JOGMEC-TRC

Reservoir Engineering Course

Lecture Notes

Reservoir Engineering (1)

Feb., 2022

Lecturer: K. Funatsu
Japan Oil Engineering Co., Ltd.

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Porosity (1) rock grain
pore

 There is an open space between

reservoir rocks.
 Volume fraction of open space is
called porosity.
 f = (pore volume) / (bulk volume)
= Vp / Vb Rock grain sizes are not constant.
= (Vb - Vs) / Vb poorly sorted well sorted
Rock grain shape is not spherical.

angular rounded

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Porosity (2)

 Effective porosity
effective
 +contribute to fluid flow

 Total porosity is the sum of effective

porosity and ineffective porosity

ineffective
 Ineffective porosity
 not contribute to fluid flow or
isolatated

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Saturation (1)

 Saturation is a fraction of pore

volume occupied by a certain phase
(oil, gas, water)
 So = (volume of oil phase) / (total
pore volume)
 Sg = (volume of gas phase) / (total
pore volume)
 Sw = (volume of water phase) / (total
pore volume)
 liquid saturation, ...

4
Rock compressibility (1)

 Pressure change causes rock volume change, thus

causes pore volume change.
𝟏 𝒅𝝓
 𝑪𝒑 =
𝝓 𝒅𝒑
𝒅𝝓 𝝓
 𝑪𝒑 𝒅𝒑 = 𝑪𝒑 𝒑 − 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇 = ln
𝝓 𝝓𝑟𝑒𝑓

 𝝓 = 𝝓𝒓𝒆𝒇 𝐞𝐱𝐩 𝑪𝒑 𝒑 − 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇

𝝓 = 𝝓𝒓𝒆𝒇 𝟏 + 𝑿
𝟏 𝟐 𝟏 𝟑 1
 𝝓 = 𝝓𝒓𝒆𝒇 𝟏 + 𝑿 + 𝑿 + 𝑿 +⋯ 𝝓 = 𝝓𝒓𝒆𝒇 𝟏 + 𝑿 + 𝑋 2
𝟐 𝟔 2
𝒘𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝑿 = 𝑪𝒑 𝒑 − 𝒑𝒓𝒆𝒇
if P , rock is compressed, then f

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Rock compressibility (2)

 Rock compressibility depends on rocks. Typical rock

compressibility value is 3.402E-6 1/psi, or 4.934E-5
1/bars.
 If porosity is high, rock compressibility is low.

 Typical water compressibility value is 4E-5 1/atm.

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Wettability (1)

 Force equilibrium are established among interfacial

tensions of immiscible phases.
 𝝈𝒔𝒐 − 𝝈𝒔𝒘 = 𝝈𝒘𝒐 cos 𝜽
 𝝈: interfacial tension (N/m)
 𝜽: contact angle
Left figure:
swo Water is a wetting phase (q<90
oil deg), while oil is a non-wetting
water phase (q>90 deg).
q "water wet"
sso ssw rock
surface

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Wettability (2)

 Reservoir rocks are generally water wet.

 Oil wet reservoir can be found in carbonate
reservoirs.
water wet oil wet

oil
oil oil

water water q>90 water

q<90 q=90

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 Capillary pressure (1)
capillary tube

 𝑷𝒐 − 𝑷𝒘 𝝅𝒓𝟐 = 𝝈𝒘𝒐 cos 𝜽 𝟐𝝅𝒓 area: pr2

circumference : 2pr
 The phase pressure difference
across the interface is called
capillary pressure. Po

 𝑷𝒄 = 𝑷𝒐 − 𝑷𝒘
𝟐𝝅𝒓 𝟐𝝈𝒘𝒐 cos 𝜽
= 𝝈𝒘𝒐 cos 𝜽 = q
𝝅𝒓 𝟐 𝒓 swo

oil Pw
Smaller pore throat Higher capillary pressure
water

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 Capillary pressure (2)
Smaller pore throat
Higher capillary pressure bundle of tubes with different diameters

Shape of capillary pressure curve is governed by the

pore throat distribution of the rock.

oil

smaller bigger water

pore radius

water sat. 0% 100%

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Capillary pressure (3)

Sample (b) has

narrower pore throats
than sample (a).

Capillary pressure
value (b) is higher
than that of sample
Pc (b): small grain sample (a) at the same Sw.

(a): large grain sample

0% Sw 100%

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Capillary pressure (4)
Pw: water grad. Po: oil gradient

Pc curve

Pc=Po-Pw Pc
at this depth
depth

Pc Sw at this depth
FWL
Sw
We can estimate an initial
pressure water distribution vs. depth
according to Pc curve.

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Capillary pressure (5)

𝑟
non Curvature radius R = cos 𝜃+𝜙
wetting 2𝜎
phase 𝑃𝑐 = cos 𝜃 + 𝜙
𝑟
φ
Just after passing the
ｒ
narrowest point, non-wetting
θ fluid starts flowing.
φ This is called Haine’s jump.

