Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
8091
ABSTRACT age permeability both away from and close to the well-
bores. The majority of the buildup data are obtained
Simplified equations are developed for the flow of from wells producing two or three fluids. As yet the
fluids in gas drive reservoirs in which the effects of theoretical foundations for the methods of buildup an-
gravity can be neglected. The results show that the
alysis used in connection with multiphase buildup data
pressure distribution is governed by a nonlinear heat
flow type of equation, and the saturation distributions have not been established.
are related to the pressure by the same equations as A number of methods of analysis of pressure buildup
those developed by Muskat for the average pressure data have been developed.'-5 Most of these methods ap-
and saturations in gas drive reservoirs.
ply only to single-phase flows, and almost all of the
Under certain conditions the equation for the pres- theoretical analysis is confined to single-phase flows.
sure can be approximated by the linear form of the Perrine5 developed a method of analysis for muItiphase
heat flow equation. This equation is analogous to the flows from the method for single-phase flows of Miller,
equation for the pressure in single-phase compressible Dyes, and Hutchinson! He did this by simply replacing
flow The analysis reveals that the equation for the the single-phase compressibility by the multiphase com-
pressure in multiphase flows can be obtained directly pressibility and replacing the single-phase mobility by
from the equation for the pressure in single-phase flows
the sum of the mobilities of the fluids in the multiphase
by simply replacing the single-phase compressibility by
the total compressibility and the single-phase mobility flows. Obviously, such a procedure lacks a certain
by the sum of the mobilities of all the fluids present. amount of theoretical justification, and such practices
Perrine's method of pressure buildup analysis for mul- can lead to erroneous results. Fortunately, Perrine's re-
tiphase flows is based on these same substitutions. Thus, sults have a theoretical justification, and this justifica-
the development presented in this paper constitutes a tion is presented in the following discussion.
theoretical justification for Perrine's method of pres-
sure buildup analysis. DISCUSSION
It is assumed that gravitational effects and the com-
INTRODUCTION pressibility of the rock can be neglected. Under these
One of the most difficult problems associated with the assumptions the equations governing the simultaneous
production of oil is the determination of the flow of the flow of gas, oil and water in porous media are"':'
fluids within the reservoirs. One purpose of this paper is
to present the development of simplified equations for
the flow in gas drive reservoirs. The other purpose is to
present some of the needed theoretical foundation for
the methods currently being used in the analysis of (1)
multiphase pressure buildup data. The analysis pre-
sented in this paper makes use of a partial lineariza-
tion of the equations governing multiphase flows. It is (2)
felt that the process of linearizing or partially lineariz-
and
ing the nonlinear equations of multiphase flows can
lead to useful results since this process has proved ex-
tremely valuable in the study of other fields of science
v' (-k".- v p) LO(S".)
/-twf31v
=r-:::.-:---
at 13ff '
(3)
Pressure buildup data of shut-in wells have been used The preceding equations can be expanded into the
for many years to estimate the static reservoir pressure. following expressions.
These data have also been used in studying the aver-
1 References given at end of paper.
Original manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Engineer,s ';'See AIME Symbols Jist in Trans. AIME (l!'56) 207, 363, fot"
office March 3. 1959. Revised man~script received June 29, 1959. dp.finitjons of symbols not defined in the tpxt.
v.. - P/3w/L,,,
= - -()- - - (S",) (9)
tion of Eq. 12 the pressure gradient was as~umed to be
small. The partial derivative of P with respect to time
kw at /3w was not limited to small values. Thus, the nonlinear
character of Eq. 12 should have a physical meaning.
It should be remembered that only the variations of
Unfortunately, the difficulties involved in solving Eq.
P, S" and Sw with distance must be small in order for
12 in its nonlinear form are much greater than where
the three preceding equations to be valid. The varia-
it is approximated by linear equations.
tions of P, S" and Sw with time are not assumed to be
small. In the analysis of certain phenomena which occur
The elimination of v'p from Eqs. 7, 8 and 9 leads over relatively short time periods, the coefficient, </>~'
to the following system of ordinary differential equa-
tions. in Eq. 12 can be approximated by a constant. In es-
sence, Perrine' obtained the linear approximation to
dS" S"(3',, A" Eq. 12 intuitively from the equation for the flow of a
dP =~+T C l
(10)
single-phase compressible fluid. The development of Eq.
and 12 presented herein supplies a theoretical justification
for the use of Perrine's method of multiphase buildup
(11 ) analysis.
It appears that Eq. 12 can be used as a basis, on
where the primes denote derivatives with respect to P,
which a number of methods of single-phase buildup
C, is the total compressibility and A is the sum of the
analysis can be extended to muItiphase flows; however,
mobilities of the fluids present. Thus,
the author has not explored these possibilities in any
c = _ So(3'(> S(J~,R~ S!r(3~1' S//,(3yR:1f' S.(I(3~, detail. Also, it appears that the equations developed
t- /3" + /3" --{J---:--+ f3w /3" herein can be applied to problems other than the an-
alysis of pressure buildup data. In particular, the so-
and A = A" + /-. " -+- Aw . lution of Eqs. 10, 11 and 12 which satisfies the proper