.25 (160) ˙
ÍÎ Ë 0.8156 ¯ ˙˚
=1.306 bbl /STB

Step 3. Calculate the pore volume from Equation 4-7.

Pore volume = 7758 (640) (10) (0.15) = 7,447,680 bbl

Step 4. Calculate the initial oil in place.

Initial oil in place = 12,412,800 (1 - 0.25)/1.306 = 4,276,998 STB

The reservoir rock may generally show large variations in porosity

vertically but does not show very great variations in porosity parallel to
the bedding planes. In this case, the arithmetic average porosity or the
thickness-weighted average porosity is used to describe the average
reservoir porosity. A change in sedimentation or depositional conditions,
however, can cause the porosity in one portion of the reservoir to be
greatly different from that in another area. In such cases, the areal-
weighted average or the volume-weighted average porosity is used to
characterize the average rock porosity. These averaging techniques are
expressed mathematically in the following forms:
188 Reservoir Engineering Handbook

Arithmetic average f = Sfi/n (4-8)

Thickness-weighted average f = Sfihi/Shi (4-9)
Areal-weighted average f = SfiAi/SAi (4-10)
Volumetric-weighted average f = SfiAihi/SAihi (4-11)

where n = total number of core samples

hi = thickness of core sample i or reservoir area i
fi = porosity of core sample i or reservoir area i
Ai = reservoir area i

Example 4-2

Calculate the arithmetic average and thickness-weighted average from

the following measurements:

Sample Thickness, ft Porosity, %

1 1.0 10
2 1.5 12
3 1.0 11
4 2.0 13
5 2.1 14
6 1.1 10

Solution

• Arithmetic average

10 + 12 + 11 + 13 + 14 + 10
f= = 11.67%
6
• Thickness-weighted average

(1) (10) + (1.5) (12) + (1) (11) + (2) (13) + (2.1) (14) + (1.1) (10)
f=
1 + 1.5 + 1 + 2 + 2.1 + 1.1
= 12.11%
 Fundamentals of Rock Properties 189

SATURATION

Saturation is defined as that fraction, or percent, of the pore volume

occupied by a particular fluid (oil, gas, or water). This property is
expressed mathematically by the following relationship:

total volume of the fluid

fluid saturation =
pore volume

Applying the above mathematical concept of saturation to each reser-

voir fluid gives

volume of oil
So = (4 -12)
pore volume

volume of gas
Sg = (4 -13)
pore volume

volume of water
Sw = (4 -14)
pore volume

where So = oil saturation

Sg = gas saturation
Sw = water saturation

Thus, all saturation values are based on pore volume and not on the
gross reservoir volume.
The saturation of each individual phase ranges between zero to 100
percent. By definition, the sum of the saturations is 100%, therefore

Sg + So + Sw = 1.0 (4 -15 )

The fluids in most reservoirs are believed to have reached a state of

equilibrium and, therefore, will have become separated according to their