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PETROPHYSICS – FMEV 2003

Porosity and Permeability Relationships
 INTRODUCTION
Since permeability depends on the continuity of pore space, there
is not in theory, or in fact , a unique relationship between the
porosity of a rock and its permeability.

For unconsolidated sands, it is possible to establish relationships

between porosity and either some measure of apparent pore
diameter or specific surface area and permeability. However,
these have very limited application.

In the same depositional and diagenetic environment, there is

sometimes a reasonable relationship between porosity and
permeability , although for a given posority permeabilities can
vary widely.
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 POROPERM RELATIONSHIP

The most obvious control on permeability is porosity. This is because larger

porosities mean that there are many more and broader pathways for
fluid flow. Almost invariably, a plot of permeability (on a logarithmic
scale) against porosity for a formation results in a clear trend with a
degree of scatter associated with the other influences controlling the
permeability.

For the best results these poroperm cross-plots should be constructed for
clearly defined lithologies or reservoir zones. If a cross-plot is constructed
for a whole well with widely varying lithologies, the result is often a
disappointing cloud of data in which the individual trends are not
apparent. Figure 3.6 shows a poroperm cross-plot for a clean sandstone
and a carbonate.

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It is clear from this figure that the permeability of the
sandstone is extremely well controlled by the porosity
(although usually there is more scatter than in this figure),
whereas the carbonate has a more diffuse cloud indicating
that porosity has an influence, but there are other major
factors controlling the permeability. In the case of
carbonates (and some volcanic rocks such as pumice),
there can exist high porosities that do not give rise to high
permeabilities because the connectivity of the vugs that
make up the pore spaces are poorly connected.
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 POROPERM
RELATIONSHIPS
Poroperm trends for different lithologies can be plotted together, and
form a map of poroperm relationships, as shown in Fig. 3.7.

It would be time consuming to describe the figure in detail, but

interpretation is not difficult. For example, fractured rocks fall above the
sandstones because their porosity (fracture porosity) is very low, yet
these fractures form very connected networks that allow the efficient
passage of fluids, and hence the permeability is high. Such permeability
may be directional because of preferred orientations of the fractures. By
comparison, clay cemented sandstones have high porosities, but the
porosity is mainly in the form of micro-porosity filled with chemically and
physically (capillary) bound water which is immobile. This porosity does
not take place in fluid flow, so the permeability is low.
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FIG. 3.7 POROPERM
RELATIONSHIPS

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It might be expected that grain size also has some control on

permeability. Figure 3.8 shows a poroperm cross-plot for a well in a
carbonate reservoir where the grain size, porosity and permeability
were measured for each core taken. Taking the data as a whole,
there is little in the way of a clear trend. However, trends emerge
when the individual grain size fractions are considered. Now it is
clear that rocks with smaller grain sizes have smaller permeabilities
than those with larger grain sizes. This is because smaller grain sizes
produce smaller pores, and rather more importantly, smaller pore
throats, which constrain the fluid flow more than larger grains which
produce larger pore throats.
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 METHOD OF ANALYSIS
(REGRESSION)
In many consolidated sandstone and carbonate formations, plots of core data
show that the logarithm of permeability (k) is often linearly proportional to
porosity (φ). The slope, intercept, and degree of scatter of these log(k) – φ trends
vary from formation to formation and these variations are attributed to
differences in initial grain size and sorting, diagenetic history and compaction
history. In unconsolidated sands, better sorting systematically increases both
permeability and porosity. In sands and sandstones an increase in gravel and
coarse grain size content causes k to increase even while decreasing φ.
Diagenetic minerals in the pore spaces of sandstones, such as cement and
some clay types, tend to decrease the log(k) proportionately as φ decreases.

Linear regression techniques are popular for establishing predictors of geological

variables because the methods are effective at predicting mean values, are fast
computationally, are available in statistical software packages, and provide a
means of assessing errors.

Where a and b are constants

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 CASE STUDY
To test the strength of the linear relationship
between log(k) and Φ, let us examine the data
from sandstone cores:
Sample Φ (%) k(mD) 21 10.4 3.4 44 16.6 0.52
number 22 13.7 2.1 45 16.1 0.087
1 31.2 2719 23 12.8 1.3 67 6.3 0.003
46 17.2 12.1
2 30.4 1382 24 12.2 7.3 68 19.8 0.499
47 22.5 5.97
3 24.8 3,3 25 11.7 4.8 69 31.3 139
48 19.6 1.72
4 28.5 215 26 17.2 91.9 70 25.7 12.6
49 12.7 0.063
5 33 151 27 16.7 190.4 71 14.7 1.68
50 15.2 0.93
6 31 426 28 18.6 424.9 51 19.1 20.3
7 30.3 1072 29 18.3 270.3 52 14.8 4.72
8 9.2 0,0012 30 18.3 137.3 53 20.5 45
9 22 32.1 31 16.3 28.5 54 20.5 45
10 22.8 83.2 32 15.6 200.5 55 23.9 663
11 20.4 4.56 33 17.2 36.5 56 23.8 591
12 19 311 34 16.4 243.2 57 22.9 511
13 18.6 7.47 35 18.3 337.3 58 21.6 478
14 20.9 20.5 36 18.1 39.9 59 22.2 131
15 21.7 52,5 37 14.9 64.6 60 22.3 1305
16 14.8 4.17 38 19.6 669.5 61 16.8 621
17 17.6 10.9 39 18.3 540.5 62 6.3 10.4
18 11.3 4.5 40 18.8 890.4 63 24.6 1425
19 11 3 41 17.8 429.8 64 24.3 2590
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20 10.1 2.8 42 16.1 0.011 65 20 0.849
43 18 0.52 66 21.9 6
 DATA ANALYSIS
Permeability - porosity correlation for sandstone cores.
10000

