Application of hydraulic flow unit in pore size classification Qamar Yasin*', Qizhen Du', Atif smai?, Guanghui Yuan ', ‘School of Geosciences, China University of Petroleum (East China), P. R. China,*Department of Petroleum and Gas Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology, Lahore Pakistan Summary Pore size distribution plays a clearly important role in geology. It controls fluid flow. storage capacity and reservoir performance through geological formation. Many methods have been proposed for quantifying pore sizes by using certain core data, Core data, however. is available in specific horizons of specified wells in a field, while jority ofthe wells are logged. The approach introduced in this. papet aim to test the applicability of the most promising hycranlc flow unit to analyze the pore structure attnbute in heterogencous sandstone reservoir. This is done first, by using reservoir quality index ({) and flowezone indicator (F5) as the key reservoir parameters to establish hydrantic flow units which classified the reservoir interval into different pore structure type. Second, Pittman empirical equation is used to determine pore size distibution to validate the result. In addition, high resolution binary images are genefated from available rock's thin section to measure pore throat radius. Later the estimated pore size information is expanded vertically and horizontally using hydraulic flow units and eurve matching techniques in offset wel. Introduction Through the past few decades, various tests have been conducted by petrophysicists to divide the reservoirs into distinctive flow units and classify pores and their sizes, Among these (ests, mercury intusion test is accurate and widely used hocause it is dircetly related to pore throat radius and its distribution in reservoir rock. In spite of the great benefits of meteury intrusion test, it is not Conventionally used because ofits high cost (Nabawy et al., 2009), In present study, the authors has introduced a cost effective approach 1 determine the pore sizes and its disuibution from routine core analysis data and geophysical information for heterogenous reservoir racks. For quantitative rock analysis, tho reservoir unit can be characterized into diserete hydraulic flow units (HFU) containing unique characteristics of porosity-permeability relationship, pore geometry and bedding plane (Abed 2014) In recent years, many researcher have used HFU for permeability estimation and simulation studies inthe wells with no prior exposure of their permeability profile (Shenavi et al, 2007) Amacfule et al. (1993) has proposed a simple and prctical approach to identify hydraulic flow unit based on the Kozeny-Carmen (K-C) model. The original form of the wellknown K-C model is writen as ep 7 iF aese Where & represent permeability i ym f= shape factor in the dimensionless unit, for tortuosity in the dimensionless unit, Sy represent specific surface area of the grain in um", and “g" is the effective porosity in fraction, In equation (1), dividing both sides by porosity and taking the square root, we find that, 2 2 oon foot Reservoir quality can be written as, ay sous > 8) i © where Ryris reservoir quality index deis core porosity, and k is core permeability. Normalized porosity is determined from a where gis normalized por Q, ° where Fi (uum) is flow zone indicator It is the only petrophysical property which is directly related 10 the geological conditions with mineral grain to sort the reservoir units of sample flow behavior. In recent years, the petrophysicists have developed several cher empirical equations to determine porethroat radius from easily measurable parameters, e.g. permeability and pporosity. In these perspective, Pitman (2001) derived a set ‘of empirical equations that permit the quantification of Pore-throat radii corresponding ta mercury saturation Values from 10 co 73% with the increments of 5. The best comelation coefficient (r) was obtained by a multiple regression analysis for the equation of 25, taking log "A" as the dependent variable Logrys =0.204 40.531 L08K gir -0.350L08 (6)Pore size determination using Geophysical technique Where rs is the pore aperture radius corresponding to the 25ih percentile of mercury saturation, Ka; is the uncorrected air permeability (aD), and 9 is porosity in percentage. Method ‘To attain the objective, three wells (Sawan 7, Sawan 12, Sawan 3B) in heterogeneous sandstone reservoir from Sawan gas field, Pakistan are selected. The witeline log data, core measured porosity and permeability values and thin sections from these wells were also available In summary, the iterative method as follows [Identification of the target horizon Calculation of petro-physical parameters Hydraulic flow units classification (Quantification of pore size distribution ‘Validation of proposed technique Lateral and vertical distribution of pore size ‘geometry Results and Discussion ‘The core measured porosity values of the heterogeneous sandstone reservoir reveal low to excellent porosities, ranging from 10 to 35 ‘%. The permeability values range from 0,01 to 1252 mD. Hydraulic Flow Units Classification ‘To achieve the optimal number of hydraulic flow units, the reservoir rock properties are plotted, ‘Rov’ vorsus °.0n log-log graph (Fig. 1) Ii illustrated in Fig. 1 that all core samples with similar Fy values lie on a straight line with a unit slope, Similarly other core samples that have different a values adjust on another parallel fines and thus can be Classified into six diserote rock types verifying the six hydraulic flow units. Is clearly demonstrated that cach of these hydraulic flow units (HFUL, HFU2, HFU3, HFUS, HEUS, und HFU6) have unigue porosity permeability relationship and pore throat attributes (Fig. 2). Eventually, the hydraulic flow unit with greater Ror and Fz values will Ihave a better quality to flow the fluids through its pore spaces in the reservoir rock (Shenzwi