Petrophysics is about much more than oil

“Petrophysics” is a term not widely used in academic circles (at least in my experience), but it is one that is quite extensively used within the language of the oil and gas industry. So what is petrophysics exactly and what does it mean in an academic context? The summary that I most commonly come across goes like this:

“Petrophysics is the study of the physical (and chemical) properties of rocks and their interactions with fluids, and integrates downhole insitu data from logs with core and seismic data”

This is, in my view, a good definition. But I wanted to take it a step further by exploring a little history.

Petrophysics is a term generally linked to downhole (well) log measurements and their analysis (by petrophysicists) to evaluate rock properties. The Schlumberger brothers ran the first well log (or something close to it) in 1927 when they lowered an electric sonde down a well in Pechelbronn, Alsace, France to measure electrical resistivity. This was the first “down hole” measurement of rock properties using technology that Conrad Schlumberger had been developing since 1911. For a great history of the first well log and the road travelled by the Schlumberger brothers to start the international company we know today, see the Schlumberger website (definitely worth it for the pictures alone).

The first well log, September 5th 1927, Pechelbronn

So began the relationship between the rise of petrophysical analysis techniques and the growth of the oil and gas industry. Technological developments and new techniques have since stemmed from the needs of the industry and petrophysics remains a tool most commonly used for describing and analysing all aspects of the hydrocarbon system. In turn, this created a bias in the available technologies, with the majority of tools (at least originally) being designed for describing porous media and the quantities and nature of the fluids they contain.

The Schlumberger brothers

However. I would argue that, despite this ‘tool development’ the Schlumberger brothers are not the fathers of petrophysics. I would argue that this title belongs to Gus Archie, the author of two of the top 10 landmark papers in petrophysics and formation evaluation - including the famous Archie equation for determining water saturation ^[1]. The Schlumberger brothers were the first to develop and implement the technology, but it was Archie who was the first to understand the data. In his book “Practical Petrophysics”, Martin Kennedy discusses the history of the technique, stating that before Archie, petrophysical data were primarily used for qualitative interpretation of the sub-surface, such as identifying sands and sometimes distinguishing water and oil in pore space ^[2]. It was Archie who, in 1938, was charged by Shell's Texas-Gulf area production manager, D. B. Collins, with the task of understanding electrical logs ^[3]. And it was through this venture that Archie’s now-famous equation appeared in 1942 followed by the Archie’s first published use of the term “petrophysics” shortly thereafter in 1950 ^[4].

Gustave Erdman Archie (source)

In his 1950 paper Introduction to Petrophysics of Reservoir Rocks, Archie describes petrophysics as: “A term to express the physics of rocks. The term should be related to petrology as much as geophysics is related to geology. ‘Petrophysics’ is suggested as the term pertaining to the physics of particular rock types” ^[4].

It’s worth noting that this term may have been already used informally at the time, but as the first published example, I believe Archie should be credited with the definition.

So how does this definition differ? Martin Kennedy expands the definition with an explanation: “As a pure science its [petrophysics’] objective would probably be to explain why rocks have the properties they do. In particular how the relative amounts and arrangements of the minerals that comprise them determine their physical properties.” ^[2]

It is within this ‘why‘ that I think academic petrophysics can thrive. Petrophysics has its roots in understanding why rocks exhibit the physics that they do, and this is not limited to sands and mudstones (shales). While the majority of downhole tools are still biased toward characterising reservoir (sandstones) and cap rocks (mudstones) for hydrocarbon prospecting there are so many other useful tools, data and applications out there where petrophysical analysis can make a major contribution (more on that in the next blog).

All of the statements above are my own opinion.

Laurence Phillpot

1. Archie, G. E., 1942. The electricalresistivity log as an aid in determining some reservoir characteristics, Trans.AIME, 146, 54–67.
2. Kennedy, M.,2015. Practical petrophysics (Vol. 62). Elsevier.
3. Thomas, E.C.,1992. 50th Anniversary of the Archie Equation: Archie Left More Than Just anEquation. Log Analyst May–June, 199-205.
4. Archie, G.E.,1950. Introduction to petrophysics of reservoir rocks. AAPG bulletin, 34(5),pp.943-961.