Basic Reservoir Concepts

By
V S Chimmalgi
(GT 2005 19-7-05: For Internal Circulation only)

Course Content:
1. Introduction
1.1 Petroleum reservoir

2 Rock Properties
2.1 Porosity
2.2 Isothermal compressibility of rock
2.3 Saturation
2.4 Interstitial or Connate Water Saturation
2.5 Capillary forces
2.6 Wettability
2.7 Capillary pressure
2.8 Permeability

3 Reservoir Fluid properties

3.1 Gravity of oil
3.2 Solution Gas-oil Ratio (Rso)
3.3 Formation volume factor (FVF –Bo)
3.4 Isothermal Compressibility of Oil
3.5 Formation volume factor for Gas ( Bg)

4 Fluid flow in reservoirs

4.1 Well-bore damage and improvement effects

5 Phase behavior and Classification of Reservoirs

6 Reserve Estimation Method
6.1 Volumetric method:
6.2 Material balance
6.3 Decline curve analysis
6.4 Simulation
7. Enhanced oil recovery

References:
1. Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering by L P Dake
 2. Applied Petroleum Reservoir Engineering tool, B.C.
Craft & Hawkins
3. Applied Reservoir Engineering , Smith, Tracy, Farrar
1. Introduction
Petroleum deposits occur in a variety of ways and forms both as surface deposits and
subsurface deposits. These deposits are found on all continents and regions, although the
abundance of finding may vary very widely. Oil and gas seepages, tar asphalt or bitumen
are various forms of petroleum that occur at the surface of the ground. The subsurface
occurrences can be classified as Pools, Fields and Provinces.

Pool is a body of oil or gas or both found underground occurring as a separate reservoir
and under a single pressure system.

Field Constitute several such pools having a single geologic feature. For example
Gandhar and Ankleshwar fields having many major and minor pools.

Petroleum province is a region, in which a number oil and gas pools and field occur in a
similar geologic region like Southeastern Oklahoma, Kansas, Western Texas of US and
Upper Assam and South Gujarat in India

1.1 Petroleum Reservoir

The petroleum reservoir is that portion of the rock that contains the
pool of petroleum. A reservoir consists of four essential elements, a)
The reservoir rock b) reservoir pore space c) reservoir fluids and d)
reservoir trap.

The reservoir rock is that material in which oil and gas are found. Oil
and gas are chiefly found in sand stones, lime stones and dolomites
and are essentially sedimentary rocks. Out of all rocks lime stone and
dolomites contain the most of the world petroleum. Petroleum
reservoirs of Saudi Arabia, Iran and Mumbai High field of ONGC are
Lime stone reservoirs.

Maximum number of reservoirs is found in sand stones, however the

total quantity of petroleum produced from carbonate reservoirs is more
than that produced from sand stone reservoirs.

A sand stone or lime stone would qualify for becoming a petroleum

reservoir rock only when it is porous and the pores are interconnected.
These two essentials of a reservoir rock are defined as porosity and
permeability respectively. The pores provide space for storage of the
reservoir fluids while permeability of the rock gives the ability of the
rock to permit the flow of petroleum fluids through it so that they could
be produced.
Oil, gas and water are the three fundamental fluids of a petroleum
reservoir. The properties of each of these fluids, the fluid – fluid
interaction and fluid – rock interactions play a very important role in
determining the recovery processes and how much can be recovered
from a given reservoir. For example a heavy oil and highly viscous
reservoir may need thermal recovery process for maximizing the
recovery.

Since oil and gas are lighter than water the petroleum fluids move
vertically and laterally within the rock stratum until it is barred from
further movement by an impervious rock which we generally call as
cap rock. A cap rock that is concave when viewed from the bottom
traps the oil and gas from escaping both laterally and vertically. Such a
trap is called structural trap. While the traps formed due to changes
in the lateral properties like permeability due to changes in the facies ,
truncations of sands due to faulting along with cap rocks constitute
Stratigraphic traps. Initially the petroleum exploration mainly
concentrated around finding out concave traps which we call them as
Anticlines. With the advent of advanced exploratory tools like 2D, and
3 D surveys more and more difficult stratigraphic traps are being
discovered.
 We will go through the Basic reservoir engineering concepts a reservoir
engineer makes use of for arriving at Fluids in place, recovery with
respect to time and other improved recovery processes to enhance the
recovery from the reservoirs.

2. Rock Properties
The study of the pore space and its characteristics is
termed petrophysics
The reservoir engineer is concerned with quantities of fluids contained
within the rock, the transmissibility of fluid through the rocks and other
related properties. Porosity, Permeability, isothermal compressibility
and fluid saturations are some of the very important properties of rock
which a reservoir engineer needs to take into consideration while
developing a petroleum reservoir.

2.1 Porosity
Porosity is a measure of the void space in a reservoir rock, which is
not occupied of by the solid framework of the rock. It is defined as the
ratio of the total void space to the total bulk volume of the rock. This is
also referred as Absolute porosity.

Total Volume of Void Space

φ= * 100
Total Bulk Volume

Effective porosity is the ratio of the interconnected void space that

contributes to fluid flow to the bulk volume of the rock. Effective
porosity is usually measured in the laboratory and used for calculation
of fluid flow.
 Interconne cted Pore Volume
φ =
eff * 100
Total Bulk Volume

Hydrocarbon porosity is the porosity that contains the hydrocarbon.

