Relative Permeability

Definitions
• Absolute permeability – ability of the porous
media to transmit fluids
• Effective permeability – permeability of a
given phase when more than one phase is
present
• Relative permeability is the ratio of the
effective permeability for a particular fluid to
a reference or base permeability of the rock.
Applications of relative permeability
data:
• to model a particular process, for example,
fractional flow, fluid distributions, recovery
and predictions
• Determination of the free water surface;
i.e., the level of zero capillary pressure or
the level below which fluid production is
100% water.
• Determination of residual fluid saturations
Relative Permeability Curve
Hysteresis Effect on Rel. Perm.
100 Non-wetting Wetting
phase phase
Relative Permeability, %

80

Imbibition krnw krw

60 krnw Drainage

40

20 Irreducible wetting Residual non-wetting

phase saturation phase saturation
0
0 20 40 60 80 100

Wetting Phase Saturation, %PV

Hysteresis Effect on Rel. Perm.
• During drainage, the wetting phase ceases to flow at the
irreducible wetting phase saturation
– This determines the maximum possible non-wetting
phase saturation
– Common Examples:
• Petroleum accumulation (secondary migration)
• Formation of secondary gas cap
• During imbibition, the non-wetting phase becomes
discontinuous and ceases to flow when the non-wetting
phase saturation reaches the residual non-wetting phase
saturation
– This determines the minimum possible non-wetting
phase saturation displacement by the wetting phase
– Common Example: waterflooding water wet reservoir
 Review: Effective Permeability
Steady state, 1D, linear flow
ko A  o equation (Darcy units):
• Oil qo 
o L qn = volumetric flow rate for a
specific phase, n

k w A  w
• Water qw  A = flow area
w L n = flow potential drop for
phase, n (including pressure,
gravity and capillary pressure
k g A  g terms)
• Gas qg 
g L n = fluid viscosity for phase n

L = flow length

Modified from NExT, 1999; Amyx, Bass, and Whiting, 1960; PETE 311 NOTES
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Purpose: determination of
– two phase relative permeability functions
– irreducible wetting phase saturation (drainage)
– residual non-wetting phase saturation (imbibition)
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Process (oil/water, water wet case):
– simultaneously inject constant rates of oil and
water until steady state behavior is observed
• production will be constant at same oil and
water rates as injection
• pressure drop for each phase will be constant
– determine saturation of core sample
• usually by resistivity or weighing
• this is typically not the same as the injection
ratio
– change injection ratio and repeat
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions
– Stage 1: Preparation for
drainage
• core saturated with
wetting phase
• steady state injection of
wetting phase used to
determine absolute
permeability
– Stage 2: Irreducible wetting
phase
• inject non-wetting phase
until steady state,
measure saturation
– no wetting phase will
be produced at steady
state
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions (continued)
– Stage 3 (A-C): determination
of points on imbibition
relative permeability function
• steady state injection at
constant rates of wetting
and non-wetting phase
– Initially ratio qw/qnw is
small
• measure saturation and
phase pressure drops at
steady state
– saturation ratio will in
general, not be the
same as injection ratio
• repeat with increasing rate
ratio, qw/qnw
 Rel. Perm. - Steady State
• Imbibition Relative Permeability
Functions (continued)
– Stage 4: determination of
residual non-wetting phase
saturation
• inject wetting phase until
steady state behavior
observed
• measure saturation and
pressure drop
 Capillary End Effect
• During immiscible displacement
– In the bulk of the core plug
• Pc= f (Swet)
– At the outflow face
• Pc= 0  Swet=1
– There must be a gradient of saturation from the the
bulk of the core to the outflow face
• This saturation gradient is the “Capillary End
Effect”
 Capillary End Effect
• Comparison for low
flow rate
– Theoretical gradient
(dashed line)
– Experimental data
(circles)
– Saturation gradient
extends over half of
the length of the
core plug
 Capillary End Effect
• Comparison for higher
flow rate
– Theoretical gradient
(dashed line)
– Experimental data
(circles)
– At higher flow rate,
saturation gradient
extends over only 1/5
of the length of the
core plug
 Capillary End Effect
• Eliminating errors due to end effect in measurement of
relative permeability functions
– Measure saturation far enough away from outflow face
(e.g. Penn State Method)
– Use high flow rates to make error in measured
saturation negligible
Relative Permeability Stady-State
Measurment

