Effects of confining pressure, pore pressure and temperature on absolute permeability. SUPRI TR-27

Technical Report · Thu Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1981

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6176052· OSTI ID:6176052

Gobran, B. D.; Ramey, Jr., H. J.; Brigham, W. E.

This study investigates absolute permeability of consolidated sandstone and unconsolidated sand cores to distilled water as a function of the confining pressure on the core, the pore pressure of the flowing fluid and the temperature of the system. Since permeability measurements are usually made in the laboratory under conditions very different from those in the reservoir, it is important to know the effect of various parameters on the measured value of permeability. All studies on the effect of confining pressure on absolute permeability have found that when the confining pressure is increased, the permeability is reduced. The studies on the effect of temperature have shown much less consistency. This work contradicts the past Stanford studies by finding no effect of temperature on the absolute permeability of unconsolidated sand or sandstones to distilled water. The probable causes of the past errors are discussed. It has been found that inaccurate measurement of temperature at ambient conditions and non-equilibrium of temperature in the core can lead to a fictitious permeability reduction with temperature increase. The results of this study on the effect of confining pressure and pore pressure support the theory that as confining pressure is increased or pore pressure decreased, the permeability is reduced. The effects of confining pressure and pore pressure changes on absolute permeability are given explicitly so that measurements made under one set of confining pressure/pore pressure conditions in the laboratory can be extrapolated to conditions more representative of the reservoir.

• Research Organization: Stanford Univ., CA (USA). Petroleum Research Inst.
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-76ET12056
• OSTI ID: 6176052
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/12056-27; ON: DE81030336
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
023000* -- Petroleum-- Properties & Composition
58 GEOSCIENCES
580100 -- Geology & Hydrology-- (-1989)
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
DATA
DRILL CORES
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FLUID FLOW
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
NUMERICAL DATA
OIL WELLS
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERMEABILITY
PETROLEUM
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
RECOVERY
ROCKS
SAND
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
TEMPERATURE EFFECTS
WATER
WELLS