It is the total porosity multiplied by the fraction of the pore volume that
contains hydrocarbon.

Normally effective porosity is measured and reported. Reservoir

porosity can be measured directly from core samples using methods
like Boyles law porosometer, water saturation and organic liquid
saturation methods or indirectly using logs. However as core coverage
is rarely complete, logging is the most common method employed, and
the results are compared against measured core porosities where core
material is available. When there is variation in the porosity across the
reservoir, the average porosity is found on weighted volume basis.

The porosity of a rock depends on size and shape of grains, nature of

packing cementation and presence of vugs and fractures. For example
in case of cubic packing of uniform size spheres we can have 47.6 %
porosity where as in case of rhombohedral packing the porosity is 26%.
Hence in any system we cannot have more than 47.6% porosity as it is
impossible to have the same sized particles packed together and
invariably there would be cementing material which would hold the
grains together. The porosity of the reservoirs range from 5 to 30 %.

Porosity may be classified according to the mode of origin as , a) primary

b) secondary porosity.

Primary porosity is the porosity developed during deposition of the rock material.
Examples are intergranular porosity of sand stones and the intercrystalline porosity of
lime stones.

Secondary porosity is that developed by some geologic process subsequent to deposition

of the rock. Fractures and vugs (solution cavities) found in some shales and lime stones.
.
2.2 Isothermal compressibility of Rocks

In a petroleum reservoir, the reservoir is constantly subjected to constant external

pressure due to overburden , while the fluids contained within the reservoirs are at higher
pressure the an the surrounding fluid gradients. When the fluid pressure within the
reservoir pore space is reduced , the bulk volume of the rock decreases while the volume
of the solid material like sand grains increases. Both these volume changes result in
reduction of the porosity of the rock slightly of the order of 0.5 % for 1000 psi change in
the internal pressure. This change in porosity is depends only on the difference between
the internal and external pressures and not on the absolute pressure.
The pore volume compressibility is Cf at any value of external pressure – internal
pressure difference may be defined as the change in pore volume per unit of pore volume
per unit change in pressure. The pore compressibility may range between 3 – 35 X 10 -6
/psi . This plays many times as drive energy for producing an under saturated reservoir.

2.3 Fluid Saturation

More than one fluid is normally occupied in the pore space of the
reservoir. From the history of the formation of the petroleum reservoirs
it is noted that the pore of the rocks were initially filled with water, the
oil/gas then moved into the reservoir displacing the water to some
minimum residual saturation. Thus in a reservoir there may be oil,
water and gas distributed in some manner through out the reservoir.
The term fluid saturation is used to define the extent of occupancy of
the pore spaces by any particular fluid. Fluid saturation is defined as
that fraction or percent of the total pore space occupied by a particular
fluid. For example the saturation of oil may be defined as

Oil Volume
So = * 100
Total Pore Volume

and sum of oil, gas and water saturations expressed as fraction will
be equal to unity

So + Sg + Sw = 1
Where So, Sg, Sw refer to saturation of oil, gas and water respectively.
The saturation can be determined either by direct or indirect method.
In direct method the fluids are extracted and measured. The indirect
methods use logging or capillary pressure measurements.

2.4 Interstitial or Connate Water Saturation

Nearly all reservoirs are water bearing prior to hydrocarbon charge. As
hydrocarbons migrate into a trap they displace the water from the
reservoir, but not completely. Water remains trapped in small pore
throats and pore spaces and absorbed on the mineral surfaces.
Interstitial water is present in all petroleum reservoirs and as we go
deeper the water saturation increases towards the bottom of the pool
and finally into free water. The amount of interstitial water ranges from
10% to 50% or more of the pore space. The amount of interstitial water
generally increases with decrease in the porosity.
2.5 Capillary forces:
Surface tension and Interfacial tension: Whenever immiscible
phases co-exist in a porous medium the surface energy related to the
fluid interfaces influence the saturations, displacements and
distribution of phases.

Oil

Connate water

Sand grain

Fig 3 - Oil and Water distribution between sand grains

Water co-exists with oil even when the reservoir has not been water
flooded or flooded by a natural water drive. Even though the water is
immobile , interfacial forces affect the subsequent flow process. Figure
4 shows liquid and Air /liquid surface and the position of molecules A, B
and C of liquid at different positions within the liquid. Molecules well
below the position A experience equal attraction in all direction due to
cohesive forces while the molecules B and C which are near to surface
experience unequal forces. . A net downward force tends to pull these
molecules into the body of the liquid. Thus the surface acts like a
stretched membrane tending to shorten as much as possible. This
force is tensile in nature and is called surface tension. If the surface
is between two liquids then this force is called Interfacial tension.
Surface tension of water is 73 dynes/cm, while the interfacial tension
between water and oil varies between 30 to 50 dynes/cm at room
temperature.
 Air and Liquid Vapour

Liquid Molecules

A
B

A
Liquid

Fig-4 Free liquid Surface and Molecular position

2.6 Wettability

Fluid distributions in porous media are not only affected by the forces
at fluid-fluid interfaces but also by the forces at solid-fluid interfaces.
Wettability is the tendency of one fluid to spread over or adhere to a
solid surface in the presence of a second fluid. When two immiscible
fluids are placed over a solid surface usually one fluid gets more
attracted to the solid than the other. The more strongly attracted
phase is called the wetting phase.

