PNGE 312

Reservoir Rock & Fluid Properties/Lab

MWF: 10:00-10:50 AM, R: 02:00-05:00 PM (Lab)
Vincent Science Center 212

Mohammad Kazemi

mo.kazemi@sru.edu
Office: VSC 104C
Office Hours: MWF: 11:00 AM-12:00 PM and R: 12:00-01:00 PM
(724)738-4958

Welcome to PNGE 312, Reservoir Rock & Fluid Properties/Lab. This document contains all the
information you need to know about the course. Your job is to read this document carefully in the
first week of class and familiarize yourself with how the course works and maintain that familiarity
throughout the semester.
Prerequisites: EGEO 201 and PHYS 211 and MATH 225
Credit Hours: 4
Appointments: You don’t need an appointment for office hours; just drop in. If you need a face-
to-face meeting outside of office hours, there will be special times set up for appointments during
the week; those will be announced once office hours are set.
Texts:
• Petroleum Reservoir Rock and Fluid Properties, Second Edition, Abhijit Y. Dandekar

Course Description: The overall objective of the course is to provide the student with basic
understanding of the petroleum reservoirs rock and fluid properties; and expand his/her ability
to perform quantitative calculations related to fluid storage capacity, fluid-flow performances of
reservoirs, and fundamental properties of reservoir fluids using both theoretical and experimental
instructions.

Course Objectives:

At the completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Learn the nature of a petroleum reservoir, reservoir forming rock types and their petrographic
properties, geological processes that affect rock properties and fluid contents; sampling and
testing methods and temperature and pressure effects on reservoir properties.

• Use the basic forms of Darcy’s law governing single-phase fluid flow in porous media, including
the systems of units commonly used, and learn to calculate flow rates and pressure differentials
given specific sets of boundary conditions.

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 • Extend the use of Darcy’s law in non-uniform permeability and other heterogeneities empha-
sizing serial and parallel permeability averaging methods.

• Solve two-phase flow problems in terms of relative permeability, residual saturation and frac-
tional flow.

• Use petrophysical testing methods and improve their capabilities for experimental projects.

• Explain boundary tension and wettability and their effect on capillary pressure, describe
methods of determining values of capillary pressure, and convert laboratory capillary pressure
values to reservoir conditions.

• Describe methods of determining fluid saturations in reservoir rock and show relationship
between fluid saturation and capillary pressure.

• Define resistivity, electrical formation resistivity factor, resistivity index, saturation exponent,
and cementation factor and show their relationship and uses; discuss laboratory measurement
of electrical properties of reservoir rocks; and demonstrate the calculations necessary in ana-
lyzing laboratory measurements.

• Define effective permeability, relative permeability, permeability ratio; reproduce typical rel-
ative permeability curves and show effect of saturation history on relative permeability; il-
lustrate the measurement of relative permeability; and demonstrate some uses of relative
permeability data.

• Demonstrate the techniques of averaging porosity, permeability, and reservoir pressure data.

• Understand the viscosity and density of petroleum fluids.

• Perform experimental measurements of rock and fluid properties.

What does success look like in this course?

I want you to be successful in this course. I will do my utmost to help you do this, by creating
and maintaining a learning environment based on challenge and support and giving my highest
professional commitment to your success and well-being. But, but I cannot do success for you. This
comes from cooperation with me, interaction with your classmates, and diligent effort throughout
the course.
To be successful in the course, you need to make sure you are always giving an effort to do the
following:

• Prepare for class.

• Attend all class meetings and participate actively in class activities.

• Be proactive in completing course work and avoid procrastination in all things.

• Maintain awareness of course announcements and calendar events at all times, by checking
email, D2L, and the course calendar on a several-times-a-day basis.

• Take initiative to seek out help when you are stuck or have a question using office visits,
study groups, and whatever else works for you.

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 • Maintain a positive attitude about the class and what you are learning.