Threshold pressure depends

2πｒσcos(θ+φ)=πr2ΔP on the pore throat radius.

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Capillary pressure (6)

Imaginary capillary pressure

curve If pore throat size is only
three types:
large, medium, small.

Pc

Entry pressure
Or threshold pressure
0% Sw

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 Capillary pressure (7)
Snap-off model
Non-wetting fluid

Wetting fluid

Imbibition process The non-wetting fluid is trapped

because the wetting fluid tends to flow
near the solid surface.

This is called “snap off.”

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Capillary pressure (8)  Why snap off occurs?
Because pore is not a
simple tube and flow
Pn path radius changes.
Once oil is snapped off,
𝚫𝑷𝒘
Pw 2Rth then oil is trapped and
2Rt no more oil flow occurs.
Off course, the higher
velocity water pushes
oil, then oil can move. It
is a rate-dependent
phenomenon.

𝚫𝑷𝒘 =𝑷𝒘,𝒕 -𝑷𝒘,𝒇

𝟐𝝈 𝟐𝝈
𝑷𝒏,𝒇 = 𝑷𝒘,𝒇 + = 𝑷𝒘,𝒕 − 𝚫𝑷𝒘 +
𝑹𝒇 𝑹𝒇
𝑷𝑛,𝒇 : Oil pressure at oil front 𝑷𝒘,𝒇 : Water pressure at oil front
𝑷𝒏,𝒕 : Oil pressure at oil tail 𝑷𝒘,𝒕 : Water pressure at oil tail
𝟏 𝟏
𝑷𝒏,𝒕 − 𝑷𝒏,𝒇 = 𝟐𝝈 − + 𝚫𝑷𝒘 At the point of pore neck,
𝑹𝒕 𝑹𝒇
𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏 𝟏
16 𝚫𝑷𝒘 >= 𝟐𝝈 − = 𝟐𝝈 − ≅ 𝟐𝝈
𝑹𝒇 𝑹𝑡 𝑹𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝑡 𝑹𝒕𝒉
Capillary pressure (8)
Pore doublet model
Non-wetting fluid

Wetting fluid 2R1

This is called
by-passing.

2R2

𝝅𝑹𝟒𝟏 ∆𝑷𝟏
𝒒𝟏 = ∆𝑷
𝟖𝝁 𝑳

𝝅𝑹𝟒𝟐 ∆𝑷𝟐 𝟐𝝈 cos 𝜽

𝒒𝟐 = 𝑷𝒄𝟏 =
𝟖𝝁 𝑳 𝑹𝟏
𝟐𝝈 cos 𝜽
∆𝑷 = ∆𝑷𝟏 -𝑷𝒄𝟏 = ∆𝑷𝟐 −𝑷𝒄𝟐 𝑷𝒄𝟐 =
𝑹𝟐

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Capillary pressure (9)
𝒒𝟐 𝟏
𝒗𝟐 𝝅𝑹𝟐 𝟐 𝟒𝑵 𝒄𝒂𝒑 + −𝟏
𝟒
𝝅𝑹𝟐 𝝈 cos 𝜽 𝟏 𝜷
𝟏 = 𝒒 =
𝒒+ − 𝒗 𝟒𝑵𝒄𝒂𝒑 𝟐 𝟏−𝟏
𝟒𝝁𝑳 𝑹𝟏 𝑹 𝟐 𝟏 𝟏
𝒒𝟏 = 𝝅𝑹𝟏 𝟐 − 𝜷
𝟒 𝜷𝟐 𝜷
𝑹𝟏
𝟏+ 𝑹 𝝁𝑳𝒒
𝟐
𝝁𝑳𝒒 𝝅𝑹𝟒𝟏
𝑵𝒄𝒂𝒑 = =
𝑹𝟏 𝟒
𝝅𝑹 𝟒
𝟐 𝝈 cos 𝜽 𝟏 𝟏 𝝅𝑹 𝟑
𝟏 𝝈 cos 𝜽 𝝈 cos 𝜽
𝒒 − − 𝑹𝟏
𝑹𝟐 𝟒𝝁𝑳 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟐 𝑹
𝒒𝟐 = 𝟐
𝑹 𝟒 𝜷 =
𝟏 + 𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟏
𝟐
When velocity is fast, 𝑵𝒄𝒂𝒑 is infinite.
𝟐
𝒒 = 𝒒𝟏 + 𝒒𝟐 Viscous 𝒗𝟐 𝑹𝟐
𝟐
≅𝜷 = Tube 1 oil
force 𝒗𝟏 𝑹𝟏 is trapped.
When velocity is slow,
𝒗𝟐 Tube 2 oil
Capillary <𝟏
force 𝒗 𝟏 is trapped.

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