Fundamental of Reservoir Engineering, Homework #4

Due: December 15, 2020

Problem 1.
Calculate the capillary pressure (psia) in a reservoir at a point 20 feet above the Free
Water Level (𝑃𝑐 = 0) for an oil/water system, given that water is the wetting phase
and oil is the non-wetting phase. 𝜌𝑜𝑖𝑙 = 40.4 𝑙𝑏𝑚/𝑓𝑡 3 𝜌𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 63.5 𝑏𝑚/𝑓𝑡 3 .?

Problem 2.
Determine the radius of the largest pore from the above laboratory capillary
pressure measurement if the displacement pressure was 0.02 psia.
Problem 3.
The following imbibition relative permeability data were measured for a water wet
sandstone core sample as a function of water saturation.
𝑆𝑤 , fraction 𝑘𝑟𝑜 , fraction 𝑘𝑟𝑤 , fraction
0.20 1.00 0.00
0.30 0.71 0.01
0.40 0.46 0.04
0.50 0.27 0.11
0.60 0.12 0.20
0.70 0.02 0.30
0.75 0.00 0.36

a. Plot the relative permeability functions for oil and water vs. water saturation on
Cartesian coordinate paper. Note the direction of saturation change and base
permeability in the subtitle. Label the relative permeability endpoints. Annotate your
curves with arrows to indicate the direction of saturation change.
b. Determine the maximum potential oil recovery as a fraction of pore volume.