Electrical Resistivity

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Invasion profile for oil saturated formation drilled with

water based mud.
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Fluid mixing in a well

drilled with oil-based
mud

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(Rmf > Rw)

ILd after 408 hrs

SFL after 408 hrs

Brine
sand
LWD after 300 hrs

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LWD @ time

LWD versus Wireline

Active fluid movement during logging. MSFL1 was run 1.5hrs prior to MSFL2.
HC are migrating back into the flushed zone.

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Why we need to worry about Electrical Properties?

To compute Sw of the formation
To calculate HCPV
Factors that influence Resistivity of Natural Porous Media:
Salinity of water
Porosity
Stress
Temperature
Pore geometry
Rock Composition
Wettability
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(Chapter 1, pp 1-24)
(Chapter 5 , pp 92 -128)
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Range of Resistivity Variations for Terrestrial Materials

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Resistivity:
I

r
The resistivity of a rock () is given by:

= r (A / L)

r=E/I
where r = resistance (ohms)
A = Cross sectional area (meters2)
L = Length (meters)
= resistivity (ohm-meters)
{ If the sample dimensions are expressed in cm the unit of resistivity
becomes ohm-cm. 1 ohm-m = 100 ohm-cm.}
Reciprocal of resistivity is called conductivity (mho/m or mho/cm, siemens/m).
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Formation factor (F) is defined as the ratio of resistivity of a porous

rock (R0) saturated with 100% brine of resistivity Rw
F = R0 / Rw
Archie first proposed a relationship between formation factor and porosity
F = 1 / m
Log F = -m Log

m = -Log(F) / Log()

where m is the cementation exponent ( range 1 to 3)

A more general form of the above equation is :

m is the slope of the line and a = value

of F at = 1. Note that in the above
equations value of porosity is fractional.
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Log F

F = a -m

..
.
Log

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a is generally > 1.
m values are a function of mineralogy, cementation, compaction and
geometry.
m and lithology:
Tubes
Sphere
Unconsolidated rocks
Poorly cemented sands
Well cemented sands
Vuggy carbonates

1.0
1.3
1.3
1.6 - 1.7
2.0 - 2.2
2.5 - 3.0

m increases with surface area to grain volume ratio, roughness of

grains, cementation and compaction, size, and amount of vugs.
m decreases with porosity.
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Humble Formula
(Unconsolidated sst)

F=

0.62

2.15

Chevron:
a=1.13 m=1.73
Carbonates:
a=1 m=2.2 - 2.5

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a
1
.81
.62
1.97
2.45
1.45

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m
2
2
2.15
1.29
1.08
1.70

n
2
2
2
2
2
2

Remarks
Carbonates
Cons. sands
Humble, uncons. sands
Miocene sands
Pliocene sands
Calcareous sands

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More considerations:
In clean rocks m is independent of salinity
In shaly rocks m is not independent of salinity
m decreases with clay content
m in lab should be determined on core saturated with 100% brine
with similar salinity as the formation water salinity and at reservoir
P & T conditions
Why is m value important?
It strongly influences the determination of Sw. If the value of m
is larger than the actual m value, then Sw is too high and pay
could be missed.
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Resistivity Index:
Swn = R0 / Rt
Substituting R0 from Archies equation:
= aRw / Rt m
or

Sw = (aRw / Rt m)1/n

where Sw is the water saturation

Rt is the true resistivity of the formation with HC and water
Rw is the resistivity of brine
n is the saturation exponent
The ratio Rt/Ro is referred to as Resistivity Index IR.
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IR = Rt/Ro = Sw -n

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log IR = -n log Sw

Log IR

IR will be one when the pore fluid is just brine as Rt = Ro. It will be
larger than one when hydrocarbons are present in addition to brine.
A plot of IR versus Sw on a log scale gives a straight line of slope -n.