‫=ݕ‬0.0474݁^0.327‫ݔ‬
1000
ܴ^2=0.3514

100
Permeability (mD)

10

0.1

0.01

0.001
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Porosity (%)
From the graph, the linear regression for the porosity and permeability
correlation is expressed as the trendline and the associated equations.

‫=ݕ‬0.0474݁^0.327‫ݔ‬
This is the exponential equation of the trendline on the graph. For any given
porosity value (x-axis) the permeability (y-axis) can be determined and vice
versa.

ܴ2=0.3514
The R squared value obtained from the graph is called the coefficient of
determination. This R2 value is a correlation coefficient that indicates how
well data fits into a statistical model; the model in this case being that
porosity uniformly increases or decreases with permeability. The R2 value
usually ranges from 0 to 1 with 0 being no correlation and 1 being perfect
correlation between model and data. The R2 value obtained is 0.3514 which
is less than 0.5 meaning that the correlation is weak / poor.
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Nelson 1994, Ehrenberg and Nadeau 2005, Saunders et al., 2012)
 EXAMPLE OF POROPERM
ANALYSIS
The Figure 3.10 shows a plot of permeability versus porosity
data obtained from a large number of samples of a
sandstone formation. Even though this formation is generally
considered very uniform and homogeneous, there is not a
specifically defined trendline between permeability and
porosity values. In this case, the relationship between
permeability and porosity is qualitative and is not directly or
indirectly quantitative in any way. It is possible to have very
high porosity without having any permeability at all, as in the
case of pumice stone (where the effective porosity is nearly
zero), clays, and shales.
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The reverse of high permeability with a low porosity might also be true,
such as in micro-fractured carbonates. In spite of this fundamental lack
of correspondence between these two properties, there often can be
found a very useful correlation between them within one formation, as
shown in Figure 3.11
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Chilingarian showed that the granulometric composition of sandstones

influences the relationship between permeability and porosity. Figure
3.12 is a semilog plot of permeability versus porosity for (1) very coarse-
grained, (2) coarse and medium grained, (3) fine-grained, (4) silty, and
(5) clayey sandstones.
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Figure 3.13 shows typical permeability and porosity trends for various
rock types. Such a relationship is very useful in the understanding of
fluid flow through porous media. Many correlations relating
permeability, porosity, pore size, specific surface area, irreducible
fluid saturation, and other variables have been made. Some of these
relationships are presented here for the sole purpose of enabling the
reader to form a reasonable understanding of the interrelation of the
rock properties in petroleum reservoirs.
 SUMMARY
In summary, permeability:
• Depends upon porosity.
• Depends upon the connectivity of the flow paths in the rock.
• Depends, therefore, in a complex way upon the pore
geometry of the rock.
• Is a directional quantity that can be affected by
heterogeneous or directional properties of the pore
geometry.

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 PERMEABILITY
RELATIONSHIPS EQUATIONS
The complexity of the relationship between permeability and
pore geometry has resulted in much research. No
fundamental law linking the two has been found. Instead, we
have a plethora of empirical approximations for calculating
permeability, some of which are given in Table 3.2.

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 TUTORIAL

• Using the data file provided by your lecturer in excel.

Analyze this data and give an account of the
relationship between the porosity and permeability.
Comment on your results .

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 REFERENCES & ADDITIONAL
MATERIALS
• Ehrenberg, S and Nadeau, P. (2005). Sandstone vs. carbonate
petroleum reservoirs: A global perspective on porosity-depth and
porosity-permeability relationships. AAPG Bulletin, 89, 435-445.

• Nelson, P.H. (1994). Permeability-porosity relationships in

sedimentary rocks. The log analyst, 35.

• Saunders, L.J., Russel, R.A. and Crabb, D.P. (2012) The Coefficient
of Determination: What determines a useful R2 Statistic?
Investigative ophthalmology & visual science.53. 6830-6832.

• Tiab, D. and Donaldson E.C. (2004). Petrophysics: Theory and

Practice of measuring Reservoir Rock and Fluid Transport
Properties. Elsevier Publications

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