Introduction to

Capillary Pressure
Some slides in this section are modified from NExT PERF Short Course Notes, 1999.
However, many of the slides appears to have been obtained from other primary
sources that are not cited by NExT. Some slides have a notes section.
Determine fluid distribution in reservoir (initial conditions)
Accumulation of HC is drainage process for water wet
reservoirs (max possible HC saturation)
S
w
= function of height above OWC (oil water contact)
Determine recoverable oil for water flooding applications
Imbibition process for water wet reservoirs
Pore Size Distribution Index,
Absolute permeability (flow capacity of entire pore size
distribution)
Relative permeability (distribution of fluid phases within the
pore size distribution)
Reservoir Flow - Capillary Pressure included as a term of flow
potential for multiphase flow
Input data for reservoir simulation models
Applications of Capillary
Pressure Data
DRAINAGE AND IMBIBITION
CAPILLARY PRESSURE CURVES
Drainage
Imbibition
S
i
S
m
S
wt
P
d
P
c
0 0.5 1.0
Modified from NExT, 1999, after
DRAINAGE
Fluid flow process in which the saturation
of the nonwetting phase increases
Mobility of nonwetting fluid phase
increases as nonwetting phase saturation
increases
IMBIBITION
Fluid flow process in which the saturation
of the wetting phase increases
Mobility of wetting phase increases as
wetting phase saturation increases
Four Primary Parameters
S
i
= irreducible wetting phase saturation
S
m
= 1 - residual non-wetting phase saturation
P
d
= displacement pressure, the pressure
required to force non-wetting fluid into largest
pores
= pore size distribution index; determines
shape
DRAINAGE PROCESS
Fluid flow process in which the saturation of the nonwetting
phase increases
Examples:
Hydrocarbon (oil or gas) filling the pore space and
displacing the original water of deposition in water-wet rock
Waterflooding an oil reservoir in which the reservoir is oil
wet
Gas injection in an oil or water wet oil reservoir
Pressure maintenance or gas cycling by gas injection in a
retrograde condensate reservoir
Evolution of a secondary gas cap as reservoir pressure
decreases
IMBIBITION PROCESS
IMBIBITION
Fluid flow process in which the
saturation of the wetting phase increases
Mobility of wetting phase increases as
wetting phase saturation increases
Examples:
Accumulation of oil in an oil wet reservoir
Waterflooding an oil reservoir in which the reservoir is
water wet
Accumulation of condensate as pressure decreases in
a dew point reservoir
Flow
Units
Gamma Ray
Log
Petrophysical
Data
Pore
Types
Lithofacies Core
1
2
3
4
5
Core
Plugs
Capillary
Pressure

vs k
P
c
vs. S
w
Function
Reflects Reservoir Quality
High Quality
Low Quality
Function moves up
and right, and
becomes less L
shaped as reservoir
quality decreases
Effect of Permeability on Shape
Decreasing
Permeability,
Decreasing
A
B
C
20
16
12
8
4
0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
Water Saturation
C
a
p
i
l
l
a
r
y

P
r
e
s
s
u
r
e
Modified from NExT 1999, after xx)
Effect of Grain Size Distribution on Shape
Well-sorted
Poorly sorted
C
a
p
i
l
l
a
r
y

p
r
e
s
s
u
r
e
,

p
s
i
a
Water saturation, %
Modfied from NExT, 1999; after )
Decreasing
The pressure difference existing across
the interface separating two immiscible
fluids in capillaries (e.g. porous media).
Calculated as:
P
c
= p
nwt
- p
wt
CAPILLARY PRESSURE
- DEFINITION -
Where:
P
c
= capillary pressure
P
nwt
= pressure in nonwetting phase
p
wt
= pressure in wetting phase
One fluid wets the surfaces of the formation
rock (wetting phase) in preference to the other
(non-wetting phase).
Gas is always the non-wetting phase in both
oil-gas and water-gas systems.
Oil is often the non-wetting phase in water-oil
systems.
Capillary Tube - Conceptual Model
Air-Water System
Water
Air

h
Considering the porous media as a collection of capillary tubes provides useful
insights into how fluids behave in the reservoir pore spaces.
Water rises in a capillary tube placed in a beaker of water, similar to water (the
wetting phase) filling small pores leaving larger pores to non-wetting phases of
reservoir rock.
The height of water in a capillary tube is a function of:
Adhesion tension between the air and water
Radius of the tube
Density difference between fluids
aw
aw
g r
h

=
cos 2
CAPILLARY TUBE MODEL
AIR / WATER SYSTEM
This relation can be derived from balancing the upward force due to adhesion
tension and downward forces due to the weight of the fluid (see ABW pg 135).
The wetting phase (water) rise will be larger in small capillaries.
h = Height of water rise in capillary tube, cm

aw
= Interfacial tension between air and water,
dynes/cm
= Air/water contact angle, degrees
r = Radius of capillary tube, cm
g = Acceleration due to gravity, 980 cm/sec
2

aw
= Density difference between water and air, gm/cm
3
Contact angle, , is measured through the more dense phase (water in this
case).
Rise of Wetting Phase Varies with
Capillary Radius
WATER
AIR
1
2 3 4
Ayers, 2001
CAPILLARY TUBE MODEL
AIR/WATER SYSTEM
Air
Water
p
a2
h
p
a1
p
w1
p
w2
Water rise in capillary tube depends on the density difference of fluids.
P
a2
= p
w2
= p
2
p
a1
= p
2
-
a
g h
p
w1
= p
2
-
w
g h
P
c
= p
a1
- p
w1
=
w
g h -
a
g h
= g h
Combining the two relations results in the following
expression for capillary tubes:
r
P
aw
c
cos 2
=
CAPILLARY PRESSURE AIR / WATER
SYSTEM
CAPILLARY PRESSURE OIL / WATER
SYSTEM
From a similar derivation, the equation for
capillary pressure for an oil/water system is
r
P
ow
c
cos 2
=
P
c
= Capillary pressure between oil and water

ow
= Interfacial tension between oil and water, dyne/cm
= Oil/water contact angle, degrees
r = Radius of capillary tube, cm