Oil
drop Water

Water Wet System Oil Wet System

Fig-5 Effect of Wettability on Residual saturation

Rock wettability affects the fluid saturations. Fig-5 shows the residual
oil saturation in a strongly water wet and strongly Oil wet systems. Non
wetting phase tends to be trapped as isolated drops when a non
wetting phase is displaced by a wetting phase. The isolated droplets
are held by strong capillary forces that cannot be overcome by the by
relatively small viscous force. The wettabilty decides the location of
the different phases within the pore space, hence relative permeability

Fig -6

Oil wet
System
1

Water wet
System

of phases is strong function of wettability. Fure-6 shows relative

permeability curves for water and oil phases in oil wet and water
system systems. At a given saturation the relative permeability of a
non wetting phase is greater than the wetting phase. If we observe the
Figure 6 it is clear that in case of oil wet system the water is more
mobile and the oil relative permeability becomes zero at higher
residual oil saturation resulting in lower recoveries compared to Water
wet systems.

The wettability depends upon the rock mineralogy and fluid properties.
The wettability may vary from point to point within a rock depending
upon physico chemical properties of minerals present at the point
under consideration.

Fig -7

There are no direct methods of determining wettability. Instead

contact angle is used as a measure of wettability. In Oil- Water system
if contact angle is less than 90 degrees then the rock is considered
water wet , while if it is greater than 90 degrees it is said to be oil wet.
A contact angle approaching zero degree indicate strong water wet
and an angle approaching 180 degrees indicate strong oil wet system
when the contact angles are measured through water phase. Mixed
wettability occurs when contact angle is around 90 degrees.
.
2.7 Capillary pressure.
Because interfaces are in tension in the system, a pressure difference
exists across the interface. This pressure is called capillary pressure.
This can be easily demonstrated by the rise of water in the capillary
tubes immersed in water tray. Figure 8 shows the height of the water
rise increases with decrease in the size of capillary tube.
Figure 8 – Smaller the capillary tubes larger the capillary pressure

The fluids in most of reservoirs are believed to have reached a state of

equilibrium, and therefore will have
become separated according to their
density. There will be connate water
distributed through out the oil and gas
zones, the irreducible water. The forces
retaining the water in the oil and gas
zones are referred to as capillary forces
because they are important only in pore
spaces of capillary size. Capillary
pressure is related to the height above
the free water level. Fig 9 shows Fig -9
Capillary pressure data converted to a
plot of h vs. Sw. Changes in pore size and changes in reservoir fluid
densities will alter the shape of the capillary pressure curve and the
thickness of transition zone. A reservoir rock system with small pore
sizes will have a longer transition zone than a reservoir rock system
comprised of large pore sizes.

2γ Cos θ
Pc = h * ∆ρ * g =
r
Where
Pc = capillary pressure
h = height above the free liquid surface
∆ρ = difference in density
 g = acceleration due to gravity
γ = interfacial tension between the fluids
θ = contact angle
r = radius of capillary

2.8Permeability : is a measure of the ease of the flow of a fluid

through a porous medium. The permeability of an oil reservoir is as
important as the porosity, for not only the actual volume of oil in
place important, but at the rate at which the oil will flow the
reservoir is equally important.

A rock of one darcy permeability is one in which a fluid of one

centipoises viscosity will move at a velocity of one centimeter per
second under a pressure gradient of one atmosphere per centimeter.

Flow Geometry: a number of different flow geometries have been

considered in reservoir fluid flow. The three are most common are:
linear, radial and spherical.

Horizontal Steady-State Single-Phase Flow of Fluids

The basic equation is

k dp
Linear flow: q = −A µ dL

kh ∆P
Radial flow: q = 2 π
µ ln (re/rw)

Linear bed in series

On occasion, calculations are
necessary where linear beds
in series are thought to be
present. Notice that pressure
drops are additive.

∑ Li
kavg =
∑ (L i/k i)
Linear bed in parallel

Often flow in reservoir through

parallel strata having different
permeabilities. The total flow is the
sum of the individual flow in each
zone.

∑kihi
kavg =
ht

Radial bed in series

Depositionally, it is hard to imagine radial bed in series occurring in an

actual reservoir. However, this
condition is needed due to the
alteration of reservoir properties
that can occur in the vicinity of
well-bores during drilling,
production, and stimulation
operations.

ka ke ln (re/rw)
kavg =
ka ln (re/ra) + ke ln (ra/rw)

Radial bed in parallel

Most sedimentary reservoirs are comprised of strata of different

properties. Where calculation of the
producing rates are desired, it is
useful to determine the average
permeability, or that permeability
which will allow the system to be
treated as a single radial bed with
total thickness.

k1 h1 + k2 h2 +... + kn hn
kavg =
ht
Effective Permeability : At least two fluids are present in most
petroleum reservoirs and in many cases three different fluids may
be present and flowing simultaneously. Therefore the concept of
absolute permeability must be modified to describe the flow
conditions when more than one fluid is present in the reservoir.
Effective permeability is defined as the permeability to a fluid
when the saturation of that fluid is less than 100 percent. Effective
permeability can vary from zero, when the saturation of the
measured phase is zero, to the value of the absolute permeability,
when the saturation of measured phase is equal to 100 percent.

