Donaldson Erle C. - Petrophysics: theory and practice of measuring reservoir rock and fluid transport properties

Fourth Edition

Djebbar Tiab

Erle C. Donaldson

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First edition 1996

Second edition 2003

Third edition 2012

Fourth edition 2015

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ISBN: 978-0-12-803188-9

Djebbar Tiab

This book is dedicated to my late parents, four children, two brothers, and sister. Last but not least, it is dedicated to my three ex-wives: brainy and compassionate Teresa, beautiful Twylah, and crazy Salima for giving me the best years of their lives (their 20s).

This 4th edition is dedicated to AUST (African University of Science and Technology) in Abuja, Nigeria, where, in spite of many challenges, a few dedicated men and women are making the dreams of many Africans become a reality.

Erle C. Donaldson

I am pleased to dedicate this book to my children and to the most important woman in my life, my wife Grace M. Donaldson, MFA, who has assisted my endeavors with her wonderful gift of professional art. I am also pleased to dedicate this book to the late Robert T. Johansen for his encouragement, inspiration, and contributions to the field of enhanced oil recovery.

The 4th edition includes a new chapter totally dedicated to the petrophysical evaluation of shale-gas reservoirs. The main topics included in this chapter are: rock evaluation pyrolysis, vitrinite reflectance, effective and total porosity, gas in place, recovery factor, Langmuir isotherm, TOC, and permeability. The 4th edition also introduces the calculation of the pore-size distribution from high-pressure (1000-100,000 psi) capillary pressure data.

Expanded text explanations supported by laboratory experiments and corresponding computer programs, make this edition a more student-oriented volume, as well as an engineering reference. Several of the chapters were revised to incorporate advances in petrophysics that have led to new developments in field technology and reservoir testing. Basic well-log interpretation, accompanied by computer programs, were revised for a greater student introduction to the arts of modern well-log interpretation and imaging technology.

The fundamental intent of the book is to present a lucid explanation of the theories and concepts of petrophysics that are the basis for laboratory procedures used by field engineers to implement better procedures and technology for maximum production of gas and oil. Petrophysics is at the heart of economic reservoir development and production. It employs a combination of reservoir characterization, mathematical modeling, and engineering technology to open the potential of old oil fields that were abandoned with 50-60% of the original oil still in place, and to unlock the vast hydrocarbon reserves in unconventional reservoirs, such as tight sands and shale formations.

The authors are especially indebted to academician Dr. George V. Chilingar, Professor of Environmental and Petroleum Engineering at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, who acted as the technical, scientific, and consulting editor.

They can never thank him enough for his prompt and systematic editing of this book. He is forever their friend.

Djebbar Tiab is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Oklahoma. He has served as a Professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Oklahoma from 1977 to 2014. He is also the General Manager and Owner of the training and consulting company UPTEC (United Petroleum Technology LLC), based in Norman, Oklahoma. He has taught graduate petroleum engineering courses, as a visiting professor, at the African University of Science and Technology (AUST) in Abuja, Nigeria, since 2008.

He received his B.S. (May 1974) and M.S. (May 1975) degrees from the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, and PhD degree (July 1976) from the University of Oklahoma all in petroleum engineering. Before joining the University of Oklahoma in 1977, he worked as a Research Associate and as an Assistant Professor at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology. Dr. Tiab has taught courses covering all aspects of reservoir engineering, production, well test analysis, and reservoir characterization. He worked for over 2 years in the oil fields of Algeria for Alcore, S.A., an association of Sonatrach and Core Laboratories. He also worked and consulted for Core Laboratories and Western Atlas in Houston, Texas, for four years (1990-1993) as Senior Reservoir Engineer Advisor.

Dr. Tiab is the author/co-author of over two hundred sixty (260) conference and journal technical papers in the areas of pressure transient analysis, dynamic flow analysis, petrophysics, natural gas engineering, reservoir characterization, reservoir engineering, and injection processes. In 1975 (MS thesis) and 1976 (PhD dissertation), Tiab introduced the pressure derivative technique, which revolutionized the interpretation of pressure transient tests. He developed patents for Core Lab in the area of reservoir characterization (identification of flow units). He has also co-authored three research books entitled Productivity Equations For Oil Wells and Petroleum Reservoir Characterization-Well Connectivity , published by VDM Publishing House Ltd. in June and July 2009, and Analytical Solutions To Productivity And Pressure Transient Equations , published by VDM & Lap Lambert Academic Publishing AG & Co. in August 2010.