Initialization Introduction ‘The primary objective of initialization is to establish the correct amount and distribution of the original reser- woir fluids. The majority of simulations are initialized based on static gravity capillary pressure equilibrium. This works well in the majority of cases. However, there is ‘ho requirement the fluids in the earth are static and, in truth, this is rarely completely correct. A number of different methods are used to enter fluid saturations. Grid-block center capillary pressure initialization It the grid blocks are smaller than the capillary pres sure transition zone, then the saturations of grid blocks can be accurately estimated from the capillary pressure curve at the midpoint of the grid block. This also requires the depth of the relevant contacts be specified. This was the method used by early reservoir simular tots, The distribution of fluids in the grid blocks was assumed to be uniform Pseudo capillary pressure Later, it became possible to use a specialized tech. nique to simplify reservoir problems that involved capil lary pressure transition zones smaller than the grid block height. Known as vertical equilibrium (VE), this method requited the saturations in the grid block be averaged. Since the transition zone is assumed to be of negligible thickness, the saturation of the block can be calculated using a linear relationship based on the distance from the specified gasoil contact (GOC) or wateroil contact (OC). This is shown in Figure 9-1 Recall from chapter 8 that VE generated straightline relative permeabilities. Capillary pressure was ignored in the displacement calculations. As shown earlier, capil- lary pressure does affect frontal displacement and intro ducing this fudging stategy to the relative permeability will affect displacement processes in the simulator. >2i7Practical Reservoir Simulation ety a + on ss | Negigite Poo+ i Tamsin I Bone | Thickness, -o7h —_ vo Fig 9-1 eto Copia Presse Cise-¥E Finite transition zone thickness A problem soon becamne apparent regarding relatively thick blocks existing with transition zones consisting of a fraction of the grid block, Such a situation is shown in Figure 9-2. Early efforts involved generating a pseudo capillary pressure graphically. Such a curve has the same appear: ance as the results shown in Figure 9-3 for the previous data This will correctly calculate the original fluids in place. Apparently i is difticut co program an automatic integration of the P, curve. This system had two prob: lems. The capillary pressure curve is dependent on grid block thicknesses, This makes calculation of pseudo capillary pressures difficult where gridlock thickness es vary; the solution is that one must use uniform grid: block sizes. In addition, the pseudo capillary pressure affects displacement calculations Often, getting the correct amount of fluid in place was more important than displacement, such as pci Mary production performance. Modern simulators now use a different approach. Grid-block subdivision By arbitrarily subdividing grid blocks during the is tialization process, as shown in Figure 4, it is possible to pick multiple points on the P, curve and average them to derive an averaged grid-block saturation. For most programs, this is user transparent, However, there ate programs allowing users to specify tow many subdivisions are (0 be made. It's also necessary ta specit: ically request depth averaging for this type of calculation to be done. This is much easier to implement and should give satisfactory saturation accuracy like Fuyther thought is needed regarding gridding With a fluid distribution ier the grid diock. does the computed pseudo capillary pressure accurately represent the displacement process? The author has not done any tests on this yet, but it may be a serivus consideration jn constrecting a eservoir arid Type of capillary pressure data At present. capillary pressure data for initialization is nosmally abeained from drainage capillary pressure tests. Tis is fone area where simulation technology may change. As discussed earlier. the real reservoir process is one of countercurrent imbibition, Eventually. with more devel- opment, initialization may be based on more realistic laboratory data Tilted water contacts Tilted water contacts have been recognized for a long time. Figures 9-5 and 9-6 show some diagrams for reservoirs where tilted water contacts are well established.! There are many reservoirs with tilted