Predicting Permeability From Well Logs in Carbonates
With a Link to Geology for Interwell Permeability Mapping

Dr. James W. Jennings
Bureau of Economic Geology

ABSTRACT
A fundamental component in the construction of most reservoir performance models is an empirical relationship between permeability as measured in a limited number of cored wells and other petrophysical properties measured in well logs. This presentation describes a permeability model specially designed for carbonates. The model relates permeability to interparticle porosity, makes special accommodation for separate-vug porosity, and includes a rock-fabric classification scheme with an important dual petrophysical-geological significance.

The dual petrophysical-geological significance of the rock-fabric classification is important for providing a link to geological models for use in distributing permeabilities between wells. Porosity and permeability are highly variable and difficult to predict spatially in most carbonate reservoirs, but rock-fabric changes tend to be systematically organized in a predictable manner within a sequence stratigraphic framework.