# AAPG Bulletin

Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 98, No. 1 (January 2014), P. 4966.

DOI:10.1306/05221312134

## Electrical and flow properties of highly heterogeneous carbonate rocks

### Charlotte Garing,1 Linda Luquot,2 Philippe A. Pezard,3 Philippe Gouze4

1Geosciences Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universite de Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; charlotte.garing@gm.univ-montp2.fr
2Geosciences Montpellier, CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique), Universite de Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; linda.luquot@gmail.com
3Geosciences Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universite de Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; ppezard@gulliver.fr
4Geosciences Montpellier, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Universite de Montpellier 2, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; philippe.gouze@um2.fr

## ABSTRACT

In reservoir engineering, hydrodynamic properties can be estimated from downhole electrical data using heuristic models (e.g., Archie and Kozeny-Carman's equations) relating electrical conductivity to porosity and permeability. Although proven to be predictive for many sandstone reservoirs, the models mostly fail when applied to carbonate reservoirs that generally display extremely complex pore network structures.

In this article, we investigate the control of the three-dimensional (3-D) geometry and morphology of the pore network on the electrical and flow properties, comparing core-scale laboratory measurements and 3-D x-ray microtomography image analysis of samples from a Miocene reefal carbonate platform located in Mallorca (Spain).

The results show that micrometer- to centimeter-scale heterogeneities strongly influence the measured macroscopic physical parameters that are then used to evaluate the hydrodynamic properties of the rock, and therefore, existing models might not provide accurate descriptions because these heterogeneities occur at scales smaller than those of the integration volume of the borehole geophysical methods. However, associated with specific data processing, 3-D imagery techniques are a useful and probably unique mean to characterize the rock heterogeneity and, thus, the properties variability.

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