Water inflow

Nearly all hydrocarbon reservoirs are surrounded by water-bearing

rocks called aquifers.
These aquifers may be larger than the oil or gas reservoirs, they adjoin
as to appear infinite in size, or they may be so small in size as to be
negligible in their effect on reservoir performance.

As reservoir fluids are produced and reservoir pressure declines, a

pressure differential develops from the surrounding aquifer into the
reservoir.
In some cases, water encroachment occurs the original hydrocarbon-
water contact due to hydrodynamic conditions and recharge of the
formation by surface water.

The pressure support from aquifer depends on:

1- aquifer size,
2- aquifer permeability

In many cases, the volume of the aquifer is not significantly larger

than the pore volume of the reservoir itself. Thus, the expansion of the
water in the aquifer is negligible relative to the overall energy system.
In this case, the effects of water influx can be ignored.

In other cases, the aquifer permeability may be sufficiently low such that
a very large pressure differential is required before an appreciable
amount of water can encroach into the reservoir. In this instance, the
effects of water influx can be ignored as well.
When the size of the aquifer is large enough and the permeability of the
rock is high enough that water influx occurs as the reservoir is depleted

WATER INFLUX MODELS

Several models have been developed for estimating water influx that
are based on assumptions that describe the characteristics of the aquifer.

The mathematical water influx models that are commonly used in the
petroleum industry include:

• Pot aquifer
• Schilthuis’ steady-state

The Pot Aquifer Model

The simplest model that can be used to estimate the water influx into a
gas or oil reservoir is based on the basic definition of compressibility. A
drop in the reservoir pressure, due to the production of fluids, causes the
aquifer water to expand and flow into the reservoir.
Or
Water influx (aquifer compressibility) (initial volume of water)
(pressure drop)
Equation 10-3 suggests that water is encroaching in a radial form from
all directions. Quite often, water does not encroach on all sides of the
reservoir, or the reservoir is not circular in nature.
To account for these cases, a modification to Equation 10-2 must be
made in order to properly describe the flow mechanism. One of the
simplest modifications is to include the fractional encroachment angle f
in the equation, as illustrated in Figure 10-2, to give:
Example

Calculate the cumulative water influx that results from a pressure drop
of 200 psi at the oil-water contact with an encroachment angle of 80°.
The reservoir-aquifer system is characterized by the following
properties:

Schilthuis’ Steady-State Model

Schilthuis (1936) proposed that for an aquifer that is flowing under the
steady-state flow regime, the flow behavior could be described by
Darcy’s equation. The rate of water influx ew can then be determined by
applying Darcy’s equation:
The parameter C is called the water influx constant and is expressed in
bbl/day/psi

Example :
From the following data Calculate Schilthuis’ water influx constant

Example
The pressure history of a water-drive oil reservoir is given below:

The aquifer is under a steady-state flowing condition with an estimated

water influx constant of 130 bbl/day/psi. Calculate the cumulative water
influx after 100, 200, 300, and 400 days using the steady-state model.
The authors expressed their mathematical relationship for calculating
the water influx in a form of a dimensionless parameter that is called
dimensionless water influx WeD. They also expressed the dimensionless
water influx as a function of the dimensionless time tD and dimensionless
radius rD,

The water influx is then given by:

For radial aquifer geometry

For linear aquifer geometry

for calculating the dimensionless water influx WeD for infinite-

acting aquifers. The proposed three expressions essentially
approximate the WeD values in three different dimensionless
time regions.
If the pressure drop is transmitted instantaneously throughout the
aquifer. water influx can be calculated by
Ex:
A reservoir-aquifer system has the geometry and dimensions as shown in figure. If
the aquifer properties are as follows: