Reservoir Engineering

ENG 591
Dr. Amjad Shah

Outline
!

Resrvoir Engineer Role and Typical Tasks

! Petroleum Reservoirs, their Classification and

Important Terms
! Reservoir Fluids, i.e. Gas, Oil and Water

Ideal vs Real Gases

Oil and Water Important Properties
! Cores and Their Characteristics and Analysis

Realm of Reservoir Engineer

!
!

Estimate how much is there? (volumetrics)

Investigate whether oil can flow
(permeability), and if so,
at what rate and how long (ageing).

Well design/control (qo, Pr) needed

for optimal production (optimization)

Test, separate, monitor, pipeline
transportation, safe handling,
environmental and disposal issues,
investment and design forecast

Maintain production target, project

future production capacities, coordinate
with clients (e.g. refineries)

Reservoir Engineering as defined

in Literature
!

.Art of developing and producing oil and gas fields in such manner as
to obtain a high economic recovery Moore 1955

. Application of scientific principles to the drainage problems arising

during the development and production of oil and gas reservoirs Craft
and Hawkins, 1959.

.One of the great underground sciences of the oil industry,

attempting to describe what occurs in the wide open spaces of the
reservoirs between the sparse points of observation the wells Dake,
1994.

Key elements in reservoir engineering are:

Observations
Assumptions
Calculations, and
Development decisions

Reservoir Engineer-Job Profile1

Keeping updated and develop deeper knowledge with the latest
advances in the field of numerical simulation, reservoir management.
Strong evidence of experiences in numerical modeling of primary,
secondary and EOR processes and individual contribution in
augmenting the field production and recovery in their previous
companies.
Hands on experiences with reservoir modeling packages like
ECLIPSE, CMG, TEMPEST, etc..
Good knowledge of PETREL-RE package, economic evaluation
softwares will be an asset.
A good knowledge of related disciplines like petro-physics, Petroleum
technology, G&G, etc.
Fluent in English both written and verbal.
Be well aware of SPE resources and resource classification.
Job Profile; Qualifications required for a Senior Reservoir Engineer by Deep Water International in Malaysia 15/05/2014

Reservoir Engineering
HENCE
!

Reservoir Engineering is a multi-disciplinary effort that goes into the heart of an

integrated strategy and planning for field development

(R&D, drilling, production, fluid-flow in the reservoir, workover and reservoir

management), design of facilities & infrastructure and overall economics.

. And it is the continuous process throughout the life of the reservoir

KEY RESPONSIBILITES OF A RESERVOIR ENGINEER

Reserves estimation: estimate hydrocarbons and other fluids in place, in

collaboration with geoscientists

Recovery factor: Determine the recoverable reserves with economic considerations

Forecasting: Production forecasting based on reservoir data and analysis

Field development, Monitoring and operation, strategy decisions

Role of Reservoir Engineer

Structural contours/maps
Reservoir characterization

Economics

Economy of the
Project e.g.
Recovery factor

Geology &
Geophysics

Reservoir
Engineering

Petro-physics
Formation properties data
(net pay thicknesses, porosities,
fluid saturations)

Efficiency of
Production flow

Passing required data

e.g. production/injection
profiles for construction
of required facilities
e.g. platforms

Project Engineering

Production
Process
Engineering

Petroleum Industry
Exploration (Searching and
Predicting where oil and/
or gas can be found

Upstream

Drilling Engineering:
Getting to oil by drilling
various types of wells

Down Stream
REFINING (Distillation of crude
oil)
Distribution (delivering (shipping,
truckingetc) petroleum products
to customers in different area)

Reservoir Engineering: Reservoir behavior, reserve estimates,

material balance calculations, fluid flow equations, reservoir
simulation & predicting performance, pressure transient
analysis, well-test design, Reservoir screening for Improved/
Enhanced recoveries, its design and maintenance
Production Engineering (extracting/producing oil
& gas, workover, well completion and pressure
control, production log interpretation, prediction
of prod schedules
Processing facilities (Separators, Central
processing units: removal / separation of
impurities and reservoir fluid contents oil,
water, sediments etc.), treatment, metering

Petroleum Reservoirs, their

Classification and
important Terms

CLASSIFICATION OF RESERVOIRS
AND RESERVOIR FLUIDS

Petroleum reservoirs are broadly classified as oil or gas

reservoirs.

