Reservoir Pressure

Reservoir Pressure

 The productivity index (PI) is the production rate divided

by the pressure drawdown :
q
PI
 p(Dt )  pwf 
 PI depends on the well & reservoir properties (drainage
area limits, Skin, well geometry, permeability, etc.)
 PI is usually calculated assuming p(Dt) is average
reservoir pressure (pbar) but this is rarely measured.

2
 Reservoir Pressure and PI

Therefore PI depends on reservoir pressure. But a BU

does not determine this!
 The reservoir pressure can be only estimated
assuming a known drainage area size and shape with
known reservoir properties.
 All reservoir pressure estimates involving inverse
problems (Material Balance / Reservoir Simulation /
PTA et al) methods are based on some sort of
extrapolation based on an assumed reservoir.

3
 Reservoir Pressure

Reservoir Pressure?
Pressure

Reservoir Pressure?
End BU

kt
Rinv  0.029
ct

Well re
Radius

4
 What about p*?

8000. 8500. 9000. 9500. 10000. 10500.

2600.
2400.

P PSI
P PSI
2200.

7500.
2000.

0.86 HR 0.030 HR 240. HR 5.7 HR 0.30 HR 0.017 HR

0. 50000. 100000. 0. 1000. 2000. 3000. 4000.
Superposition(T) Superposition(T)

 p* is NOT pbar! It is simply the extrapolation of the radial flow slope

m to infinite time.
 p* is not a real pressure, in fact it was originally called ‘false
pressure’. As p* is an extrapolation, it can be greater or lower than
the true reservoir pressure, and slope m can change with time e.g.
water breakthrough.
5
 Reservoir Pressure : MBH

MBH analysis is a calculation based on a correlation

between p* from a Horner Plot, p* and kh:

70.6qB
p p  *
FMBH Tp , Area, Shape 
kh
FMBH is a factor that depends on the ‘Horner-Time’ and the
size/shape of the drainage area

Note! The drainage area size and shape is assumed to be a

known quantity.

6
 MBH: 1x1 and 4x1 Drainage Areas
6 5

5 4

4 3

3 2
pMBHD

pMBHD
2 1

1 0

0 -1

-1 -2
0.01 0.1 1 10 0.01 0.1 1 10
tpAD tpAD

MBH was derived in the 1960s before the advent of

computers for simple reservoirs- no layering, no composite
behavior.

7
 Reservoir Pressure : MBH
1981/03/04-2200 : OIL

P* P-BAR
4300.
4200.
4100.
P PSI
4000.

Average Pressure Calculation:

Average Press. = 4359.57 PSI
P-extrap. = 4370.48 PSI
3900.

permeability = 30.0 MD
Time to Pseudo-Steady-State = 1473.93872 Hr
MBH Factor = 0.22168697
Drainage Area = 0.4000E+07 FEET^2
3800.

100 101 102 103 104

(Tp + dT)/dT

8
 Reservoir Pressure: Dietz

 Radial geometry, assumed pseudo steady-state liquid flow:

3
(7.08 10 )koh( pr  pwf )
qo 
oBoln( re / rw)  0.75  St 
 Use Dietz Shape factors (CA) for non-radial geometry:

(7.08 10 3)koh( pr  pwf )

qo 
  2.2459 A  
oBo 0.5 ln  2
  St 
  CArw  

Note! The drainage area size and shape is assumed to be a

known quantity.
9
Dietz Shape Factors

10
 Reservoir Pressure : Typecurve

Use a Typecurve model match for a BU and then

extrapolate to an ‘infinite’ shut-in time

 Matching the late-time portion of a BU, and the overall

pressure history, the model’s assumed drainage area
geometry (size/shape) results in an average pressure.

 Typecurve matching can handle various reservoir

geometries as well as layering or composite
behaviour.

11
 Reservoir Pressure : Type Curve
4250.
4200.
4150. 1981/07/15-1600 : OIL
P PSI

well. storage = 0.0001000 BBLS/PSI

skin = 0.
4100.

permeability = 30.0 MD
Perm-Thickness = 3000. MD-FEET
+x boundary = 150. FEET (1.00)
-x boundary = 1850. FEET (1.00)
4050.

+y boundary = 1000. FEET (1.00)

-y boundary = 1000. FEET (1.00)
Initial Press. = 5000.00 PSI
Average Press. = 4292.83 PSI
4000.

7.2 HR 0.72 HR 0.072 HR 0.0071 HR

0. 200. 400. 600. 800. 1000. 1200.
Superposition(T)

Note! The drainage area size and shape is assumed to be a

known quantity.

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 Reservoir Pressure- Practical

 MBH, Type Curve (and other) reservoir pressure

analyses are ‘solutions in search of a problem’ because
usually the drainage areas are not known, and if it is
known Material Balance can be used.

 However there are good reasons to monitor the BU's

available that track the reservoir pressure change (but
are NOT the actual reservoir pressure!) as this is
essential to track the well’s PI over time.

13
 Tracking with p*
p*
 Identify a consistent radial slope m, and extrapolate to Superposition(T) = 0.
 PI reflects Skin and kh and a shift in p* reflects geometry but is not average
pressure. Factors causing m to change or disappear (e.g. water
encroachment and relative ‘k’ change) cause consistency to suffer.
2008/01/08-0605 : OIL
12000.
11000.

∆(p*)
10000.
9000.

∆(p*)
8000.

0. 1000. 2000. 3000. 4000. 5000. 6000.

Superposition(T)
14
 Tracking with Dt
pDt
 Pressure at some consistent time into each BU. pDt is easier to use as it
does not require extrapolation and thus is less sensitive to factors causing
m to change or disappear. And...everyone get the same result!
 Resulting PI corresponds to ~the same RI and area for all BUs. 2007/10/06-1300 : OIL

600.
400.
DP (PSI)

200.
2008/01/08-0605 : OIL

0.
-200.
12000.

pwf -> p1hr

-400.
0. .20 .40 .60 .80
Delta-T (hr)

2008/01/08-0605 : OIL
11000.

600.
400.
10000.

DP (PSI)

200.
0.
9000.

-200.

pwf -> p1hr

-400.

0. .20 .40 .60 .80

Delta-T (hr)
8000.

0. 1000. 2000. 3000. 4000. 5000. 6000. 15

Superposition(T)
 Tracking with Typecurve Analysis
pbar
 The ‘classic’ definition requiring known reservoir area and volume
calculated after a closed PTA model is established.
 Achieved by PTA modeling. Resulting PI over time reflects the near-
wellbore Skin and kh and reservoir geometry.
 Interference with other wells can cause this method to fail.
2008/01/08-0605 : OIL
2008/01/08-0605 : OIL

Rate

12000.
Pressure
12000.

Simulation

11000.
pressure PSI

10000.
11000.

9000.
8000.
10000.

0. 500. 1000. 1500. 2000.

1500. 2500.
rates STB/D
9000.

500.
-500.
8000.

0. 500. 1000. 1500. 2000.

08-JAN-2008 06:05 Time (hours)
06-OCT-2007 13:00
06-DEC-2007 00:01
Simulation
7000.

Simulation

0. 2000. 4000. 6000. 8000. 16

Superposition(T)