Log Sw

RI is dependent on a number of factors such as:

- HC saturation
- Brine salinity
- Distribution and type of clays
- Pressure
- Wettability
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Formation water resistivity:

Formation water resistivity vary widely. Several method are available to calculate Rw
- Chemical analysis of produced water
- Direct measurement in resistivity cell
- Using Empirical equations
The best method is direct measurement of resistivity.
Resistivity of water is controlled by amount and type of ions present and temperature.
Salinity is a measure of concentration of dissolved salts in water and is generally
expressed as parts per million, grains/gallon or grams/liter.
1 grain/gallon = 17.118 ppm = .017118 grams/liter
NaCl is the most common dissolved salt in formation water; the concentration of other
dissolved ions is generally converted to equivalent concentration of sodium chloride;
n

C = MiCi
i=1

Where C is the equivalent concentration of NaCl in ppm

Mi is the weighting multiplier
Ci is the concentration of different ions, ppm
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Given: Formation water sample with solids concentrations of Ca=460ppm,

sulfate = 1400ppm, and Na plus Cl =19,000 ppm. Find the
equivalent NaCl concentration.
Total solid concentration = 460+1400+19,000 = 20,800ppm
From the chart, enter the x-axis at 20,860ppm and read the multiplier
value for each of the solids curves from the y-axis.
Ca = .81, SO4=0.45 and NaCl =1
Therefore NaCl concentration = (460*.81)+(1400*.45)+(19000*1)
= 20,000 ppm

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Arps Equation
Rw(t 2 ) = Rw(t1)

T1 + 6.77
T 2 + 6.77

In the above equation temperature is

expressed in 0F and the reference
resistivity is taken at 75 0F that can
be calculated from the following
equation:

Rw =

1
+ 0.0123
4
2.74x10 C

where C is the salt concentration in

ppm and Rw is in ohms-m.

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Class Exercise:

1.

The resistivity of a clean, consolidated sandstone is10 ohm-m. If the rock

porosity and formation water resistivity are 15% and 0.05 ohm-m respectively,
determine whether the rock is HC bearing and, if so, to what extent.

2.

A clean limestone water-bearing formation displays a true resistivity of 7.0

ohm-m and formation water resistivity is 0.02 ohm-m. Give your best estimate
of formation porosity.
An adjacent oil-bearing limestone zone displays a resistivity of 28 ohm-m.
Give your best estimate of oil saturation.
To do the above calculation you had to opt for several assumptions. What are
these assumptions and how do you justify them.

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Resistivity - Shaly-Sand
Shale effects depend on :
- the distribution of the clay material
- the type of clay material
- the amount of clay material
- the salinity of the formation water, and
- the water saturation

Distribution:

The above diagram illustrates three different ways clay minerals may
be distributed. Laminar shale can occur as layers of compacted clay,
mudstone, and/or siltstone and meets the model definition provided it
has zero effective porosity.
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Structural shale is a term used to describe random replacement of27
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grains of primary matrix material with fragments of lithified reworked shale.

Dispersed shale is an inexact term used to describe clay overgrowths on
sand grains.These clay particles reduce both porosity and permeability.
In addition to the above three models two more model, electrochemical
model and dual water model, are used to analyze resistivity in shaly sands.
Laminated shale model:

The thickness of each layer is small as compared to the vertical resolution

of the porosity and resistivity log devices. Thus, both porosity and resitivity
tools see an average that is not a true indicator of the properties of the
clean sand laminae.
In this model porosity measured by the density tool is expressed as:
D = Vlam Dsh + (1-Vlam) e
where
Dsh is the apparent density porosity in the shale and e is the28true
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porosity in the clean sand. A similar equation can be written for the neutron
log:
N = Vlam Nsh + (1-Vlam) e
Combining the above two equations:

NshD DshN
e =
(Nsh Dsh ) (N D )
Vlam

N D
=
Nsh Dsh

The model for water saturation in laminated shaly sand is considered to

be layers of shale and sand in parallel, therefore the total rock conductivity
is the weighted sum of the conductivities of its components :
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Ct = csand(1-Vlam) + CshVlam

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If Csand is considered the conventional Archie conductivity, then

Csand =

S
m
e

n
w

aR w

1
Csh =
R sh

Hence, Sw will be related to the other parameters by:

Vlam
1 (1 Vlam )x S
=
+
Rt
aR w
Rsh
m
e

n
w

1 Vlam
aR w
S =
m
R t Rsh e (1 Vlam )
n
w

If e is available from a neutron density crossplot, it should be used. If only one

porosity device is available, the density porosity is preferred and e may be
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approximated
as D/(1-Vlam), where Vlam is estimated from GR or SP. 30
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Dispersed Shale Model:

Dispersed shale model proposes that clay fines and clay overgrowths on
the sand grains progressively replace pore space. This results in high
surface areas in sands on which large amount of water can be adsorbed.
Thus, high water saturations are likely to be calculated if Archies clean
model is used.

