Petroleum Geology

The Reservoir Rocks

Lecture: 6

Dr. Fadhil K. Jabbar

Department of Petroleum Engineering
Misan University
 The Reservoir Rocks
The Reservoir Rock: is a type of sedimentary rock that is capable of storing
and transmitting fluids, such as oil and gas, within its pore spaces. The most
common reservoir rocks for hydrocarbons are sandstones, carbonates, and shale.

Attributes of reservoir rocks – Quality and quantity.

• Quality – Porosity and Permeability
• Quantity – Volume (3-D distribution) and occurrence
• Complexity – Micro- and Macro-scale heterogeneity.

Principal Properties:
Porosity and permeability are two important principal properties of reservoir rock
that determine its ability to store and transmit fluids like oil and gas.

Permeability is the capability of a rock to transmit a fluid. It depends crucially on

the connections between the pores. Darcy’s law establishes the basic relationship
between pressure, flow rate and permeability.
 The Reservoir Rocks
Porosity: is the capability of a rock to hold fluids in pores. It is expressed as a
volume percent of the total rock and can range from very low porosities (a few %)
to very high (over 40% in some chalks). Pores can be of many types, particularly
in carbonate rocks.

Porosity (f , %) = V. of voids / total volume of rocks x 100

Ex. a sandstone with 8% porosity = 92% solid rock and 8% is open space
containing oil, gas, or water

➢ The total porosity is separated into effective and ineffective pores.

➢ Effective porosity is voids that are connected to allow fluid flow.
The classification of porosity of a reservoir is usually based on the size and connectivity of
the pores within the rock. There are three main classifications of porosity:

1. Primary Porosity: This is the initial porosity that forms in a rock during its deposition, and it is
commonly due to the physical characteristics of the grains that make up the rock. Primary porosity
can be further classified as intergranular, intragranular, and moldic porosity.
2. Secondary Porosity: This porosity is created after the rock has formed due to various geological
processes. Secondary porosity can be further classified into three categories:
a. Dissolution Porosity: This is the result of the dissolution of certain minerals in the rock, leaving
behind void spaces. Common minerals that dissolve include calcite and dolomite.
b. Fracture Porosity: This type of porosity is created when the rock undergoes stress and fractures,
resulting in open spaces within the rock.
c. Vuggy Porosity: This is the result of dissolution or other types of erosion that create large void
spaces or cavities in the rock.
4. Total Porosity: This is the total volume of all void spaces within the rock,
including both effective and ineffective porosity.
Effective pores:
➢ Catenary pore are the pores open to more than one throat passage which
hydrocarbons can be flushed out by natural or artificial water drive.
➢ Cul-de-sac pores open to one throat passage, or called dead-end.
Ineffective pores:
➢ Closed – ineffective, but can be used through artificial fracturing.
Sandstone Sandstone

Limestone Limestone
The porosity of reservoir rocks is influenced by several factors, including:

1- Lithology: The type of rock that makes up the reservoir affects its porosity. For example, sandstones
generally have higher porosities than shales or limestones.

2- Diagenesis: The process of diagenesis, which includes cementation, compaction, and mineral
replacement, can reduce porosity. The degree and timing of diagenesis will affect the porosity of the
rock.

3- Grain size and packing: The size and shape of the grains in a sedimentary rock, as well as how they
are packed together, will affect the porosity. Smaller grains and tighter packing result in lower
porosity.

4- Pressure and temperature: Changes in pressure and temperature can cause rocks to expand or
contract, affecting their porosity.

5- Fracturing: Fractures in the rock can increase porosity and permeability, allowing fluids to flow more
easily through the reservoir.

6- Burial depth: The depth at which the rock is buried can affect its porosity. Rocks buried deeper tend to
be more compacted, resulting in lower porosity.

7- Organic matter: The presence of organic matter can affect the porosity of rocks, particularly in shales.
Organic matter can either increase or decrease porosity depending on its type and concentration.
 Relationship between Porosity, Permeability, and Texture of Reservoir Rocks

Sedimentary textural attributes: Grain shape (roundness/angularity and forms), grain size,
sorting, degree of packing (grain contact), grain orientation.

Grain shape – Indirect effect: Increased roundness and sphericity lead to higher
permeabilities.
More rounded → better packing.
Less equant → better packing.
Better packing → smaller porosity and permeability.

.
Grain size
Coarser size → larger permeability.
Coarser size → smaller (?) porosity.
No absolute direct effect.

