SCAL From Lab to Sim Module 3 – Capillary Pressure

Rock Properties are key inputs for geoscientist and reservoir engineer to understand reservoir properties and how it would affect flow behavior, and ultimately the recovery of the oil/gas reservoirs. The contents of these modules emphasis on rock properties, which directly relate to dynamic flow behavior and how to validate those data for reservoir simulation.  

Overall, the learners will be able to gain some understanding on how laboratory procedures could affect the reliability of the data and the importance to understand all the underlying assumptions in each test procedures. This helps engineer to be more confident in the derivation of rock properties data for reservoir simulation.

The outline of these modules are separated in four modules as follows:

• Module 1: Introduction, Klinkenberg permeability and rock compressibility – this section explains the overall validation process and why these steps are important in reservoir simulation. It also covers some insights on Klinkenberg-adjusted permeability and rock compressibility, in which some engineers are unaware of.
• Module 2: Reservoir Wettability – this section provides the definition of reservoir wettability and helps Reservoir Engineers to understand how wettability would affect dynamic behavior of one reservoir. It also highlights the importance of reservoir wettability restoration in laboratory analysis.
• Module 3: Capillary Pressure – Very often, one could ignore the fact that capillary pressure can derive from various methods. Each method also has its pros and cons, which could affect the reliability of the data and, the interpretation of capillary pressure in reservoir model. This section highlights pros and cons of each capillary pressure testing method and its limitation as well as how to preliminarily QC those data.
• Module 4: Relative Permeability – relative permeability is the key property directly affecting flow behavior. This section provides the methodology of relative permeability testing and highlights its limitations. Some QC and correction technique (based on Jess Stiles’ approach) are also provided.