Instrumental and Laboratory Techniques for Wettability
Wettability of the pore surface is one of the important factors influencing the distribution and transport of various fluid phases and therefore the extent of formation damage in petroleum-bearing formations. Because the wettability of rocks is altered by the rock and fluid interactions and variations of the reservoir fluid conditions, prediction of its effects on formation damage is a highly complicated issue.
Although mineral matters forming the reservoir rocks are generally water-wet, deposition of heavy organic matter, such as asphaltenes and paraffines, over a long reservoir lifetime may render them mixed-wet or oil-wet, depending on the composition of the oil and reservoir conditions. Wettability may be expressed by various means, including the Amott and USBM indices. During reservoir exploitation, wettability may vary by various reasons.
For example, Burchfield and Bryant (1988) is an evidence of the alteration of the wettability of a water-wet berea sandstone to a stronger water-wet state in contact with microbial solutions. Madden and Strycker (1988) determined that the wettability of the Berea sandstone saturated with oils vary by their asphaltene and polar components content and temperature. Madden and Strycker (1988) depicts the shifting of the wettability curves by temperature.
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