Grain sorting
Better sorting → larger porosity and permeability
Effects of Diagenesis on Reservoir Quality

Diagenesis – Physical and chemical processes and changes occurred during

sediment burial.

Effects of Diagenesis on Sandstone Reservoirs

1. Destruction of porosity due to compaction and cementation
2. Generation of porosity due to dissolution.
• Decrease in porosity and permeability with depth: from 40-50% and 10s d
to 10-20% and md.

Porosity gradient and controlling factors – The large picture:

• Mineral maturity
• Sorting – poor sorting → fast decrease
This graph shows in a
summary fashion the
main changes a potential
reservoir rock undergoes
with burial.
The example shown is a
sandstone. Diagenesis in
carbonates is significantly
more complex.
Grain packing
Tighter packing → non-equant grains more orientated and smaller pore space →
smaller porosity (48% of cubic packing and 26% of rhombohedral packing) and
permeability
• Determined by depositional and compactional processes and timing of
cementation.

Grain orientation – Micro- and macro-scopic. Stratification (sedimentary structures)

• permeability small in the direction perpendicular to bedding, large parallel to
bedding.
• grain-size changes within a bed/lamina, coarsening or fining-upward → differential
permeability.

Depositional processes – Indirect but significant control on grain size, shape, and
sorting.
Permeability
Permeability is a measure of the ability of a rock to transmit fluids.
Darcy’s Law:

Q (rate of flow) = KA (P1 – P2) / Lμ

where is Q the flow rate, k the permeability, P1-P2 the pressure drop over distance
L, A the area cross-section of the sample, and µ the viscosity of the fluid. The
permeability unit is Darcy and is defined as the ability for a fluid of 1 centipoise
viscosity to flow at a velocity of 1 cm/s for a pressure drop of 1 atm/cm.
• Effects/controls of each variable: If K = 0, or P1 = P2 ➔ Q (rate of flow)=0
Permeabilities in an oil reservoir are rated as follows:
Excellent >1000 mD
Good 100-1000 mD
Poor 1-10 mD
Fair 10-100 mD
For a gas reservoir, the permeabilities are ten times lower for a given rating.
 Permeability
• Complexity:
➢Limitations/assumptions of Darcy’s Law: no chemical reaction, medium
saturated by one fluid; uniform pore system; no multi-phase fluid.
➢Directional permeability.
➢Relative to fluid type (viscosity and temperature).
➢Effective permeability (when a fluid is not saturated in a medium), relative
permeability (relative permeability for a specific fluid at a given saturation to
a base permeability).
➢Wettability – water or oil-wet.
➢Capillary pressure and pore throat heterogeneity.

• Permeability measurement – Physical, derivative (petrophysical and

numerical modeling).
Porosity-Permeability Relationship

The outcrop sampling of sandstones of certain

depositional systems. The significance in
reservoir modeling/simulation.

Graph showing relationship between porosity

and permeability for different types of pore
systems. Note that fracturing will enhance
permeability dramatically for any type of
reservoir.
Methods determining rock properties
Reservoir rock properties such as porosity and permeability are directly
or indirectly measured. The direct methods consists of measuring the
core sample taken from the parallel lithological area of the reservoir
rock to assess them while the indirect methods consist of using data
collection, well logs, seismic, production tests, etc., the porosity data
are used in the basic reservoir to evaluate volumetric calculation of
fluids in the reservoir and calculating fluid saturations and geologic
characterization of the reservoir.

Porosity logs response depending on the pattern of lithologies

 Capillary Pressure – Multi-phase fluid flows
Definition of capillary pressure:
The difference of pressure across the interface of two immiscible fluid phases.
Pc = Pnonwetting phase – Pwetting phase
In porous media, capillary pressure is the force necessary to squeeze a hydrocarbon
droplet through a pore throat (works against interfacial - between oil and water
tension) and is higher for smaller pore diameter.

The Brooks-Corey correlation for capillary pressure:

where c is the entry capillary pressure, 1/a is the pore-size distribution index and Sw
is the normalized water saturation.
Capillarity/capillary action:

• A phenomenon where liquid spontaneously rises in a narrow space

such as a thin tube, or in porous materials. This effect can cause liquids
to flow against the force of gravity. It occurs because of inter-molecular
attractive forces between the liquid and solid surrounding surfaces; If the
diameter of the tube is sufficiently small, then the combination of surface
tension and forces of adhesion between the liquid and container act to lift the
liquid.

