SPE 128013

Residual Hydrocarbons – A Trap for the Unwary

T. O’Sullivan, SPE, and K. Praveer, SPE, Cairn India Ltd., and K. Shanley, SPE, J.C. Dolson, SPE, and
R. Woodhouse, SPE, Independent Consultants

Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Oil and Gas India Conference and Exhibition held in Mumbai, India, 20–22 January 2010.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been reviewed
by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or
members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is
restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.

Abstract

Residual hydrocarbons occur in a range of habitats and can take various forms: they may be oil or gas, they may be present within
high-quality or poor reservoirs; and may appear as a single palaeo-column or as thin columns interspersed with beds of producible
hydrocarbons. Residual hydrocarbons are sometimes easy to identify but when not recognised they may lead to optimistic reserves
estimates.

This paper illustrates the range of habitats of residual hydrocarbons and provides techniques to enable their identification, such as
novel log cross-plots and log overlays. In most cases the non-productive nature of the residual hydrocarbon can be confirmed
using flow tests, with the possible exception of very low permeability reservoirs containing residual gas.

The results of not recognising residual hydrocarbons include (a) overbooking of reserves which may have serious commercial
consequences, (b) the application of incorrect saturation-height functions, (c) pessimism in calculated formation-water resistivities
estimated from water legs containing residual hydrocarbons, (d) lower effective permeabilities in water legs which may affect
waterflood design, and (e) excessive expenditure on wireline formation testing and drill stem testing.

From an exploration perspective, residual hydrocarbons provide direct evidence of migrated hydrocarbons and/or breached oil
fields and hydrocarbon loss due to regional post-migration tilt. Thus they provide important clues to the location of additional
traps along the migration pathways.

We present examples of residual hydrocarbons from the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere. The subcontinent is particularly prone
to the presence of residual hydrocarbons as many basins have undergone polyphase deformation and multiple periods of secondary
migration and fill.

By raising the awareness of residual hydrocarbons, we hope that this paper leads to greater accuracy in reserves estimates, and
perhaps even the discovery of additional hydrocarbons.

Introduction
This paper presents the main processes that form residual hydrocarbon columns and then the parameters required for their
preservation. A range of examples are given to illustrate the type of residual hydrocarbons that may occur and the technical and
commercial impact if the residual hydrocarbons are not recognised. The exploration significance of residual hydrocarbons is also
discussed.
2 SPE 128013

Residual Hydrocarbon Columns: Formation and Preservation

The presence of residual hydrocarbon columns is dependent on two main parameters, firstly the formation of the residual columns
and secondly their preservation. The various processes which generate residual hydrocarbons are illustrated in Figure 1. The seven
processes listed represent the end-members of various mechanisms forming residual hydrocarbons and in reality there are many
combinations of the various types. Note that this list is not meant to be exhaustive but rather aimed at illustrating the large
variation in the mechanism of formation of residual columns.

1A - Production

OWC
Residual
Column

1B - Hydrodynamic Tilting Residual

Column

GOC GOC
OWC OWC

Water Flow

1C - Regional Tilting

OWC
Residual
Column

Fig. 1A- Left: Oil column before onset of production. Right :After production, residual oil column below remaining oil.
Fig. 1B- Left: Gas and oil columns prior to aquifer flow. Right: After onset of water flow from right to left, tilting of oil water contact and
formation of residual oil column. Note that the tilt angle of the oil is greater for the oil than for the gas column.
Fig. 1C- Left: Oil column before regional tilting. Right :After regional tilting, residual oil column below oil column. Note that the residual
oil column has a tilted oil water contact, unlike the example in Figure 1B.

Probably the most common form of residual hydrocarbon formed is caused by production. Figure 1A illustrates the original oil
column on the left and then after production on the right a residual column has formed due to the irreducible oil that remains in the
formation. Note that in this example the contact between the original oil water contact and the residual column is horizontal. Of
course, this may not be the case if there are lateral permeability baffles and variations in withdrawal rates across the field.
SPE 128013 3

1D - Breached Lateral Seal – Fault – Single Thick Bed

OWC
Residual
Column

Fig. 1D- Left: Oil column within tilted fault block trap before seal failure. Right: After seal failure, residual oil column below
remaining oil.
Fig. 1E- Left: Oil column within tilted fault block trap before seal failure in thinly bedded reservoir. Right: After seal failure,
complex series of interbedded residual oil columns and remaining oil columns.
Fig. 1F- Left: Gas and oil column prior to top seal failure. Right: Partial top seal failure. Gas escapes, but oil remains.
Residual oil column below remaing oil.
Fig. 1G- Left: Oil column with transition zone in low permeability reservoir in tilted fault block trap. Right: After seal failure,
adjustment of transition zone to a higher position in the reservoir, residual oil column formed in both the original oil column
and original transition zone.
4 SPE 128013

Although production is the most common cause of residual hydrocarbon columns, it is difficult to predict the next most common
process. It is dependent on the tectonic and hydrodynamic processes in the specific area combined with the local stratigraphy. So
the following discussion of residual oil columns is not in any specific order.