Dispersed
Hafford
Method
Penn-State

Single
Simple Hassler
Dynamic
 STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY TEST EQUIPMENT
(HASSLER METHOD)
• Baik untuk
kondisi batuan
yang memiliki
kebasahan yang
tinggi dengan
salah satu fluida
• Sudah jarang
digunakan
 PENN STATE METHOD FOR
MEASURING STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
• Untuk
menghindari
capillary end
effect
HAFFORD’S METHOD FOR MEASURING
STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
Gas

Gas
pressure
Porous end plate gauge

Oil
pressure

Oil pressure pad

Gas meter Oil

Oil burette
 DISPERSED FEED METHOD FOR
MEASURING STEADY-STATE RELATIVE
PERMEABILITY
Gas meter Gas-pressure
gauge Gas
Lucite

Core
material

Dispersing
Lucite-mounted section
core
Oil
Oil burette
Dispersing
section face
Relative Permeability Unstady-
State Measurment
• Waktu yang dibutuhkan lebih cepat
• Hal yang perlu diperhatikan:
– Gradien tekanan harus tinggi
menghindari capillary-pressure end
effect
– Beda tekanan di dalam core kecil
dibandingkan dengan tekanannya
– Core sebaiknya homogeny
– Sifat fluida diusahakan konstan
 Saturation by Weighing
(Review)
• Determine mass of fluid
• Solve from Mass Balance
mfluid = moil + mwater
= Vp(1 - Sw)ro + VpSwrw
PENENTUAN PERMEABILITAS RELATIF MENGGUNAKAN KORELASI

Permeabilitas relatif sistem minyak-gas (psoses drainage):

a. Unconsolidated Sand, well sorted

kro  (S *)3 krg  (1  S *)3

b.Unconsolidated Sand, poorly sorted

kro  (S *)3.5 krg  (1  S *)2 (1  S *1.5 )

c. Cemented Sandstones, oolitic

limestones, rocks with vugular porosity

kro  (S *)4 krg  (1  S *)2 (1  S *2 )

Dimana:

S*  So /(1  S wi )
Penentuan Permeabilitas Relatif Menggunakan
Korelasi

Permeabilitas relatif sistem minyak-gas (proses drainage):

a. Unconsolidated Sand, well sorted

kro  (S *)3 krg  (1  S *)3

b. Unconsolidated Sand, poorly sorted

kro  (S *)3.5 krg  (1  S *)2 (1  S *1.5 )

c. Cemented Sandstones, oolitic limestones, rocks with vugular porosity

kro  (S *)4 krg  (1  S *)2 (1  S *2 )

Dimana:

S*  So /(1  Swi )
 Normalisasi Permeabilitas Relatif

1 1

0.8 0.8

0.6 0.6

0.4 0.4

0.2 0.2

0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35

0.8

0.6

0.4

0.2

0
0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3 0.35
Normalisasi Permeabilitas Relatif (Lanjutan)

Sistem Air – Minyak

S w  S wc k ro @ S w k rw @ S w
Sw*  k ro *  k rw * 
1  S wc  S or k ro @ S wc k rw @ S or

Sistem Gas – Minyak

krg @ S L
krg * 
krg @ Sor

S L  S wc k ro @ S L
SL *  k ro * 
1  S wc  S or k ro @ S wc

Sistem Gas – Air

S w  S wc k rg @ S w k rw @ S w
Sw*  k rg *  k rw * 
1  S wc  S gr k rg @ S wc k rw @ S gr
 Perhitungan Kurva Permeabilitas Relatif Tiga Fasa

 Kondisi fluida tiga fasa (minyak, gas dan air) dalam reservoir
bukanlah hal yang jarang terjadi selama proses produksi.

 Pengukuran secara langsung permeabilitas relatif tiga fasa di

laboratorium tidaklah mudah dan memerlukan jumlah
percobaan yang berlipat dibandingkan dengan mengukur
permeabilitas relatif dua fasa.

 Dua metode yang digunakan untuk menghitung permeabilitas

relatif tiga fasa adalah Normalized Stone’s Method I dan
Normalized Stone’s Method II.

 Metode ini mensyaratkan tersedianya dua set data

permeabilitas relatif air-minyak dan minyak-gas. Sistem
dianggap water-wet (akan tetapi dapat juga dipakai untuk oil-
wet), minyak dianggap sebagai intermediate wetting phase, dan
gas dianggap sebagai least wetting phase.
 Perhitungan Kurva Permeabilitas Relatif Tiga Fasa

 Pemilihan kurva relatif dua fasa yang digunakan

dalam perhitungan kurva permeabilitas tiga fasa
adalah: jika saturasi minyak berkurang, gunakan kurva
imbibisi untuk air-minyak dan kurva drainage untuk
minyak-gas. Sedangkan jika saturasi air berkurang,
gunakan kurva drainage untuk air-minyak dan minyak-
gas.

