
Márquez-Codina et al .    142 
 
Rev. Téc. Ing. Univ. Zulia. Vol. 44, No. 3, September-December, 2021. 
 
Introduction 
 
To  estimate  the  STOOIP,  it  is  required  to  know  the  Sw  at  the  initial  reservoir  conditions.  Well  logs 
(resistivity) are often affected by fluids drainage of the reservoir; additionally, old resistivity curves had problems of 
not  being  focused  and  having  a  poor  vertical  resolution  (Rider  and  Kennedy,  2011),  for  which  laboratory 
experiments are convenient to  represent the reservoir saturation  history or the hysteresis phenomenon, being  the 
special core analysis, such as Pc drainage tests, capable of simulating the initial reservoir conditions.  
 
According to Valenti et al. (2002), when the Pc curves are observed together, different shapes of these are 
appreciated, as well as dispersion of data, representing the heterogeneity of the reservoir. This behavior suggests that 
the data should be classified according to the sample rock quality (Obeida et al., 2005; Xu y Torres, 2012). 
 
The purpose of this research was to determine the Swi model, based on Pc by rock type, of a siliciclastic 
reservoir in the Maracaibo basin, to improve the estimation of the STOOIP. Results are based on core and log data 
processing and analysis; these consisted on the description of the rock types present in the reservoir, classification of 
Pc curves by rock type, selection of the model that best fit and represented the reservoir data, generation of water 
saturation equations, comparison of the Sw curves of the proposed model with the log-derived in the first drilled 
wells, as well as the contrast of the STOOIP in an area of the reservoir, obtained from the Sw model, with the log- 
derived Sw (Obeida et al., 2005; Paradigm and Epos, 2011; Xu and Torres, 2012). 
 Materials and Methods 
 
Phase I: information gathering and validation  
 
Data  were  collected  and  validated  from  the  reservoir  (due  to  confidentiality  rules  of  the  PDVSA  company,  the 
original names of the reservoir, study area and  wells have been changed), cored  wells,  among  which  stand  out: 
routine or conventional core analysis (RCA) to determine rock types and special core analysis (SCAL) such as Pc 
drainage tests to determine the Swi model, as well as conventional logs. A robust database was generated using a 
petrophysical software. 
 
Phase II: description of rock types based on statistical parameters 
 
It  was  used  the  Flow  Zone  Indicator  (FZI)  methodology  of  Amaefule  et  al.  (1993),  based  on  porosity  ()  and 
permeability (k) data, corrected by overburden pressure, in accordance with Jones (1988). The FZI was calculated for 
all  the  samples  using  Equations  1,  2  and  3,  and  results  were  analyzed  using  statistical  tools,  which  allowed 
identifying the rock types present in the reservoir. 
Reservoir Quality Index:
                                                                       (1) 
Where, : effective porosity (fraction); k: permeability (md) 
Normalized Porosity Index:  
-                                                                           (2) 
Flow Zone Indicator:  
                                                                                           (3) 
 
Phase III: preparation of Pc data and their relationship with the core-derived petrophysical properties 
 
In this phase, the data obtained from the drainage Pc tests were classified by rock type; previously, corrections were 
made to the data obtained from the laboratory Pc tests and converted to reservoir conditions. 
The equations to correct data by overburden pressure indicated by Paradigm and Epos (2011) are detailed below: 
 
Pc corrected by overburden pressure: 
                                                                (4) 
Where, : capillary pressure at laboratory conditions (psi); : porosity at initial reservoir conditions (fraction); 
: porosity at laboratory conditions (fraction).