One of the phenomena of effective permeabilities is that the sum of

effective permeabilities is always less than the absolute permeability.

Relative Permeability : Relative permeability is defined as a ratio of

effective permeability to absolute permeability. Relative
permeability is very useful term since it shows how much the
permeability of a particular phase has been reduced by the
presence of another phase.

3.0 Crude Oil Properties

3.1 Gravity

Generally the density of oil is expressed in terms of API unit. API

gravity is defined by the following formula
141 .5
API = −131 .5 where γo is specific gravity of oil. Hence the API gravity of
γ0
water is 10. API of oil can range from 10 and go as high as 46. Higher the API better the
quality and lesser the handling problems.

3.2 Solution Gas-oil Ratio (Rso)

Crude oil can be said as live oil. The oil at reservoir conditions has
dissolved gas in it. The solubility of the natural gas depends upon the
temperature, pressure, and composition of oil and gas. The solubility
increases with increase in pressure and decreases with increase in
temperature. Solubility increases for higher API gravity oil and higher
gas gravity of gas. Gas is infinitely soluble in crude oil. The quantity
being limited only by the pressure or by the quantity of gas available.

Saturated oil : A crude oil is said to saturated at any temperature

and pressure if on slight reduction of pressure some gas is released
from solution

Under saturated oil: If no gas is released on reduction of pressure,

then that oil is said to be under saturated at that pressure.

Any reservoir having gas cap is said to be saturated reservoir, for the
crude oil is in equilibrium with gas and any reduction of pressure will
result in release of gas from the oil. If a reservoir has no gas cap , then
this implies that the crude has capacity for absorbing gas at that
pressure and temperature and the reservoir is said to be Under-
saturated reservoir.

Bubble point pressure : In case of under saturated oil, if the

pressure is reduced at isothermal condition, the reduction in pressure
will only result in expansion of crude oil and no gas is liberated. As we
continue to reduce pressure at certain pressure first bubble of gas gets
liberated, this pressure at which first bubble of gas appears in the
crude is called Bubble point pressure. This pressure plays a very
important role in exploiting under saturated reservoirs. The effort is
made to keep the flowing bottom hole pressures above the bubble
point in the initial phase so that the expansion energy of oil and rock
and connate water is used for producing oil, and then the energy of
liberated gas is used for producing oil during later period of producing
life.

Gas solubility under isothermal conditions is expressed in terms of the

increase in solution gas per unit of oil per unit increase in pressure.
(SCF/STB/psi.). Volume of oil at reservoir condition considerably
increases appreciably because of solution gas .For precise reservoir
calculations the total solution gas is expressed as SCF/STB.

3.3 Formation volume factor (FVF –Bo)

When the oil is produced to the surface the solution gas gets liberated
and the oil shrinks in volume. In order to make the volumetric
calculations and arriving at material balance the liberated gas is put
back into the oil and equivalent volume at reservoir condition is arrived
at. To facilitate this Formation volume factor is determined. It is
defined as the ratio volume in barrels that one stock tank barrel
occupies in the formation at reservoir pressure and temperature. The
Formation volume factor is always greater than 1 . In case the
reservoir is under saturated the FVF increases with decrease in
reservoirs pressure and attains maximum at bubble point pressure. For
pressures lower than bubble point pressure the FVF goes on
decreasing and eventually at atmospheric pressure it equals to unity.
Some times the shrinkage in volume of oil at surface at reduced
pressures is expressed in terms of shrinkage factor, which is nothing
but the reciprocal of FVF..

In case of pressures in a reservoir falling below bubble point pressure,

the solution gas gets liberated within the formation and further
reduction in pressure results in expansion of this liberated gas. Hence
to consider this aspect two phase formation volume factor is defined.
Two phase Formation volume factor is defined as the volume of
one barrel of stock tank oil and its initial complement of dissolved gas
occupies at reservoir temperature and pressure. In other words it
includes the liquid volume Bo , plus the volume of the difference
between the initial solution gas-oil ratio, Rsoi and the solution gas-oil at
the specified pressure Rso, If Bg is the formation volume factor of gas
in barrels per standard cubic foot, of the solution gas , then the two
phase volume factor is defined as
Bt = B0 + Bg ( Rsoi- Rso)
Above the bubble point pressure Rsoi = Rso, and single phase and two
phase volume factors will be same. Below the bubble point pressure
the single phase volume factor decreases while the two phase volume
factor increases due to increase the volume og gas liberated at lower
pressures.

3.4 Isothermal Compressibility of Oil

Some times in reservoir engineering calculations it would be required

to work with liquid compressibilities rather than the relative volume
factors like FVF. The compressibility or bulk modulus of oil is defined
by

Co = - 1/V * dV/dp. It is the change in unit volume of a fluid per unit

change in the pressure at constant temperature.
The compressibility of oil above bubble point pressure is found to vary from 13 to 20 X
10-6 /psi while for that of crude below bubble point is found to around 100 to 200 X 10 -
6
/psi

3.5 Formation volume factor for Gas

Gas volume or gas formation volume factor, Bg is the volume of a

standard cubic foot gas at reservoir temperature and pressure.

