Relationships among low frequency (2 Hz) electrical resistivity, porosity, clay content and permeability in reservoir sandstones

• Low-frequency resistivity measured on a large number of sandstones
• Correlations between resistivity and petrophysical parameters analyzed
• Various models implemented to compare to the data
• Electrical properties related to elastic properties via clay distribution

The improved interpretation of marine controlled source electromagnetic (CSEM) data requires knowledge of the inter-relationships between reservoir parameters and low frequency electrical resistivity. Hence, the electrical resistivities of 67 brine (35 g/l) saturated sandstone samples with a range of petrophysical properties (porosity from 2% to 29%, permeability from 0.0001 mD to 997.49 mD and volumetric clay content from 0 to 28%) were measured in the laboratory at a frequency of 2 Hz using a four-electrode circumferential resistivity method with an accuracy of ± 2%. The results show that sandstones with porosity higher than 9% and volumetric clay content up to 22% behave like clean sandstones and follow Archie's law for a brine concentration of 35 g/l. By contrast, at this brine salinity, sandstones with porosity less than 9% and volumetric clay content above 10% behave like shaly sandstones with non-negligible grain surface conductivity. A negative, linear correlation was found between electrical resistivity and hydraulic permeability on a logarithmic scale. We also found good agreement between our experimental results and a clay pore blocking model based on pore-filling and load-bearing clay in a sand/clay mixture, variable (non-clay) cement fraction and a shaly sandstone resistivity model. The model results indicate a general transition in shaly sandstones from clay-controlled resistivity to sand-controlled resistivity at about 9% porosity. At such high brine concentrations, no discernible clay conduction effect was observed above 9% porosity.