Zakho University – Faculty of

Engineering

Production
Engineering (I)
Department: Petroleum Engineering
Level: 4
Code: PRE03273
Year: 2023 - 2024
Module Leader: Salar Jaladet M.S Al-Sofi

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Content
• Reservoir Considerations.
• Darcy’s law
• Reservoir deliverability
• Flow regimes in reservoirs
• Transient flow
• Semi-steady state flow.
• Pseudo-Steady-State Flow

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Reservoir Considerations
Reservoir drive mechanisms are one of the main considerations for well
completions.

The energy that moves crude oil and natural gas from the subsurface rock
to the production well is called the reservoir drive.

There are two basic drive mechanisms:

Natural drive mechanisms.
Artificial drive mechanisms.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 3

Reservoir Considerations
Natural drive mechanisms:

Hydrocarbons produced by a
reservoir’s original or natural
energy. This is referred as primary
production.

There are three principal types of

natural drive, these are: dissolved
gas drive, Gas cap drive and water
drive.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 4

Reservoir Considerations

Dissolved gas drive (5% to 30%

recovery efficiency): Natural gas
can be found dissolved in oil at
subsurface pressures in the
reservoir. When oil is produced
from the reservoir, reservoir
pressure decreases, and dissolved
gas bubbles come out of the
hydrocarbons. This gas expands in
the pore spaces and pushes the
reservoir oil through the pores
towards the wellbore

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 5

Reservoir Considerations
Gas cap drive (20% to 40% recovery
efficiency): because it is less dense
than the crude and water, natural gas
segregates and occupies the higher
zones within a reservoir. Natural gas
forms a “gas-cap” over the fluids in the
reservoir. As oil is produced, reservoir
pressure decreases and natural gas in
the gas cap expands and pushes the oil
through the reservoir pores and to the
wellbore

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 6

Reservoir Considerations
Water drive (35% to 60% recovery
efficiency): because it is denser than
oil or gas, water occupies the lower
zones within a reservoir. As oil is
produced, reservoir pressure
decreases, and underlying water
pushes overlying oil upward through
the reservoir pores to take the place of
produced oil

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 7

Reservoir Considerations
Artificial Drive Mechanisms:
If a reservoir’s natural drive mechanism becomes insufficient in aiding
hydrocarbon production, a supplemental drive mechanism may be
introduced to increase the production rate and recovery efficiency.
The most known artificial drives are:

• Water injection (5% to 50%

recovery efficiency of
remaining hydrocarbons): water
injected into a hydrocarbon
reservoir sweeps the less-dense
hydrocarbons through reservoir
pore space

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 8

Reservoir Considerations
Steam Injection (25% to 65%
recovery efficiency of remaining
hydrocarbons): injected steam
heats the hydrocarbons in the
reservoir. Some oil is vaporized
into gas and some oil is made
less-viscous. The steam in the
reservoir cools and condenses
into water, which drives the gas
and less-viscous oil toward
production wells

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 9

Reservoir Considerations
Miscible gas injection (up to 35%
recovery efficiency of remaining
hydrocarbons): rich gas which can be
dissolved in (i.e., is miscible with)
hydrocarbons is injected into the
reservoir. As the gas mixes with the
hydrocarbons, it makes hydrocarbons
more fluid and pushes the more-fluid
oil through the reservoir pores
e.g., Carbon dioxide injection, natural
gas injection, and nitrogen injection.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 10

Reservoir Considerations
Chemical injection (24% to 40% recovery efficiency of remaining
hydrocarbons): chemicals injected into a reservoir reduce the hydrocarbons’
surface tension with the reservoir rock. A subsequent flush of injected water
into the reservoir sweeps the freed hydrocarbons through the reservoir pores
e.g., polymers, alkali, and
surfactants

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 11

Reservoir Considerations

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 12

Reservoir Considerations

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 13

Reservoir Considerations

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 14

Reservoir Considerations

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi 15

 Reservoir Deliverability

• Reservoir deliverability is defined as the oil or gas production rate achievable

from reservoir at a given bottom hole pressure.
• It is a major factor affecting well deliverability. Reservoir deliverability
determines types of completion and artificial lift methods to be used.
• A thorough knowledge of reservoir productivity is essential for production
engineers.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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 Darcy’s Law
• A French hydrologist named Darcy did the first work on permeability. He
concerned about flow of water through filters. He found that flow rate Q, is
proportional to area of flow A, h , and 1/L.
• Darcy’s law has been used and derived in variety of forms to study oil
and gas reservoirs.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Reservoir deliverability

Reservoir deliverability depends on several factors including:

(1) Reservoir pressure

(2) Pay zone thickness and permeability
(3) Reservoir boundary type and distance
(4) Wellbore radius
(5) Reservoir fluid properties
(6) Near-wellbore condition, and
(7) Reservoir relative permeabilities

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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 Reservoir deliverability
• Reservoir deliverability can be
mathematically modeled based
on flow regimes such as transient
flow, steady state flow, and
pseudo-steady state flow.