Bg = Psc* Z *T/ Tsc* P

For standard pressure and temperature of 14.7 psi and 60 degree F

Bg = 0.02829Z T/P cft/SCF = 0.00504 ZT/P bbl/SCF

4 Fluid Flow in Reservoirs

The basic work on flow through porous material was published in 1856
by Darcy, who was investigating the flow of water through sand filters
for water purification. Later investigations found that other fluids
flowing in a porous media also can be modeled with Darcy equation as
long as they do not react with the porous media. Reacting normally
means any type of interaction that changes the size or shape of the
flow channels or changes the surface forces between the rock and
fluid.
(h 1 - h2)
q = kA
L
In the above equation, A is the cross-sectional area and h1 and h2 are
heights above the standard datum of the water in manometers at the
input and output faces, respectively. L is the length
of sand pack, and k is a constant proportionality
found to be characteristics of the porous media.

In reservoir engineering, it is necessary to modify the

equation to reflect differing fluid viscosity, dip angle
for flow, and various flow geometries. Also note that
flow must be laminar.

Generalized form of Darcy’s Law:

Darcy equation for linear horizontal system is;

- A k ( ∆P)
q=
µL
Where:
k = permeabilities, darcies
q = outlet flow rate, cc/sec
µ = fluid viscosity, cp
L = system length, cm
A = cross-sectional area, cm2
∆ P = pressure differential across porous medium, atm

The above equation can be modified slightly to describe single phase

fluid flow within the porous media as

qB k  dp 
v= = −0.001127 − 0.433 γ cos α 
A µ  ds 
Where
v = the apparent velocity bbl/day-ft2
K = permeability in md

µ = fluid viscocity , cp
p = pressure in psia
s = distance along flow pathin ft
γ = specific gravity of the fluid
α = the angle of bed measured counter-clockwise from the downward vertical to the
positive s direction
B = Formation volume factor
A = apparent or total cross sectional area of the rock in ft2

 dp 
The term  − 0.433 γ cos α  represents driving force. The driving force may be
 ds 
dp
caused by fluid pressure gradients and /or hydraulic gradients 0.433 γ cos α . In
ds
many cases the hydraulic gradient are small compared to the fluid pressure gradients are
generally neglected.( eg. for brines .5 - .433 psi/ft, for HP gas .1 to .3 psi/ft ) However
incase of production by pumping from the reservoirs whose pressures have been depleted
and gas cap expansion reservoirs with good gravity drainage characteristics , the
hydraulic gradients must be considered.

Darcy law applies only to the laminar flow regimes. Fortunately except in very high
injection and production rates, the flow regime is turbulent in the vicinity of the well bore
hence can be used through ought the reservoir length. Darcy law does not apply to flow
within the individual pore channels.

Owing to the porosity of the rock and tortuosity of the flow path, the fluid velocities in
general are not measurable. Hence the term apparent velocity is defined. The average
fluid velocity in the direction of the flow can be calculated by dividing apparent velocity
of the fluid by the porosity of the rock, when the rock is completely saturated with the
fluid under motion.

While describing the flow and displacement of on fluid with another within the reservoir
systems , many times reservoir engineers use term mobility and mobility ratio. Mobility
is the ratio of permeability of the medium to a fluid divided by the viscosity of the fluid
under consideration.
k
λ= while the mobility ratio is ratio of mobility of displacing fluid to the mobility
µ
λw
of the displaced fluid. M =
λo
Reservoir flow systems can be classified considering a) Type of fluid b)
flow geometry c) time considerations required for the system to attain
steady state condition.
Reservoir fluids can be classified into three major types of fluids a)
incompressible b) slightly compressible c) Compressible.
Incompressible fluids are one whose volume does not change with
pressure. Water, heavy oils devoid of dissolved gas fall in this
category. However on should note that there no truly incompressible
fluids.

Slightly compressible fluids are defined those whose volume change

can be expressed by the equation
V = V R e c ( PR −P ) Where R is reference condition, and c is compressibility
of the fluid.. Highly saturated oil may be considered in this category

All gases fall in the category of compressible fluids and the

compressibility varies with pressure. The compressibility of such a
1 1 dz
system is given by c g = p − z dp

Flow geometry
Although the actual paths of fluid particles in rocks are irregular due to
the shape of the pore spaces, the overall flow geometry can be
represented as linear, radial and spherical.
In petroleum reservoirs the flow within the reservoirs is considered to
be linear while the flow around well bore is modeled as radial. In some
cases spherical geometry is considered where the pressure is reducing
three dimensionally towards the center of the sphere.

Time dependence

Flow system in a petroleum reservoir can be classified considering the

time it takes the reservoir to stabilize. Depending upon different states
of flow the flow system can be classified as a) transient flow, b) late
transient c) Pseudo steady state d) Steady state flow.

In order to discuss these different flow regimes let us consider a single

well located in a reservoir as
Pe shown in figure. Let us aasume
the reservoir of uniform
re rw
thickness h feet and let rw be
Pw the radius of single well at the
center of the reservoir, and re
be the radius of the reservoir,
rw the radius of well and Pe and
h Pe be the pressure of the

Fig- Single well in a circular reservoir

reservoir at its boundary and flowing bottom hole pressure at the sand
face of the well bore. It is assumed that the flow rate after the
disturbance has occurred is constant. As the flow rate is changed at
the well , the movement of the pressure begins to move away from the
well. The travel of pressure wave is a diffusion phenomenon and is
modeled by the diffusivity equation.

