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Previous HitCapillaryNext Hit Pressures--Their Interpretation and Use

Jeffrey B. Jennings

Previous HitCapillaryNext Hit pressure techniques have been available to the petroleum industry for over 40 years, but have been used primarily in engineering applications. With the search for petroleum becoming more difficult, exploration and development geologists should take a closer look at Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressures as another tool with which to improve the odds.

A Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressure curve is obtained by injecting mercury into a rock sample plug to produce a plot of injection pressure vs. mercury saturation. The resulting Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressure curve is a valuable piece of data for exploration and development. In exploration, the data can be used to "high-grade" prospects, define areas to concentrate further exploratory efforts, study oil migration, and make regional studies that can be used in much the same fashion as stratigraphic studies. All of these can be integrated into geological, geophysical, and engineering programs. In development, Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressure data can locate oil-water contacts, calculate oil columns, give relative permeabilities, define multiple reservoir systems, and explain some reservoir tilting. Stratigraphic traps result fr m Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressure differences, and understanding the concept of a "Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressure release valve" can help exploit this type of trap. For enhanced recovery programs, Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressures can provide a relatively inexpensive source of essential data.

By understanding Previous HithowNext Hit Previous HitcapillaryNext Hit pressures work within a reservoir and Previous HithowNext Hit they affect migration and entrapment, valuable insight can be gained and applied to the search for petroleum deposits. Previous HitCapillaryTop pressure data are neither difficult nor expensive to acquire and may yield answers unobtainable by any other method.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91033©1988 AAPG Rocky Mountain Section, Bismarck, North Dakota, 21-24 August 1988