PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

PMRE 6001: RESERVOIR ENGINEERING

LECTURE: 2

Credit Hour: 3/week

Course Teacher: Dr. Afifa Tabassum Tinni

PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

FLUID PRESSURE REGIMES

Overburden P(OP)= Fluid P(FP) + Grain P(GP) = Constant

d(FP)= -d(GP)

FP GP

Water pressure at any depth

Assumptions
- continuity of water pressure to the surface
- constant salinity
For abnormal hydrostatic pressure C- constant, positive for over pressure, negative for under
pressure.
Abnormal water pressure arises from
- temperature change
- geological change
- osmosis due to salinity difference
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

FLUID PRESSURE REGIMES

At OWC= 5500’, Po=Pw,

At GOC= 5200’, Po=Pg = 2385 psia Pg

At top of the structure 5000’ Pg= 2369 psia and Pw= 2265 psia

Pg-Pw @ 5000 = 104 Psia (KICK)

Uncontrolled Kick Blowout

PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

FLUID PRESSURE REGIMES

Uncertainties in pressure regime determination

 Water over pressure: 20 psi change can cause 200 ft change in fluid contact
 If exploration well does not cross the fluid contact it may result error in fluid in place calculation

Exploration well penetrates gas cap only

Well test at 5100 ft
Pg= 0.08D+1969
Assuming only gas reservoir, at GWC Pg=Pw
Deepest possible GWC= 5281 ft

Assuming oil presence after GDT (Gas down to)=5150 ft

Deepest possible OWC =5640 ft

Uncertainty in oil zone determination,

Is it 0 or 490 ft
Minimizing uncertainty
- By doing series of pressure measurement test at different depths
- Having exploration or another well further dip down, not near the highest point
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

P H A S E B E H AV I O R O F P E T R O L E U M F L U I D S

• Phase behavior describes how fluid behaves with varying temperature

Critical point- where intensive properties become identical

PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

P H A S E B E H AV I O R O F P E T R O L E U M F L U I D S

• Two component system

N- cricondertherm, the highest temperature at which liquid can exist

L- cricondenbar, the highest pressure at which vapor can exist
Liquid can exist above critical temperature and vapor can exist above critical pressure
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

P H A S E B E H AV I O R O F P E T R O L E U M F L U I D S

• Retrogrde Phenomena: a backward or opposite occurence

- An isothermal compression from A to E

- A-vapor
- B- dew point, liquid forms
- E- All vapor
- D – point of maximum liquid
- From D to E vapor forms with increasing pressure
- Shaded area ( retrograde region)

Conditions of retrograde phenomena

• More than one component
• Tc<T<Tcri
• Pc<P<Pcri
• D.P and B.P curve meet at an obtuse angle at critical point

Retrograde condensation: formation of liquid with isothermal expansion or isobaric increase in temperature
Retrograde vaporization: formation of vapor with isothermal compression or isobaric decrease in temperature
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

P H A S E B E H AV I O R O F P E T R O L E U M F L U I D S

• Multi component system

Multicomponent phase diagrams are used for
- Classify reservoirs
- Classify the naturally occurring HC system
- Describe the phase behavior of reservoir fluids

Reservoir classification based on the basis of the location of the point

representing the initial reservoir P and T w.r.to the P-T diagram of the
reservoir fluid

- Oil Reservoir
- Undersaturated oil reservoir (pt1 )
- Saturated oil reservoir (pt 2)
- Gas cap reservoir (3)
- Gas Reservoir
- Retrograde gas condensate reservoir
- Wet gas reservoir
- Dry gas reservoir
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

P H A S E B E H AV I O R O F P E T R O L E U M F L U I D S

• Multi component system

PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P O R O S I T Y

• Porosity: a measure of how much fluid can be stored in the rock- storage capacity

• 3 different types of pores

- Interconnected pores
- Dead end pores
- Isolated pores

Total porosity:
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P O R O S I T Y

Effective porosity- important, mobile recoverable hydrocarbons

Ineffective porosity

Classification of porosity
• Original or primary- developed during the deposition (more uniform)
• Induced or secondary – developed by some geological changes (fracture,vugs) following the deposition
Factors affecting porosity
• Uniformity or sorting of grain size and shape
• Cementation- high cementation, low porosity
• Compaction – high compaction, low porosity
• Packing
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P O R O S I T Y
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P O R O S I T Y

Measurement of porosity:
• Logs- Sonic, density, neutron
• Core analysis
 Core preparation ( for preventing fluid invasion)
- Coating the surface by paraffin or wax
- Saturating the core with the fluid
- Using mercury as the test fluid as it does not enter into the pores
3 volumes- bulk, pore and grain volumes ( any two need to be determined

 Bulk volume- determined by dimensions ( for uniform shapes) or by fluid displacement ( for irregular shapes)
using Hg pycnometer/volumeter – dry sample weight(a), Hg pycnometer weight(b) , Hg pycnometer + core sample
weight(c)
BV= (a+b-c)/ρHg
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P O R O S I T Y

Measurement of porosity:
• Pore volume: either by extracting or introducing fluid
- measures effective porosity
-Washburn-Bunting method, Kobe method, saturation method
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Absolute permeability: measure of the capacity of the porous medium to transmit fluid
 Mathematical expression of permeability

Darcy’s experiment
- System fully saturated with the fluid
- Laminar flow
- Nonreactive system

k, absolute permeability is the property of the medium only

PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Dimensional analysis of permeability: what is the unit of permeability

Permeability is expressed in Darcy

A porous medium has a permeability of 1 darcy when a single-phase

fluid of 1cp viscosity that completely fills the voids of the medium will
flow through it under conditions of viscous flow at a rate of 1 cm3/s
per square cm cross-sectional area under a pressure or equivalent
hydraulic gradient of 1 atm/cm
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Permeability of combination layer

 Parallel flow
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Permeability of combination layer

 Series flow
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Laboratory measurements of permeability

- Direct application of Darcy’s law either using a perm plug( small core sample) or a larger core sample
- Liquid or gas is used as the fluid
- Perm plug preparation: removal of residual fluid and saturating with air
- Permeability device is used where core is placed in a holder and flow rate of the flowing fluid is observed under a
differential pressure

Slope= k/µ
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Permeability measurement with gas

Permeability measurement with gas is convenient because
- Gas is clean, nonreactive, does not alter pore network
- The basic procedure is similar to the measurement with liquid
The problems with gas measurements are
• Gas is compressible: volume changes at inlet at outlet pressure. Usually, outlet gas flow rate it taken which is
expressed using average pressure: (P1+p2)/2
Using Boyle’s law :
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Permeability measurement with gas

• Permeability determined with gas is higher than that measured with liquid: Klinkenber effect
Occurs due to gas slippage
Gas slippage: when diameter of the capillary opening ≈ mean free path of the gas
Mean free path = f( size of the gas molecule, kinetic energy of the gas)
Klinkenberg effect = f( the gas with which the permeability is measured), MW gas slippage

b= Klinkenberg factor, depends on

means free path of the gas and size of the
opening, function of permeability
PMRE 6001: Reservoir Engineering – Lecture 2

R O C K P R O P E R T Y: P E R M E A B I L I T Y

• Factors affecting permeability

• Rock related factors: grain sorting, cementation
• Fluid phase related factors: gas (Klinkenberg effect), water (clay swelling)
• Mechanical factor: overburden pressure

Porosity-permeability relationship
• No fixed general relationship
• Kozeny correlation: using Darcy’s law and Poiseuille’s equation for
flow through n number of capillary tube

Kz, Kozeny constant