The maximum value of Vdis is equal to the original porosity, but the volume
of matrix material remains unchanged. In this model:

D = e + VdisDsh
N = e + VdisNsh
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By combining the above two:

NshD DshN
e =
Nsh Dsh
N D
Vdis =
Nsh Dsh
This model considers the total porosity to be filled with a mixture of clay slurry
of resistivity Rdis and free water and hydrocarbons, if any. Thus, the total
formation conductivity is considered to be the sum of an Archie term referred
to the total porosity (i.e. both the interconnected pores and the slurry filled
pores) and a clay fraction.

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Ct =
S we

T2S2wT
aR w

T S wT Vdis 1
a

Rdis

Rw

T
= 1 (1 S wT )
e

For practical purpose T, e and Vdis can be calculated from the neutrondensity crossplot. Rdis may be calculated at the shale point as Rsh Tsh2

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Structural Shale Model:

This model proposed that the grains of the sand matrix are progressively
replaced with grains of shales. To the extent that the replacement grains
may have a different grain density and hydrogen index, this process will
have effect on neutron and density response. The maximum theoretical
fraction of shale in this case is (1- e).

D = e + (1 e )VstrDsh
= e + (1 e )VstrNsh
N

From the above two the following can be calculated:

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DNsh NDsh
e =
Nsh Dsh
N D
Vstr =
Nsh (1 D ) Dsh (1 N )
The electrical model for this case assumes that in addition to the Archie
term a simple shale-conductivity term can be added such that:

1 emSnw Vstr
=
+
Rt
aR w Rsh
1 Vstr aR w
S =
m
R t Rsh e
n
w

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If in doubt about the shale distribution the approach is to use so-called

total-shale model relationship:

emSnw
VshS w
1
=
+
R t aR w (1 Vsh )
Rsh
Field experience has shown that this equation works fairly well for many
shaly formations and equations like these are gaining more acceptance.
Note that the above equation reduces to Archies equation for Vsh =0..
The above equation can be expressed as:

ASw2 +BSw + C = 0
where A denotes the combined effect of the amount of sand, porosity,
cementation and the resistivity of the saturating fluid. B denotes the
combined effect of the amount of shale and its resistivity, C is the reciprocal
of the total resistivity of the shaly-sand system.
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2 Vsh
1
m
=0

Sw +
Sw
Rt
aR w (1 Vsh )
Rsh
The positive root of the above equation gives water saturation
for most of the shaly sandstones independent of the distribution of the shale:
0.5
2
m

Vsh Vsh
aR w
4

+ 2 +
Sw =

m
2 Rsh Rsh aR wR t

The above expression is referred to as Simandoux equation.

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Fertl & Hammack equation:

1/ 2

FRw
Sw =

Rt
Clean sand

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Vsh Rw

0.4e Rsh
Shale effect

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Electrochemical and dual water models

The ability of a crystal surface to adsorb water by finding the number of
sites available for ionic exchange is referred to as the cation exchange
capacity (CEC). In general, higher the surface area of a crystal higher its
CEC.

In the electrochemical model, the excess conductivity is related to

the CEC of the shale present. Waxman and Smith (1968) proposed
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the following for the shaly sand:
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BQ S w
1
S2w
= *
+
*
Rt F Rw
F
Where F* is the formation factor of the interconnected porosity, Sw also
relates to the interconnected pores, B is the equivalent conductance of the
sodium clay-exchange cations as a function of the formation water
conductivity, and Q is the CEC of the rock per unit pore volume.

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