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The evaluation of the reservoir wettability is fundamental to the understanding of fluid flow in porous media. Wettability has direct impact on saturation end points and the shape of capillary pressure and relative permeability curves. This will, in turn, directly affect the relative movement of the reservoir fluids and eventually affect the displacement efficiency of oil by the different injected fluids. Having reliable wettability data deems very necessary for reliable predictions of expected oil recoveries under different development options. The Amott and the USBM tests are the most commonly used methods for quantifying reservoir wettability. Combination of the two methods is also in use. In addition to the elaborate experimental effort and time required for these methods, the USBM method does not recognize very strongly water or oil wet systems, while Amott method fails to distinguish between important degrees of strong water and oil-wetness. This paper describes a new technique, the Rise in Core (RIC), wettability characterization method based on a modified form of the Washburn equation. It enables relatively quick, accurate measurements of wettability in terms of contact angle and not wettability index as the other methods do. The method is easy to use and requires no complex equipment. During the RIC experiments, core samples saturated with one reservoir fluid are subjected to imbibitions from a second reservoir fluid. As the imbibition process takes place, the core samples weight changes continuously due to adjustments in relative saturations of the two fluids. Monitoring the square of the core mass change with time using a high precision balance, the acquired data is analyzed with modified Washburn equation to determine the cores wettability. For the sake of assurance, RIC wettability measurements were compared to ambient conditions modified Amott-USBM measurements for a thick limestone oil reservoir using core plug pairs from different heights above the free water level. The results compare well. The RIC technique proved to be much simpler to construct, much faster to perform and much easier to analyze and interpret than traditional methods. Moreover, the method gives the operator a chance to evaluate the uncertainty in the wettability data. |
