A new method for permeability estimation from conventional well logs in glutenite reservoirs

Abstract

Permeability is one of the most important petrophysical parameters in formation evaluation. In glutenite reservoirs, the traditional permeability estimation method from conventional well logs cannot provide satisfactory results due to the characteristic of strong heterogeneity resulting from the wide variety of clastic grains and the extremely complex percolation network. In this paper, a new method for estimating permeability from conventional well logs is developed. On the basis of previous research, a simple method for estimating the flowing porosity of the Maxwell conductive model via well logs is proposed and then a 'flowing permeability' equation is established by using the equivalent parameters of geometry and flowing porosity. The form is similar to that of the Kozeny-Carman model for characterizing permeability. Based on the Maxwell conductive model, threshold theory, conductive efficiency theory and core analysis data, a new method to calculate the permeability of glutenite reservoirs by using float porosity is built up through deduction and analysis of the Kozeny-Carman equation, and field application to a glutenite reservoir shows that the result of the proposed method in this paper is accurate and reasonable.