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

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.