Petroleum Reservoir Engineering Practice

Chapter 2. Permeability and Relative Permeability

2.1 Introduction

Permeability is a measure of the ability of a porous medium, such as reservoir rock, to transmit fluids through its system of interconnected pore spaces. If the porous medium is completely saturated (100% saturated) with a single fluid, the permeability measured is the absolute permeability. Absolute permeability is an intrinsic property of the porous medium, and the magnitude of absolute permeability is independent of the type of fluid in the pore spaces. When the pore spaces in the porous medium are occupied by more than one fluid, the permeability measured is the effective permeability of the porous medium to that particular fluid. For instance, the effective permeability ...