water, contacts, which are caused by the subsurface move- ment of formation fluids, These movements are studied by hydrogeoiogists Hydrogeology ‘The study of hydrogeology is far from new Most provincial governments and the federal government are busy modeling surface groundwater flow on several watersheds in the province at any given time. Most of these studies do not extend far past the Pleistocene sta low formations and are intended to manage farm, munic- ipal, and industrial groundwater use. A significant amount of original research on this topic was done by the Dutch to suppor theie system of dykes ‘The application to oil and gas was recognized many years ago by M. King Hubbert! He demonstrated the movement of water in the subsurface would alter che location of oil an gas pools and showed how to calcu late this effect. He died a few years ago and was widely recognized for his achievements. However, the practical application of this theory has been stow. Due to the foresight of the Canadian government and industry all DST data is in the public domain atter one year. This source of data is critical to performing basin Seale hydrogeology. Brian Hitchon of the NationalP. Data 0S. 10 494Pa 54 = 51.89% =24.5 kPa 5. = 37.8% P.=38.0kPa 30.8% P.=49.0kPa Fig 9-2 Grid Biock with Finite Thickness P Zone — Se Fig. 9-3 Pseudo Copillary Pressure Curve Caiculation— Finite P, Zone Fg 9-4 Generation of Average Grid Block Saturation Using Venical Grid RefinementFig. 9-6 Example of Tilted Water Contact MontanaResearch Council Canada (NRC) has done pioneering work in this area One company remarketed the DST data with interpretations in a form shat had been quality controf checked, but they are no longer actively selling this data. More recently, Hydro Petroleum Canada has prepared complete subsurface potential maps for almost the entire basin, and it includes water chemistry as well. The trapping of most oi! and gas pools in the Province of Alberta can be expiained based on fluid movements and number of trapping mechanisms. Many exploration wells during the years have been termed geological successes but economic failures. Restated, the geology extrapolated was accurate, but n0 oil or gas accumulation was found. The industry has not historically been able to predict the structures, reels, et containing oil or the ones containing oil and gas. Ieis much easier to trap gas, and this is why 60% of eserves in Canada on a barrels of oil equivalent (BOE) basis are gas ‘Manual input Water, ol, and gas saturations caa be input manually in a simulator using one of many different read options. This would include grid-block by grid-block specifica tions as well as block or layer reads This is normally done either on simple data sets, where itis faster to hardwire a saturation, ‘or when dynamic conditions exist Inthe latter ease, itis possible to input saturations based directly from log analy. sis, At present, simulators do not allow for dynamic initialization, However, a simulator can be run to achieve this objective and the output arrays convert: ed to input arrays. Developing the dynamic initialization may tequire exper- mentation, and the reservoir simulator must be run for a sufficient time to emu- late steady state conditions. Reservoir engineering implica tions of dynamic trapping Tilted contacts and dynamic condi tions ae frequently not recognized. Quite bizarre interpretations are often requited in onder to force (incorrectly) a static interpretation. Some examples are out lined following ‘Actual Conditions, DynamicEquiibrim Phantom Faults rterreted to Match Precancelved Satie Equlltiam assumption Initialization Example 1. ifthe contact is tited, the obvious adjustment to the geological interpretation is compartmentalization ‘with separate water contacts. Very oten, these end up as the mystery pisichouts and phantom faults, ie, can't be seen on seismic, such as those depicted in Figure $7. Clearly, when a simulation is done on a reservoir that ‘s actually continuous, i (S going 10 be difficult 0 history march reservoir performance. In one case, we had a client ‘who was going to stop injection since they felt communi cation did not exist, despite the fact pressure data proved. conclusively that communication was occurring Example 2 Very often, most of the oil or gas will be dis- placed off the top of the structure and reservoir perform ance will reflect the original distribution of fluids. This is. shown in Figure 9-8, Water influx will occur from updip