Oil Field Water Properties

Water invariably occurs in petroleum reservoirs where

petroleum reservoir fluids are found associated with
water.

The water present in petroleum reservoirs is

commonly referred to as connate water, interstitial
water, formation water, oil field water, reservoir water,
and sometimes simply brine due to the presence of
salts.
 Reasons

• Water injection for pressure maintenance purposes.

In water injection practices, formation water

characteristics, such as chemical composition, are also
used to ascertain the potential of formation plugging due
to incompatibility between the external injection water
(e.g., sea water) and the reservoir water.
• In a pore level scenario, the presence of water of
particular properties can influence system wettability
and irreducible water saturation, which in turn can
affect relative permeability functions.

• In reservoir fluid flow equations, formation water is

treated as a separate phase along with the
hydrocarbon gas phase and the oil phase. Similar to
the properties of the hydrocarbon phases, properties
of the water phase are necessary to solve the flow
equations.
• Solubility of hydrocarbons in the water phase and the
solubility of water in hydrocarbon phases.

The presence of water and some gases, typically in

surface facilities and pipelines, under certain conditions
of pressure and temperature may also form solid
crystalline compounds known as gas hydrates.
Therefore, it is clearly important to have knowledge
of the chemical and physical properties of formation
waters.
The frequently used chemical property data are
chemical composition or salinity of water, while
physical properties include density, viscosity,
compressibility, and formation volume factor.
Quite often, it is also desirable to include the mutual
solubility data.
 COMPOSITIONAL OF FORMATION
WATER

Dissolved solids such as

• sodium chloride
• potassium chloride, calcium chloride,
• magnesium chloride, strontium chloride,
• sodium sulfate, and sodium bicarbonate.
 BUBBLE-POINT PRESSURE OF FORMATION
WATER

Oil and the water in a petroleum reservoir can be

considered to be in thermodynamic equilibrium.
Therefore, the bubble-point pressure of formation water
equals the bubble-point pressure of the co-existing oil
because water in a petroleum reservoir can be assumed to
be in equilibrium with the hydrocarbon phases.
FORMATION VOLUME FACTOR OF FORMATION
WATER

The formation volume factor of water, denoted by Bw,

represents the change in volume of the water as it is
brought from the reservoir to the surface.

1. The evolution of dissolved gas from the water due to

pressure reduction
2. The slight expansion due to pressure reduction
3. The slight contraction owing to temperature reduction
from reservoir to surface.
Bw = (1 + ΔVwp) (I + ΔVwt)
 DENSITY OF FORMATION WATER

The density of formation waters can be calculated on the

basis of the water formation volume factor if the mass of
dissolved gas in water at reservoir conditions is
neglected.
 The Coefficient of Viscosity of Oilfield Water

Water viscosity is a measure of the resistance to flow

exerted by water.
SOLUBILITY OF HYDROCARBONS IN
FORMATION WATER
 SOLUBILITY OF FORMATION WATER IN
HYDROCARBONS

For the solubility of water in hydrocarbons, two types of

solubility are considered:
(1) The solubility of water in gaseous hydrocarbons and
(2) The solubility of water in liquid hydrocarbons.
The solubility of water in gaseous hydrocarbons
The solubility of water in liquid hydrocarbons
The Coefficient of Isothermal Compressibility of
Water