Wettability &

Capillary pressure
 Interfacial and surface tension
• Surface tension (ST) is term used when
characterising the forces between a liquid
and a gas.
Interfacial
• Interfacial tension (IFT) is term used for the tension
forces between two different liquids.
• In reservoirs there are three interfaces: oil-
gas (ST), water-gas (ST), and oil-water
(IFT).
• In this course, we will use IFT (symbol=s) in
a general sense – for any fluid combination

Surface tension

Oil and Water

Needle “floating” in water From: Carboni, 2002 @ http://www.funsci.com/fun3_en/exper2/exper2.htm

& http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3548/3373234107_0f85c67f1c.jpg
Interfacial
Tension

• Far from the interface, an oil or water molecule is surrounded by other like
molecules which bring it to a balanced condition. At the interface, there is an
imbalance which results in a force called interfacial tension. The interface acts
as a semi-elastic, membrane-like surface. The interfacial force can be
measured in the laboratory.
• The interfacial tension represents the amount of work needed to create
a unit surface area at the interface. The dimension of work is [FL] so
interfacial tension is [FL/L2] = [FL-1]. The SI units are N/m or J/m2.
• Typical values are 0.02 to 0.03 N/m for oil-brine and quartz or calcite.

From Dandeker, 2006

Interfacial Tensions and a Solid Surface

When a drop of one immiscible fluid is immersed in another and comes

to rest on a solid surface, the shape of the resulting interface is governed
by the balance of adhesive and cohesive forces.

OIL WATER
q
SOLID SURFACE
The surface area at the fluid-fluid contact is minimized by the
interaction of these forces:

Cohesive forces at the fluid-fluid interface

Adhesive forces at the solid-fluid interface
CONTACT ANGLE

The angle between the fluid and solid phases is called the contact
angle. Contact angles are always measured in the denser fluid phase.
If q < 90° the fluid is said to “wet” the surface. If q > 90° the fluid is said
to be “non-wetting”.

OIL AIR
or MERCURY
AIR q WATER q
SOLID SURFACE

adhesion > cohesion  “wetting”

cohesion > adhesion  “non-wetting”
Water “wets” glass, mercury is “non-wetting” on a glass surface.
Interfacial tension creates a curved interface between two immiscible
fluids.
Adhesive Tension = σ cos θ ; we will use this when discussing capillary pressure
 Importance of Shales and Mudrocks in Oil and Gas Exploration and Reservoir Development, Roger M.
Slatt, Depositional Processes and Characteristics of Siltstones, Mudstones and Shales, Copyright 2003
by SEPM (Society for Sedimentary Geology) ISBN 1-56576-094-8

Shales and mudrocks comprise important hydrocarbon source rocks. Due to its light
weight and ease of transport in water, organic matter is preferentially deposited with
relatively light weight silt and clay particles. Upon burial, the sediment is lithified and the
organic matter is converted to hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbons form as globules that
migrate from the rock matrix through micro-pores or -fractures where they amalgamate (Fig.
1) and work their way through larger migration pathways. Eventually, the oil droplets migrate
out of their host shales and reach a trap where they may form a hydrocarbon accumulation.
Depending upon the nature of the original organic matter (terrestrial or marine) and
its burial history, either oil or gas can form.
WETTABILITY

The wettability of a rock refers to the contact angle for the oil-brine
interface.
If q < 90° the reservoir is said to be “water-wet”.
If q > 90° the reservoir is said to be “oil-wet”.

In oilfield terminology:

0° - 70° strongly water-wet

70° - 110° intermediate wettability
110° - 180° strongly oil-wet

Wettability is affected by many factors including:

 fluid compositions
 mineral surface properties
 microbial activity
 temperature and pressure
WATER-WET OIL-WET

Oil Oil

q
q

WATER WATER
 WATER-WET OIL-WET

Air
OIL Oil OIL
q
q

q WATER q WATER
q < 90
WATER WATER q > 90
SOLID (ROCK) SOLID (ROCK)
FREE WATER

OIL
GRAIN GRAIN

OIL
RIM
BOUND WATER FREE WATER
Ayers, 2001
 Some Practical aspects of wettability
Oil-wet or Water-wet? Reservoir Classification
Historically, in reservoir engineering it was believed that most reservoir rocks are
water wet. Later, this theory was challenged when many oil-wet reservoirs were
found. Currently, most specialists acknowledge that many reservoirs are
intermediate between oil-wet and water-wet; i.e., classification of reservoirs in oil-
wet and water-wet is a gross simplification.

