Porosity

C.D. Adenutsi, Ph.D.

Department of Petroleum Engineering, KNUST
Office: Petroleum Building, PB 318
February, 2022
Introduction
• Porosity is the ratio of the pore volume (or
void space) in a reservoir rock to the total
volume (bulk volume).

• Porosity of a rock is a measure of the

storage capacity (pore volume) that is
capable of holding fluids. Porosity is
expressed as a percentage or fraction.

• The porosity of a rock is given by Fig. 1: Conceptual Representation of a Pore Space

2
Introduction
• Equation 1 can be expressed in terms of
grain volume as:

• Therefore, adding the pore volume and the

grain volume gives the bulk volume.

Fig. 1: Conceptual Representation of a Pore Space

3
 Types of Pores
• Deposition of sediments in past
geological times gives rise to three
different types of pores or void spaces.

1. Interconnected pores
2. Dead-end pores
3. Isolated or closed pores

Fig. 2: Conceptual Representation of Different

Types of Pores in a Reservoir Rock

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 Types of Pores
• Interconnected pores: pores are
interconnected with other void spaces,
forming a network.

• Dead-end or cul-de-sac pores: pores are

connected with other void spaces but
with a dead end.

• Isolated or closed pores: pores are

completely isolated or closed from Fig. 2: Conceptual Representation of Different
Types of Pores in a Reservoir Rock
other void spaces because of
cementation.
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Types of Porosity
Total or Absolute Porosity
• This is the ratio of the total pore space in the rock to that of the bulk
volume.

• The absolute porosity is given by

• The total pore volume is the sum of volume of interconnected pore

spaces, volume of dead-end pores and volume of isolated pores
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Types of Porosity

• Therefore, a reservoir rock may have a very high total porosity and
no conductivity to fluids residing in the pores due to the lack of
interconnectivity.

• As a result, petroleum reservoir fluids may remain trapped inside

the isolated pore spaces and hence immobile or unrecoverable

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Types of Porosity
Effective Porosity
• This is the ratio of the volume of interconnected pores and the dead-
end pores to the total or bulk volume.

• Effective porosity is significant as it is used in all calculations.

• It represents the pore space that is occupied by mobile recoverable

hydrocarbon fluids.

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Types of Porosity
• The effective porosity is given by

• From a reservoir engineering standpoint, effective porosity is

significant as it is used in all calculations because it represents the
pore space that is occupied by mobile recoverable hydrocarbon
fluids

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Types of Porosity
Ineffective Porosity
• This is the ratio of the volume of isolated or completely
disconnected pores to the total or bulk volume.

• The ineffective porosity is given by

• The closed or isolated or completely disconnected pores are

ineffective in producing any petroleum reservoir fluids due to their
isolation.
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Types of Porosity

• Generally, for poorly or moderately well-cemented material, the

total porosity is approximately equal to the effective porosity;

• However, for highly cemented material, significant differences

between the total and effective porosity can occur, as high degree of
cementation may completely isolate or disconnect some pores

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 Classification of Porosity
• Geological Classification
• In terms of geological classification,
porosity is classified into two subdivisions:
primary (original) and secondary
(induced).

• Primary porosity is the original porosity

that develops during the deposition of the
material.

Fig. 3: Schematic showing the difference

between intergranular and intragranular porosities

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 Classification of Porosity
• Primary porosity can be either
intergranular or intragranular

• Intergranular porosity is the porosity

between grains, while intragranular
porosity is the porosity within the grain
itself. Intergranular porosity forms the
majority of the porosity of the rock

Fig. 3: Schematic showing the difference

between intergranular and intragranular porosities

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Classification of Porosity

• Secondary (induced) porosity is developed after deposition by

geological processes.

• Secondary porosity is the result of geological processes (diagenesis and

catagenesis) after the deposition of sediment.

• A common example of induced porosity is the development of

fractures or vugs commonly found in limestones (carbonates)
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Classification of Porosity
• Engineering Classification

• In terms of engineering classification,

porosity can be subdivided into two
categories: total and effective.