! The composition of the reservoir hydrocarbon mixture

! Initial reservoir pressure and temperature

pressure-temperature diagram

Figure 1. Typical p-T diagram for a multicomponent system

Pressure-Temperature Diagram
Figure 1 shows a typical pressure-temperature diagram of a multicomponent
system with a specific overall composition. Although a different
hydrocarbon system would have a different phase diagram, the general
configuration is similar.
These multicomponent pressure-temperature diagrams are essentially used to:
Classify reservoirs
Classify the naturally occurring hydrocarbon systems
Describe the phase behavior of the reservoir fluid

Pressure-Temperature Diagram
!

Critical pointThe critical point for a multicomponent mixture is referred to as the state
of pressure and temperature at which all intensive properties of the gas and liquid phases
are equal (point C). At the critical point, the corresponding pressure and temperature are
called the critical pressure Pc and critical temperature Tc of the mixture.

Bubble-point curveThe bubble-point curve (line BC) is defined as the line separating
the liquid-phase region from the two-phase region.

Dew-point curveThe dew-point curve (line AC) is defined as the line separating the
vapor-phase region from the two-phase region.

Cricondentherm (Tct)The maxi mum temperature above which liquid cannot be formed regardless of
pressure (point E).

Cricondenbar (pcb)The Cricondenbar is the maximum pressure above which no gas can be formed
regardless of temperature (point D).

Phase envelope (two-phase region)The region enclosed by the bub ble-point curve and the dew-point
curve (line BCA), Quality linesThe dashed lines within the phase diagram are called quality lines. They
describe the pressure and temperature conditions for equal volumes of liquids. Note that the quality lines
converge at the critical point (point C).

Pressure-Temperature Diagram


!

Oil reservoirsIf the reservoir temperature T is less than

the critical temperature Tc of the reservoir fluid, the
reservoir is classified as an oil reservoir.

! Gas reservoirsIf the reservoir temperature is greater than

the critical temperature of the hydrocarbon fluid, the

reservoir is considered a gas reservoir.

Oil Reservoirs
Depending upon initial reservoir pressure pi, oil reservoirs can be subclassified into the following categories:
!

!
!
!
!

Under-saturated oil reservoir: If the initial reservoir pressure pi is greater

than the bubble-point pressure pb of the reservoir fluid, the reservoir is
labeled an under-saturated oil reservoir.
Saturated oil reservoir: When the initial reservoir pressure is equal to the
bubble-point pressure of the reservoir fluid, the reservoir is called a
saturated oil reservoir.
Ordinary black oil
Low-shrinkage crude oil
High-shrinkage (volatile) crude oil
Near-critical crude oil

Types of Crude Oils: Black Oil

!

Quality lines approximately equally

spaced and characterize this black oil
phase diagram

The liquid shrinkage curve

approximates a straight line

Except at very low pressures. When

produced, ordinary black oils
1.
2.
3.

Ordinary Black Oil

Gas Phase

Pressure path in
reservoir!
1

Liquid Phase

90
80
70

yield gas-oil ratios between 200

and 700 scf/STB

% Liquid

60
50

40
30

Oil gravities of 15 to 40 API

The stock tank oil is usually
brown to dark green in color.

