Solution Gas Drive: Schilthuis Method

In the Schilthuis Method, we seek to evaluate the MBE for a solution gas drive reservoir that is
below its bubble point. Note that since the reservoir will be below its bubble point, there is no
initial gas cap (or there would be gas cap drive), yet we have gas present in the reservoir after
some time of production. With this method, we will see an algorithm that will propose a solution
for the aforementioned case.

𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
⏞
(𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑖 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔
⏞
𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑜 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁𝐵𝑜𝑖 [
𝐵𝑜𝑖

𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝐶𝑎𝑝 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 & 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 & 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
⏞ 𝐵 ⏞ 𝐶𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑐 + 𝐶𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑒
+ 𝑚(
𝑔
− 1) + (1 + 𝑚) ( ) ∆𝑃] + ⏞
(𝑊𝑒 − 𝑊𝑝 )𝐵𝑤
𝐵𝑔𝑖 1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑐

At this step, we wish to evaluate a reservoir that produces only by solution gas drive. To do so,
we need to eliminate all the other potential drive mechanisms by making the following
assumptions:

• No initial gas cap is present, No gas cap drive. m=0

• Small aquifer, negligible water influx, water term is 0.

• Reservoir starts at the bubble point, Boi=Bo

• Since gas starts to become present below the bubble point, rock and water compressibility
become negligible as gas compressibility is significantly higher.

Based on our assumptions, we can now simplify the generalized MBE:

𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
⏞
(𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑖 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔
⏞
𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑜 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁𝐵𝑜𝑖 [
𝐵𝑜𝑖

𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝐶𝑎𝑝 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐶𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 & 𝑅𝑜𝑐𝑘 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

𝑊𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝐸𝑛𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 & 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
⏞ 𝐵 ⏞ 𝐶𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑐 + 𝐶𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑒
+ 𝑚(
𝑔
− 1) + (1 + 𝑚) ( ) ∆𝑃] + ⏞
(𝑊𝑒 − 𝑊𝑝 )𝐵𝑤
𝐵𝑔𝑖 1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑐
When we eliminate the above terms, we get:

𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

⏞ ⏞ − 𝐵 ) + (𝑅 − 𝑅 )𝐵 )
𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑜 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁((𝐵𝑜 𝑜𝑏 𝑠𝑖 𝑠 𝑔

At this step, while the solution of the above equation may seem straightforward, we encounter a
problem, Rp is not known. From the definition of GOR, we can express the Rp based on the
cumulative production:

𝐺𝑝
[𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑜 + 𝑁𝑝 ( − 𝑅𝑠 ) 𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁[(𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ]
𝑁𝑝

[𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑜 + (𝐺𝑝 − 𝑁𝑝 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁[(𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ]

With this form, we want to mainly use Np ve Gp, which are the cumulative recovery values, to
understand the recovery performance from the reservoir. To make such an estimation, however,
we would need the following data:

• Initial Oil in Place, N

• PVT data

• Initial fluid saturations

• Relative Permeability Data

Note that even when we use this form of the equations, we will have two unknowns:

• Cumulative oil production Np

• Cumulative gas production Gp

Now, we can integrate what we know into our equation.

𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛

⏞ ⏞ − 𝐵 ) + (𝑅 − 𝑅 )𝐵 )
𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑜 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁((𝐵𝑜 𝑜𝑏 𝑠𝑖 𝑠 𝑔
If we divide both sides by RHS and insert the parameters at the bubble point, (N, Bob, Rsi), we can
rewrite the above equations to obtain:

𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑜 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] 𝑁 ((𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 )

= =1
𝑁 ((𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ) 𝑁 ((𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 )

𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑜 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ]

=1
𝑁 [(𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ]

To make a prediction, we need to know the parameters at the bubble point, namely (N, Bob, Rsi).
To keep everything simple, we will set Np ve Gp to 0 for the first step. If we go through these steps,
the only unknown will be Rp.

Again, based on its definition, we may express Rp as:

𝐺𝑝 ⁄𝑁
𝑅𝑝 =
𝑁𝑝 ⁄𝑁

The problem at this step is that 𝑅𝑝 is not a constant, and we cannot express it with a single term.
To overcome this, we are taking an “increment” instead of a single point to go through our
calculations, and we want to obtain an average GOR, which will then be used to find our Rp.

∆𝐺𝑝 = 𝑅̅ ∆𝑁𝑝

To make it look easier on the eye, let us first isolate the production term from our reduced MBE:

[𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑜 + (𝐺𝑝 − 𝑁𝑝 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁[(𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ]

𝑁[(𝐵𝑜 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 ) + (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] − 𝐺𝑝 𝐵𝑔

𝑁𝑝 =
𝐵𝑜 − 𝑅𝑠 𝐵𝑔

To apply Schilthuis method, we need to remark that our producing GOR will change based on the
relative permeability since we will produce the fluid with higher relative permeability more.

