Fundamentals of wettability

Oilfield Review

Volumn 19, Issue 2, 2007, Pages 44-61

  Abdallah, Wael ^a   Buckley, Jill S ^b   Carnegie, Andrew ^a   Edwards, John ^a   Herold, Bernd ^a   Fordham, Edmund ^a   Graue, Arne ^c   Habashy, Tarek ^a   Seleznev, Nikita ^a   Signer, Claude ^a   Hussain, Hassan ^d   Montaron, Bernard ^e   Ziauddin, Murtaza ^a  

^a New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center ^*

^b NEW MEXICO INSTITUTE OF MINING AND TECHNOLOGY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF BERGEN   (Norway)

^d PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT OMAN   (Oman)

^e H Dubai Office Building   (United Arab Emirates)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CRUDE PETROLEUM; FLUIDS; OIL FIELDS; OPTIMIZATION; PETROLEUM RESERVOIR EVALUATION; SURFACE TENSION; WATER; WELL FLOODING;

OIL RECOVERY TECHNIQUES; OILFIELD APPLICATIONS; ROCK WETTABILITY; WELTING PREFERENCE;

WETTING;

EID: 35948963232     PISSN: 09231730     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: None     Document Type: Review

References (66)

1. Unless otherwise specified in this article, the terms "water-wet" and "oil-wet" are used to indicate "strong" preferences.
2. An extensive wettability literature survey was published in 1986 and 1987.
3. Anderson WG: "Wettability Literature Survey - Part 1: Rock/Oil/Brine Interactions and the Effects of Core Handling on Wettability," Journal of Petroleum Technology 38 (October 1986): 1125-1144.
4. Anderson WG: "Wettability Literature Survey - Part 2: Wettability Measurement," Journal of Petroleum Technology 38 (November 1986): 1246-1262.
5. Anderson WG: "Wettability Literature Survey - Part 3: The Effects of Wettability on the Electrical Properties of Porous Media," Journal of Petroleum Technology 38 (December 1986): 1371-1378.
6. Anderson WG: "Wettability Literature Survey - Part 4: Effects of Wettability on Capillary Pressure," Journal of Petroleum Technology 39 (October 1987): 1283-1300.
7. Anderson WG: "Wettability Literature Survey - Part 5: The Effects of Wettability on Relative Permeability," Journal of Petroleum Technology 39 (November 1987): 1453-1468.
8. Anderson WG: "Wettability Literature Survey - Part 6: The Effects of Wettability on Waterflooding," Journal of Petroleum Technology 39 (December 1987): 1605-1622.
9. Morrow NR: "Wettability and Its Effect on Oil Recovery," Journal of Petroleum Technology 42, no. 12 (December 1990): 1476-1484.
10. For more on gas-condensate reservoirs: Fan L, Harris BW, Jamaluddin A, Kamath J, Mott R, Pope GA, Shandrygin A and Whitson CH: "Understanding Gas-Condensate Reservoirs," Oilfield Review 17, no. 4 (Winter 2005/2006): 14-27.
11. For an example of wettability alteration in gas-condensate wells: Panga MKR, Ooi YS, Chan KS, Enkababian P, Samuel M, Koh PL and Chenevière P: "Wettability Alteration Used for Water Block Prevention in High-Temperature Gas Wells," World 0/7228, no. 3 (March 2007): 51-58.
12. 0 is the formation resistivity at 100% water saturation.
13. For more on NMR logging: Alvarado RJ, Damgaard A, Hansen P, Raven M, Heidler R, Hoshun R, Kovats J, Morriss C, Rose D and Wendt W: "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Logging While Drilling," Oilfield Review 15, no. 2 (Summer 2003): 40-51.
14. In an oil-external emulsion, surfactant molecules form clusters called micelles consisting of an aqueous core encapsulated in a surfactant monolayer, in which the hydrophilic parts of the molecules point inward toward the aqueous core and the hydrophobic parts point outward toward the oil phase.
15. Wetting preference also can involve three immiscible fluids, such as mercury, water and air.
16. Buckley JS, Liu Y and Monsterleet S: "Mechanisms of Wetting Alteration by Crude Oils," paper SPE 37230, SPE Journal 3, no. 1 (March 1998): 54-61.
17. Al-Maamari RSH and Buckley JS: "Asphaltene Precipitation and Alteration of Wetting: The Potential for Wettability Changes During Oil Production," paper SPE 84938, SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineerings, no. 4 (August 2003): 210-214.
18. The double layer of water is almost always present on a water-wet material. It can be removed at high temperature, but soaking in water or condensation from humid air will replenish the double layer.
19. Hirasaki GJ: "Wettability: Fundamentals and Surface Forces," SPEFormation Evaluations, no. 3 (June 1991): 217-226.
