Use of Correlation for the Calculation of

Petro physical Properties with the help

of Computer
PETRO PHYSICS
Petro physics is the study of the physical and chemical properties of rocks and their contained FLUIDS.

ROLE OF PETRO PHYSICIST

Petro physics emphasizes those properties relating to the pore system and its fluid distribution and flow
characteristics. These properties and their relationships are used to identify and evaluate:

 Hydrocarbon reservoirs
 Hydrocarbon sources
 Seals
 Aquifers

The petro physicist or petro physical engineer practices the science of petro physics as a member of the
reservoir management team. The petro physicist provides answers on products needed and used by team
members, as well as physical and chemical insights needed by other teammates.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOLS

The choices of tools for the evaluation program are usually made by the reservoir management team
with recommendations from the petro physicist. Cost and accuracy are usually highly correlated; thus,
the team’s choices quickly become one of finding the maximum allowable risk for the minimum cost
(time and money) of the evaluation.

PETRO PHYSICAL PROPERTY DETERMINATION

In applying petro physical techniques it is valuable to remember:

Lithology is determined by geologists working with cores and rock cuttings. This information can be
combined with log characteristics to identify depositional environments and characterize how these
change vertically and really throughout the reservoir.

The clay minerals present in the shale’s and the sandstone intervals, both as detrital and authigenic
components must be identified and quantified so that their effects on the logs and routine-core-analysis
data can be adequately understood. Radioactive components present in the reservoir rocks must be
identified and quantified so that the clay-mineral volumes derived from the GR log are not overstated.

Net pay calculations determine how much of the reservoir interval contributes to the technical
calculations of in-place hydrocarbon volumes and fluid flow. With modern reservoir engineering tools, it
is possible to set N/G to 1.0 and work the various engineering calculations from that basis. If some
portion of the reservoir interval is to be excluded as nonpay, the choice of cutoff should be based on flow
considerations with a systematic and consistent approach. Whatever nonpay cutoff is used, that cutoff
will be somewhat arbitrary.

Porosity can be computed from a variety of well logs (density, sonic, or neutron) in combination with
routine-core data adjusted to reservoir conditions. In sandstones in which the mineralogy and the hole
conditions permit, foot-by-foot porosity calculations from the density log, calibrated to core, are likely to
be the most accurate. Correct fluid values are an integral part of the log evaluation. Porosity needs to be
calculated accurately because, as well as its primary use, these values are also required for Sw and
permeability estimates used directly in the volumetric and flow calculations. Minerals that affect the
porosity calculations, such as clay and heavy minerals, need to be identified as part of the Lithology
determination.

Water saturation can be computed by a number of independent methods using routine-core-analysis oil-
based mud (OBM)-core Dean-Stark Sw data, special-core-analysis (SCAL) capillary pressure data,
resistivity logs used in combination with SCAL rock electrical-property measurements, or some
combination of these three datasets. Adjusted OBM-core Dean-Stark S w data are likely to be the most
accurate method. Integrated use of these various technical approaches will result in the most accurate
Sw solution overall. The relevant uncertainty here is not in Sw itself; it is the uncertainty in the
complement, the hydrocarbon saturation (1 − Sw), that is important.

In the water-saturation calculation using resistivity logs, the connate-brine salinity and its resistivity, Rw,
can vary within the hydrocarbon column, but the extent of this variation is often not measured. Also, the
rock electrical properties may be a function of Sw. In most conventional Sw calculations using well logs,
these are both assumed to be constant, and those assumptions can lead to significant errors in the
calculated Sw values. The Sw calculations from the resistivity logs and the various Archie parameters can
be partially checked in aquifer intervals where Sw is known to be 100% PV.

In the Sw calculation using Pc measurements, the laboratory tests are measurements of fluid volumes
associated with cleaned and restored core plugs. For application, the reservoir values of the interfacial-
tension (IFT), contact angle, and the wetting state of the reservoir generally must be estimated, along
with several other factors. Pc laboratory tests do not always achieve the equilibrium water saturation, or
the same water distribution within the pore network as is present in the real reservoir. Permeability is
typically calculated from porosity logs through a permeability/porosity transform. Permeability values
need to be adjusted to reservoir conditions. This adjustment is nonlinear, with poor-quality rocks having
larger adjustments compared with those applied to high-quality rocks. Also, the calculated permeabilities
at the wells should be compared with those obtained from pressure-buildup (PBU) analysis of flow tests.
The statistical correlation and calibration of core and log data requires that these data are properly depth
aligned, have outliers deleted, and, if required, are mathematically transformed. A variety of line-fitting
techniques are available, but the "y-on-x" approach generally results in the most accurate predictor,
except in highly variable, heterogeneous rocks.