 Berdasarkan asumsi di atas, maka permeabilitas

relatif air dan permeabilitas relatif gas tiga fasa sama
dengan pada kondisi dua fasa, yaitu:

k rw ( S w , S g )  k rw ( S w )

k rg ( S w , S g )  k rg ( S g )
 Sedangkan permeabilitas relatif minyak pada kondisi
tiga fasa adalah:
Normalized Stone’s Method I

S o*k rowk rog

k ro ( S w , S g ) 
(1  S w* )(1  S g* )
S o  S om
S o* 
1  S wc  S om

S w  S wc
S w* 
1  S wc  S om

Sg
S g* 
1  S wc  S om

S om  S orw  (1   ) S org

Sg
  1
1  S wc  S org

Normalized Stone’s Method II

 k  k rog
k ro ( S w , S g )  k rocw  row  k rw 


 k rg   k rw  k rg 
 k rocw  k rocw  
Contoh Soal
Dari hasil pengukuran permeabilitas relatif sistem air-minyak dan minyak-
gas diperoleh data berikut ini. Hitung permeabilitas relatif minyak sistem
tiga fasa jika Sw = 0.4 dan Sg = 0.2 menggunakan metode Stone I dan
Stone II. S k k S k k
w row rw g rog rg

0.3 1 0 0.00E+00 1.00E+00 0.00E+00

0.33 0.85845 0.01139 3.50E-02 7.64E-01 5.90E-06
0.36 0.7318 0.02138 7.00E-02 5.76E-01 7.04E-04
0.39 0.61916 0.03037 1.05E-01 4.29E-01 3.46E-03
0.42 0.51967 0.03873 1.40E-01 3.15E-01 9.26E-03
0.45 0.43243 0.04685 1.75E-01 2.28E-01 1.87E-02
0.48 0.35657 0.05512 2.10E-01 1.62E-01 3.23E-02
0.51 0.29122 0.06391 2.45E-01 1.13E-01 5.02E-02
0.54 0.23549 0.07362 2.80E-01 7.67E-02 7.24E-02
0.57 0.1885 0.08462 3.15E-01 5.10E-02 9.89E-02
0.6 0.14938 0.0973 3.50E-01 3.29E-02 1.30E-01
0.63 0.11725 0.11204 3.85E-01 2.06E-02 1.64E-01
0.66 0.09123 0.12923 4.20E-01 1.24E-02 2.02E-01
0.69 0.07044 0.14925 4.55E-01 7.15E-03 2.44E-01
0.72 0.054 0.17248 4.90E-01 3.91E-03 2.90E-01
0.75 0.04103 0.19931 5.25E-01 2.01E-03 3.38E-01
0.78 0.03066 0.23013 5.60E-01 9.51E-04 3.90E-01
0.81 0.02201 0.26531 5.95E-01 4.08E-04 4.45E-01
0.84 0.01419 0.30524 6.30E-01 1.54E-04 5.03E-01
0.87 0.00633 0.3503 6.65E-01 4.85E-05 5.64E-01
0.9 0 0.40088 7.00E-01 0 6.28E-01
 Jawab
Metode Stone I

Sg 0.2
  1  1  0.714286
1  Swc  Sorg 1  0.3  0

Som  Sorw  (1   ) Sorg

 0.714286(0.1)  (1 - 0.714286)(0)
 0.0714286
So  Som 0.4  0.0714286
So*    0.522727
1  S wc  Som 1  0.3  0.0714286

S w  S wc 0.4  0.3
S w*    0.159091
1  S wc  Som 1  0.3  0.0714286

Sg 0.2
S g*    0.318182
1  S wc  Som 1  0.3  0.0714286

So*k rowk rog

k ro ( S w , S g ) 
(1  S w* )(1  S g* )
0.522727(0.585999)(0.180571)

(1  0.159091)(1  0.318182)
 0.096472
 Metode Stone II

krocw  1

krog ( S g  0.2)  0.180571

krow (Sw  0.4)  0.585999
krw (Sw  0.4)  0.033153

krg ( S g  0.2)  0.028453

 k  k rog
k ro ( S w , S g )  k rocw  row  k rw 


 k rg   k rw  k rg 
 k rocw  k rocw  
 0.585999  0.180571 
    
 1 
0.033153 0.028453
 1  1 
 0.033153  0.028453 
 0.067812