20. Buckley JS, Takamura K and Morrow NR: "Influence of Electrical Surface Charges on the Wetting Properties of Crude Oils," SPf Reservoir Engineering 4, no. 4 (August 1989): 332-340.
21. For more on wettability based on atomic-force microscopy studies: Buckley JS and Lord DL: "Wettability and Morphology of Mica Surfaces After Exposure to Crude Oil," Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 39, no. 3-4 (September 2003): 261-273.
22. Buckley et al, reference 9.
23. Thomas MM, Clouse JA and Longo JM: "Adsorption of Organic Compounds on Carbonate Minerals-1. Model Compounds and Their Influence on Mineral Wettability," Chemical Geology 109, no. 1-4 (October 25, 1993): 201-213.
24. Hirasaki, reference 12.
25. Okasha TM, Funk JJ and Al-Rashidi HN: "Fifty Years of Wettability Measurements in the Arab-D Carbonate Reservoir," paper SPE 105114, presented at the 15th SPE Middle East Oil & Gas Show and Conference, Bahrain, March 11-14, 2007.
26. Jerauld GR and Rathmell JJ: "Wettability and Relative Permeability of Prudhoe Bay: A Case Study in Mixed-Wet Reservoirs," paper SPE 28576, SPE Reservoir Engineering 12, no. 1 (February 1997): 58-65.
27. Marzouk I, Takezaki H and Miwa M: "Geologic Controls on Wettability of Carbonate Reservoirs, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.," paper SPE 29883, presented at the SPE Middle East Oil Show, Bahrain, March 11-14, 1995.
28. Andersen MA: Petroleum Research in North Sea Chalk, Rogaland Research, Stavanger (1995): 53-54.
29. Rao DN: "Wettability Effects in Thermal Recovery Operations," SPE Reservoir Evaluation and Engineering 2, no. 5 (October 1999): 420-430.
30. Hamouda AA and Gomari KAR: "Influence of Temperature on Wettability Alteration of Carbonate Reservoirs," paper SPE 99848, presented at the SPE/DOE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa, April 22-26, 2006.
31. Salathiel RA: "Oil Recovery by Surface Film Drainage in Mixed-Wettability Rocks," Journal of Petroleum Technology 25; (October 1973): 1216-1224.
32. Kovscek AR, Wong H and Radke CJ: "A Pore-Level Scenario for the Development of Mixed Wettability in Oil Reservoirs," American Institute of Chemical Engineers Journals, no. 6 (June 1993): 1072-1085.
33. The Bond number is the ratio of gravitational force to capillary force and is useful in determining equilibrium conditions in thick reservoirs.
34. Jadhunandan PP and Morrow NR: "Effect of Wettability on Waterflood Recovery for Crude-Oil/Brine/Rock Systems," SPE Reservoir Engineering 10, no. 1 (February 1995): 40-46.
35. Amott E: "Observations Relating to the Wettability of Porous Rock," Transactions, AIME 216 (1959): 156-162.
36. Boneau DF and Clampitt RL: "A Surfactant System for the Oil-Wet Sandstone of the North Burbank Unit," Journal of Petroleum Technology 29, no. 5 (May 1977): 501-506.
37. The USBM wettability index can also be determined using a porous-plate method.
38. Donaldson EC, Thomas RD and Lorenz PB: "Wettability Determination and Its Effect on Recovery Efficiency," SPE Journal 9 (March 1969): 13-20.
39. Phelps GD, Stewart G and Peden JM: "The Analysis of the Invaded Zone Characteristics and Their Influence on Wireline Log and Well-Test Interpretation," paper SPE 13287, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, September 16-19, 1984.
40. Carnegie AJG: "Understanding the Pressure Gradients Improves Production from Oil/Water Transition Carbonate Zones," paper SPE 99240, presented at the SPE/DOE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Tulsa, April 22-26, 2006.
41. Carnegie, reference 27.
42. Gomaa N, Al-Alyak A, Ouzzane D, Sait O, Okuyiga M, Allen D, Rose D, Ramamoorthy R and Bize E: "Case Study of Permeability, Vug Quantification, and Rock Typing in a Complex Carbonate," paper SPE 102888, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, Texas, September 24-27, 2006.
43. Gauthier PJ, Hussain H, Bowling J, Edwards J and Herold B: "Determination of Water-Producing Zones While Underbalanced Drilling Horizontal Wells - Integration of Sigma Log and Real-Time Production Data," paper SPE 105166, presented at the 15th SPE Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference, Bahrain, March 11-14, 2007.
44. Gauthier et al, reference 30.
45. Andersen, reference 17.
46. Graue A and Bognø T: "Wettability Effects on Oil Recovery Mechanisms in Fractured Reservoirs," paper SPE 56672, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, October 3-6, 1999.