Graded Work and Course Grades in PNGE 312

Your course grade in PNGE 312 will be determined by the quantity and quality of evidence you
can provide that you have mastered the concepts of the course. There are five primary kinds of
assignments that will provide that evidence:

Assignment What it is How it’s graded

Pre-class Quizzes
Number of quizzes = all Theses quizzes are taken from Pass or Fail: You should be able to
sessions reading assignment announced answer at least 50% of questions in
in previous session. It will in- order to pass.
clude the material you will learn on
the day of quiz. Quizzes over defini-
tions, theorem statements, and ba-
sic computations. They are given
from Foundational Knowledge
section.
End-of-class Quizzes
Number of quizzes = all Theses quizzes are taken from Satisfactory (S) or Progressing (P)
sessions materials taught on the day of
quiz. It will include the material
you have learned on the day of
quiz. Quizzes over definitions, the-
orem statements, and basic compu-
tations. They are given from Foun-
dational Knowledge section.
Challenge Problems Take-home assignments that ex- EMRN rubric, a four-level rubric
tend the basics to solve challenging that marks the work with grades of
problems E (”Excellent” or ”Exemplary”), M
(”Meets Expectations”), R (”Needs
Revision”), or N (”Not assessable”).
The visual below shows how these
are assigned.
Group Project Several groups are formed and EMRN rubric, a four-level rubric
projects are assigned. Project top- that marks the work with grades of
ics will be assigned later in the E (”Excellent” or ”Exemplary”), M
semester. It will familiarize you (”Meets Expectations”), R (”Needs
with real world problems. Revision”), or N (”Not assessable”).
The visual below shows how these
are assigned.
Exams There will be two exams (one Pass or Fail
midterm and one final exam)
.
.

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 Figure 1: EMRN rubric.

How Your Grade is Calculated?

In order to get D:
• Understand related Foundational Knowledge (see the Appendix) tasks. These tasks will come
in the form of Pre-class and End-of-class Quizzes and are marked with red D in detailed
learning goals section (see the Appendix). You should earn Satisfactory grade in 70% related
End-of-class quizzes and Pass at least 50% of the pre-class quizzes.

• Earn Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M) on lab assignments.

• Midterm and final exams only required if you did not get S grade in quizzes or, did not pass
the pre-class quizzes.
In order to get C:
• Finish requirements for D grade.

• Understand related Foundational Knowledge (see the Appendix) tasks. These tasks will come
in the form of Pre-class and End-of-class Quizzes and are marked with red C in detailed

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 learning goals section (see the Appendix). You should earn Satisfactory grade in 90% related
End-of-class quizzes and Pass at least 50% of the pre-class quizzes.

• Finish related Application tasks with grades Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M). These
tasks will come in the form of Challenge Problems and Exams and are marked with red C in
detailed learning goals section (see the Appendix).

• Earn Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M) on group project.

• Earn Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M) on lab assignments.

• Midterm and final exams only required if you did not get S grade in quizzes or, did not pass
the pre-class quizzes or, did not obtain E or M grades in related Application tasks.

In order to get B:

• Finish requirements for C and D grades.

• Understand related Foundational Knowledge (see the Appendix) tasks. These tasks will come
in the form of Pre-class and End-of-class Quizzes and are marked with red B in detailed
learning goals section (see the Appendix). You should earn Satisfactory grade in all related
End-of-class quizzes and Pass at least 50% of the pre-class quizzes.

• Finish related Application tasks with grades Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M). These
tasks will come in the form of Challenge Problems and Exams and are marked with red B in
detailed learning goals section (next section).

• Earn Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M) on group project.

• Earn Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M) on lab assignments.

• Midterm and final exams only required if you did not get S grade in quizzes or, did not pass
the pre-class quizzes or, did not obtain E or M grades in related Application tasks.

In order to get A:

• Finish requirements for B, C, and D grades.