Figure 1B represents the effects of hydrodynamic tilting. The left figure illustrates a gas column overlying an oil column before
aquifer movement has commenced. With the onset of aquifer movement the oil column will tilt in the direction of the water
movement, with the degree of tilt dependent on the rate of aquifer movement and the density difference between the oil and the
water. The smaller the density difference the larger the degree of tilt. In this example, on the right hand side the tilt of the oil
column is sufficient to expose the gas column to the moving aquifer. Note that the tilt in the gas column is less than the oil column
due to the larger density difference between the gas and the water. In an ideal case, the base of the residual column formed should
be horizontal, and the oil column becomes tilted.

Figure 1C is an example of regional tilting. The left figure illustrates the oil column before tilting has occurred. After regional
tilting has taken place on the right, the residual oil column has a tilted base reflecting the geometry of the original oil water
contact. To the right of the trap it is possible for oil to escape updip into other traps.

Figure 1D illustrates an oil accumulation trapped within a tilted fault block. Breaching of the seal can occur due to tectonic forces
or due to the hydrocarbon column height being sufficient to break the seal. Once the seal has been breached, the hydrocarbon can
escape either up the fault plane or across the fault plane or both. Figure 1E is similar to 1D except that there are multiple reservoir
beds. With breaching of the fault seal a complex series of residual oil columns and oil columns remain.

Figure 1F illustrates the case of partial leakage in a top seal. In this instance, the partial breaching of the seal is sufficient for the
gas from the gas column to escape, however the oil column remains. Note that this could result from the hydrocarbon column
pressure becoming sufficient to break the seal. Once sufficient hydrocarbons have escaped the defective seal may still be able to
contain a smaller hydrocarbon column containing predominantly oil.

Figure 1G illustrates the case of a breached lateral seal in which the reservoir has low permeability. The low permeability
reservoir brings an additional complexity to the situation in the form of a large transition zone compared to more permeable
reservoirs. When the residual column forms it can often be difficult to distinguish between the original transition zones and the
newly formed residual columns without the aid of pressure data. In very tight rocks, both hydrocarbon and water may be
immovable in the residual column due to relative permeability effects, making it difficult to distinguish the transition zone from
the residual column even with pressure data.

Once the residual column has been formed, it has to be preserved for the residual column to be observed in well data. The
preservation of a residual hydrocarbon column depends on a number of factors as follows:

1. Timing. How recent has the residual column been formed? The more recent, the more likely it is that the column is
preserved.
2. Type of hydrocarbon preserved. The heavier the oil, the more likely the column will be preserved.
3. Quality of reservoir. The tighter the reservoir, the more likely the residual column will be preserved.
4. Amount of water washing. The more water washing, the less likely the residual column will be preserved.
5. Amount of bacterial action. The greater the bacterial action, the less likely the residual column will be preserved.
6. Temperature. Lowering of the temperature makes oil less mobile, and the more likely the residual column will be
preserved.

The next section of the paper provides field examples of various residual columns and discusses firstly their formation and
secondly the implication to exploration and development.

Example 1: Billion Barrel Oil Field

Background
The trap for this large oil field has been formed by a tilted fault block within a rift basin (Figure-2). The reservoir consists of
interbedded sands and shales, dominated by well-connected sheetflood and braided channel sands in the lower part, and dominated
by sinuous, meandering, fluvial channel sands in the upper part. The sands consist almost entirely of mature quartz grains, with
SPE 128013 5

virtually no diagenetic alteration and high primary porosities and excellent permeabilities. Porosities range from 17-33% (average
26%) with in-situ permeabilities of 200 md to more than 20 darcies (average 5 darcies). The oil is a waxy, sweet crude with gravity
ranging from 18-20ºAPI close to the oil-water contact (OWC) where the crude has been slightly biodegraded to 29ºAPI higher in
the oil column (average 27ºAPI). The crude has a low gas-oil ratio of ~180 scf/bbl and the in-situ oil viscosity above the
biodegraded zone ranges from 9-22 cP. The oil column is more than 200m in height.

