Formation volume factor (FVF –Bo)

When the oil is produced to the surface the solution gas gets liberated and the oil shrinks in
volume. In order to make the volumetric calculations and arriving at material balance the
liberated gas is put back into the oil and equivalent volume at reservoir condition is arrived at. To
facilitate this Formation volume factor is determined. It is defined as the ratio volume in barrels
that one stock tank barrel occupies in the formation at reservoir pressure and temperature. The
Formation volume factor is always greater than 1 . In case the reservoir is under saturated the
FVF increases with decrease in reservoirs pressure and attains maximum at bubble point
pressure. For pressures lower than bubble point pressure the FVF goes on decreasing and
eventually at atmospheric pressure it equals to unity. Some times the shrinkage in volume of oil
at surface at reduced pressures is expressed in terms of shrinkage factor, which is nothing but the
reciprocal of FVF..

In case of pressures in a reservoir falling below bubble point pressure, the solution gas gets
liberated within the formation and further reduction in pressure results in expansion of this
liberated gas. Hence to consider this aspect two phase formation volume factor is defined. Two
phase Formation volume factor is defined as the volume of one barrel of stock tank oil and its
initial complement of dissolved gas occupies at reservoir temperature and pressure. In other
words it includes the liquid volume Bo , plus the volume of the difference between the initial
solution gas-oil ratio, Rsoi and the solution gas-oil at the specified pressure Rso, If Bg is the
formation volume factor of gas in barrels per standard cubic foot, of the solution gas , then the
two phase volume factor is defined as

Bt = B0 + Bg ( Rsoi- Rso)
Above the bubble point pressure Rsoi = Rso, and single phase and two phase volume factors will
be same. Below the bubble point pressure the single phase volume factor decreases while the two
phase volume factor increases due to increase the volume og gas liberated at lower pressures.

3.4 Isothermal Compressibility of Oil

Some times in reservoir engineering calculations it would be required to work with liquid
compressibilities rather than the relative volume factors like FVF. The compressibility or bulk
modulus of oil is defined by

Co = - 1/V * dV/dp. It is the change in unit volume of a fluid per unit change in the pressure at
constant temperature.
The compressibility of oil above bubble point pressure is found to vary from 13 to 20 X 10 -6
/psi while for that of crude below bubble point is found to around 100 to 200 X 10-6 /psi

3.5 Formation volume factor for Gas

Gas volume or gas formation volume factor, Bg is the volume of a standard cubic foot gas at
reservoir temperature and pressure.

Bg = Psc* Z *T/ Tsc* P

For standard pressure and temperature of 14.7 psi and 60 degree F

Bg = 0.02829Z T/P cft/SCF = 0.00504 ZT/P bbl/SCF