Upstream Process

Engineering Course
1. Reservoir Management

Upstream Process Engineering Course Prepared by Genesis Oil and Gas Consultants Reservoir Management
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Contents
• Definitions
• Reservoir Management
• Geology
• Inflow Performance Relation
• Gradient Curves
• Primary Recovery
• Artificial Lift

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Definitions
• STC - Stock Tank Conditions
– Standard temperature and pressure, usually 60 ºF and 14.7 psia
• STB - Stock Tank Barrel
– One barrel of oil at stock tank conditions
• GOR - Gas/Oil Ratio
– The volume of gas produced divided by the volume of oil produced measured at stock tank
conditions
• GLR - Gas/Liquid Ratio
– The volume of gas produced divided by the total volume of liquid produced (oil and water)
• Bg - Gas Volume Factor
– The volume in ft3 that one standard ft3 will occupy at a given pressure and temperature
• Bo - Oil Volume Factor
– The volume in barrels (bbl) occupied by one STB of oil and it’s associated gas when
recombined to a single phase liquid at a given pressure and temperature
• Rs - Solution Gas/Oil Ratio
– The volume of gas in a standard ft 3 that will dissolve in one STB of oil at a given pressure and
temperature

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 Definitions
• Productivity Index
– The volume flow into the well expressed as barrels per day per psi of drawdown
• Oil Recovery
– Percentage of oil recovered to that originally in place
• API - American Petroleum Institute – Crude API ; specific gravity = 141.5/(131.5+oAPI)
• TPR - Tubing Performance Relation
– The relation between the bottomhole flowing pressure and the surface oil flow rate for a given wellhead pressure
• IPR - Inflow Performance Relation
– The relation between the wellbore flowing pressure and the surface oil rate
• STOIIP - Stock Tank Oil Initially In Place
– A measure of the oil reserves in place at stock tank conditions
• Drawdown
– Difference in pressure between the reservoir pressure and pressure at the bottom of the wellbore
• Drainage Radius
– Production well will only drain a part of a reservoir - each well has a radial limit beyond which there is no influence
on reservoir depletion

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Reservoir Management
• Reservoir Features
– Porous rock
– Impermeable layer
– Permeability
• Reservoir Management
– Pressure
– Gas-oil contact
– Oil-water contact
– Withdrawal rates
– Gas injection rates and composition
– Water injection rates The formation pressure will
– Perforation intervals normally be determined by the water
– Prediction of oil rate, GOR, water cut column to surface at the oil-water
and composition with time
contact

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 Types of Reservoir Structures

Prevalent in Prevalent in UKCS

Middle East

other
anticlines faults salt diapirs unconformity reef
stratigraphic

structural stratigraphic combination

traps traps traps

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Inflow Performance Relation
• Wells are tested to determine what
the surface flow will be if the
backpressure at the wellhead varies
• An Inflow Performance Relation
curve is produced by simultaneous
measurement of surface production
and bottomhole pressure
• A straight line IPR indicates an
undersaturated reservoir, curvature
in the line indicates a gas or two
phase flow
• • The intersection of the IPR and TPR
The Productivity Index of the oil
curves determines the rate of stable flow
well can be found from the gradient
that can be expected from the particular
of the IPR curve well

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Gradient Curves
Upstream Process Engineering Course
• The pressure drop required to lift a fluid through
the production tubing at a given flow rate is one
of the main factors determining the deliverability
of the well
• By fixing the wellhead or bottomhole flowing
pressure given the rates of oil gas and water, the
pressure drop along the production tubing can be
calculated by charts or correlations
• If the wellhead pressure is specified then a
gradient curve can be used to determine the
wellbore flowing pressure at different oil rates
• The resulting relation between bottomhole
flowing pressure and oil rate is called a tubing
performance relation
• Gradient curves are useful rules of thumb, more
often analysis is carried out utilising specialist
software such as PROSPER
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Gradient Curves
Surface Pressure Gas Liquid Ratio

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Primary Recovery
• Primary recovery techniques yield a wide range in recovery factor; between 5-
30%
• Solution Gas Drive
– Oil is produced by the natural expansion of dissolved gas in the oil
• Natural Water Drive
– The reservoir pressure reduces as oil is produced allowing the aquifer to expand and
flow into the reservoir
• Natural Gas Drive/Gravity Drainage
– The reservoir pressure reduces as oil is produced allowing the gas cap to expand
and assist recovery

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Oil Recovery

Oil Producer
Depletion
Recovery 2 - 30%

OWC
Oil Producers Water Drive
Water Injectors Recovery 30 - 60%

Miscible Gas Injector

OWC Oil Producers

OWC
Miscible Gas Drive (EOR)
Recovery up to 80%

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Reservoir Management
• Secondary Recovery
– Gas and/or water injection
– Artificial lift –
• Gas,
• Electric Submersible Pumps
• Hydraulic Pumps
• Sucker Rod Pumps
• Tertiary/Enhanced Oil Recovery
– Miscible gas – Hydrocarbon, CO2, N2
– Surfactants
– Polymers
– Microbial
– Thermal/steam flood

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Magnus Miscible Gas EOR

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Well Types

S - shape
Tangent
Horizontal

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Wytch Farm ERD

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Artificial Lift
• Pressure losses in the production tubing due to friction and elevation
can be overcome using artificial lift
– Gas Lift
• Gas is injected into the lower part of the production tubing and mixed with
reservoir fluids, reducing the pressure gradient and lowering the formation
backpressure
– Downhole Pump
• Installing a pump at the bottom of a tubing string creates an artificial lifting
capacity and increases the available pressure to flow up the tubing
• The pump adds a controlled amount of pressure to the IPR thereby sustaining
flow at higher than the natural rate
• Pump types - Electric submersible, hydraulic - turbine and jet

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Artificial Lift
• Gas lift is only used in wells that
produce economically with relatively
high flowing bottom hole pressures
(typically high-productivity reservoirs)
• Gas lift is limited to a certain minimum
wellbore flowing pressure, therefore the
potential production rate may be
considerably less for gas lift than for
pump lift
• Few moving parts are required therefore
gas lift is suitable for wells producing
sand or other solids
• Sizing a gas lift system involves
calculating the relationship between
– gas injection rate and pressure
– depth of gas injection valve
– production rate

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Artificial Lift
• Both methods of artificial lift enhance
production rate by lowering the
wellbore flowing pressure
• A downhole pump can produce the well
at very low wellbore flowing pressures
and thus approach the maximum open
flow potential of the well
• The most commonly used downhole
pump is the centrifugal pump, driven by
a downhole electric motor which can be
operated at constant or variable speed
• Variable speed pumps allow for a much
wider range of operating conditions for
Effect of a pump on well performance a given size of pump

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