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Abstract

AAPG Bulletin, V. 95, No. 2 (February 2011), P. 175190.

Copyright copy2011. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. All rights reserved.

DOI:10.1306/06301010047

Effect of pore structure on electrical Previous HitresistivityNext Hit in carbonates

Klaas Verwer,1 Gregor P. Eberli,2 Ralf J. Weger3

1Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149; present address: Statoil, Sandsliveien 90, 5254 Bergen, Norway; [email protected]
2Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149
3Comparative Sedimentology Laboratory, University of Miami, 4600 Rickenbacker Causeway, Miami, Florida 33149

ABSTRACT

The electrical Previous HitresistivityNext Hit log has proven to be a powerful tool for lithology discrimination, correlation, porosity evaluation, hydrocarbon indication, and calculation of water saturation. Carbonate rocks develop a variety of pore types that can span several orders of magnitude in size and complexity. A link between the electrical Previous HitresistivityNext Hit and the carbonate pore structure has been inferred, although no detailed understanding of this relationship exists.

Seventy-one plugs from outcrops and boreholes of carbonates from five different areas and ages were measured for electrical Previous HitresistivityNext Hit properties and quantitatively analyzed for pore structure using digital image analysis from thin sections. The analysis shows that in addition to porosity, the combined effect of microporosity, pore network complexity, pore size of the macropores, and absolute number of pores are all influential for the flow of electric charge. Samples with small pores and an intricate pore network have a low cementation factor, whereas samples with large pores and a simple pore network have high values for cementation factor. Samples with separate-vug porosity have the highest cementation factor.

The results reveal that (1) in carbonate rocks, both pore structure and the absolute number of pores (and pore connections) seem more important in controlling the electrical Previous HitresistivityNext Hit, instead of the size of the pore throats, as suggested by previous modeling studies; (2) samples with high Previous HitresistivityNext Hit can have high permeability; large simple pores facilitate flow of fluid, but fewer numbers of pores limit the flow of electric charge; and (3) pore-structure characteristics can be estimated from electrical Previous HitresistivityTop data and used to improve permeability estimates and refine calculations of water saturation.

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