∂ 2 p 1 ∂p φµ ct ∂p
+ =
∂r 2
r ∂r .0002637 k ∂t

The pressure moves at rate proportional to the formation diffusivity η

k
η= where k is the effective permeability of the flowing phase, φ is
φµct
the total effective porosity, µ is viscosity of the flowing phase and ct is the total
compressibility of the porous medium.

The total compressibility is obtained by adding the weighted averages of the different
components of the system

Ct=cgSg+coSo+cwSw+cf
Transient flow condition – During this time period the pressure is
traveling at the rate of Cf. During this time the outer boundary of the
reservoir has no influence on the pressure movement and the reservoir
acts like a infinite in size.

Late transient flow condition ; During this time period the pressure
has reached the boundary of the reservoir and the pressure is in the
process of getting stabilized. During this period the pressure no longer
travels at a rate proportional to η . It is difficult to model the pressure behavior
during this period.

Pseudo steady state flow condition : During this period the pressure has stabilized and
the pressure at every point throughout the reservoir is changing at constant rate and as a
linear function of time. The time required for attaining pseudo steady state may be
estimated using the equation

1200 φµ ct re2
t pss =
k
For example for a well producing an oil with viscosity at reservoir
condition of 1.5 cp and a total compressibility of 15 *10-6 /psi and
reservoir thickness is 1000 ft with a permeability of 100 md. and total
effective porosity of 20 %, then the time required for attaining pseudo
steady state is given by the above equation and equals 54 hours. This
means that it would take 54 hours for the flow in the reservoir to reach
pseudo steady state. It also implies that if the well is closed it would
take 54 hours for pressure to stabilize throughout the drainage area of
the well.
In case of gas wells this period would be less as the viscosity of gases
is very small which offsets the greater compressibility of the gas. This
period would be very long in case of tight reservoirs.

4.1 Well-bore damage and improvement effects

The popular method for representing well-bore condition is by steady-

state pressure drop at well face in addition to normal transient
pressure drop in the reservoir. The additional pressure drop called
“skin effect” occurs in an infinitesimally thin skin zone. In flow
equation the degree of damage (or improvement) is expressed in
terms of a “skin factor” s, which is positive for damage and negative
for improvement. It can vary from about –5 for a hydraulically fractured
well to +∞ for a well that is too badly damaged to produce.

141.2 qB µ
∆ps = s
kh

Since damaged zone thickness is considered to be infinitesimal, the

entire pressure drop caused by the skin occurs at the well face. The
thin skin approximation results in a pressure gradient reversal for well
bore improvement (s < 0). Although this situation is physically
unrealistic, the skin factor concept is valuable as a measure well bore
improvement.

If the skin is viewed as a zone of finite thickness with permeability ks

then

k rs
s =( −1) ln ( )
ks rw

The flow efficiency (also called the condition ratio) indicates the
approximate fraction of a wells undamaged producing capacity.

Jactual Pws - Pwf - ∆Ps

Flow Efficiency = =
Jidea l Pws - Pwf

The damage ratio and damage factor are also relative indicators of
well bore condition. The inverse of flow efficiency is the damage
 ratio. By subtracting the flow efficiency from 1, we obtain the
damage factor.

5 Phase behavior and Classification

of Reservoirs
As the conditions of pressure and temperature vary, the phases in
which hydrocarbon exist, and the composition of the phases may
change. Phase behavior describes the phase or phases in which a
petroleum fluid exists at a given conditions of pressure, volume and
temperature (PVT). Figure shows Pressure - Temperature diagram for a
petroleum fluid. Both gas phase and liquid phase co-exist in the region
enclosed by the bubble point line and the dew point lines. The dotted
lines within this region indicate the percentage liquid phase for any
temperature and pressure. Initially each petroleum reservoir will have
its own phase diagram depends only on the composition of the
accumulation.

. Consider the phase diagram for a fluid as shown. If the reservoir

pressure and temperature is at point A, then the reservoir will be a
single Phase gas reservoir. Further if during course of production the
pressure reduction in the reservoir is along the AA1 then the reservoir
will produce single phase gas only and the composition of the well fluid
doesn’t change as the reservoir is depleted. This is true for all
reservoirs above cricondentherm temperature.
Event though the fluid left in the reservoir remains in one phase, the
fluid produced at surface may enter into two region owing to
temperature reduction as shown by line AA2. This accounts for
production of condensate at the surface.
Consider the reservoir at point B, between critical point and
cricondentherm point, the reservoir initially would be having single
phase gas. As we start producing this reservoir, the composition will
remain same till point B1. As the pressure falls below this pressure the
liquid starts getting condensed in the reservoir. This type of reservoir is
called Dew-point or Retrograde gas condensate reservoir.
Condensation results in production of lighter and lighter fractions of
gas to the surface as heavier components getting condensed in the
reservoir pores. Retrograde condensation continues till point B2. This
also results in phase envelope itself shifting as the hydrocarbon
composition of the reservoir itself is changing. The retrograde liquid in
the reservoir at any point of time is composed largely of methane and
ethane by volume. After point B2 the condensed liquid starts getting
vaporized which at surface would results in decreasing GOR. The
overall retrograde loss will be greater for lower reservoir temperature,
higher abandonment pressures, greater shift of the phase envelope to
the right.
If the HC accumulation had occurred around point C, the reservoir
would be single phase liquid state. During exploitation phase the
reservoir would produce single phase liquid till point C1 is reached. As
the pressure falls below point C , the gas bubbles or free gas is
released. The quantity of gas released would go on increasing with
depletion of pressure. Such type of reservoir is called solution
gas/dissolved gas /depletion drive reservoir. These kinds of
reservoirs are also called as Under saturated reservoir.