• An analytical relation between

bottom hole pressure and
production rate can be formulated
for a given flow regime. The
relation is called Inflow
Performance Relationship IPR.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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 Flow regimes in reservoirs
When a vertical well is open to produce oil at production rate (q), it
creates a pressure funnel of radius (r) around the wellbore, as illustrated
by the dotted line in figure (a). The flow streamlines in the cylindrical
region form a horizontal radial flow pattern as depicted in figure (b).

h: reservoir thickness
K: permeability to oil,
µo: viscosity of oil,
Bo: oil formation volume factor
rw: wellbore radius
Pwf: flowing bottom hole pressure
P: pressure in the reservoir at the distance r from
the wellbore center line.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Reservoir Flow Types
Transient Flow
• Pressure disturbance at wellbore has not
yet reached reservoir boundary

Steady-State Flow
• Pressure disturbance has reached all
boundaries, reservoir pressures are not
changing
• Pressure support, i.e. one or more
constant pressure boundaries

Pseudo-Steady-State
• Pressure disturbance has reached all
boundaries - closed reservoir, constant
flow rate production
• Bottomhole pressure decreases with
depletion
• Constant flowing pressure, reservoir
pressure drops with depletion
Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi
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Transient Flow (TF)
‘‘Transient flow’’ is defined as a flow regime where/when the radius of
pressure wave propagation from wellbore has not reached any
boundaries of the reservoir.
During transient flow, the developing pressure funnel is small relative to
the reservoir size. Therefore, the reservoir acts like an infinitively large
reservoir from transient pressure analysis point of view.
• Infinite-acting reservoir
• Radial flow
• Slightly compressible and constant viscosity fluid

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Transient Flow (TF)
Assuming single-phase oil flow in the reservoir, several analytical
solutions have been developed for describing the transient flow
behavior.
A constant-rate solution expressed by Eq (4.1) is frequently used in the
production engineering:

(4.1)

Pwf= flowing bottom-hole pressure, psia f =porosity, fraction

Pi= initial reservoir pressure, psia ct =total compressibility, psi1
Q= oil production rate, stb/day rw =wellbore radius to the sand face, ft
µo= viscosity of oil, cp S=skin factor
K= effective horizontal permeability to oil, md Log =10-based logarithm log10
H= reservoir thickness, ft
T= flow time, hour
Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi
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Transient Flow (TF)
Because oil production wells are normally operated at constant bottom-hole pressure
because of constant wellhead pressure imposed by constant choke size, a constant
bottom-hole pressure solution is more desirable for well inflow performance analysis.

(4.2)

Equation (4.2) indicates that oil rate decreases with flow time. This is because the
radius of the pressure funnel, over which the pressure drawdown (Pi - Pwf ) acts,
increases with time, that is, the overall pressure gradient in the reservoir drops with
time.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Steady-State Flow (SSF)
‘‘Steady-state flow’’ is defined as a flow regime where the pressure at any point in the
reservoir remains constant over time. This flow condition prevails when the pressure funnel
has propagated to a constant pressure boundary. The constant-pressure boundary can be an
aquifer or a water injection well.
A sketch of the reservoir model is shown in this figure, where Pe represents the pressure at
the constant-pressure boundary.

A sketch a reservoir with a

constant-pressure boundary

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Steady-State Flow (SSF)
Assuming single-phase flow, the following theoretical relation can be
derived from Darcy’s law for an oil reservoir under the steady-state flow
condition due to a circular constant pressure boundary at distance re from
wellbore:

(4.5)

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Pseudo-Steady-State Flow (PSSF)
‘‘Pseudo–steady-state’’ flow is defined as a flow regime where the pressure at any point in
the reservoir declines at the same constant rate over time. This flow condition prevails after
the pressure funnel has propagated to all no-flow boundaries. A no-flow boundary can be a
sealing fault, pinch-out of pay zone, or boundaries of drainage areas of production wells.
A sketch of the reservoir model is shown in this figure, where Pe represents the pressure at
the no-flow boundary at time t4.

A sketch of a reservoir
with no-flow boundaries.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Pseudo-Steady-State Flow (PSSF)
Assuming single-phase flow, the following theoretical relation can be
derived from Darcy’s law for an oil reservoir under pseudo–steady-state
flow condition due to a circular no-flow boundary at distance re from
wellbore:

(4.6)

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Pseudo-Steady-State Flow (PSSF)
The flow time required for the pressure funnel to reach the circular boundary
can be expressed as:

(4.7)

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Pseudo-Steady-State Flow (PSSF)
Since the Pe is not known at any given time, the following expression using
the average reservoir pressure is more useful:

(4.8)

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Pseudo-Steady-State Flow (PSSF)

PSSF Solution – Irregular Shape Reservoirs

If the no-flow boundaries delineate a drainage area of noncircular shape,
the following equation should be used for analysis of pseudo–steady-state
flow:
(4.9)

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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Pseudo-Steady-State Flow (PSSF)
Shape Factors

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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 Summary
This lecture presented and illustrated various mathematical models for
estimating deliverability of oil and gas reservoirs.
Production engineers should make selections of the models based on the best
estimate of his/her reservoir conditions, that is, flow regime and pressure level.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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References
• Bandakhlia, h. and Aziz, k. Inflow performance relationship for solution-gas drive
horizontal wells. Presented at the 64th SPE Annual Technical Conference and
Exhibition held 8–11 October 1989, in San Antonio, Texas. Paper SPE 19823.
• Chang, m. Analysis of inflow performance simulation of solution-gas drive for
horizontal/slant vertical wells. Presented at the SPE Rocky Mountain Regional
Meeting held 18–21 May 1992, in Casper, Wyoming. Paper SPE 24352.
• Dietz, d.n. Determination of average reservoir pressure from build-up surveys. J.
Pet. Tech. 1965; August.
• Dake, l.p. Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering. New York: Elsevier, 1978.
• Earlougher, r.c. Advances in Well Test Analysis. Dallad: Society of Petroleum
Engineers, 1977.
• el-banbi, a.h. and wattenbarger, r.a. Analysis of commingled tight gas reservoirs.
Presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition held 6– 9
October 1996, in Denver, Colorado. Paper SPE 36736.

Lecturer: Salar Jaladet M.S. Al-Sofi

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