et al., 2009), Heonce, itis verified that the reservoir pore size distribution in hydraulic Dow units can be classified inlo megapores (AFUL and HFU2, muctopores (HFU2 and HFUS). mesopores (HFUS and HFUS), micropores (HFUS and HEUo) and nanopores (HFUS and HFU6) (Fig, 1 and 2). Fig. I: Pore size distribution using hydraulic How units. The measured porosity and permeability valucs from core samples are plotted to the Pittman (1992) empirical equation (6) to analyze the pore throat radius and its distribution through the reservoir. We observed the mean pore throat radius ftom Pittman approach are: 29.754 ym, 5.567um, 0.9651m, 0.26Sipm, and (068um for mesa, macro, meso, micro, and nano pores respectively Peroni Prperentn EU PueSie Pao Ferm ‘Neyafecus>20 400 MaroPorou 14:26 10400, MeroPooes 1018 04 MioPorous 006-016 00407 Naoporat <4 ce Fig. 2: Pore size distribution (R25) versus hydraulic flowPore size determination using Geophys Fig. 3: Thin Seetion Study of Sawan-3B (34072 m). PPL: Hdiomorphic quartz outgrowths (Qo) filling partially the pores aller chlorite rims (Chir); Q = quartz, Ge = Grain contact, P = porosity 15.3%, (Berger et al, 2009) (b) Binary se (pores in red) of sample $407.2 m of Sawan 3B) ‘Modal Validation The validity of the proposed technique (HU) deseribe in this paper is certified by plotting hydraulic flow unit (HEU) versus pore throat radius (Pitman, 2001), The plot indicates high accuracy and reliability of the proposed technique in herorogencous rock, The observation (Fig. 2) confims that the hydraulic flow units (HFUT, HEU2, HFU3 and HFUS) swith megapores, macrapores, and mesopares correspond with the mean pore throat radius from Pitman approach. It ‘means these flow units will have a better quality wo flow fluids through pore spaces of the formation. ‘To validate the proposed technique at the geological model level, image analysis of rock thin sections are studied 10 generate high resolution binary images showing pore-space ‘yersus non-pore space. The pore throat rads is determined from these binary images at scale of 250 um on the same reservoir interval al technique ri, the heterogeneous sandstones throughout the ‘entire type section are mainly composed of quartz arenite that show advanced diagenetic alteration. The sandstones are medium to coarse grain and moderately to well sorted with differing degrees of compaction (Fig. 34 and 4a). The rain-size distribution is ranging from Tess. than 0.06 10 reater than 2 millimeters (erger etal, 2009) Considering two-dimensional cross section of the rock's thin section, the mean pore throat radius are quantified based on machine I as: 25.621 ym, 5.5674m, 1265ym, and 0.565Ium fer megapores, macropores, mesopores, and micropores respectively. The pores are marked in red color with black background in binary images ata seale of 250 jim as shown in Fig. 36 and 4b, A plot of pore throat radius distribution along pore radius and pore area is shown in Fi Fig. 4: (a) Thin Section Study of Sawan-2 Well (3304.5 m. PPL: Dissolution of feldspar grains (Fsp) and alteration of voleanic rock fragments (VRE}; Chl = chlorite, Chie chlorite rim, Q = quartz; porosity 22%, (Berger et al., 2009) (b) Binary image (pores mark in red color) of sample 3304.5 m of Sawan-02,Pore size determination using Geophysi mi Hye Fig. 5: Lateral and vertical heterogeneity of pore properties: Gamma ray response thin section analysis and hycranlic flow uni (Curve Mate! To analyze the lateral heterogeneity of pore structure geometry in offset well (Sawan-07), the authors has Incorporated the garnma ray log response, HFU (hydraulic flow units) and image of thin sections to quantify the pore throat attributes. The log comelation of Sawan-07, Sawan- (02, and Sawan-3B (pattern recognition) along with HFUs reflect the pore size distribution in offset wel latterly and vertically as shown in Fig. 5. The similar log pattern and flow units (show in circle) indicate the same pore size classification that contribute the most wo the overall porosity and permeability, The attached thin section photas of each ‘sample show the type of pore structure geometry reflected by the HFUs in offset wel. Fig. 6: Pore size distribution plot using thin scetion technique Conelusion In this study the pore size distribution of « heterogencous sandstone reservoir is clasilied by hydraulic flow units (HEU). Six hydruulic Tow units are identified in the reservoir interval and categorized into: megapores (HUI and HEU2) macropores (HFU2 and HEU), mesopores (HEU4 and HFUS), micropores (HPUS and HFU6) and ‘nanopores (HEUS). ‘The advantage of hydraulic flow units upon other techniques simply because it depend on the properties of a given reservoir rock and can be applied on any reservoir Condition with diverse range and heterogeneity in the rock properties to classify the pare size distribution, As itis shown that using the heterogeneous porasity and permeability values as independent variables in the proposed technique indicate large variation in the scale of pore size distibution (megapores to nanopores). [Cis also shown that plotting the HEU versus Pittman empirical equation and the plots of pore throat radius measured from thin section show the accuracy and reliability of the proposed technique in the classification of pore sizes Comparison of log pattem recognition along with hydraulic flow units and photos of thin sections can assist in the approximation of pore structure geometry laterally and Vertically in offset wells on similar reservoir condition,EDITED REFERENCES Note: This reference list is a copyedited version ofthe reference list submitted by the author. Reference lists forthe 2017 ‘SEG Technical Program Expanded Abstracts have been copyedited so that references provided with the online ‘metadata for each paper will achicve a high degree of linking to cited sources that appear on the Web. REFERENCES Abed, A. 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