Critical
point

20
10

0
Separator

A typical pressure-temperature phase diagram for ordinary black oil

Types of Crude Oil

Low-shrinkage oil

Oil formation volume factor less

than 1.2 bbl/STB

Gas-oil ratio less than 200 scf/STB

Oil gravity less than 35 API

Black or deeply colored

Liquid recovery of 85% at separator

conditions
A typical pressure-temperature phase diagram for ordinary black oil

Gas Cap Reservoir

! Gas-cap reservoir: If the initial reservoir

pressure is below the bubble- point pressure of

the reservoir fluid, as indicated by point 3 on
Figure 1-1, the reservoir is termed a gas-cap or
two-phase reservoir, in which the gas or vapor
phase is underlain by an oil phase. The
appropriate quality line gives the ratio of the
gas-cap volume to reservoir oil volume

Gas Reservoirs
In general, if the reservoir temperature is above the critical
temperature of the hydrocarbon system, the reservoir is
classified as a natural gas reservoir. On the basis of their
phase diagrams and the prevailing reservoir conditions,
natural gases can be classified into 3 categories:

!

Retrograde gas-condensate

Wet gas

Dry gas.

Retrograde gas-condensate reservoir

If the reservoir temperature T lies between the critical

temperature Tc and cricondentherm Tct of the
reservoir fluid, the reservoir is classified as a
retrograde gas-condensate reservoir.
the gas-oil ratio for a condensate system increases
with time due to the liquid dropout and the loss
of heavy components in the liquid.
Condensate gravity above 50 API
Stock-tank liquid is usually water-white or slightly
colored.

Wet-gas reservoir
Temperature of wet-gas reservoir

is above the cricondentherm of the
hydrocarbon mixture. Because the
reservoir temperature exceeds the
cricondentherm of the hydrocarbon
system, the reservoir fluid will
always remain in the vapor phase
region as the reservoir is depleted
isothermally, along the vertical line
A-B.

Wet-gas reservoir
Wet-gas reservoirs are characterized by the following
properties:
Gas oil ratios between 60,000 to 100,000 scf/STB
Stock-tank oil gravity above 60 API
Liquid is water-white in color
Separator conditions, i.e., separator pressure and temperature, lie
within the two-phase region

Dry-gas reservoir
The hydrocarbon mixture exists
as a gas both in the reservoir
and in the surface facilities.

Usually a system having a gas-oil
ratio greater than 100,000
scf/STB is considered to be
a dry gas.

Properties of Reservoir Fluids:

Gas

Ideal Gas properties

According to kinetic theory of gases
! Gases are composed of large number of molecules
!

For an ideal gas the volume of these molecules is insignificant compared

to the
total volume of the occupied gas

No inter-molecular attractive or repulsive forces

All molecular collisions perfectly elastic

pV = nRT
p = absolute pressure, psia
V = volume, ft3
T = absolute temperature, R
n = number of moles of gas, lb-mole
R = the universial gas constant and for the above units has a value of 10.730
psia ft3/lb-mole R

Behavior of Real Gases

! At low pressures, ideal gas equation is a great

convenient, however,
! At higher pressures the error can be upto 500%

compared to only 2-3% at atm pressure

Gases are highly compressible (upto 500% volumetric change)

Properties of Gases
! Density of gas/mixture

m pM
g = =
v RT

! Apparent Molecular Weight Ma (for mixtures)

M a = yi M i
i=1

! Specific volume

v
RT
1
v= =
=
m pM a g

! Specific Gravity

Ma
g =
Mg

Real vs Ideal Gases: Equation of

State
For Real gases ideal gas equation becomes
PV = znRT wherez = compressibility factor
Z=

Vactural
V
=
Vactural nRT p

Ppr =

P
wherePpr = Pseudo reduced pressure
Ppc

Tpr =

T
whereTpr = Pseudo reduced temperature
Tpc

Z can be generalized with sufficient accuracies for most engineering purposes

with using the
Standing and Katz generalized gas compressibility factor chart.