• Understand related Foundational Knowledge (see the Appendix) tasks. These tasks will come
in the form of Pre-class and End-of-class Quizzes and are marked with red A in detailed
learning goals section (see the Appendix). You should earn Satisfactory grade in all related
End-of-class quizzes and Pass at least 50% of the pre-class quizzes.

• Finish related Application tasks with grades Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M). These
tasks will come in the form of Challenge Problems and Exams and are marked with red A in
detailed learning goals section (next section).

• Earn Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M) on group project.

• Earn Excellent (E) or Meet Expectation (M) on lab assignments.

• Midterm and final exams only required if you did not get S grade in quizzes or, did not pass
the pre-class quizzes or, did not obtain E or M grades in related Application tasks.

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 Revision Process

At the heart of the learning process in PNGE 312 is a system of submission and revision of your
work that will allow you make improvements to your work based on instructor feedback. Most
grades on work are not final; you will have the chance on almost every submitted item to revise
and resubmit to improve its quality. First let’s detail how to submit your work in the first place.

• Submission of Work
Quizzes (Foundational Knowledge) are taken at the class. For challenge problems that are
take-home assignment, you will need to submit it to D2L. I will submit your grades (EMRN
rubric) on D2L. Projects need to be submitted to Dropbox section of D2L.

• Revision
You can revise any Foundational Knowledge tasks (Quizzes) as often as you need
(with some restrictions; see below) until you are satisfied with the results.
The following restrictions apply to Quizzes revisions:

– Requests for in-class retakes of Quizzes must be made by sending me an email by the
stated deadline in order to allow sufficient time to construct and copy the correct batch
of assessments. Requests that come in after the deadline will be declined.
– For students seeking C or D grade: You are required to earn satisfactory grade on end-
of-class quizzes and pass 50% of pre-class quizzes. If student fails to retake any
unsatisfactory quizzes by midterm, s/he needs to take the midterm exam.
The exam will contain all unsatisfactory quizzes, failed pre-class quizzes, and R or N
grade challenge problems. Same rule applies for second half of the semester. If student
fails to retake any unsatisfactory quizzes by final, s/he needs to take the final exam.

Revising Application problems (Challenge Problems): All Challenge Problem assessments

must be attempted during a designated assessment period first. Once this has been done,
if the grade is Revision Needed or Not Assessable, you can revise the Challenge Problem
assessment with some restrictions.
The following restrictions apply to Challenge Problems:

– A token (see below) must be spent to revise any submission of a Challenge

Problem that is marked ”N” (Not Assessable). Token is the course currency
and is described in below section. This is in place to ensure students do not submit
incomplete or significantly flawed work just to get feedback.
– No more than two Challenge Problem submissions per week may be made. This
can be two new submissions, a new submission and a revision, or two revisions. A
third submission may be made if a token (course currency) is spent (see below). This
restriction is in place to ensure that students don’t procrastinate until the end of the
course to work on these assignments.

• Tokens Tokens are a ”currency” in the course that you can use to purchase exceptions to
the course rules, especially the rules for revisions. Each student begins the course with five
tokens, and tokens can purchase any of the following:

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 – One token buys a third Problem Solving Challenge item (new submission or revision)
during a given week. Further tokens may not be spent to obtain fourth, fifth, etc.
submissions.
– A token must be spent to revise any submission of a Challenge Problem that is marked
”N” (Not Assessable).

Opportunities to earn more tokens may be made available during the semester. You can
earn a token by attending any Fall 2018 College Success Workshops.

Course Policies

• General

– Computers are not to be used unless instructed to do so.

– Quizzes and exams are closed book, closed notes.