General classification of rock wettability:

• Water-wet
• Oil-wet
• Intermediate
• Fractional wettability : Rocks are having many minerals with different chemical
properties which leads to different types of wettabilities in different pores.
• Mixed wettability: larger pores are oil-wet and smaller pores are water-wet. This
is associated with the initial invasion of pores with oil. At this stage, oil preferably
invades the larger pores and later on asphaltene components deposit on the rock
surface to form an oil-wet rock.
IMPLICATIONS OF WETTABILITY

• Oil recovery under waterflooding is

affected by the wettability of the
system.
– A water-wet system will exhibit
greater oil recovery under
waterflooding.
WATERFLOOD DISPLACEMENT

WATER WET RESERVOIR

OIL WET RESERVOIR

 CONTACT ANGLE – HYSTERESIS IN
WATER-WET RESERVOIR

qi > qd

Water
Oil qi Oil qd Water
Solid Surface Solid Surface

Wetting phase is Non-wetting phase is

displacing non-wetting displacing wetting phase
phase (imbibition) (drainage)
CAPILLARY PRESSURE

The effect of interfacial tension is to create a finite pressure

difference between immiscible fluids called the capillary pressure:

Pc = Pnw - Pw
where

Pw and Pnw refer to the wetting and non-wetting phases.

Capillary pressure depends on the properties of the fluids and solid

surfaces, swa and cosqwa, and the tube (i.e., pore throat) radius, r.

When adhesion > cohesion, adhesive forces draw the fluid up the
tube until they are balanced by the weight of the fluid column.

When cohesion > adhesion, cohesive forces drag fluid down the
tube until they are balanced by the weight of the head difference
forcing fluid upwards.
CAPILLARY PRESSURE

In a reservoir at initial conditions, an equilibrium exists between

buoyancy forces and capillary forces. These forces determine the
initial distribution of fluids, and hence the volumes of fluid in place.
CAPILLARY RISE z
Po Pc
Pw
2r oil
h
oil water
P
water P

Po  P   o gh Pw  P   w gh
Water rises in a capillary tube radius, r, to a height,
h. The downward-acting buoyant pressure is: P  P  Dgh
o w
The downward pressure on the water is resisted by the interfacial
tension at the contact around the diameter of the tube.

Laplace Equation (effect of interface curvature on DP across interface):

2s cosq
Po  Pw 
r
Equilibrium requires that IFT-driven force balances buoyancy-
driven force, hence: 2s cosq
Pc  Po  Pw   Dgh
r
CAPILLARY RISE

Jahn et al., 1998

TYPICAL INTERFACIAL PROPERTIES

q s
Fluid-Fluid System* Contact Interfacial
Angle Tension
(Deg) (N/m)
Air-Mercury 140 0.485
Methane-Brine 0 0.072
<30oAPI Oil-Brine 0 0.030
30o-40o API Oil-Brine 0 0.020
>40oAPI Oil-Brine 0 0.015
•These results were obtained for a quartz solid surface.
TYPICAL INTERFACIAL PROPERTIES

For pore-throat diameters from 1mm to 1 mm, we obtain the

following capillary pressures:

Pore throat dia. (mm) 1 10 100 1000

Fluid-Fluid System Pc (kPa)
Methane-Brine 288 28.8 2.88 0.29
<30oAPI Oil-Brine 120 12.0 1.20 0.12
30o-40o API Oil-Brine 80 8.0 0.80 0.08
>40oAPI Oil-Brine 60 6.0 0.60 0.06
Rise of Wetting Phase Varies with
Capillary Radius

1 2 3 4

OIL

WATER

Ayers, 2001
OIL-WATER TRANSITION ZONE

volume of phase x
Saturation of phase x is defined as: S x 
pore volume
Jahn et al., 1998
 OIL-WATER TRANSITION ZONE
Pc

OIL
hc

OIL + WATER

ho
WATER
Sw

At elevations greater than the capillary head, hc, the oil saturation is (1 - Swi). At
the OWC, ho, the water saturation is 1. Between ho and hc the saturations vary
continuously through the capillary transition zone.
 CAPILLARY PRESSURE CURVES
Swi Soi

The process of decreasing the

wetting phase saturation is called
drainage.
Pc
The process of decreasing the
non-wetting phase saturation is DRAINAGE
called imbibition.

The imbibition and drainage paths

are different. This effect is called
IMBIBITION
hysteresis. 0
0  Sw  1
1  So  0

The Pc intercept is called the displacement pressure

ASYMPTOTIC (IRREDUCIBLE) SATURATIONS

The asymptotic minimum value of water saturation, Swi, is known as the

irreducible water saturation or the connate water saturation.

This represents the saturation at which there is no connected water in

the pore space. The residual water exists only as droplets (oil-wet) or
films coating the grains (water-wet). Water can no longer be driven out
of the rock by hydraulic means.

The asymptotic minimum oil saturation on the imbibition curve, Soi, is

known as the irreducible oil saturation.

This is the saturation at which the oil phase becomes discontinuous.

