FACTORS INFLUENCING POROSITY IN SANDSTONES

IN THE NIGER DELTA BASIN, NIGERIA

BY

OCHE STEPHEN ADAKOCHE

A thesis submitted to the postgraduate school of Rivers

State University of science and technology
in partial fulfillment of the requirements
for the degree of master of science

IN

APPLIED GEOPHYSICS

FEBRUARY, 2012

DECLARATIONS

I declare that this thesis is my original intellectual work, it has not been submitted before for
any degree or examination in any other university here in Nigeria or anywhere else in the
world.

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Name-----------------------------------

Date------------------------------------

ABSTRACT

Literally, it is assumed that reservoirs are homogenous but in practical situation they are not.
all sedimentary deposits however, have an inhomogeneity caused by distribution in time and
space of sedimentary facies and by compaction, cementation and the nature of pore filling
fluids etc. the porosity of sandstone in Niger delta basin is quite high, from 8% to 38%,
with an average of 18%. About 95% of the sandstone porosity in Niger delta is effective
porosity. if size of grain is not uniform, some small particles are mixed with larger sand
grains, the porosity will be reduced. Small grains of silt or clay within the sand are especially
detrimental because they fill the spaces that could otherwise be pores. Cementation and
dissolution processes continuously modify the pore structure to create or destroy porosity.
During the processes of subsidence and burial the weight of overlying sediment is likely to
change the sand accumulation. Initially these changes are generally a loss of porosity due to
compaction and later further loss due to mineralization or cementation. This study examines
some of these processes.

DEDICATION

This work is dedicated to the glory of God and to the memory of my late brother, Mr. Onehi
Agbam Oche.

CERTIFICATIONS
We the underlisted hereby certify that this thesis presented by Oche, S tephen
Adakoche, pg/2008/00660 has been examined and found to fulfill the requirement for the award
of the Master of Science (m.sc) in applied geophysics of the rivers state university of science and
technology, Nkpolo-Oworokwu, Port Harcourt.

-------------------------------Project supervisor

-----------------------Signature

-------------------------------Head of department

-----------------------Signature

-----------Date

-------------------------------Dean school of science

-----------------------Signature

-----------Date

-------------------------------External examiner

-----------------------Signature

-----------Date

-----------Date

ACKNOWLEGEMENT

First and foremost I would like to thank omnipresent God for answering my prayers, thank
you so much Dear Lord. Without you I am able to do nothing and my life would fall apart.

This thesis has been kept on track and been seen through to completion with the guidance and
the help of several individuals who in one way or another contributed and extended their
valuable assistance. I would like to thank all those who contributed to the success of this
thesis
I would like to express my sincere gratitude and appreciation to Dr Etim E. Uko, my
supervisor for his effort, guidance, devotion and advice during the entire study and the
preparation of the thesis. His good humour kept me sane through this rollercoaster
experience.

Many thanks are due to all academic and administrative staffs of physics department. I am
also very grateful to Professor S. E. Ananaba for his numerous help, his positive teaching
attitude and immense knowledge benefited me in many ways.
Many thanks to my friend and colleague, Zorasi Collins Baribor who inspired my final effort
despite the final work pressures we were facing together.
A special acknowledgment goes out to my brother, Sur. Obiabo Oche for his sacrifices in
order for me to achieve my goal. I have no doubt in my mind that without his continued
support I could not have completed this process.
Finally, I would like to thank everybody who was important to the successful realization of
the thesis, as well as expressing my apology that I could not mention names one by one.
Thank you for all that you have done for me.

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Title

Page

Declaration..........................................................................................................ii
Abstract.............................................................................................................iii
Dedication..........................................................................................................iv
Approval page......................................................................................................v
Acknowledgement................................................................................................vi
Table of content..................................................................................................vii
List of figures ....................................................................................................xiii
List of tables......................................................................................................xiv

Chapter one
Introduction ........................................................................................................1
Background of the study..........................................................................................1
1.1 Aim of the research ...........................................................................................2

1.2 Objective of the research.....................................................................................2

1.1 Scope of the research.........................................................................................2
1.2 Significance of the research.................................................................................3
Location and geology of the study area........................................................................3
1.3 Stratigraphy of the Niger Delta.............................................................................7

1.6.1 Akata formation.............................................................................................8

1.6.2 Agbada formation...........................................................................................8
1.6.3 Benin formation.............................................................................................9
1.7 Petroleum and its occurrence..............................................................................11
1.8 Source rock...................................................................................................14
1.8.1 Reservoir rock..............................................................................................17
1.9 Traps and seals...............................................................................................18
1.10 Petroleum generation and migration....................................................................19
1.11 Structural growth faults...................................................................................20

Chapter two
Literature review
2.0 Lithology.....................................................................................................22
2.1 Depobelts......................................................................................................23
2.2 Porosity........................................................................................................24
2.2.1 Porosity units...............................................................................................26
2.3 Classifications of porosity..................................................................................30
2.3.1 Effective porosity..........................................................................................30

2.3.2 Ineffective porosity........................................................................................32

2.4 Types of porosity............................................................................................33
2.4.1 Original (primary) porosity..............................................................................33
2.4.2 Induced (secondary) porosity...........................................................................33
2.5 Porosities in sandstones.....................................................................................34
2.5.1 Secondary porosity in sandstones......................................................................36
2.5.2 Sandstone reservoir.......................................................................................36
2.5.3 Sandstone diagenesis.....................................................................................38
2.6 Forms of porosity............................................................................................39
2.6.1 Matrix porosity.............................................................................................39
2.6.2 Fracture porosity...........................................................................................39
2.6.3 Vuggy porosity.............................................................................................40
2.6.4 Dual porosity...............................................................................................40