• Academic Integrity

– The integrity of the classes offered by any academic institution solidifies the founda-
tion of its mission and cannot be sacrificed to expediency, ignorance, or blatant fraud.
Therefore, I will enforce rigorous standards of academic integrity in all aspects and as-
signments of this course. For the detailed policy of Slippery Rock University regarding
the definitions of acts considered to fall under academic dishonesty and possible ensuing
sanctions, please see the Student Conduct Code: http://www.sru.edu/offices/student-
conduct/code-of-conduct.
– Students are expected to work independently unless otherwise instructed. Offering and
accepting solutions from others is an act of plagiarism, which is a serious offense
and all involved parties will be penalized according to the Academic Honesty
Policy. Discussion amongst students is encouraged, but when in doubt, direct your
questions to the professor, tutor, or lab assistant.
– Should you have any questions about possibly improper research citations or references,
or any other activity that may be interpreted as an attempt at academic dishonesty,
please see me before the assignment is due to discuss the matter.

• Attendance and Absences

– Attendance is very important for this course. Please show up on time with the assigned
textbook. If you are not in class, whether excused or unexcused, you still must com-
plete any assignment or makeup quizzes. Except for truely exceptional circumstances,
late work is considered Not Assessable and you will have to use your tokens to submit
the assignment. If you are going to miss a class or quiz, please make arrangements
beforehand.

• ADA Compliance

– ”SRU is committed to accommodating students with disabilities and helping them to

achieve academic success.”

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 – If you are a person with a disability and anticipate needing any type of accommodation
in order to participate in this class, please advise me and make appropriate arrangements
with Office of Disability Services (724.738.4877). For more information on SRU’s Diver-
sity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives, please see: http://www.sru.edu/academics/academic-
services/services-for-students-with-disabilities

• Title IX

– Slippery Rock University and its faculty are committed to assuring a safe and productive
educational environment for all students. In order to meet this commitment and to com-
ply with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and guidance from the Office
for Civil Rights, the University requires faculty members to report incidents of sexual
violence shared by students to the University’s Title IX Coordinator. The only excep-
tions to the faculty member’s reporting obligation are when incidents of sexual violence
are communicated by a student during a classroom discussion, in a writing assignment
for a class, or as part of a University-approved research project. Faculty members are
obligated to report sexual violence or any other abuse of a student who was, or is, a
child (a person under 18 years of age) when the abuse allegedly occurred to the per-
son designated in the University protection of minors policy. Information regarding the
reporting of sexual violence and the resources that are available to victims of sexual vio-
lence is set forth at:http://www.sru.edu/offices/diversity-and-equal-opportunity/sexual-
misconduct-and-victim-resources.

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Tentative Course Outline:
The weekly coverage might change as it depends on the progress of the class. However, you must
keep up with the reading assignments.

Week Content
• Introduction to course and syllabus
Week 1 • Coring methods
• Reading assignment: Textbook chapter 1 and 2.

Week 2 • Porosity
• Reading assignment: Textbook chapter 3

Week 3 • Absolute permeability

• Reading assignment: Textbook chapter 4

Week 4 • Fluid Saturation

• Reading assignment: Textbook chapter 6

Week 5 • Electrical and mechanical properties of reservoir rocks

• Reading assignment: Textbook chapter 5
• Interfacial tension and wettablity
Week 6 • Reading assignment: chapter 8
• Midterm Exam on Friday October 5th

Week 7 • Capillary pressure

• Reading assignment: chapter 8
Week 8 • Relative permeability
Week 9 • Review of all rock properties and catchup

Week 10 • Introduction to petroleum reservoir fluids

• Reading assignment: chapter 10

Week 11 • Phase behavior I

• Reading assignment: chapter 11

Week 12 • Phase behavior II

• Reading assignment: chapter 12

Week 13 • PVT analysis

• Reading assignment: chapter 15
• Project submission and oral presentation (submission due November
Week 14 19th)
• Review session
• Reading assignment: Review for Final Exam

Week 15 • Review sessions

• Final exam on Wednesday December 12th from 1-3 PM.

