Special types of fluid saturations

Connate (interstitial) water saturation, Swc

Critical oil saturation, Soc
Residual oil saturation, Sor
Movable oil saturation, Som
Critical gas saturation, Sgc
Critical water saturation, Swc

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 Connate (interstitial) water saturation, Swc
The terms irreducible water saturation, connate water
saturation, and critical water saturation, generally denoted by Swi
(or Siw), are extensively used interchangeably to define the water
saturation at which the water phase remains immobile.

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 Critical oil saturation, Soc
For the oil phase to flow, the saturation of the oil must exceed a
certain value, which is termed critical oil saturation. At this
particular saturation, the oil remains in the pores and, for all
practical purposes, will not flow.

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 Residual oil saturation, Sor
During the displacing process of the crude oil system from the
porous media by water or gas injection, there will be some
remaining oil left that is quantitatively characterized by a
saturation value that is larger than the critical oil saturation. This
saturation value is called the residual oil saturation, Sor. The term
residual saturation is usually associated with the nonwetting
phase when it is being displaced by a wetting phase.

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 Movable oil saturation, Som
Movable oil saturation Som is another saturation of interest and is
defined as the fraction of pore volume occupied by movable oil as
expressed by the following equation:
Som = 1 Swc Soc

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 Critical gas saturation, Sgc
As the reservoir pressure declines below the bubble-point
pressure, gas evolves from the oil phase and consequently the
saturation of the gas increases as the reservoir pressure declines.
The gas phase remains immobile until its saturation exceeds a
certain saturation, called critical gas saturation, above which gas
begins to move.

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 Critical water saturation, Swc
The critical water saturation, connate water saturation, and
irreducible water saturation are extensively used
interchangeably to define the maximum water saturation at which
the water phase will remain immobile.

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 Rock Wettability
Rock wettability is the tendency of
either the water phase or the oil
phase to preferentially maintain
contact with the rock surface in a
multiphase fluid system.
The most common method of
determining rock wettability is by
measurement of the contact angle,
θ between the rock surface and the
fluid system.
The rock surface is considered to be
water-wet when θ < 90o and oil-wet
when θ > 90o

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 Surface and interfacial tension
In dealing with multiphase systems, it is necessary to consider
the effect of the forces at the interface when two immiscible
fluids are in contact. When these two fluids are liquid and gas,
the term surface tension is used to describe the forces acting on
the interface. When the interface is between two liquids, the
acting forces are called interfacial tension.

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 Surface and interfacial tension
Surface tension
rh w g
 gw 
2 cos 
Interfacial tension
rhg   w  o 
 ow 
2 cos 

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 Capillary Pressure
Capillary pressure, pc is commonly defined as the difference in
the pressure of the non-wetting phase and the pressure of the
wetting phase. This is represented as:
pc = pnw – pw
pnw = pressure in the non-wetting phase;
pw = pressure in the wetting phase.

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 Capillary Pressure
For a water-wet rock in an oil/water system, the capillary
pressure derived from Eq. is:
pc = po - pw
Similarly, for an oil-wet rock in an oil/water system, the capillary
pressure is:
pc = pw - po
By convention, the capillary pressure in a water-wet rock is
designated as positive. Hence, capillary pressure in an oil-wet rock
is designated as negative.

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 Capillary Pressure
Gas-liquid system
2 gw  cos   2 gw  cos  
pc  h
r rg   w   g 
where σgw = gas-water surface tension, dynes/cm
Oil-water system
2 ow  cos   2 ow  cos  
pc  h
r rg   w  o 
where σow is the water-oil interfacial tension, dynes/cm.
g = acceleration due to gravity, cm/sec2 (980.7)
ρw = water density, gm/cm3
r = capillary radius, cm
h = capillary rise, cm
pc = capillary pressure, dynes/cm2

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 Example
Calculate capillary pressure and capillary rise in an oil-water
system from the following data:
θ = 30°
ρw = 1.0 gm/cm3
ρo = 0.75 gm/cm3
r = 10 4 cm
σow = 25 dynes/cm
g = 980.7 cm/sec2

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 Capillary Pressure
The phenomenon of capillarity in reservoirs can be discussed in
terms of capillary pressure as measured in capillary tubes. For a
capillary tube, capillary pressure is determined as:
2  cos  
pc 
r
pc = capillary pressure, dynes/cm2;
σ = the interfacial tension between the two immiscible phases,
dynes/cm;
θ = contact angle, degrees; and
r = radius of the capillary tube, cm.

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 Capillary Pressure
Laboratory experiments have been developed to simulate the
displacing forces in a reservoir in order to determine the
magnitude of the capillary forces in a reservoir and, thereby,
determine the fluid saturation distributions and connate water
saturation.