2.7 Principal factors controlling porosity.....................................................................40

2.7.1 Compaction.................................................................................................41
2.7.2 Compaction process.......................................................................................44
2.7.3 Components of compaction and porosity loss.......................................................45

2.7.4 Compaction trends with depth..........................................................................46

2.7.5 Compressibility of rock..................................................................................48
2.7.6 Grain rearrangement......................................................................................49
2.7.7 Grain deformation and brittle failure..................................................................49
2.8.0 Pressure solution...........................................................................................50
2.8.1 Relative importance of the diagenetic processes...................................................50
2.8.2 Influence of matrix content...............................................................................52
2.8.3 Cementation................................................................................................53
2.8.4 Quartz cementation.......................................................................................54
2.8.5 Cementation processes....................................................................................56
2.8.6 Early cement...............................................................................................56
2.9.0 Early grain coatings (clay................................................................................56
2.9.1 Cementation in sandstones...............................................................................57
2.9.2 Grain or particle size......................................................................................58
2.9.3 Effect of temperature.....................................................................................59
2.9.4 Effect of age................................................................................................59
2.10 Method of deposition......................................................................................59
2.11 Influence of size and sorting.............................................................................64

2.12 Influence of grain type ..................................................................................65

Chapter three
3.0 Methodology.................................................................................................66
3.1 Methods and materials......................................................................................66
3.2. 0 wireline logging and core analysis....................................................................66
3.2.1 Wireline logs..............................................................................................66
3.2.2 The density log.............................................................................................69
3.2.3 The neutron log............................................................................................71
3.2.4 The nmr log.................................................................................................71
3.2.5 Sonic log....................................................................................................72
3.3 Calculation of porosity from sonic log...................................................................73
3. 4 .0 Core analysis..............................................................................................76
3.4.1 Cuttings......................................................................................................78
3.5.0 Imbibition method.........................................................................................78
3.5.1 Measurement of pore volume by saturating fluid....................................................79
3.5.3 Gas expansion..............................................................................................70
3.5.5 Petrographic methods.....................................................................................81

3.5.6 Fluid displacement........................................................................................81

3.5.7 Archimedes method......................................................................................82
3.5.8 Porosity logs................................................................................................83

Chapter four
4.1 Results and discussions.....................................................................................84

Chapter five
5.0 Conclusions.................................................................................................107
5.1 Recommendations.........................................................................................108
References .......................................................................................................109

LIST OF TABLES
Table

page

Table 2.1: Range of Porosity Values.........................................................................28

Table 2.2: Reservoirs quality of rock materials.............................................................37

Table 2.3: Major diagenetic processes and their impact on porosity....................................51

Table 2.4: Cement in sandstones, associated water chemistry and derivation...................55
Table 3.1: Common lithology matrix travel times.........................................................73
Table 4.1: Core data of well 1..................................................................................85
Table 4.2: Core data of well 2.................................................................................86
Table 4.3: Core data well 3.....................................................................................87
Table 4.4: Log derived porosity Data for well 1............................................................88
Table 4.5: Log derived porosity data for well 2............................................................89
Table 4.6: Log derived porosity data for well 3............................................................90
Table 4.7: Well Log interpretation template for comparison.............................................91

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure

page

Figure 1.1 Map of Nigeria showing Niger delta..............................................................4

Figure 1.2: map showing the study area.......................................................................6
Figure 1.3: stratigraphic column showing the three formations of the Niger Delta..................10
Figure 1.4: petroleum province trend of Niger Delta. .....................................................12
Figure 1.5: Cartoon showing the coastline of the Niger Delta...........................................13
Figure 1.6: sequence stratigraphic model for Niger the...................................................15
Figure 1.7: Examples of Niger Delta oil field structures and associated trap types..............21
Figure 2.1: Rock matrix and Pore space......................................................................25
Figure 2.2: distribution of porosities for dolomite, shale and sandstone...............................29
Figure 2.3: effective and ineffective porosity in siliclastic sandstone..................................31
Figure 2.4: four components of sandstone...................................................................35
Figure 2.5: effect of compaction on porosity................................................................43
Figure 2.6: Diagram of diagenetic processes, subdivided into different categories of
processes...........................................................................................................45
Figure 2.7: Reduction of porosity of fine-grained sediments with burial..............................47
Figure 2.8: effect of particle size..............................................................................58

Figure 2.9: very well sorted grains............................................................................60

Figure 2.10: well sorted grains.................................................................................60
Figure 2.11: poorly sorted grains..............................................................................61
Figure 2.12: very poorly sorted grains........................................................................61
Figure 2.13: rhombic packing of sphere......................................................................62
Figure 2.14: cubic packing of sphere.........................................................................62
Figure 2.15: packing of two sizes of spheres................................................................63

Figure 3.1: Schematic of open hole evaluation...........................................................68

Figure 3.2: illustration of density log.........................................................................70
Figure 3.3: Schematic of borehole sonde showing ray paths for the two transmitter-receiver
sets..................................................................................................................74
Figure 3.4: Illustration of sonic log...........................................................................75
Figure 3.5: sidewall sampling gun............................................................................77
Figure 3.6: sidewall coring tool...............................................................................77
Figure 4.1: Porosity vs depth crossplot for well 1..........................................................92
Figure 4.2: Crossplot of core porosity vs log porosity for well 1........................................93
Figure 4.3: Porosity vs depth crossplot for well 2..........................................................94
Figure 4.4: Crossplot of core porosity vs log porosity for well 2........................................95
Figure 4.5: Porosity vs depth crossplot for well 3..........................................................96

Figure 4.6: Crossplot of core porosity vs log porosity for well 3........................................97