The residual oil exists only as droplets (water-wet) or films coating the
grains (oil-wet). Oil can no longer be driven out of the rock by hydraulic
means.
IRREDUCIBLE SATURATIONS

For water-wet reservoirs Swi is typically 20-25% (max. 40-50%). Soi

is typically 15-20%.
For oil-wet reservoirs Swi is usually 10-15% (min. <10%). Soi is
typically > 25%.
The maximum oil saturation is 1-Swi and the minimum is Soi. The
difference between the maximum and minimum oil saturations is the
fractional pore volume that can flow  Movable Oil Saturation.
The ratio of the movable oil saturation and the maximum oil
saturation (1-Swi) is called the withdrawal efficiency (We).
We = (1 - Swi - Soi) / (1 - Swi)

For a typical water wet reservoir:

We = (1 - .22 - .20)/(1 - .22) = 0.58 / 0.78 = 74%

For a typical oil wet reservoir:

We = (1 - .12 - .35)/(1 - .12) = 0.53 / 0.88 = 60%
 OIL-WATER TRANSITION ZONE
Pc

OIL
hc

OIL + WATER

ho
WATER
Sw

At elevations greater than the capillary head, hc, the oil saturation is (1 - Swi). At
the OWC, ho, the water saturation is 1. Between ho and hc the saturations vary
continuously through the capillary transition zone.
Review
Effect of sorting on porosity

Well sorted : f = 32%

Poorly sorted : f = 17%

Grains of two sizes : f = 12.5%

 Poor sorting results in reduction in porosity (f)

Rise of Wetting Phase Varies with
Capillary Radius

1 2 3 4

OIL

WATER

Ayers, 2001
CAPILLARY PRESSURE
CURVE SHAPES

The curves a,b,c have

identical irreducible water c
saturations (Swi) and Pc
displacement pressures (Pd) b
but very different saturation
profiles as a result of pore- a
size distribution.

Pd
0
0 Sw
So 0

a - well-sorted
b - poorly-sorted
Capillary pressures measured c - very poorly sorted
under drainage conditions.
Reminder: This is what real pores and pore throats look like!

PT = PORE THROAT
P - PORE
 Reservoir Seal

Seal

Fault
(impermeable)
Oil/water
contact (OWC)

Migration route
Seal
Seal
Hydrocarbon Reservoir
accumulation rock
in the
reservoir rock
Top of maturity

Source rock
 Reservoir Seal
• The seal for a reservoir is usually provided by a water wet
zone with low (but finite) permeability
– Typically a shale
• Darcy’s Law would indicate that with a finite permeability,
gravity effect alone would cause petroleum to pass upward
through the seal due to density difference, over a long
(geologic) time period
• For multiple phases flowing, flow is controlled by pressure,
gravity, and capillary pressure
– Effect of displacement pressure of the seal halts upward migration of
petroleum in the trap
– Displacement pressure of the seal can limit the total height of reservoir
AVERAGING CAPILLARY PRESSURE DATA USING
THE LEVERETT J-FUNCTION

• The Leverett J-function was originally an attempt

to convert all capillary pressure data to a
universal curve
• A universal capillary pressure curve does not
exist because the rock properties affecting
capillary pressures in reservoir have extreme
variation with lithology (rock type)
• BUT, Leverett’s J-function has proven valuable
for correlating capillary pressure data within a
lithology.
DEFINITION OF LEVERETT J-FUNCTION

J (Sw ) 
C Pc k
s cos q f
• J-Function is DIMENSIONLESS, for a particular rock type:
• Same value of J at same wetting phase saturation for
any unit system, any two fluids, any exact value of k,f
•(k/f)1/2 is proportional to size of typical pore throat
radius (remember k can have units of length2)
•C is unit conversion factor (to make J(Sw) dimensionless)
= 1 if we use SI units for Pc, s and k
 EXAMPLE J-FUNCTION FOR
WEST TEXAS CARBONATE
10.00

9.00
Jc
Jmatch
8.00 Jn1
Jn2
7.00 Jn3

6.00
J-function

5.00

4.00

3.00

2.00

1.00

0.00
0.00 0.10 0.20 0.30 0.40 0.50 0.60 0.70 0.80 0.90 1.00
Water saturation, fraction
USE OF LEVERETT J-FUNCTION

• J-function is useful for averaging capillary

pressure data from a given rock type from a given
reservoir
• J-function can sometimes be extended to
different reservoirs having the same lithologies
– Use extreme caution in assuming this can be
done
• J-function is usually not an accurate correlation
for different lithologies
• If J-functions are not successful in reducing the
scatter in a given set of data, this suggests that
you are dealing with a variation in rock type
 Pc(Sw) Depends on k,f

Core Pore Petrophysical Gamma Ray Flow

Core Lithofacies
Plugs Types Data Log Units
f vs k Capillary
Pressure

High Quality

Function moves up and

right, and becomes less 2
“L” shaped as reservoir
quality decreases
Low Quality
1
• Note variation in pore properties and permeability within a formation

Modified from Jordan and Campbell, 1984, vol. 1

 LEVERETT J-FUNCTION FOR
CONVERSION OF Pc DATA

 C Pc k  C Pc k
J(S w )     
 σ cosθ f  Lab  σ cosθ f  Reservoir