If the HC accumulation had occurred around point D, the reservoir fluid

would be a two phase reservoir, oil layer overlain by gas cap. As the
composition of oil and gas zones are entirely different, they may be
represented by separate phase diagrams. In such a reservoir the oil
will be at its bubble point and the gas cap gas would be at dew point
and may be retrograde and non retrograde.

6.0 Reserve Estimation Method

• Volumetric
• Material Balance
• Reservoir simulation
• Decline curve analysis

5.1 Volumetric method:

One of the important functions of a reservoir engineer is the periodic
calculation of reservoir oil and gas in place and the recovery
anticipated under the prevailing exploitation strategies. Oil reserves
are usually obtained by applying recovery factors to the oil in place.
The oil in place (IOIP) is calculated either by a) volumetric method b)
by material balance method c) by reservoir simulation d) by decline
curve analysis.

The volumetric method for estimating oil in place is based on the log
and core analysis data to determine the bulk volume, the porosity ,
fluid saturations and on PVT analysis to determine the oil/gas volume
factors.

The volumetric method uses subsurface isopachous maps based on the

data from electric logs, cores and drill-stem and production tests. A
subsurface contour map is drawn by connecting the points of equal
elevation on top of a marker bed. This map shows the geologic
structure of the reservoir. A net isopachous map is drawn by
connecting the points with equal formation thickness. Reservoir
engineer uses these maps to determine the bulk productive volume of
the reservoir.
The contour map is used in preparing the isopachous map when there
is an oil water contact , gas oil contact or gas water contact. The
contact line is called zero isopach line. The volume is obtained by
planimetering the areas the areas between isopach lines of the entire
reservoir or the unit under consideration.
The main problem in preparing a map of this type are the proper
interpretation of net sand thickness from the well logs and outlining of
the productive are of the field as defined by the fluid contacts, faults or
permeability barriers on the subsurface contour map.
Once we know the bulk volume of the reservoir then we can calculate
oil/gas in place by using

43560 * Vb * φ * (1 − S w )
GIP =
Bg

7758 * Vb * φ * (1 − S w )
OIP =
Bo
Where Bo is and Bg are the FVF for oil and gas respectively. Rb/STB
and RCF/SCF and bulk volume is in Acre- foot. Oil in place is in STB
while the unit of gas volume is SCF.

As the gas volume factor changes with pressure the gas in place also
changes with pressure. The gas pore volume may also be changing
with water influx.

6.2 Calculation of Petroleum Volumes by Material Balance

Material balance of a reservoir is essentially is a volumetric balance of
the reservoir fluids at any pint of time with respect to the original
volumes in place. Even though the modern day reservoir engineers are
equipped with most advanced tools for reservoir analysis which use
numerical simulation and consider spatial reservoir heterogeneity ,fluid
parameters ,inter phase mass transfer along with the facility of
simulation in two, three or four dimensions, volumetric material
balance analysis can give an insight into the reservoir and can be used
as a diagnostic tool . This tool has been effectively developed by
Howlena and Odeh and others to anlyse the effect of the different
drive energies on recovery of hydrocarbons. Schilthuis was first to
present the general material balance equations in 1941.
General material balance equations are developed on a very simple
concept, that at any pint of time the algebraic sum of the volume
changes oil, free gas, and water and rock volumes in the reservoir
must be zero. This is also many times called a Tank model.
Let us consider reservoir as shown in Figure- 4.1 at initial pressure pi
with aquifer at the bottom and a gas cap above oil. When we drill a
well and complete it in oil zone and on production the well will start
flowing to the surface. During the course of production following
events would take place.
As we produce oil from the reservoir there would be reduction in
pressure which would result in liberation of solution gas from the oil,
some of it would get produced and while some will remain within the
reservoir. The aquifer water encroaches into the oil zone and
simultaneously the gas cap gas expands into the oil zone. Due to
reduction in pressure the rock grains and the interstitial water within
the pores expand resulting in reduction in pore volume.