and downdip, and the best wells will actually be offset from the structural high. This example is based on a reservoir in Saskatchewan and is easily demonstrated based on well cumulative productions. da static gravity equilibrium is used here, it will be difficult (impossible?) to match the cumulative production, since the oil will not be located in the correct location. Fig.9-7 Effect of Misinterpreting a Tited Water Contact as a Series of Barriers >aPractical Reservoir Simulation sere wetsocated offsets hg Fig 9-8 étfect on Well Placement When a Tilted Water Comact Has Been Misinterpreted I mater seen derma saentoemarrate, ae 00s Water cut Conventional watertlood approaches have stiowa placing an injector in the cen: ter of high-permeability in an isolated pool will give the highest flood efficiency Based on the assumption used. this is true. However, if one places injection in the center of a hydrodynamic pool, then the oil is ejected out of the trap, This is depict ed in Figure 9-11 This has happened in a few pools. Watertiooding with inconectly placed injec- tors in @ hydrodynamically tapped pool will reduce recovery Simulation failures ‘These are examples of so-called sime lation failures. Of course. the simulator is an inanimate object and isnot responsible for anything, The failures that have occurted did so because die underlying physics were not understood. Sadly, the poor understanding often dates back to the 1950s. However, in Canada, the wealth ‘of public data has made available detailed mapping of the sedimentary basin, and the full implications of hydrogeology can be applied. Fig. 9-9 Explanation of Wels shat Originaly Produce 100% Wover Followed by Increasing Oil Cuts Example 3. [n some reservotrs,he water cut will go down, when the well is put on production at high rates. The situ- ation is shown in Figure 9-8. The gradients induced by reservoir production are much stronger than the potential gradients associated with trapping, The performance described previously is common in the Sawtooth in the southern part of Alberta, Often, these wells will mysteriously produce many times the OOIP for their driting spacing unit. A ‘gravity static equilibrium is unlikely (0 calculate the cor rect cumulative oil, since the updip pinchous location is unknown and the sirong aquifer precludes accurate mate. rial balance calculations. Example 4. From an areal perspective,cil trapped hydro- dynamically in high-permeability formations will natural: ly shrink to a central point. The influx occurs from all, directions. Water displacement will progress as shown in Figure 9-10. 222 < Modeling dynamic equilibria Geologists are quite interested in hydrogeology, and the author has prepared a talk on reservoir engineering implications for the Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists (CSPG). The positions of cilwater and gascil contacts were generated using a reservoir simulator. Most hydrogeology calculations ut lize steady state flow assumptions and could solve this. kind of problem faster than a reservoir simulator. However, a model specifically for initialization has yet to be built. ‘An anticlinaliike structure with a production well located on the structure is shown in Figure 9-12. At pres- ent, the fluids show a distribution of uids that would be obtained via static gravity equilibrium. Capillary presare is included in this model. Note the gradual change in the wwateroil transition, ‘The situation has been made a little more realistic by including layering in the problem. The permeability. distribution could change to something similar to Figure 13,POOL WISPLACED PL BOUT WE Re Query feos eae PRIMARY Fig. 9-11 Elect of Misplacing an injector in Dynamically Tapped Fool initialization To obtain dynamic equilibrium, the simu: lator was deceived by using an injection and production wel] combination in the aquifer, The author has used a high horizontal poten. tial gradient to make the point more clearly The resultant potential distribution is shown in Figure 9-14 The potential field is not identical to the pressure distribution, which is shown in Figure 9-15, ‘The locations of the fluids are shown in Figure 9-16. The direction of water flow can also be reversed. The effect of this is shown in Figure 917. No Flow ~» Static Equilibrium, 1g 9-12 Reservoir Simulation Tests for Dynamic Equilbrium—Staicinitialzationsarvoir Simulation EEE Medium | 7983 mam High sos. aor. ai asa. az Fig 9-13 Reservoir Simulation Tests for Dynarine Equitbrium—Permeabiity Distnbution 798 P datum = oF potential 038) 078. ai aes 207. z Fig 9-14 Reservoir Sirulation Tests for Dynamic Eauilibrium—Flow Potential (Datum Pressure}Pressure, initial Fig. 9-15 Reservoir Simulation Tests for Dynarnie Equilionium—Raw Pressure 7950: _- oil 7999 036. ain 3.68 207 Fig, 9-16 Reservoir Simulation Tests for Dynamic Eqactica son. 07. 