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Appendix
Detailed Learning Goals for Rock&Fluid Props/Lab:

Long-term:
A year or more after this class is over, I hope that all students will be able to apply their knowledge
to other petroleum engineering courses such as Properties of Petroleum Fluids, Reservoir Engineer-
ing, Drilling Engineering, and Production Engineering.

Foundational Knowledge: Students should be able to explain in their own words and give ex-
amples of the following key PNGE concepts (YOU MAY NOT NEED TO DO ALL THESE
PROBLEMS. THE RED LETTERS SHOWS THE GRADE LEVEL OF THE TASK.
PLEASE CHECK THE GRADING SECTION.):

• —-Chapter 2—-

• Name the coring methods, D

• Describe each coring method, D

• Coring method issues, C

• Name core types, D

• Describe each core type, D

• Allocation of core data, D

• Types of core tests, D

• Description of core tests, C

• —-Chapter 3——

• Significance and definition of porosity, D

• Porosity types and their definitions, D

• Porosity classification based on mode of origin, D

• Name parameters affecting porosity, D

• Methods of determining porosity of reservoir rock, D

• Porosity determination using routine core analysis, C

• Helium porosimeter operation concept, C

• Vacuum saturation method, B

• Liquid saturation method, B

• Grain volume measurement, D

• Nonconventional methods of porosity measurement, A

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• Typical porosity values, B

• —-Chapter 4—-

• Definition of absolute permeability, D

• Linear flow Darcy’s equation assumptions, C

• Permeability unit, D

• Darcy’s law description, D

• Laboratory measurements of absolute permeability using liquids, C

• Laboratory measurements of absolute permeability using gases, C

• Klinkenberg effect, B

• Factors affecting absolute permeability, D

• Factors affecting absolute permeability descriptions, C

• Permeability and porosity of different rocks, B

• —-Chapter 5—-

• Rock stress definition, D

• Rock strain definition, D

• Factors affecting stress-strain relationship, B

• Naming the rock mechanics parameters, D

• Description of rock mechanics parameters, C

• General description of laboratory measurements of rock strength, D

• Detailed laboratory measurements of rock strength, A

• Rock total, matrix, bulk, and pore compressibility definitions, D

• Importance of rock resistivity, D

• Formation factor concept, D

• Tortuosity concept, D

• Cementation factor concept, D

• Resistivity index definition, C

• Effect of clay on electrical properties, A

• —-Chapter 6—-

• Saturation definition and significance, D

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• Distribution of fluid saturation in reservoir, D

• Laboratory measurements of fluid saturations (name with small description), D

• Retort distillation principle, B

• Dean-Stark extraction principle, B

• Special types of fluid saturations and their definitions and concepts, D

• Factors affecting fluid saturation determination, A

• —-Chapter 7—-

• Dependence of Interfacial tension, wettability, capillary pressure, and relative permeability,

C

• Interfacial and surface tension definitions, D

• Interfacial and surface tension descriptions, C

• Effect of pressure and temperature on Interfacial tension, B

• Laboratory measurements of Interfacial tension, D

• Wettability definition, concept, and importance, D

• Effect of rock lithology on wettability, A

• Practical aspects of wettability, D

• Measurements of rock wettability, A

• Name factors affecting wettability, D

• Describe factors affecting wettability, C

• Relationship between wettability and irreducible water saturation and residual oil saturation,
B

• —-Chapter 8—-

• Capillary pressure concept, D

• Dependence of capillary pressure on rock and fluid properties, A

• Imbibition and drainage concepts, D

• Laboratory measurements of capillary pressure overview, D

• Laboratory measurements of capillary pressure descriptions, B

• Concepts on characteristics of capillary pressure curves, A

• —-Chapter 9—-

• Fundamental concept of relative permeability, D

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 • Discussions on typical relative permeability curves, B

