Abstract
A significant behavior of carbonate reservoirs is poor correlation between porosity and permeability. With the same porosity, the permeability can vary by three orders of magnitude or more. An accurate estimation of permeability for carbonate reservoir has been a challenge for many years. The aim of this study was to establish relationships between pore throat, porosity, and permeability. This study indicates that pore throat radius corresponding to a mercury saturation of 20% (R20) is the best permeability predictor for carbonates with complex porous pore networks. Quantitative analysis was made to achieve three different patterns of pore throat for 417 carbonate samples which cover all pore types of carbonate rocks. Different relationships between porosity, pore throat radius, and permeability have been identified in different patterns, which are utilized to predict more accurate permeability by different pore throat patterns.
Highlights
As the strong heterogeneity of carbonate reservoirs, the correlation between porosity and permeability is usually very poor or even none
While mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) curve is a direct reflection of pore throat size, many experts utilize MICP curve to explore the relation between pore throat and permeability (Hangyu et al 2018; Fengfeng et al 2020; Gao et al 2013a; Ruibao et al 2015)
Purcel (Ahr et al 2005) used the whole MICP curve to deduce the formula between permeability, porosity, and capillary pressure (Pc-2) and concluded that all the pore throat contributed to the permeability
Summary
As the strong heterogeneity of carbonate reservoirs, the correlation between porosity and permeability is usually very poor or even none. The permeability estimation model usually builds on the correlation with porosity, water saturation, the grain size, and clay content (Qibin et al 2015). All these parameters above are indirect indication of pore throat size (Wang and Tailiang 2013). Swanson (Al-Marzouqi et al 2010) holds the viewpoint that pore throat contributes to the permeability only when the mercury saturation reached to a Responsible editor: François Roure. Carbonate rock samples are classified by pore throat structure patterns (single modal, dual modal, and triple modal), the relationships between pore throat radius and
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