Real vs Ideal Gases: Example

A gas reservoir has the following gas composition: the initial reservoir pressure
and temperature are 3,000 psia and 180F, respectively.
Component

yi

TciR

YiTci

Pci

yiPci

CO2

0.02

547.91

10.96

1071

21.42

N2

0.01

227.49

2.27

493.1

4.93

C1

0.85

343.33

291.83

666.4

566.44

C2

0.04

549.92

22.00

706.5

28.26

C3

0.03

666.06

19.98

616.4

18.48

i C4

0.03

734.46

22.03

527.9

15.84

n C4

0.02

765.62

15.31

550.6

11.01

=383.38

=666.38

Real vs Ideal Gases: Example

Calculating densities using ideal and real gas equations
Step 1. Calculate the apparent molecular weight from Equation: Ma = 20.23
Step 2. Determine the pseudo-critical pressure from Equation:
Ppc = 666.18
Step 3. Calculate the pseudo-critical temperature from Equation: Tpc = 383.38
Step 4. Calculate the pseudo-reduced pressure and temperature by applying their
3000
respective equations:
P =
= 4.50
pr

Step 5. Determine the z-factor from Standing and Karts

chart: z = 0.85

666.38
640
Tpr =
= 1.67
383.38
U sin gequation forrealgases
(3000)(20.23)
= 10.4lb / ft 3
(0.85)(10.73)(640)
U sin gequation foridealgases

g =

Step 6. Calculate the density from its equation:

g =

(3000)(20.23)
= 8.84lb / ft 3
(10.73)(640)

Pseudo-reduced Properties from

correlation
When composition of a natural gas is not
available than

Case 1: Natural Gas Systems1

Tpc = 168 + 325 g 12.5 g2

Ppc = 677 +15.0 g 12.5 g2
Case 2: Gas-Condensate Systems2

Tpc = 187 + 330 g 71.5 g2

Ppc = 706 51.7 g 11.1 g2
Specific Gravity of the Gas
1Brown

et al. (1948), Natural Gasoline and the Volatile Hydrocabons, Tulsa:NGAA.

(1977), Volumetric and Phase Behavior of Oil Field Hydrocarbon Systems, pp.125-126. Dallas:SPE.

2Standing

Properties of Reservoir Fluids:

Oil & Water

Properties of Oils & Water

Oil

API =

Gravity

Rs (Gas Solubility)

Bubble-Point Pressure

Oil Formation Volume Factor

Viscosity

Surface/Interfacial Tension

Water
!

Water Formation Volume Factor

Viscosity

141.5
131.5
o

o = SpecificGravityof Oil

Laboratory Analysis of
Reservoir Fluids

Cores and coring

Core: A Sample of reservoir rock from a well section
Coring: A process by which the reservoir rock sample, CORE, is obtained by
drilling through oil bearing formation.

A core sample
Maximum: 10 m in length and 15
cm in diameter
(Dandekar, 2006)

Typically in the laboratory

coreflood: 1.5 inch in diameter
and 6 inches in Length
(www.corelab.com)

Core Plugs

Core plugs:
1.5 inch in diameter
3 inch in length

Core Plugs

Core Plug Characteristics

3.75cm (1.5 inch) diameter

Avoid heterogeneities
Piece together core
Multiple orientations

Core Plug Analysis

To evaluate the various properties of the petroleum
reservoirs, core samples taken from the representative
section of the oil bearing formation are subjected to a
procedure of thorough laboratory analysis called CORE
ANALYSIS. The so obtained information through the
whole core or core-plug analysis is used in the further
evaluation through formation evaluation, reservoir
development and the reservoir engineering studies.
CORE ANALYSIS is generally categorized into two types:
1.Routine or conventional core analysis (RCAL)
2.Special Core Analysis (SCAL)

Core Plug Analysis

Cleaning of Core
For Conventional Core Analysis

Dean Stark Extraction (1 plug)

Soxhlet extraction (>1 plug)
Destructive
Not efficient for the whole core

Special Core Analysis

Miscible flushing (brine-methanol-toluene-methanol-brine)
Non-destructive

Solvent
Remove salt (methanol)
Remove crude oil (toluene)