Fig. 2- Oil column within tilted fault block trap. Residual oil column at base of oil pool. Bitumen
contained in shallow reservoir.

Identification of Residual Hydrocarbon

Figure-3 displays logs from the discovery well in the field. In the oil leg, resistivities are very high (more than 1000 ohm-m.) In
the water leg, resistivities range from 6 to 10 ohm-m, a dramatic decrease from the overlying oil column. Although such a large
decrease in resistivity might suggest that the lower zone was in an interval of 100% water saturation, this is not the case. Evidence
from mudlogs, gas curves, and oil staining on cores all indicate that there is a residual hydrocarbon column below the main oil
column.

Figure-4 illustrates the mudlog gas curves for the well, together with the percentage of bitumen extracted from core samples (the
red dots plotted in the water saturation column). All the evidence indicates that there is residual oil extending some tens of meters
below the existing oil column and therefore it can be inferred that the paleaocolumn was much thicker than what it is today.

Gas chromatographic ratios were also calculated:
possible distinction between the present-day oil
discernable in any of the ratios at the contact
biodegradation of both columns with possibly the
homologues.
namely, balance, wetness and character ratios to investigate if there was any
column and the residual column. As shown in Figure-4 no difference is
between present-day and residual column. It is likely that this is due to
introduction of biogenic methane and the selective removal of the other light

The actual depth of the free water level was determined by plotting the pressures from wireline test data (Figure-5). The gradient
in the oil column is only a small amount less than that of the water leg due to the oil and water densities being similiar,
(approximately 0.85 gm/cc for the oil density and 1.0grm/cc for the water density) The blue arrow in Figures-3,4,5and -6 shows
the position of the free water level.
6 SPE 128013

Implication of Residual Hydrocarbon

In terms of petrophysics, the presence of residual hydrocarbon can lead to errors in an analysis if it is not recognised. In this
example, if the water leg, as seen on logs, was used to calculate an apparent water resistivity then in this calculation it is normally
assumed that the water saturation is 100%. The apparent water resistivity would be incorrectly calculated at 0.73 ohm-m. When
this is applied to estimate water saturation in the entire column then the calculated water saturation would be too high. In this case
it is only 2 water saturation units, however, in a billion barrel field this error amounts to a STOOIP error of 20 million barrels of
oil.

The other implication to petrophysics is the application of saturation-height functions. Figure-6 illustrates capillary pressure
curves when a system is in drainage (red) and in imbibition (green). There are significant differences to the shape of these curves
in particular in the lower part of the column in the transition zone. In this example, oil has escaped from the tilted fault block trap
both due to regional tilting and also from leakage up the fault plane. Evidence of oil that has leaked up the fault plane is the
appearance of bitumen in the shallow overlying reservoir in locations near the fault. Once oil has begun to drain from a field the
oil column switches from being in “drainage” mode capillarity to “imbibition” mode capillarity. In the imbibition mode,
transition zones are much shorter than in drainage mode. Care is required in using saturation-height functions in geological
modelling in cases where there has been leakage of hydrocarbon from the trap.

Fig.3- Oil column and residual oil column in high permeability
reservoir. Blue arrows indicate the position of present day free
water level. Note very high resistivities in the oil column.
Fig. 4- Similar section displayed in Figure 3. This panel presents
the total gas, and various chromatographic ratios. Water saturation
in far right column also displays bitumen extracts from core shown
as red dots. Note the presence of bitumen below the present day
free water level.

Implications for exploration primarily focus on the question of “where has the oil spilled to, after escaping the trap?” In this
example, the volume that has escaped is estimated to be approximately 200 million barrels. Fields subsequently were found
updip of this one, which were located in areas away from source kitchens. These updip fields contain oil which is geochemically
similar to the original field. It is likely that these fields are the trapped portions of the oil that had escaped from the billion barrel
field.
SPE 128013 7

Fig.5- Wireline formation pressure test data showing the oil column
and the water leg. Blue arrow is depth of present day free water
level. Slope of oil pressure data is only slightly steeper than water
data as oil density is similar to water in this example.
Fig.6- Typical capillary pressure curves for drainage and imbibition
states. Blue arrow indicates free water level. Once leakage or
production of a reservoir commences the reservoir changes from a
drainage state to an imbibition state. Note reduction of transition zone
height between the drainage and the imbibition curves.

