Effect of wettability on two-phase relative permeabilities and capillary pressures

Conference · Sat Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1983 · Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5293836

Heiba, A A; Davis, H T; Scriven, L E

The percolation theory of two-phase relative permeability at low capillary numbers is further developed to account for the physics of intermediate and mixed wettability in reservoir rocks. Wettability is expressed in the capillary pressure criterion of allowability and acts through the pore-filling sequence in any displacement process. The theory reveals how pore-filling sequences depend on capillary pressure. The theory predicts the saturation-dependent and saturation-history-dependent capillary pressure and relative permeability relations measured by Morrow and coworkers in uniformly wet porous media. Applied to reservoir rock in which a fraction of poresegments previously occupied by oil have become oil-wet, the theory, with that fraction a variable, accounts for the continuous spectrum of capillary pressure and relative permeability curves encountered in reality. Parameter estimation from limited data will be treated elsewhere. The theory is so founded that it can be extended to three-phase relative permeabilities, as will be reported in a sequel.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Minnesota
• OSTI ID: 5293836
• Report Number(s): CONF-8310121-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States) Journal Volume: SPE12172
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
03 NATURAL GAS
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Production
& Processing
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Plowshare-- (-1989)
BETHE-GOLDSTONE EQUATION
CAPILLARY FLOW
CRYSTAL STRUCTURE
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EQUATIONS
FLOW MODELS
FLUID FLOW
FLUID INJECTION
FLUID MECHANICS
FLUIDS
HYDRAULIC CONDUCTIVITY
HYDRODYNAMICS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
MICROSTRUCTURE
NATURAL GAS WELLS
OIL SATURATION
OIL WELLS
PERMEABILITY
PORE PRESSURE
POROSITY
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
RESERVOIR ROCK
ROCK-FLUID INTERACTIONS
SATURATION
SURFACTANTS
TWO-PHASE FLOW
WELLS
WETTABILITY
WETTING AGENTS