GE OL. C ROAT. 49/2 34 1 ZAG REB 1996 

Ah..,fraCf - Nore 

Applications of the Petrophysical Properties of Oil and 
Gas Reservoirs for Exploration and Development 

Geology in Albania 

Dasham ir MEZINI and Gene MELONASHI 

Thorough comprehension of the way in which capi l­

lary pressure in a reservoi r affects hydrocarbon mi gra­
tion and entrapment is invaluable , if one is to learn and 
apply ne w me thodology in the search for hydrocarbon 
poo ls. T he method or capilla ry pressure has prio rit y in 
solvi ng some of the practical proble ms of exploration 
and development geology. This study present s the seg­
ment of capillary propert ies of oil and gas reservoirs as 
only one aspec t o f several yea rs' research of mo rc 
soph is ti cated and app licable me thods in petrophysics. 

A to tal of approxim ate ly 200 analyses of sandstone 
cores from the Albanian oil and gas fie lds were under­
taken during this study. T he f inal objecti ve of the study 
was three fold: 

to upho ld th e pct rop hysica l know ledge o f th e 
A lbanian sandstonc hydrocarbon reservoirs that was 
obtained bascd on rout ine paramcters; 

to resolve some debatab le prob lems of the domestic 
ex ploration and de ve lopm e nt geo logy of o il and 
gas; 

to mode l the sys te m "sea l - reservoir - oi l and gas 
satu ration " based on the pctrophys ica l prope rt ics. 

In re lation to the firs t aspect, a comparison has bcen 
made be tween capi llary parameters and rou tine paramc­
ters whi ch upholds previous conclusions: 

a) the vertical zonat ion o f the ph ys ica l prope rties o f 
the reservo ir ex is ts in the Pat os - Marinza mono­
c lin e, as well as in the Kw;ova sy ncl ine w ith the 
tre nd of properti es improving from the bottom of 
the reservoir upwards; 

b) the ven ical and late ra l heterogeneity of the distribu­
tion o f the pe trophysical prope rt ies both w ithin a 
bed a nd from the reservoir bed decreases from the 
bot tom of the reservoir upwards; 

c) the reservoi r propert ies are reduced in the vic inity of 
the pi nch-ou ts; 

Oit and Gas Institu te, Pctrophysical Departmcllt, Fief, Albania. 

d ) sati s fac tory correla tio n exist s between th e Kobe 
poros it y and irreducible wate r saturat ion. 

As faf as the second aspect is concerned , ane mpts 
have bee n made to reso lve the [a ll o wing proble ms 
usin g th e ca pil lary concepts combi ned wi th rese rvo ir 
geometry and struct ural , sedime nt o log ical and pe tro­
physical parameters: 

the problem of alte rnating gas-saturated and wate r­
sa turated beds in Messinian and To rtonian de pos its 
(Frahl l i-Divjaka-Ball aj); 

existence of ei ther the sharp hydroca rbon-water con­
tact or Ihe transilional zone; 

the hete rogeneous d is tr ibution of oi l and gas satura­
ti on with in a reservoi r, toge the r w ith the poss ible 
formation of a pe rmeabil ity barri e r within a reser­
vOir; 

the reservo ir-seal re lat ionship and ex pla natio n of 
filled and barren traps. 

Concerning the third aspect, an orig ina l solution for 
the mode lli ng of "sea l - reservo ir - oi l a nd gas satura­
tion" sys tem is reached. The mode ll ing cons ide red the 
nature o f the reservoi rs, the ir geome tric and hyd rocar­
bon sa turation fea tu res in combination with the pe tro­
phy sica l fac tors. Ni nc poss ible reservo ir types werc 
determined , throw ing some light on the explanati on or 
the irregular di str ibutio n of thc gas reservoi rs in the 
P liocene and Tortonian sediments. The aforcmc ntioned 
could be of practical inte res t, especia ll y when compared 
to the dry well analysis in attempts to predict ri sk. 

The technique of capillary pressure has g reat poten­
tia l for reso lving proble ms in pe tro le um exp lorat io n, 
a nd explo ration geolog is ts a fe e nco uraged to make 
themse lves fami li a r w ith this me thod , for it is the 
authors' be lief tha i it w ill make them Illore successful in 
discovering oi l and gas acculllu lations. 



342 Gcoiogi:1 Cronlic;l49/2