Example 2: Giant Gas Field

Background
The trap for this potentially giant gas field (40 TCF?) has been formed by a tilted fault block located on a plate margin (Figure-7).
The reservoir consists of thinly bedded delta front sands and silts. The sands are lithic, argillaceous and medium to fine grained.
Clays consist of primarily kaolinite and illite. Porosities range from 4-12% (average 8%) with in-situ permeabilities ranging from
1md to 0.001md (average 0.05md). The gas is moderately dry and there is no oil leg.
 8 SPE 128013

Identification of Residual Hydrocarbon

Figure-8 displays logs from the discovery well in this giant gas field. In the gas leg, resistivities range from 7 to 20 ohm-m. No
well defined water leg is observed on logs, even though the presence of formation water was confirmed from drill stem tests. The
depth versus formation pressure plot from wireline formation test data is presented in Figure-10. No well defined hydrocarbon
column(s) or water leg(s) were interpreted from this data. As well as the lack of definable fluid columns, many of the pressure
points were “tight” and yielded no usable pressure data due to supercharging or no flow. The key to unlocking what was
happening in this field was a very close inspection of the wireline log data.

Fig.8- Log interpretation of gas within low permeability reservoir. Resulting water
saturations and second column from far left are within the range of 30% to 70%.
Just from this display one might mistakenly think that the data indicates one
continuous gas column in a low permeability reservoir.
Fig.9- Similar section to Figure 8, but right column has deep
resistivity log plotted in same track as porosity. Resistivity
increases in value to the left. For real gas columns the
resistivity should increase with increasing effective porosity.
Blue arrows indicate where the resistivity actually decreases
with increasing porosity. This key observation leads to the
conclusion of a complex series of interbedded stacked gas
columns and residual columns.

The interpretation of the wireline log data showed that the water saturation varied from 75% to 45% in the sandstones, which is not
an unreasonable result given the low permeability of the reservoir and the unknown Archie’s exponents used in the water
saturation equation. However, on detailed inspection of the wireline log data it was apparent that, in places where the porosity was
increasing, the resistivity decreased (Figure-9). This gave the indication that much of the hydrocarbon intersected was actually
residual. Due to the low permeability of the reservoir the residual hydrocarbon remaining was in that part of the relative
permeability curve so that the majority of the fluid was now immovable (Figure-11). At one time this would have been a very large
gas accumulation, but following a leaky fault seal, the accumulation has been divided into many thin small columns interspersed
with transitional zones and residual columns.
SPE 128013 9

Fig.10- Wireline formation pressure test data. Green dots are valid data.
Yellow dots are suspect data and pink dots are failed data. Blue and red
dotted lines are typical slopes for a water column and a gas column
respectively. Note that the pressure data shows that there is not one
continuous gas column, which is additional support for the conclusion of
the gas pool being formed by many stacked small gas columns. Large
numbers of failed points due to the low permeability of reservoir,
supercharging and residual gas saturations.
Fig.11- In residual hydrocarbon columns the permeability of the
free fluid (now water) can drop by an order of magnitude (or
more) compared to the original gas permeability as shown by
typical gas oil relative permeability curves in a low permeability
reservoir.

Implication of Residual Hydrocarbon

Prior to the identification of the residual hydrocarbons, it was estimated that the Gas in Place for this accumulation was 40 TCF. It
was fortunate that the operator recognised the residual nature of much of the column and the OGIP was reduced to about 10% of
the original number. Not recognising such a situation could lead to the incorrect booking of very large gas reserves only to realize
that the majority of the gas would actually not be recoverable. Such a situation would lead to considerable commercial
embarrassment.

Implications for exploration primarily focus on identifying traps in the area in which the faults have sealed sufficiently to contain
the hydrocarbon. Relevant avenues of investigation would be fault orientation in relation to maximum horizontal stress, the
sealing quality of the fault gouge, the juxtaposition of reservoir and sealing shales across the fault plane, and estimating the
maximum gas column that can trapped by the sealing shales and fault seal.

Example 3: Swept Zones in Producing Fields

Background
The traps for these swept fields are four way dip closures, formed during structural inversion of sequences that had been deposited
in a graben of a failed rift near an active plate margin. The reservoir consists of clastics deposited in fluvial and delta front
settings. The reservoir has been sub-divided into two units, an upper one which contains both oil and gas and a lower unit which
contains predominantly oil.
10 SPE 128013

The original gas in place for the field was 400 BCF and at present about half the total gas has been produced, resulting in a rise in
the gas-water contact and the formation of a residual gas column. Besides gas, the field has just under 100 MMbbls of oil in place.
The gas is primarily dry gas with negligible CO2 and H2S. Oil is good quality crude of 39-45 API gravity.

