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Concept
Petrophysics
Summary
Petrophysics (from the Greek πέτρα, petra, "rock" and φύσις, physis, "nature") is the study of physical and chemical rock properties and their interactions with fluids.
A major application of petrophysics is in studying reservoirs for the hydrocarbon industry. Petrophysicists work together with reservoir engineers and geoscientists to understand the porous media properties of the reservoir. Particularly how the pores are interconnected in the subsurface, controlling the accumulation and migration of hydrocarbons. Some fundamental petrophysical properties determined are lithology, porosity, water saturation, permeability, and capillary pressure.
The petrophysicists workflow measures and evaluates these petrophysical properties through well-log interpretation (i.e. in-situ reservoir conditions) and core analysis in the laboratory. During well perforation, different well-log tools are used to measure the petrophysical and mineralogical properties through radioactivity and seismic technologies in the borehole. In addition, core plugs are taken from the well as sidewall core or whole core samples. These studies are combined with geological, geophysical, and reservoir engineering studies to model the reservoir and determine its economic feasibility.
While most petrophysicists work in the hydrocarbon industry, some also work in the mining, water resources, geothermal energy, and carbon capture and storage industries. Petrophysics is part of the geosciences, and its studies are used by petroleum engineering, geology, geochemistry, exploration geophysics and others.
The following are the fundamental petrophysical properties used to characterize a reservoir:
Lithology: A description of the rock's physical characteristics, such as grain size, composition and texture. By studying the lithology of local geological outcrops and core samples, geoscientists can use a combination of log measurements, such as natural gamma, neutron, density and resistivity, to determine the lithology down the well.
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Porosity
Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure the "accessible void", the total amount of void space accessible from the surface (cf. closed-cell foam). There are many ways to test porosity in a substance or part, such as industrial CT scanning.
Reservoir modeling
In the oil and gas industry, reservoir modeling involves the construction of a computer model of a petroleum reservoir, for the purposes of improving estimation of reserves and making decisions regarding the development of the field, predicting future production, placing additional wells and evaluating alternative reservoir management scenarios. A reservoir model represents the physical space of the reservoir by an array of discrete cells, delineated by a grid which may be regular or irregular.
Petroleum engineering
Petroleum engineering is a field of engineering concerned with the activities related to the production of Hydrocarbons, which can be either crude oil or natural gas. Exploration and production are deemed to fall within the upstream sector of the oil and gas industry. Exploration, by earth scientists, and petroleum engineering are the oil and gas industry's two main subsurface disciplines, which focus on maximizing economic recovery of hydrocarbons from subsurface reservoirs.