Fig.4: Schematic showing the difference between porosity

subdivisions: total, effective, and ineffective

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Parameters That Influence Porosity
• Porosity is affected by:
• 1. Packing
• 2. Cementation
• 3. Sorting
• 4. Compaction

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Parameters That Influence Porosity
Grain Packing
• This describes the arrangement of the sand grains relative to one
another.

• Packing refers to the spacing or density patterns of grains in a

sedimentary rock and is a function mainly of grain size, grain shape,
and the degree of compaction of the sediment.

• It has been shown that cubic, or wide-packed system, has a porosity

of 47.6% and the rhombohedral, or close-packed system, has a
porosity of 25.9%.
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Parameters That Influence Porosity

Fig. 5: Effect of Packing on Porosity of Uniform Spheres 18

Parameters That Influence Porosity
Sorting
• Well sorted sandstone consists of grains having approximately the
same size.

• Poorly sorted sandstone consists of grains having a wide range of

different grain sizes.

• Poor sorting reduces the porosity of the sandstone in which the

small grains fit into the pores created by the large grains, thereby
reducing the porosity

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 Parameters That Influence Porosity
• Well Sorted Rock— Grains are generally
of the same size and shape.
•
• If the grains are well rounded and of
similar size, then they will not fit well
together, thereby leaving a large
amount of pore space between the
grains.

• Porosity in a well sorted rock is

generally high. Fig. 6 Well sorted grains

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 Parameters That Influence Porosity
• Poorly Sorted Rock— Rock that is
composed of a wide variety of grain
sizes and shapes.

• Porosity can be reduced considerably

because smaller or irregularly shaped
grains can be inserted in between the
larger grains, thereby reducing the
amount of pore space.

Fig. 6 Poorly sorted grains

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 Parameters That Influence Porosity
• Poorly Sorted Rock— Rock that is
composed of a wide variety of grain
sizes and shapes.

• Porosity can be reduced considerably

because smaller or irregularly shaped
grains can be inserted in between the
larger grains, thereby reducing the
amount of pore space.

Fig. 7 Poorly sorted grains

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 Parameters That Influence Porosity
• Cementation
• Cementation is the crystallization or
precipitation of soluble minerals in
the pore spaces between clastic
particles.

• The process of lithification (the

conversion of unconsolidated deposits
into solid rock) is completed by
cementation.
Fig. 8 Effect of cementation on porosity

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 Parameters That Influence Porosity
• Common cementing agents include
calcite (), silica (), and iron oxide ().

• Minerals in solution crystallize out of

solution to coat grains and may
eventually fill the pore spaces
completely.

• Porosity and permeability can be

reduced significantly due to Fig. 8 Effect of cementation on porosity
cementation.
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 Parameters That Influence Porosity
• Compaction
• The weight of the overlying sediments
squeezes the particles together into
the tightest arrangement possible.
• The load pressure also squeezes out
the water that occupies the pore
spaces between the particles, thus
reducing the bulk volume of the
formation.
• Compaction affects porosity and
permeability by reducing the amount Fig. 9 Effect of compaction on porosity

of interconnected pore space.

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Laboratory Measurement of Porosity

• The porosity of reservoir rocks can be determined essentially by two

different methods.

1. Routine core analysis (laboratory measurements on core plugs drilled

from whole core samples).
2. Well logging techniques.

• Between these two methods, routine core analysis is probably the

most common method used in the determination of porosity of
reservoir rocks.

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Laboratory Measurement of Porosity

• Porosity determination using routine core analysis includes bulk

volume measurement, pore volume measurement and grain volume
measurement.

• A given reservoir rock sample basically comprises three different

volumes:
1. Bulk volume (BV)
2. Pore volume (PV)
3. Grain volume (GV)

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Bulk Volume Measurement
• The bulk volume of rock is given by:

Bulk volume of the core can be measured using:

1. Direct measurement
2. Archimedes Principle

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 Bulk Volume Measurement
Direct Measurement
• The most common types of samples used in the
routine core analysis are cylindrical core plugs.
• The dimensions can be measured with a caliper,
from which the bulk volume can be calculated as
follows:

L = length of core sample; D = diameter of the core

sample
• This method works well for perfectly cylindrical Fig. 10: Bulk volume determination using
direct measurement
samples 29
Bulk Volume Measurement
Archimedes Principle
• In the case of chipped samples or
slight geometric irregularities, a
procedure that utilizes the
observation of the volume of fluid
displaced by the sample is employed
(Archimedes principle).

