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Estimating Hydraulic Conductivity from Reservoir Resistivity Logs, Northern Western Desert, Egypt

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Abstract

Hydraulic conductivity—the ease with which a fluid moves through porous Earth materials—can be used to confirm zonation in water or petroleum reservoirs. A long-standing question is whether hydraulic conductivity can be estimated from other parameters. In this paper, we demonstrate a method for estimating the hydraulic conductivities of rock strata in the Qarun oil field (Egypt), which are of paramount importance for: (1) any further water flooding project (secondary recovery) using resistivity logs; (2) reservoir simulation, engineering, and management; and (3) flow unit and heterogeneity analysis of the reservoir. We obtained open-hole well resistivity data from the Lower Bahariya Member, in addition to petrophysical evaluations for selected core samples, and then we calculated estimates of hydraulic conductivity from resistivity values. Sandy zones within the formation exhibited high measured values of hydraulic conductivity values in contrast to the lower values exhibited by carbonate intervals. Our calculated values of hydraulic conductivity were very similar to measured values. Therefore, we conclude that the wideness or tightness of pore systems can be evaluated for different sedimentary rock types using resistivity logs alone, hence the flow properties of a reservoir can be assessed.

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Acknowledgements

We express our sincere thanks to the Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI) and Qarun Petroleum Company (QPC), who graciously provided the data that are the basis of this article. We also express our sincere thanks to the two anonymous reviewers.

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The authors declare that no funds, grants, or other support were received during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Conservation and Survey Division, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA

    Mohamed A. Khalil & R. M. Joeckel

  2. Exploration Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

    Mostafa G. Temraz

  3. Production Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

    Osama M. Elnaggar & Hesham H. Abuseda

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  1. Mohamed A. Khalil
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  2. Mostafa G. Temraz
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  5. Hesham H. Abuseda
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection and analysis were performed by MAK, OME, MGT and HHA. The first draft of the manuscript was written by MAK and RMJ, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mohamed A. Khalil.

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Khalil, M.A., Temraz, M.G., Joeckel, R.M. et al. Estimating Hydraulic Conductivity from Reservoir Resistivity Logs, Northern Western Desert, Egypt. Pure Appl. Geophys. 179, 4489–4501 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-022-03178-7

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