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Buckley and Leverett (1942) : A.Fractional Flow Equation

The document discusses the fractional flow equation, which describes the ratio of water flow rate to total flow rate (fractional flow of water) as water displaces oil in a reservoir. Higher oil viscosity or injected water viscosity results in an upward shift of the fractional flow curve, reducing displacement efficiency. When the injection well is located downdip and water is injected updip, it leads to a downward shift and more efficient displacement. A lower injection rate also leads to a downward shift. The location of injection wells and rate impacts displacement efficiency.

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حسين رامي كريم A 12
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298 views6 pages

Buckley and Leverett (1942) : A.Fractional Flow Equation

The document discusses the fractional flow equation, which describes the ratio of water flow rate to total flow rate (fractional flow of water) as water displaces oil in a reservoir. Higher oil viscosity or injected water viscosity results in an upward shift of the fractional flow curve, reducing displacement efficiency. When the injection well is located downdip and water is injected updip, it leads to a downward shift and more efficient displacement. A lower injection rate also leads to a downward shift. The location of injection wells and rate impacts displacement efficiency.

Uploaded by

حسين رامي كريم A 12
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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A.

Fractional Flow Equation


The development of the fractional flow equation is attributed to Buckley and Leverett
(1942). For two immiscible fluids, oil and water, the fractional flow of water, fw (or
any immiscible displacing fluid), is defined as the water flow rate divided by the total
flow rate

qo qw

fw= [qw/(qw+qo)x

A=hw


w
At the irreducible (connate) water¼saturation “SW”, the water flow rate qw is zero and,
therefore, the water cut is 0%. At the residual oil saturation point “Sorw”, the oil flow rate
is zero and the water cut reaches its upper limit of 100%.
The shape of the water cut versus water saturation curve is characteristically has the S-
shaped profile, as shown in Figure 14-12. The limits of the fw curve (0 and 1) are defined
by the end points of the relative permeability curves.

The implications of the above discussion can be also applied to define the relation- ship
that exists between gas water-cut “fg” and gas saturation, as shown in Figure 14-12.

It should be pointed out that, in general, any influences that cause the frac- tional flow
curve to shift upward and to the left (i.e., increase in fw or fg) will result in a less efficient
displacement process. It is essential, therefore, to determine the impact of changing the
various component parts of the fractional flow equation on the displacement efficiency.

The above
expression indicates that during the displacement of oil by water- flood, an increase
in fw at any point in the reservoir will cause a proportional decrease in:

◦ Oil-cut “fo” and

◦ Oil mobility.

Therefore, the objective is to select the proper injection scheme that could pos- sibly
reduce the water fractional flow. This can be achieved by investigating the effect of
the injected water viscosity, formation dip angle, and water-injection rate on the
water cut. The overall effect of these parameters on the water frac- tional flow curve
are discussed next that includes the impact of:

◦ Oil and water viscosities

◦ Water injection rate as related to the formation dip angle

Effect of Water and Oil Viscosities


Figure 14-13 shows the general effect of oil viscosity on the fractional flow curve for
both water-wet and oil-wet rock systems. This illustration reveals that regardless of
the system wettability, a higher oil viscosity results in an upward shift (an increase) in
the fractional flow curve. The apparent effect of the water viscosity on the water
fractional flow is clearly indicated by examining
Equation 14-22. Higher injected water viscosities will result in an increase in the
value of the denominator of Equation 1 4 - 2 2 with an overall reduction in fw (i.e., a
downward shift).

Effect of Dip Angle and Injection Rate

Case 1:

injection well located downdip and injected water displaces oil updip, a more
efficient performance is obtained. This improvement is due to the fact that the term
“X sin(α)/iw” will always remain positive, which leads to a decrease (downward shift)
in the fw curve. Equation 14-23 also reveals that a lower water-injection rate iw is
desirable since the nominator 1 – [X sin(α)/iw] of Equation 14-23 will decrease with a
lower injection rate iw, resulting in an overall downward shift in the fw curve.

Case 2: Injection Well is Located Updip. In this case scenario, the sin(α) in Equation
(14-23) is treated as negative and, therefore, the negative sign in the numerator of
Equation (14-23) will change to positive. When the oil is displaced downdip (i.e.,
injection well is located updip), the term X sin(α)/iw will always remain negative and,
therefore, the numerator of Equation 14-23 will be 1 +[X sin(α)/iw]
which causes an increase (upward shift) in the fw curve. It is beneficial, there- fore, when
injection wells are located at the top of the structure to inject the water at a higher
injection rate to improve the displacement efficiency.It is interesting to reexamine the
fractional flow equation when the injection well is located updip and the injection water
displacing the oil downdip

This could only occur when displacing the oil downdip at a low water- injection rate iw.
The resulting effect of this possibility is called a counterflow, where the oil phase is
moving in a direction opposite to that of the water (i.e., oil is moving upward and the
water downward). When the water injection wells are located at the top of a tilted
formation, the injection rate must be high to avoid oil migration to the top of the
formation.
Notice that for a horizontal reservoir,¼i.e., sin(α) 0, the injection rate has no effect on
the fractional flow curve. When the dip angle α is zero, Equation 14-22 is reduced to
the following simplified form:

The fractional flow equation, as discussed in the previous section, is used to determine the
water cut fw at any point in the reservoir, assuming that the water saturation at the point is
known. The question, however, is how to determine the water saturation at this particular
point. The answer is to use the frontal advance equation. The frontal advance equation is
designed to determine the water saturation profile in the reservoir at any give time during
water injection.

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