Effect of fluid, confining pressure, and temperature on absolute permeabilities of low-permeability sandstones

Journal Article · Fri Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986 · SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Format. Eval.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/13093-PA· OSTI ID:5213998

Wei, K K; Morrow, N R; Brower, K R

The combined effect of temperature, confining pressure, and test fluid on absolute permeabilities of low-permeability sandstones has been investigated. Absolute permeabilities to liquids were dependent on polarity but were always significantly less than Klinkenberg permeabilities for gases. Differences are ascribed to swelling and dispersion of fine particles. Changes in state of dispersion caused by ultrasonication were investigated by measurement of resulting changes in permeabilities. Nitrogen, brine, and distilled water were used as test fluids in a main series of tests for which temperatures ranged form 0 to 90/sup 0/C (32 to 199/sup 0/F) and confining pressures from 3.45 to 34.47 MPa (500 to 5,000 psi). Absolute permeabilities of five formation samples of various origins differed by up to three orders of magnitude, with the highest permeability being a few millidarcies. All specimens showed marked reduction in permeability with increase in confining pressure. For all cores, however, absolute permeabilities to gas were essentially independent of temperature at all levels of confining pressure. Comparable measurements of brine permeability were made for two core samples and, as with gas flow results, no significant temperature effect was found. Klinkenberg slip factors, B, were found to vary linearly with absolute temperature, but gave positive intercepts on the temperature axis of B vs. T plots. The intercepts were larger for gases of higher boiling point. This deviation is shown to be mainly a result of the nonideal effect of temperature on gas viscosities.

• Research Organization: New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Petroleum Recovery Research Center
• OSTI ID: 5213998
• Journal Information: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Format. Eval.; (United States), Journal Name: SPE (Society of Petroleum Engineers) Format. Eval.; (United States) Vol. 1:4; ISSN SFEVE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
03 NATURAL GAS
030200 -- Natural Gas-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
BOILING POINTS
BRINES
DRILL CORES
ELEMENTS
FLUID FLOW
GAS FLOW
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GRAPHS
HIGH PRESSURE
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
MEDIUM PRESSURE
MEDIUM TEMPERATURE
MINERAL RESOURCES
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
NITROGEN
NONMETALS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERMEABILITY
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
PRESSURE EFFECTS
RESOURCES
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SLIP
SOUND WAVES
SWELLING
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
THERMODYNAMIC PROPERTIES
TRANSITION TEMPERATURE
ULTRASONIC WAVES
VISCOSITY
WATER