In any reservoir with a thick hydrocarbon column and large areal extent, more accurate-petrophysical
calculations are made if the reservoir is vertically zoned or layered. Different parameters for different
areas of the reservoir may also be required for the most accurate solution.

We have to identify the petro physical properties correlation calculations with the help of computer in
deformed sandstones, and demonstrated variations in microstructure and properties across and along
 the deformation bands. Our results show that properties outside the deformation bands (in the host
rock) differ significantly from those inside the band (up to three orders of magnitude). Moreover
permeability varies by up to two orders of magnitude along a single band. Furthermore, our porosity and
permeability estimates are lower than those obtained from plug measurements. While plug
measurements measure the effective permeability across a 2.54 cm (inch) long sample, the method
demonstrated here provides a means to estimate porosity and permeability on the micro scale, and to
map out the variations in these properties both along and across deformation bands and similar
structures. In the present study, we show how deformation bands induce anisotropy (both across and
along the band) to sandstone at the micro scale and for the first time apply the concept of a natural
anisotropic and heterogeneous medium.

Rocks are usually considered as composite materials composed of at least two phases; solids and pores.
The properties of composite materials depend on the properties, amount and spatial distribution of each
phase. Some properties, such as the elastic modulus and permeability, are functions of pore phase
microstructure. The statistical distribution of the relative locations of the micro structural features of
interest characterizes their spatial arrangement.

SATURATION CORRELATIONS:
N-point correlation functions are important statistical descriptors that are useful for characterizing the
spatial arrangement and heterogeneity of micro structural geometry

Equation (1) describes the volume average over the spatial positions of r. N-point correlation functions
contain statistical information about the arrangement of the constituents in a composite material by
measuring the probability of certain simple geometrical arrangements of the constituents.

The basic information on volume composition and interfacial surface area is contained in the lowest-
order correlation. The one-point (S1) and two-point (S2) pore-pore correlation functions are given by

Two properties of the two-point correlation function can be derived from equations (4) and (5):

S2 (r) has a characteristic asymptotic behavior .Grain and pore phases of deformed sandstone occupy
different spatial positions. In such a two-phase (grain-pore) system of volume v each phase occupies a
sub volume vg (for grains) and sub volume vp (for pores), and a characteristic or indicator function can be
defined as follows:
POROSITY CORRELATIONS:
The pore one-point correlation function, S1, gives information about the volume fraction of
the two phases represented by an image consisting of M by N pixel]

The pore-pore two-point correlation function, S2(x, y), describes the probability that two points with a
specified distance apart (a line) are both in pore phase. It is defined by

We assume that the system is translationally invariant so only the difference between the two pixels is
important, not their absolute positions. Furthermore, S2(x, y) can be calculated using Fourier transform
methods. We have used the following equation [to calculate the two-point correlation function:

The equation shows the two-point correlation function for an M × N matrix (for example a 2D image of
faulted sandstone) in a Cartesian coordinate system.

PERMEABILITY AND KOZENY-CARMAN CORRELATION

In order to estimate permeability we use a modified version of the Kozeny-Carman relation developed
here, pores in porous media are considered to be tabular. We then have that

Where ϕ is the porosity, c is a constant related to pore geometry that is equal to 2 for materials
possessing pores of circular cross-section, and F is the formation factor and has an exponential
relationship with porosity

Furthermore, s is the specific surface area of the tubes. Archie [1942] defined an empirical relationship
between electrical properties and formation factor for rocks. Later Wyllie [1953] developed the
relationship between formation factor and other properties of rocks, such as porosity. In this relation the
exponent m is a cementation factor and it varies between 1.5 for poorly consolidated sandstones and 2
for well consolidated sandstones The computed porosities and specific surface areas from spatial
correlation functions are used to calculate permeability.