Rock Wetting Condition Inferred from Dielectric Response

Wettability is a manifestation of rock-fluid interactions associated with fluid distribution in porous media. Conventional wettability evaluation is performed by a sequence of spontaneous and forced displacements of different fluids into a porous sample, a method which is costly and time consuming. A new attractive approach is to estimate this quantity from dielectric measurements, since they can be done rapidly and economically.The dielectric frequency response of several rock samples of known wettability condition was studied in the range from 10 Hz to 100 MHz. Samples were saturated with brine and oil. The results confirm the strong influence of wetting condition on dielectric response. Water wet samples have significantly higher values of and (real and imaginary parts of generalized complex permitivity) than oil wet samples. In particular, the high frequency behavior of is most affected. Different regimes are identified as a function of frequency. They correspond to zones where different polarization effects are manifested. We quantify this effect and find a correlation with the modified Amott wettability index. Based on these findings, we propose an experimental protocol for the indirect measurement of wettability at laboratory scale.