47. Graue A, Viksund BG, Baldwin BA and Spinier EA: "Large Scale 2D Imaging of Impacts of Wettability on Oil Recovery in Fractured Chalk," paper SPE 38896, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, October 5-8, 1997.
48. Aspenes E, Graue A, Baldwin BA, Moradi A, Stevens J and Tobola DP: "Fluid Flow in Fractures Visualized by MRI During Waterfloods at Various Wettability Conditions - Emphasis on Fracture Width and Flow Rate," paper SPE 77338, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, September 29-October 2, 2002.
49. Graue A, Aspenes E, Moe RW, Baldwin BA, Moradi A, Stevens J and Tobola DP: "MRI Tomography of Saturation Development in Fractures During Waterfloods at Various Wettability Conditions," paper SPE 71506, presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, New Orleans, September 30-October 3, 2001.
50. Graue A, Aspenes E, Bognø T, Moe RW and Ramsdal J: "Alteration of Wettability and Wettability Heterogeneity," Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 33, no. 1-3 (April 2002): 3-17.
51. Aspenes E, Graue A and Ramsdal J: "In-Situ Wettability Distribution and Wetting Stability in Outcrop Chalk Aged in Crude Oil," Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 39, no. 3-4 (September 2003): 337-350.
52. Montaron B: "A Quantitative Model for the Effect of Wettability on the Conductivity of Porous Rocks," paper SPE 105041, presented at the 15th Middle East Oil and Gas Show and Conference, Bahrain, March 11-14, 2007.
53. Sweeney SA and Jennings HY: "The Electrical Resistivity of Preferentially Water-Wet and Preferentially Oil-Wet Carbonate Rock," Producer's Monthly 24, no. 7 (1960): 29-32.
54. Seleznev N, Boyd A, Habashy T and Luthi S: "Dielectric Mixing Laws for Fully and Partially Saturated Carbonate Rocks," Transactions of the 45th SPWLA Annual Logging Symposium, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, June 6-9, 2004, paper CCC.
55. Seleznev N, Habashy T, Boyd A and Hizem M: "Formation Properties Derived from a Multi-Frequency Dielectric Measurement," Transactions of the 47th SPWLA Annual Logging Symposium, Veracruz, Mexico, June 4-7, 2006, paper VVV.
56. Bona N, Rossi E and Capaccioli S: "Electrical Measurements in the 100 Hz to 10 GHz Frequency Range for Efficient Rock Wettability Determination," SPE Journals, no. 1 (March 2001): 80-88.
57. Allen D, Flaum C, Ramakrishnan TS, Bedford J, Castelijns K, Fairhurst D, Gubelin G, Heaton N, Minh CC, Norville MA, Seim MR, Pritchard T and Ramamoorthy R: "Trends in NMR Logging," Oilfield Review 12, no. 3 (Autumn 2000): 2-19.
58. Chen J, Hirasaki GJ and Flaum M: "NMR Wettability ' Indices: Effect of OBM on Wettability and NMR Responses," Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 52, no. 1-4 (June 2006): 161-171.
59. The typical sequence for polarization and detection is the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill (CPMG) pulse-echo method: Meiboom S and Gill D: "Modified Spin-Echo Method for Measuring Nuclear Relaxation Times," The Review of Scientific Instruments 29, no. 8 (1958): 688-691.
60. Brown RJS and Fatt I: "Measurements of Fractional Wettability of Oilfield Rocks by the Nuclear Magnetic Relaxation Method," Transactions, AIME 207 (1956): 262-264.
61. Foley I, Farooqui SA and Kleinberg RL: "Effect of Paramagnetic Ions on NMR Relaxation of Fluids at Solid Surfaces," Journal of Magnetic Resonance, Series A 123, no. 1 (November 1996): 95-104.
62. Stejkal EO and Tanner JE: "Spin Diffusion Measurements: Spin Echoes in the Presence of a time-Dependent Field Gradient," Journal of Chemical Physics 42, no. 1 (1965): 288-292.
63. Hürlimann MD and Venkataramanan L: "Quantitative Measurement of Two-Dimensional Distribution Functions of Diffusion and Relaxation in Grossly Inhomogeneous Fields," Journal of Magnetic Resonance 157, no.1 (July 2002): 31-42.
64. Valvatne PH and Blunt MJ: "Predictive Pore-Scale Modeling of Two-Phase Flow in Mixed Wet Media," Water Resources Research 40, no. 7, W07406 (2004): doi:10.1029/2003WR002627.
65. Picard G and Frey K: "Method for Modeling Transport of Particles in Realistic Porous Networks: Application to the Computation of NMR Flow Propagators," Physical Review E 75 (2007): 066311.
66. Knackstedt MA, Arns CH, Limaye A, Sakellariou A, Senden TJ, Sheppard AP, Sok RM, Pinczewski VW and Bunn GF: "Digital Core Laboratory: Properties of Reservoir Core Derived from 3D Images," paper SPE 87009, presented at the SPE Asia Pacific Conference on Integrated Modelling for Asset Management, Kuala Lumpur, March 29-30, 2004.