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 Capillary Pressure
One such experiment is called
the restored capillary
pressure technique, which
was developed primarily to
determine the magnitude of
the connate water saturation.
A diagrammatic sketch of this
equipment is shown in Figure
4-4.

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 Capillary Pressure
One such experiment is called
the restored capillary
pressure technique, which
was developed primarily to
determine the magnitude of
the connate water saturation.
A diagrammatic sketch of this
equipment is shown in Figure
4-4.

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 Capillary Pressure
Procedure: this procedure
consists of saturating a core
100% with the reservoir
water
 Placing the core on a
porous membrane, which
is saturated 100% with
water and is permeable to
the water only, under the
pressure drops imposed
during the experiment.

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 Capillary Pressure
Procedure:
 Air is then admitted into
the core chamber and the
pressure is increased until
a small amount of water is
displaced through the
porous, semi-permeable
membrane into the
graduated cylinder.

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 Capillary Pressure
Procedure:
 Pressure is held constant
until no more water is
displaced, which may
require several days or even
several weeks, after which
the core is removed from
the apparatus and the
water saturation is
determined by weighing.

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 Capillary Pressure
Procedure:
 The core is then replaced in
the apparatus, the pressure
is increased, and the
procedure is repeated until
the water saturation is
reduced to a minimum.

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 Capillary Pressure
The data from such an
experiment are shown in
Figure 4-5.
Two important phenomena
can be observed in Figure
4-5.

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 Capillary Pressure
First, there is a finite
capillary pressure at 100%
water saturation that is
necessary to force the
nonwetting phase into a
capillary filled with the
wetting phase. This
minimum capillary pressure
is known as the
displacement pressure, pd.

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 Capillary Pressure
If the largest capillary opening is considered as circular with a
radius of r, the pressure needed for forcing the nonwetting fluid
out of the core is:
2  cos  
pc 
r
This is the minimum pressure that is required to displace the
wetting phase from the largest capillary pore because any
capillary of smaller radius will require a higher pressure.

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 Capillary Pressure
As the wetting phase is
displaced, the second
phenomenon of any
immiscible displacement
process is encountered,
that is, the reaching of
some finite minimum
irreducible saturation.
This irreducible water
saturation is referred to
as connate water.

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 Capillary Pressure
Figure 4-6 is an example
of typical oil-water
capillary pressure curves.
In this case, capillary
pressure is plotted versus
water saturation for four
rock samples with
permeabilities increasing
from k1 to k4.

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 Capillary Pressure
It can be seen that, for
decreases in permeability,
there are corresponding
increases in capillary
pressure at a constant
value of water saturation.

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 Capillary Hysteresis
Pore spaces of reservoir rocks were originally filled with water,
after which oil moved into the reservoir, displacing some of the
water and reducing the water to some residual saturation.
When discovered, the reservoir pore spaces are filled with a
connate water saturation and an oil saturation.
All laboratory experiments are designed to duplicate the
saturation history of the reservoir.

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 Capillary Hysteresis
The process of generating the capillary pressure curve by
displacing the wetting phase, i.e., water, with the nonwetting phase
(such as with gas or oil), is called the drainage process.
The process of generating the capillary pressure curve by
displacing the nonwetting phase (such as with oil) with the
wetting phase (e.g., water), is called the imbibition process.

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 Capillary Hysteresis
The process of saturating and
desaturating a core with the
nonwetting phase is called
capillary hysteresis.
Figure 4-7 shows typical
drainage and imbibition
capillary pressure curves. The
two capillary pressure-
saturation curves are not the
same.

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 Initial Saturation Distribution in a Reservoir
The height h above the freewater level.
144 pc
h

h = height above the free-water level
pc = capillary pressure
Δρ = density difference

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 Example
The capillary pressure
curves for a sandstone
reservoir are shown in the
Fig. Estimate the height, in
feet above the free water
table, where Sw drops below
100% and where it is equal
to 45%. Oil and water
densities are 50 and 65
lb/ft3, respectively.

Sw %

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 Leverett J-Function
Capillary pressure data from various core samples can be
correlated with the J-function. The J-function is represented as:
0.217 pc k
J (Sw ) 
 cos  
J(Sw) = dimensionless function dependent on saturation of the
wetting phase;
pc = capillary pressure, psi;
σ = interfacial tension, dynes/cm;
θ = contact angle, degrees;
k = rock permeability, md; and
ϕ = porosity, fraction

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 Example
Calculation of the Leverett J Function.
The set of four oil/water capillary pressure curves shown in
Table 2.5 was measured for four cores from the same reservoir.
The oil/water interfacial tension and angle of wettability are σ =
72 dynes/cm and ϕ = 45°, respectively. Calculate and plot the J-
function curve.

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 Example

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