To sustain gas rates, in-fill wells were drilled to target areas of unswept gas. These wells penetrated partially depleted sands
which contained residual gas columns and provided a good opportunity to study the log response in sands containing residual
hydrocarbons. These wells also encountered water filled sands.

Figure-12 shows log response in sands with residual hydrocarbons (A) along with a thin zone which still remains to be produced
(B). Resistivity and total porosity from two sands along with a deeper water bearing sands (C) – not seen in Fig-12 - are cross
plotted (Figure-13). The trend of the water sands and the residual hydrocarbon sands are similar i.e decreasing resistivity with
increasing porosities. However as expected, the resistivity of the sands with residual hydrocarbons is marginally higher than the
water sands. For the undrained sands (B), resistivity increases with increasing porosity.

Fig.12- Original gas column in reservoir unit B. Residual gas
column in reservoir unit A after production has taken place. High
remaining gas saturations due to recent production.
Fig.13- Cross-plot of porosity versus deep resistivity. Blue dots are
from water zone. Note how with increasing porosity resistivity
decreases. Red dots are from zone B. Increasing porosity leads to
increasing resistivity. Green dots are from swept zone A as
shown in Figure 12. Increasing porosity has decreasing resistivity,
similar trend to water zone.

When an “exploratory well” was drilled in the field to test a separate sand at a deeper level, it encountered sands, with good gas
readings and shows on mud logs. The wireline logs indicated good porosities but the sand resistivities were marginally higher than
the known resistivity in the water sands of the same formations in this well, as well as in adjoining wells (Figure-14). Resistivity-
porosity cross plots clearly showed the trends of residual hydrocarbons (Figure-15). Since this well was separated from the
producing field, there was some uncertainty on water salinity which could have tilted the odds in favour of this sand being
hydrocarbon bearing. If proved hydrocarbon bearing this would have added another 100 MMbbls of oil in place and opened a new
area for development with more wells and more investments.
SPE 128013 11

In order to confirm the fluid type, a wireline formation pressure tool was run to record pressure and collect samples (Figure-16).
As can be seen from the pressure gradient plot a water line with gradient of 0.433 psi /ft as well as oil gradient of 0.37 psi/ft both
can be drawn through the pressure points. Finally four fluid samples were collected from the topmost part of the sands. Optical
fluid analyzer gave mixed results during the sampling and when the samples were brought to surface and opened it was confirmed
that all the samples were dominantly water with traces of oil.

Fig.15- Red dots are from water zone E some distance below Zone D. Note
Fig.14- Gas saturations interpreted in exploration well in Zone D. resistivity decrease with increasing porosity. Green dots are from Zone D as
shown in the left figure. Note decrease in resistivity with increasing porosity.
Conclusion: reservoir has been swept and residual hydrocarbon remains.

Fig.16- Wireline formation pressure data for Zone D. Note that points do not plot along a gas
line. Differences in pressure probably relate to non-equilibrium of pressure in swept zone.
12 SPE 128013

Example 4: Hydrodynamic Tilting

Figure 17 is a cross-section showing fields where tilted oil-water contacts have been caused by water leakage from deep over-
pressured sandstones and shales which cause an aquifer flow in the overlying formations. Residual oil columns and tilted oil water
contacts are observed in many of the shallower reservoirs. Figure 18 shows detailed petrophysical properties for a well with initial
oil reserves of more than 2 billion bbls. The sandstone reservoir is formed by submarine turbidite flows. There is an obvious
residual oil column as shown in Figure 18 which was present in the field discovery well. It is not caused by field development and
recent oil production.

The residual oil column is identified where the ratio of the micro- and deep- resistivity remains practically the same in both the
residual oil column and in the aquifer — this occurs because the water saturation is the same in the volumes measured by the
invaded (filtrate-invaded) and the deep (uninvaded) measurements. Rxo/Rt in the residual oil column at XX60m is 1.7/0.75 ohm-
m and in the aquifer at XX70m is 0.75/0.3 ohm.m (Rxo/Rt in both cases is approximately 2.4).

