Primary Production Mechanisms

¾ Water Drive Reservoir Mechanism

¾ Gas Cap Drive
Review
¾ Solution Gas Drive
¾ Gravity Drainage
¾ Combination Drive

Fluid Expansion in an
Under-Saturated Reservoir
Bottom Water Drive Reservoir

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 Water Drive
Water Drive
(Hydraulic Control,
(Hydraulic Control, Water
Water Encroachment)
Encroachment)

‰ Mechanism

¾ Aquifer Supports Reservoir Pressure

¾ Fluid Withdrawal Equals Fluid
Replaced by Aquifer
¾ Oil Displaced Vertically from the Oil-
Water Contact (OWC)

Edge Water Drive Reservoir

Water Drive
Water Drive Water Drive
Water Drive
Main Producing
Main Producing Characteristics
Characteristics
‰ Problems
Pi
¾ Heterogeneity may limit aquifer
support to portion of reservoir Pressure

‰ Recovery Efficiency
GOR
¾ High with proper management of Rsi
withdrawal rates, +50% of OOIP W.C

PI’
PI’s usually more reliable Time

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 Exploitation Schemes to Utilize
Drives
Water Drive
• Obviously many factors have to be considered in ‰ Waterflood Considerations
developing a reservoir:
– well spacing,
– completions, ¾ Strong, large aquifer may provide
– test data and sampling, production rates, etc.
sufficient energy
• Developing a field on a certain well spacing before
determining the drive mechanism is a gamble. ¾ Weaker aquifers benefit from pressure
• In fill wells have to be drilled to determine geologic maintenance water injection
reservoir limits and to obtain rock and fluid data ¾ Edge water injection
• General concepts present some guidelines for planning ¾ Supplements natural reservoir energy
completions in the types of reservoirs

Water Drive reservoir in a thin sand Water Drive reservoir

with a high angle of dip thick sand and low angle of dip
• Best be developed with irregular well-spacing • Completion intervals should be located high on the
because of the structural characteristics structure to permit long producing life while oil is
displaced!!2, to completion intervals, by invading water
• Completions should be made high on the from below
structure to delay encroachment of water into
producing wells.

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 Gas Cap Drive Reservoir

Gas Cap Drive Reservoir

Gas Cap Drive

Main Producing Characteristics Gas Cap Drive
Pi = Pb GOR ‰ Mechanism
Press
ure
¾ Gas expansion displaces oil
Rsi ¾ Large, gravity segregation
W.C compressed gas cap exist
Time

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 Gas Cap Drive Reservoir
Sand Is Thick. Dip Angle Is Low and the gas cap is
completely underlain by oil
Gas Cap Drive
• Wells may be spaced on ‰ Recovery Efficiency
a regular pattern,
• Completions should be ¾ moderate 25% – 45 % of OOIP
made low in the section to
permit the gas cap to ‰ Waterflood Consideration
expand and drive oil ¾ Not a good waterflood candidate
down for maximum
recovery with minimum
gas production ¾PIfairly reliable at lower drawdowns
(more so than for solution drive)

Gas Cap Drive Reservoir

thin sand with a high angle of dip

• More efficiently controlled

with completions spaced
irregularly but low on the
structure, to conform to
the shape of-the
reservoir
• With a high angle of dip,
a regular spacing pattern
may cause many
Combination Drive Reservoir completions to be located
too near the gas-oil
contact.

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 Solution Gas Drive
Solution Gas Drive ‰ Mechanism

Reservoir ¾ Oil under high pressure with much gas

in solution
¾ Above bubble point (P(Pb), fluid, rock
expansion are primary energy
¾ Below the bubble point, gas evolution
and expansion is primary energy source
¾ Gas evolved in reservoir displaces oil

Solution Gas Drive

Characteristics
 Rapid Pressure Decline

 Low Initial GOR, Rapid Increase To Max.

Peak

 Little or no Water Production Solution Gas Drive Reservoir

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 Solution Gas Drive Solution Gas Drive
Main Producing Characteristics
‰ Problems
Pi
¾ Below Pb,
Pb, gas mobility is very high

G
¾ Gas bypasses oil

O
R
Pb
¾ Produce with high GOR
¾ Rapid depletion of reservoir energy Pre
ssu
re
Rsi
‰ Recovery Efficiency W.C
¾ Very low, 10% - 25% of OOIP
Time
PI is not reiable for very low Pwf

Solution Gas Drive Reservoir

With Low Structural Relief Solution Gas Drive
• Well completions can ‰ Waterflood Considerations
be made in a
regularly spaced
pattern throughout ¾ Good candidate for waterflooding
the reservoir. ¾ Waterflood with pressure near
• And, provided the Pb so that gas saturation is less
rock is not stratified,
they can be• low in than the critical gas saturation
the reservoir bed

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 solution gas drive reservoir
with a high angle dip
Gravity Drainage Drive
• Regular spacing
‰ Recovery Efficiency • Completion
¾ Moderate +45% of OOIP intervals should be
structurally low
‰ Waterflood Consideration because of the
¾ May not be good waterflood candidate angle of structural
due to unfavorable mobility ratio dip

Gravity Drainage Drive

‰ Mechanism

¾ Density difference in reservoir

fluids is primary energy source
¾ Requires thick reservoir with good
vertical permeability or steeply
dipping reservoir
Gravity Drainage Reservoir

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 Gravity Drainage Drive Gravity Drainage Drive
‰ Problems ‰ Problems

¾ Oil pushed into gas cap area forms ¾ Slow process of oil migration that
irreducible oil saturation which will controls production rates
be lost to production ¾ Gas must migrate up structure to
fill space occupied by oil
¾ Gas coning and GOR limit ¾ Reservoir may contain heavy oil
production rates

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 Types of Natural Energy
Improved Recovery Methods
Sources
V Water Injection or Waterflooding V Fluid Expansion Drive
V Solution Gas Drive
V Gas Injection
V Gas Cap Drive
V Steam Injection
V Water Drive
V Combustion V Combination Drive

Geologic Factors.
Geologic Factors. Geologic Factors.
Geologic Factors.
Layering. Fingering
Layering. Fingering Layering. Fingering
Layering. Fingering
• If the reservoir is stratified • In thin or highly stratified
either by shale breaks or beds, early breakthrough
variations in permeability or "fingering" (movement
of fluid parallel to
• it probably will be bedding planes) of free
necessary to be sure that gas "down" from a gas
each member is drained. cap, or water "Up" from a
Some vertical staggering water basin is always a
of completion intervals possibility when multiple,
can be effected during thin completion intervals
development, to secure are produced at high
rates
proportionate withdrawals
from various strata.

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