Relative Permeability Correlation for Mixed-Wet Reservoirs

Abstract

SummaryA two-phase relative permeability correlation for mixed-wet rock is presented and validated. It includes provisions for bounding drainage and imbibition processes and scanning hysteresis loops, and is inferred from a capillary pressure correlation.The well-known Corey-Burdine relative permeabilities were developed for water-wet rock from a Brooks-Corey power-law capillary pressure correlation and a bundle-of-tubes network model. We have extended this correlation to mixed-wet rock and now propose the ensuing relative permeability correlation for mixed-wet reservoirs. The functional form is symmetric with respect to fluid-dependent properties, because neither fluid has precedence in a mixed-wet environment. It reverts to the standard Corey-Burdine correlation for the completely water- or oil-wet cases, and exhibits the following characteristics in agreement with reported experiments: first, water-wet behavior at low water saturations and oil-wet behavior at low oil saturations; second, an inverted S-shape oil relative permeability curve with an inflection point; and, third, closed hysteresis scanning loops.