Gas Cap

Oil

Aquifer

Oil Reservoir at initial and after producing a certain quantity

The general material balance equation may be written as

Original HC volume = Remaining HC volume + Vol. of Net water Influx
+ reduction in HCPV due to rock and connate water expansion
The material balance equation can be used for a) determining initial
hydrocarbon in place b) calculating water influx c) predicting reservoir
pressures.
5.3 Decline curve analysis
Production decline curve analysis is a statistical method of predicting
decline process of a well or reservoir. Being a statistical method it nee
only past production history. Using standard mathematical function
decline curve analysis is carried out.
Advantages: No assumptions about size, type or other properties of
reservoir. Need only production history. Fast, cheap. Very accurate
under certain circumstances. Results in production versus time
prediction.
Disadvantages: Well must be producing under constant conditions.
Need at least 6 months history (better 2-10 years). Ambiguous (does
not necessarily give unique answer). Cannot be used under changing
well conditions. Not applicable to all reservoirs.
Decline curve functions
The generalized hyperbolic decline equation takes the form:
dq / q = - dt / (a + bt)
where a and b are constants
Three special cases of decline equations are determined by the values
of b.
• b =0.0 corresponds to the constant percentage or
exponential decline equation of the form.
• b = 0.5 corresponds to the hyperbolic decline equation,
and
• b = 1.0 describes the harmonic decline curves
Exponential decline equation
Most commonly used in economic application of the decline curve
analysis of many reservoirs because they are simple to use.
• The exponential decline equation also called constant
percentage decline equation takes the form: dq / dt = -aq
• Integration the above decline curve equation yields a time-
production rate equation: q (t) = q0 e-at
• Further integration from t=0 to T produces a cumulative-
production rate relationship: Q(t) = q0/a (1 - e-at) = (q0 - q) /
a
The exponential or constant percentage decline curves are simple
to use either mathematically or graphically for most economic
analysis.

Reservoir simulation
With the increase in speed and data storage capacity of the modern
day computers, reservoir simulation has become one of the most
important tool in the petroleum industry. With the help of the reservoir
simulators we can carry out three dimensional flow analysis of the
reservoirs, model for their IOIP and decide on production strategies.
Various kinds of simulators are available. The simulators can be of
broadly divided into a) Black oil – where the composition of oil/gas
doesn’t change with time b) Compositional where the composition of
the oil/gas changes with time/production. Compositional simulators are
usually used for simulating EOR processes and volatile reservoirs like
retrograde condensate reservoirs
7. 0 Enhanced Oil Recovery
EOR results principally from the injection of gases or liquid chemicals
and/or the use of thermal energy. Hydrocarbon gases, CO2, nitrogen,
and flue gases are among the gases used in EOR processes. A number
of liquid chemicals are commonly used, including polymers, surfactants
and hydrocarbon solvents. Thermal processes typically consist of the
use of steam or hot water, or rely on the in-situ generation of thermal
energy through oil combustion in the reservoir rock.
EOR processes involve the injection of fluid or fluids of some type into
a reservoir. The injected fluid or injection processes supplement the
natural energy present in the reservoir to displace oil to producing
wells. Injected fluid interacts with reservoir rock/oil system to create
conditions favorable for oil recovery. Examples: result in lower IFT’s, oil
swelling, oil viscosity reductions, wettability modification or favorable
phase behavior. The interactions are attributable to physical and
chemical mechanisms and to the injection or production of thermal
energy.

General classification and description of EOR processes:

• Mobility control,
• Chemical,
• Miscible,
• Thermal,
• Microbial EOR

Mobility Control: is a generic term describing any process where an

attempt is made to alter the relative rates at which injected and
displaced fluids are move through reservoir. The objective of mobility
control is to improve volumetric sweep
efficiency of a displacement process.
Mobility control is usually discussed in
terms of the mobility ratio, M, and a
displacement process is to have
mobility control if M less equal to 1.0.
Volumetric sweep efficiency generally
increases as M is reduced.

Because it is often not feasible to

change the properties of the displaced
fluid when it is oil or the
permeabilities of the rock to the
displaced fluids, most mobility control
processes of current interest involve addition of chemicals to injected
fluid. These chemicals increase the apparent viscosity of the injected
fluid and/or reduce the effective permeability of rock to the injected
fluid. The chemicals are primarily polymers when the injected fluid is
water and surfactants that forms foams when injected fluid is a gas. In
some cases, mobility control is attained by WAG (water alternate gas)
injection.

Miscible Displacement Processes: are defined as processes where the

effectiveness of the displacement results
primarily from miscibility between oil in place
and the injected fluid. Displacement fluids,
such as hydrocarbon solvents, CO2, flue gas
and nitrogen are considered.

The displacement processes treated here are

classified as FCM (first contact miscible) and
MCM (multiple contact miscible) i.e. on the
basis on which miscibility is developed. In a
specified fluid and reservoir system, MMP
(minimum miscibility pressure) is an important parameter for these
processes.

Chemical Flooding: The process treated in depth, called the

micellar/polymer process, is based on injection of chemical system that
contains surface-active
agents i.e., surfactants. The
processes to improve
recovery efficiency primarily
through the use of displacing
fluid that has a low interfacial
tension (IFT) with the
displaced crude oil. In the
process, injection of micellar
solution usually is followed
by injection of an aqueous
solution to which polymer
has been added to maintain mobility control.

Thermal Recovery Processes: rely on

the use of thermal energy in some form
both to increase the reservoir
temperature, thereby reducing oil viscosity, and to displace oil to
producing well. The processes can be sub-divided into cyclic steam
stimulation, steam-drive, and in-situ combustion. The motivation for
developing thermal recovery processes was the existence of major
reservoirs all over the world that were known to obtain billions of
barrels of heavy oil and tar sand that could not be produced with
conventional methods. In
many reservoirs the oil
viscosity so high that primary
recovery on the order of few
percent of original oil in place
was common.