07: Fig 9-17 Simulation Tests for Dynamic Equilibrium—Reversed Flow Location of Fluids 2.000 3000 k ate SC, bbl/day 3 Injection (WF) reduces recovery slightly 1.000 _- Natural Drive Waterflood~~ 1.000 12.900 100 Time day Fig. 9-18 Reservoir Simulation Tests for Dynamic Equiltvium—Watertiood Sensitivity Deemer eemmmeemmaanntae, steesaremeame ssThe location of fluids is determined by the potential ivld and, when steady state is achieved, is independent of tre absolute permeability. Layers will alfect location of rhe hydrocarbons. You can increase permeability to speed up the development of the saturation distribution, The output from such a run can be used to manually specify the saturation array in the simulator, Water injection The elfects of water disposal were modeled using a restart fle. Cases were run for both initial conditions in which water flow starts from both directions. In both cases, recovery from the production well went down with waterflooding instead of increasing, The production fore- cases aze shown in Figure 9-18, The effect of the high-permeability layer is shown in Figure 9-19. Note the drop in oil productivity and the change inthe GOR profile. The waterflood starts at 19,000 days, which was the time required to develop the steady state flow conditions for initialization, 2.000 Uniform Reservoir Oil Rate ‘olf Rate SC, bbliday Layered Reservoir Rates: 10,000 1200 Time, day Fig. 9-19 Reservoir Simulation Tests for Dynamic Initiglicaeion Hydrogeology Recently this problem has been resolved by Henning Lies of Hydro Petroleum Canada (HPC). At the time of this writing, most of his material remains unpublised, which is unfortunate. HPC has created regional hydroge- ological maps of most of the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin, They have examined what causes the trapping of probably 80% of the poois in Alberta, British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. Another Key area where HPC has done practical research is in modeling the fluid movement in the sub surface. At present. only One of these projects has been published: “Hydrogeological Trapping Model of the Mitk River Gas Field" by H. Lies" No production runs During the early days of simulation, it was common 0 nun the simulation with no well production. The objective of this test was to see if gravity equilibrium had, in fact, been obtained. The output log would indi- cate no material balance changes and no saturation changes in any grid blocks. With depth averaging, this may not always be the case and will definitely not be 3,000 Layered Reservoir ORs 2000 B = a i Uniform Reservoir 3 ei ro 8 Reversed Waterflow GOR 14000 Equilibriam—fect of Layering on Waterflgod > 27Practical Reservoir Simulation true if a dynamic system is madeted. It is still useful. It will indicate how much effect the depth-averaging cal culations have on the reservoir as fluid distributions, equalize. The reservoir simulation calculation is still based on grid-block average properties that mathemat> cally occur exactly at the grid-block center ‘Summary Initialization appearsto be a straightforward matter on the surface or initially (two bad puns). Gravity icitializa- 4ion is relatively simple to implement with modern fear tures, An engineer must be aware of what features are available, There is no law, however, stating that static grav ity equilibrium mest exist In fact, the opposite is true. If fone has trouble getting a history match, this may be a good place to reexafnine basic assumptions. Dynamic conditions are common in the Sawtooth of Southern Alberta, all of Saskatchewan, Indonesia, and in the Middle East. Qatar has some strong examples ofthis. 228 < References Dahlberg. €.C. Applied Hscrdynannies in Petroleum Exploration 2 ed, SpringNerkog. 195. Hubbert. LK, The Theory of Growl ater Mion ane Plated Papers, Hafner Publishing Company 1969. Hitchon, 8 etal, "Culling Criteria for Standant Formation Water Analyses” Applied Geochemisiry ol.9, 1998, Lies, H.Hydrogeotogical Tapping Model of the Milk River Gas Feld Journal of Canadian Fetolewra Technology, (December): 25-3), 1895,