• The fluid displaced by a sample is Fig. 11: Schematic Representation of the Archimedes Principle
generally obtained gravimetrically.

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 Bulk Volume Measurement
• This procedure has obvious advantages
because the BV of irregular-shaped
samples as well as geometrically well-
defined can be determined with the
same accuracy and speed.

• However, it is very important to

prevent the penetration of the fluid
used in observing the displacement into Fig. 11: Schematic Representation of the Archimedes Principle
the pore space of the rock specimen
because this affects the BV
measurement.
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 Bulk Volume Measurement
• This can be accomplished by either
coating the sample with paraffin wax
or presaturating the sample with the
same fluid used for observing the
displacement.

Fig. 11: Schematic Representation of the Archimedes Principle

32
 Bulk Volume Measurement

Wdry = Weight of dry core sample;

Wsat = Weight of saturated core
sample; Wsub = Weight of saturated Fig. 16: Schematic Representation of
sample when submerged in fluid; the Archimedes Principle
= Density of fluid

33
Pore Volume Measurement
• All methods used for determining pore volume are based on either
extraction of a fluid from the rock sample or reintroduction of a fluid
in the pore spaces of the rock sample.

• It is noteworthy that all methods measuring pore volume yield

effective porosity simply because the fluid either extracted from the
pore spaces of the rock sample or introduced into the pore spaces of
the rock sample will always be from interconnected and dead-end
pores.

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Pore Volume Measurement
• In the extraction methods, the rock sample (in most cases saturated
with native or original reservoir fluids) is subjected to an extraction
procedure that uses suitable solvents to recover the fluids contained
in the pore spaces.

• The total volume of the extracted fluids is determined and that in

itself theoretically represents the pore volume.

• This particular technique is part or basis of the fluid saturation

determination of as-received core plug samples.

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Pore Volume Measurement
• When introducing fluids into the pore spaces of the rock sample, a
number of methods are used for the determination of pore volume of
reservoir rocks.

• These methods typically use three different types of fluids:

1. Helium
2. Water or synthetic oil
3. Mercury

36
Pore Volume Measurement
• The porosity measured is, however, effective porosity because the
saturating fluids only penetrate the interconnected and dead-end
pore spaces.

• Although mercury has some distinct advantages, its use in laboratory

testing is accompanied with the associated health hazards and,
additionally, the rock sample is rendered unusable.

37
Pore Volume Measurement
Helium Porosimeter
• The use of helium in the determination of porosity has certain
obvious advantages over other gases and liquids.

1. Helium is a clean inert gas and does not cause any unwanted rock–
fluid interactions that may affect/change the original porosity.
2. Molecules are small and can rapidly penetrate the small pores.
3. It can be considered an ideal gas for pressures and temperatures
usually employed in the procedure.
4. Additionally, porosity measurements can be completed in a short
amount of time.
38
Pore Volume Measurement
• The use of helium in desktop-type porosimeters, commonly available
in the market, is by far the most common technique for measuring
porosities of plug size core samples.

• All helium porosimeters actually employ the principles of Boyle’s

law.

P = Pressure; V = Volume

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 Pore Volume Measurement
• In principle, the apparatus consists of
two equal-volume chambers or cells
called the reference chamber and the
sample chamber.

• The reference chamber has a volume

at initial pressure (usually 100 psig).
s

• The sample chamber has an unknown

volume and initial pressure (normally
atmospheric). Fig. 20: Schematic Illustration of a Helium Porosimeter

40
 Pore Volume Measurement
• The system is then brought to equilibrium
by opening the valve to the sample
chamber, allowing the determination of the
unknown volume by noting the resultant
equilibrium pressure .

• The application of Boyle’s law allows the

equalization of pressures (for isothermal
conditions) before and after the opening of
the valve to the sample chamber, as per the
Fig. 20: Schematic Illustration of a Helium Porosimeter
following equation:

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Pore Volume Measurement
• Rearranging, the unknown volume, is given by

• The unknown volume, can also be expressed as:

• Porosity can then be calculated as:

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Pore Volume Measurement
Vacuum Saturation
• The sample is weighed prior to the vacuum saturation process and
the weight called dry weight.