• Laboratory measurements of relative permeability, C

• Factors affecting relative permeability, A

• —-Chapter 10—-

• Different reservoir fluid types, D

• Chemistry of petroleum basic concepts, D

• Chemistry of petroleum advanced concepts, C

• Solid components of petroleum names, D

• Solid components of petroleum descriptions, C

• Five reservoir fluid types properties, C

• Unconventional oil properties, B

• Other hydrocarbon fluids of interest, A

• —-Chapter 11—-

• Phase behavior concept, D

• Definition of terms, D

• —-Chapter 12—-

• Brief description of phase behavior of five types of petroleum fluids, D

• Detailed description of phase behavior of five types of petroleum fluids, C

• Advanced details on phase behavior of petroleum fluids, A

• Saturated vs. undersaturated reservoirs, D

• Production trends of five reservoir fluids, A

• —-Chapter 15—-

Application: Students should be able to (YOU MAY NOT NEED TO DO ALL THESE
PROBLEMS. PLEASE CHECK THE GRADING SECTION. THE RED LETTERS
SHOWS THE GRADE LEVEL OF THE TASK.):

• —-Chapter 3—-

• Porosity calculations, C

• Cubic packing diagram and its porosity, C

• Rhombohedral packing diagram and its porosity, C

• Porosity averaging methods, C

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• —-Chapter 4—-

• Mathematical description of Darcy’s law in differential format, C

• Linear flow Darcy’s law derivation, B

• Linear flow Darcy’s equation calculation, D

• Inclined flow Darcy’s law, C

• Radial flow Darcy’s law, C

• Permeability averaging methods, C

• Permeability of fractures and channels, B

• Darcy’s law in field units, D

• Derivation of Darcy’s law in field unit, A

• Klinkenberg effect diagram, B

• Klinkenberg effect calculations, B

• Effect of overburden pressure on absolute permeability, A

• Porosity and permeability relationships (Kozeny), C

• —-Chapter 5—-

• Rock stress calculations, C

• Rock strain calculations, C

• Rock stress-strain diagram, C

• Rock mechanic properties calculations, B

• Rock total matrix, bulk, and pore compressibility calculations, C

• Generalized Humble formula, D

• Formation factor-porosity diagram, B

• Archie’s equation, D

• Resistivity index calculations, B

• —-Chapter 6—-

• Mathematical expressions of fluid saturation, D

• Special types of fluid saturation calculations, C

• Saturation averaging, C

• Laboratory measurements of Interfacial tension calculations, D

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• —-Chapter 7—-

• Wettability formulation, C

• —-Chapter 8—-

• Capillary pressure calculations, B

• Rise of liquid in capillaries and the Plateau equation, B

• Converting laboratory data of capillary pressure to reservoir condition, C

• Determining water saturation in reservoir from capillary pressure data, B

• Capillary pressure variation, B

• Averaging capillary pressure data, A

• —-Chapter 9—-

• Mathematical expressions for relative permeability, C

• Relative permeability curve drawings, B

• Use of relative permeability data, A

• —-Chapter 11—-

• Phase diagrams of pure component, D

• Phase diagrams of binary systems, B

• Phase diagrams of multicomponent systems, A

• Construction of phase envelope, A

• —-Chapter 12—-

• Black oil phase diagram, C

• Volatile oil phase diagram, B

• Gas condensate phase diagram, B

• Liquid dropout of gas condensate, A

• Wet gas phase diagram, C

• Dry gas phase diagram, C

• Behavior of petroleum fluids in two-phase region, B

• —-Chapter 15—-

• Ideal and real gas equations of stateD

• Compressibility factors determination, C

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• Gases density and specific gravity, D

• Mixture composition and apparant molecular weight, C

• Critical temperature and pressure of mixtures,B

• Pseudocritical properties from gas gravity, B

• Effect of nonhydrocarbon components on pseudocritical properties,B

• Determination of compressibility factors of gas mixtures, B

• Dry gas properties calculations, D

• Wet gas properties calculations, C

• Black oil and voalatile oil properties calculations, B

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