On a logarithmic scale, a constant ratio of the deep –and micro- resistivities causes the two logs to remain separated by the same
distance on the log, when inspecting the logs of the residual oil column and the aquifer. This is the standard signature of all
residual hydrocarbon zones in this area. This same resistivity ratio does not continue upwards into the mobile-oil column, where
the uninvaded deep zone has a much lower water saturation than the water saturation of the filtrate invaded zone. This signature of
a constant separation distance does not apply when the logs are presented on linear resistivity scales.

There was no effect on STOOIP in this case because the residual oil column was recognised from the outset.

Fig.17- Schematic showing water flow from overpressured sands and silts at Fig.18- Residual oil column due to hydrodynamic tiling. Note
depth. Water flows upwards into reservoir sands and then sets up drop of deep resistivity curve below shallow and medium curves
hydrodynamic tilting of oil pools. in the residual column compared with the overlying oil column.

Example 5: Residual Hydrocarbons leading to Exploration Discoveries

One of the key challenges in delta front areas and deeper exploration targets is the highly overpressured regime. Shale pressures in
excess of 17-19 lbs/gal can be encountered in deep wells in what appear to be valid structural tests with only minor or
uncommercial shows of hydrocarbons. In these wells, reservoir pressure approaches that of the regional fracture gradient and as a
result, it is physically impossible to contain any substantial hydrocarbon column.
SPE 128013 13

In this area in commercial overpressured fields, pressure regressions were observed where the pore pressure of the reservoir was
substantially less than that of its surrounding seals. The key to future deep exploration was clearly going to hinge on the ability to
find reservoirs in pressure regression relative to the surrounding seals and source rocks

In Figure-19, a key dry hole had penetrated the target section at 4000 meters below mud line on a large thrust-faulted 4-way
closure. The well was tested barren of hydrocarbons but had strong residual gas shows on logs and 28-41 API oil in fluid
inclusions in cuttings. The structure was eroded by a regional unconformity which placed normally pressured sandstones directly
onto overpressured target reservoirs. Analysis of an MDT showed 3-5 lb pressure regressions over the interval with residual
shows.

Structural mapping showed a large number of downdip 4-way closures in direct communication with this breached area. These
prospects, then, had relatively low risk charge and seal and were correctly hypothesized to have the pressure regressions required
to sustain a long column in deep overpressured settings. A giant gas condensate discovery was made on one of these deeper
features with the light hydrocarbons and pressure regressions proven.

The discovery of these deep pays has opened up a new drilling frontier in this delta front area which had eluded explorationists for
over 30 years.

Fig.19- Schematic showing residual hydrocarbons in exploration well. This led to the drilling of unbreached traps downdip
and the discovery of large oil and gas pools.

Conclusions
This paper has illustrated a large range of habitats of residual hydrocarbons and has provided techniques to enable their
identification, such as porosity/resistivity cross-plots and porosity/resistivity log overlays. In most cases the non-productive nature
of the residual hydrocarbon can be confirmed using flow tests, with the possible exception of very low permeability reservoirs
containing residual gas. In the latter case, the relative permeability of the water has been lowered by the presence of the residual
gas to such an extent to make the majority of the water immovable.
14 SPE 128013

The results of not recognising residual hydrocarbons include (a) overbooking of reserves which may have serious commercial
consequences, (b) the application of incorrect saturation-height functions, (c) pessimism in calculated formation-water resistivities
estimated from water legs containing residual hydrocarbons, (d) lower effective permeabilities in water legs which may affect
waterflood design, and (e) excessive expenditure on wireline formation testing and drill stem testing.
From an exploration perspective, residual hydrocarbons provide direct evidence of migrated hydrocarbons and/or breached oil
fields and hydrocarbon loss due to regional post-migration tilt. Thus they provide important clues to the location of additional
traps updip along the re-migration pathways and when recognised can lead to the discovery of additional pools.

By raising the awareness of residual hydrocarbons, we hope that this paper leads to greater accuracy in reserves estimates, and
perhaps even the discovery of additional hydrocarbons.

Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the management of Cairn India Limited for granting permission to publish this paper. We
gratefully acknowledge the work of Dennis, H., Bergmo, P & Holt, T., "Tilted oil-water contacts: modelling the effects of aquifer
heterogeneity", in Dore and Vining (eds.), Petroleum Geology: NW Europe and Global Perspectives, 6th Petroleum Geology
Conference, 2005, Geological Society of London, from which our Figures 1C and 17 were developed. We also gratefully
acknowledge the cooperation of Apache North Sea Ltd who provided the previously unpublished data shown in Figure 18.