• The method uses a large enough vacuum flask, filled with a degassed
liquid, normally water, in which dry rock samples are placed.

• Subsequently, as soon as the evacuation of the vacuum flask is

initiated, air bubbles are seen in the saturating liquid as it replaces air
from the pore spaces of the rock samples.

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Pore Volume Measurement
• The disappearance of the air bubbles gives an indication that the
saturation is complete and at this point the evacuation is terminated.
• After the vacuum saturation, the wet weight of the sample is
measured.

• The porosity is calculated as follows:

WW = Wet weight of the sample, after vacuum saturation; DW = Dry

weight of the sample, before vacuum saturation; w = Density of
saturating fluid (water)
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Grain Volume Measurement
• All methods measuring grain volume usually yield total or absolute
porosity, simply because the rock samples are normally crushed for
grain volume measurements which actually destroy all pores, thus
resulting in total porosity as grain volume is subtracted from the bulk
volume.

• Although only the effective pore space has direct application in most
reservoir engineering calculations, knowledge of the magnitude and
distribution of the isolated pore spaces can reveal other
characteristics of reservoir rocks.

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Grain Volume Measurement
Direct Measurement
• Grain volume of rock samples is sometimes calculated from dry
sample weight and knowledge of average density.

• Using the average density, the grain volume is given by

• However, formations of varying lithology and grain density limit the

applicability of this method.

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Grain Volume Measurement
• Inference from Helium Porosimetry
• The Boyle’s law technique for pore volume measurement can also be
construed as a method that determines the grain volume.

• This is clear from Equations (12) and (13). Recalling the equations:

47
Grain Volume Measurement
• The volume, , occupied by helium in the sample chamber is equal to
the difference between the overall chamber volume and the volume
of solids in the chamber.

• This is because both reference and sample chambers have equal

volume and the volume of solids in the sample chamber.

• This particular volume of solids in the sample chamber is nothing but

the grain volume, which allows Equation (13) to eventually permit
the determination of porosity.

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Grain Volume Measurement
Archimedes Principle

• Recall Equation (9) from bulk volume measurement:

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Averaging of Porosity
• The porosity data that are measured as part of routine core analysis
are obtained from core plug samples that actually represent a very
small fraction of the entire reservoir rock.

• Therefore, properties that are measured as part of the routine core

analysis must be averaged and scaled up from the core scale to the
reservoir scale for use in reservoir engineering and reservoir
simulation.

• This is accomplished by employing different types of averaging

methods.
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Averaging of Porosity
• If the reservoir rock shows large variations in porosity vertically but
has fairly uniform porosity parallel to the bedding planes, the
arithmetic average porosity or the thickness-weighted average
porosity is used to describe the average reservoir porosity.

• For stratified core sections, the thickness-weighted averaging is used

to obtain the average porosity.

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Averaging of Porosity
• Due to the changes in sedimentation or depositional conditions,
significant variations in porosity can be observed in different sections
of the reservoir.

• In such cases, the areal-weighted or the volume-weighted average

porosity is employed to describe the average reservoir rock porosity.

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Averaging of Porosity
• The mathematical equations used for averaging the porosity data
have the following forms:
Arithmetic Average

Thickness-weighted Average

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Averaging of Porosity
Areal-weighted Average

Volumetric-weighted Average

is the total number of core samples ; is the thickness of core sample i

or reservoir area i; is the porosity of core sample i or reservoir area i ;
is the reservoir area i

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Assignment 1
(a) A 37.5485 g cleaned and dried core plug was flooded with a crude oil
of density 0.75 g/cm3 for several days to ensure complete saturation.
On termination of the flood, the plug weighed 44.4178 g. What is the
oil storage capacity of this plug?

(b) Assuming a sandstone grain density of 2.65 g/cm3, calculate the

porosity of a 3 in. long sandstone core sample of 1.5 in. width and
breadth, respectively, if the grains weigh 250.0 g.

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Assignment 1
(a) Assuming unit formation width, determine the average porosity for
the following system when ϕa = 0.20, ϕb = 0.11, ϕc = 0.29, L1 =
0.35L, and ha = hb = 0.5 hc.

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