• The height h of a liquid column is given by the Young–Laplace equation:

where:
g is the liquid-air surface tension (energy/area)
θ is the contact angle
ρ is the density of liquid (mass/volume)
g is acceleration due to gravity (length/time2)
r is radius of tube (length).

• The equation for capillary pressure is only valid under capillary equilibrium, which
means that there can not be any flowing phases.
• What if it is not air-water, but water-oil?
Capillary Pressure:

• the capillary pressure is spread over a larger surface for a wider tube →
Capillary pressure of a reservoir increases with decreasing pore throat
diameter.

➢Surface tension – produced by co-existence of two immiscible fluids.

Capillary pressure increases with increasing surface tension.

➢The influence on hydrocarbon migration.

➢The measurement of permeability (magnitude of displacement

pressure and amount of injection; size distribution of pore throat of
different populations; effective porosity).
If q is greater than 90°, the liquid will be depressed rather than lifted.

q
p

g
Wettability is a measure of the affinity of a rock surface for water or oil. A rock that is
water-wet will have a higher capillary pressure between water and oil. This will make it
more difficult to produce oil from the rock.
Easy for oil pushing away water Easy for water pushing away oil
Types of reservoir rocks
As a rock to be named a reservoir has to be a porous and permeable lithological structure. It
encompasses sedimentary rocks.

1. Sandstone reservoir rocks

The term sand refers to a specific grain with sizes between (62 µm - 2 mm). The performance of the
sandstone as a reservoir rock is described by its combination of porosity and permeability depending
on the degree to which the sand dominates its.
Sandstones are the most common reservoir rock type in Iraq. They are found in many of the major oil
fields in the country, including the Rumaila, West Qurna, and Kirkuk fields. The sandstones in Iraq
are typically of the Cretaceous, Jurassic, and Triassic age and are composed of well-sorted quartz
grains.

2. Carbonate reservoir rocks

The most fascinating aspects of carbonate reservoir rocks are their content. Carbonates are usually made
of fossils which “range from the very small single cell to the larger shelled animals”. Most carbonate
rocks are deposited at or in very close neighborhood to their site of creation.
The most productive carbonate reservoirs in Iraq are found in the Zubair and West Qurna fields. The
carbonates in Iraq are typically of the Jurassic and Cretaceous age and are composed of limestone and
dolomite.
3. Shale reservoir rocks
Shale rocks are commonly found in Iraq and can act as both source and reservoir rocks. They are
composed of fine-grained clay minerals and can hold significant amounts of oil and gas in their pore
spaces.
Shale formations in Iraq can also serve as source rocks for hydrocarbons, but they can also act as
reservoir rocks if they contain high levels of porosity and permeability. One notable shale formation
in Iraq is the Akkas Formation in the western part of the country, which is believed to contain
significant amounts of natural gas.

4. Conglomerates:
Conglomerate rocks are composed of a mixture of pebbles, sand, and other rocks. They can have high
porosity and permeability, making them potential reservoir rocks in some areas of Iraq.
The reservoirs rock in Iraq
Iraq has significant hydrocarbon resources and a diverse range of reservoir rock types, making it an
important player in the global oil and gas industry.

The Mesopotamian Basin contains several major formations that are important for oil and gas
production, including the Upper Jurassic Najmah and Sargelu Formations, the Lower Cretaceous
Mishrif Formation, and the Upper Cretaceous Tanuma and Zubair Formations.

The Mishrif Formation is a well-known carbonate reservoir rock that is located in the Middle East.

The Mishrif Formation is a major carbonate reservoir rock in Iraq, particularly in the southern part of
the country. It is composed mainly of limestone and dolomite, and it is characterized by its high
porosity and permeability, which make it an excellent reservoir rock for hydrocarbons.

The Mishrif Formation is typically found at depths ranging from 1,000 to 3,000 m, and it is known to
contain vast oil reserves. The reservoir rock's porosity and permeability are a result of its depositional
environment, which was dominated by shallow marine conditions during the Late Cretaceous
period.

The formation's sedimentary facies are composed of bioclastic and oolitic grainstones, wackestones,
and packstones, which all contribute to the rock's excellent reservoir properties.

The main producing formation in several major oil fields, including Rumaila, West Qurna, and Zubair
and Halfaya field .

The Mishrif Formation in the Halfaya field is composed of limestone and dolomite, and is
characterized by high porosity and permeability resulting in the development of secondary porosity
through processes such as fracturing and dissolution.