𝑘𝑒,𝑔 𝐵𝑜 𝜇𝑜
𝑅= + 𝑅𝑠
𝑘𝑒,𝑜 𝐵𝑔 𝜇𝑔
Additionally, since the relative permeability is related to the saturations (which itself is related to
the oil production from the saturation equation), we can write the following saturation equation:

𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑜
𝑆𝑜 = (1 − ) (1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖 )
𝑁 𝐵𝑜𝑏

Algorithm of the Schilthuis Method

As mentioned, we will be trying to make an incremental analysis to obtain the correct value of
our Rp, which was encessary to solve the MBE to make a performance prediction. Step-by-step,
the algorithm can be given:

1- Since we are making an incremental analysis, we need an increment to obtain an average

value. The first step is at the bubble point, and we assume Np,j ve Gp,j as 0.
2- After this, we select a pressure that has been lowered by the effect of production.
3- We need to then calculate the recovery that is needed to reach the pressure value we
selected at step 2. Since we are moving by increments, we need to select the endpoint
production of an increment. The first step is j, and the last step is j+1. Therefore, we need
to assume a value for the value of Np, j+1/N.
𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑜
4- We need to use the saturation equation 𝑆𝑜 = (1 − ) (1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖 ) to find the oil
𝑁 𝐵𝑜𝑏

saturation after our production of Np, j+1/N. As mentioned, we need to know the
saturations due to their importance in determining the relative permeabilities.
5- With So known, we now need to look at the relative permeability data (which will most
likely be provided within the problem in some way). We will obtain the relative
permeability vs. So plot, and obtain the relative permeabilities for our specific saturation.
𝑘𝑒,𝑔 𝐵𝑜 𝜇𝑜
6- We know that 𝑅 = + 𝑅𝑠 . We also have the oil saturation at the endpoint,
𝑘𝑒,𝑜 𝐵𝑔 𝜇𝑔

which means we know the saturation at j+1. Given that we have the relative permeability
data, we can use the oil saturation obtained at step 5 to calculate the R as
𝑘𝑒,𝑔 𝐵𝑜 𝜇𝑜
𝑅𝐽+1 = [𝑘 + 𝑅𝑠 ] .
𝑒,𝑜 𝐵𝑔 𝜇𝑔
𝑗+1

7- Since we are dealing with increments, and not singular points where the GOR will remain
constant, we want to obtain the average value that can represent this increment. As
 mentioned, the starting point is j, and the endpoint is j+1. The increment starts at the
bubble point, so the jth step is defined. We can also calculate the j+1th step by following
the previous steps using the relative permeability data. As such, we can generate the
𝑅 +𝑅
average GOR as: 𝑅̅ = 𝑗 2 𝑗+1

8- Using the average GOR we obtained, we can now calculate the cumulative gas production
∆𝐺𝑝,𝑗+1 ∆𝑁
change at the end of the increment as: = 𝑅̅ 𝑝,𝑗+1
𝑁 𝑁

9- Now, we have calculated the change that is valid for one step, but this change is not
directly equivalent to the cumulative production. Since we assume there is no production,
the first step may be equal to the production with the equation given in step 8. However,
after the first step, we need to take the cumulative values because our starting point will
𝐺𝑝,𝑗+1 ∆𝐺𝑝,𝑗
no longer be 0: = ∑
𝑁 𝑁

10- Now, we know the assumed oil recovery value of Np, j+1/N from step 3. We have used this
𝐺𝑝,𝑗+1
oil recovery to calculate the gas recovery as . By definition, GOR can be expressed as
𝑁
𝐺𝑝 ⁄𝑁
𝑅𝑝 = 𝑁 . Using these points, we can now calculate the GOR at the endpoint of our
𝑝 ⁄𝑁

𝐺𝑝, 𝑗+1
𝑁
increment as 𝑅𝑝, 𝑗+1 = 𝑁𝑝, 𝑗+1 .
𝑁

11- At the very beginning, we have reduced our generalized MBE to the following equation:
𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝑃𝑟𝑜𝑑𝑢𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑂𝑖𝑙 & 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝐺𝑎𝑠 𝐸𝑥𝑝𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛
⏞ ⏞ − 𝐵 ) + (𝑅 − 𝑅 )𝐵 ) . We want to find the recovery
𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑜 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠 )𝐵𝑔 ] = 𝑁((𝐵𝑜 𝑜𝑏 𝑠𝑖 𝑠 𝑔

with this equation, which means that we need to isolate Np/N. Doing so, we will obtain
𝑁𝑝, 𝑗+1 [𝐵𝑜,𝑗+1 + (𝑅𝑝,𝑗+1 −𝑅𝑠,𝑗+1 )𝐵𝑔,𝑗+1 ]
the equation: [(𝐵𝑜,𝑗+1 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 )+ (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠,𝑗+1 )𝐵𝑔,𝑗+1 ]
=1 . As mentioned, this
𝑁

representation will be equal to 1. If our values are correct for Np/N, we will have obtained
the correct Rp, j+1. In this case, we will obtain 1 because everything will cancel out.
12- If step 11 is not equal to 1, it means that our assumed Np/N is incorrect. In this case, we
need to select a different Np/N, go through all the aforementioned steps again to obtain
the GOR, and retry this process with different Np/N values until we get the correct value.
 𝑁𝑝, 𝑗+1 [𝐵𝑜,𝑗+1 + (𝑅𝑝,𝑗+1 −𝑅𝑠,𝑗+1 )𝐵𝑔,𝑗+1 ]
13- The Np/N value that satisfies [(𝐵𝑜,𝑗+1 − 𝐵𝑜𝑏 )+ (𝑅𝑠𝑖 − 𝑅𝑠,𝑗+1 )𝐵𝑔,𝑗+1 ]
= 1 will be our
𝑁

correct value for the performance prediction.