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Condensate Reservoirs
G.CO$KUNER
Husky Oil Operations Limited
Gokhan Co~kuner is a staff engineer densation starts at the dew point pressure (DPP) shown as point D
with Husky Oil Operations Limited. He in Figure 1. The volume of liquid increases to approximately 10%
works as a reservoir engineering advisor at point R where the retrograde condensation starts. After this
involved in projects ranging from gas point, the liquid volume decreases with continued reduction in
storage to offshore field delineation and pressure. The fluid type should be determined on the basis of lab-
development. Prior to joining Husky Oil oratory experiments which requires reliable values of reservoir
he worked for Agip as reservoir temperature, initial pressure, and a representative fluid sample. In
engineering advisor; Scientific Software general, .gas condensate reservoirs may be approximately defined
Intercomp as senior consulting associate; as those which produce light coloured to colourless stock tank liq-
Imperial Oil, Shell Canada, and the uids with API gravities above 45API at gas oil ratios in the range
Petroleum Recovery Institute in various of 5,000 to 100,000 scf/stb.
research capacities. He holds a B.Sc. degree from the Middle The laboratory experiments are the basis for determining the
East Technical University, Turkey; M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees properties of gas condensate fluid properties. However, such
from the University of Alberta, Canada, all in petroleum experiments cannot be performed for all conditions where values
engineering. of fluid properties are required for reservoir engineering computa-
tions. The common predictive tool for such properties is an equa-
tion-of-state (EOS) package. A lumped fluid description coupled
Abstract with EOS parameters tuned to duplicate the laboratory results can
Gas condensate reservoirs constitute a significant portion of be used to predict the fluid properties separately or in a composi-
hydrocarbon reserves worldwide. The prediction of reservoir per- tional simulator.
formance and its economic impact requires the accurate modelling Reliable predictions of gas reserves and well productivity are
of the flow and phase behaviour in such reservoirs. The liquid essential to establish a development plan. Overestimating the well
drop out may lead to recovery problems such as near wellbore productivities may render fulfilling the contractual obligations
permeability impairment and uncertainty in the actual location of impossible while underestimating them may lead to increased
the target condensate. In addition, the produced gas becomes spending, thus, preventing the development of smaller fields.
lighter and less marketable with time. Such issues can be There are three essential requirements in the development of gas
addressed through improved understanding of the formation of condensate fields(l): (i) Accurate values of gas/condensate ratios
condensate and the multiphase flow of gas and condensate in the (CGR) should be determined during the initial well testing of the
reservoir as characterized by relative permeability curves. The field, (ii) the CGR behaviour of the production wells should be
appropriate relative permeability curves in turn can be used in understood so that the early history matching of the data can be
reservoir simulators to assist in optimization of field development. accurate, and (iii) the general long-term behaviour of the reservoir
and the liquid recovery factors expected in any planned gas injec-
tion process should be realistic.
Gas Condensate Reservoirs The profitability of the development of gas condensate fields
Various types of reservoirs can be classified by the location of depends both on gas and condensate production profiles. The pri-
their initial reservoir pressure and temperature with respect to the ority may be given to maximum and early condensate production
two phase gas/liquid region. This is commonly shown on pres- and/or to an optimal gas production with condensate as a byprod-
sure-temperature diagrams such as the one schematically shown uct depending on the condensate content, the field environment,
in Figure 1 for a multicomponent hydrocarbon mixture of constant technical, and commercial factors. Two major reservoir engineer-
composition. The area inside the envelope formed by the bubble ing problems have to be considered during field development
point curve, the critical point (C), and the dew point curve is the studies: (i) the possibility of a significant drop in gas productivity
the region where both the gas and the liquid phases will exist in of the wells below the dew point pressure due to the presence of
equilibrium. The curves within the two phase region show the per- the condensate, (ii) the loss of condensate formed throughout the
centage of the total hydrocarbon volume which is liquid. Fluids reservoir at the end of exploitation. The answers to these problems
initially at locations marked I through V would be classified as rely on the phase behaviour of the fluid, absolute and relative per-
black oil, volatile oil, gas condensate, wet gas, and dry gas, meability of the formation, and the manner in which the field is
respectively. produced(2).
Gas condensate reservoirs are separated from others by two The combined effect of all these parameters can be investigated
characteristics. First, a liquid phase condenses at reservoir condi- through the use of a numerical reservoir simulator which takes
tions during isothermal depletion. Second, this liquid revapourizes into account the peculiarities of gas condensate reservoirs. A good
(retrograde behaviour) with further pressure depletion. The con- geological description and a properly tuned EOS in a composi-
- - - Pressure .. .. . Velocity
DeN Pci'lIPressue
\E D c B A
,.
........... .. ..
Distance From weI/bore
FIGURE 2: Flow regions in a gas condensate reservoir.
I,
oil I.
O.......-....-:.'------------------.,;::::lIIo...--1 o+-----~::::..---..::::::::~---_l
o o
DRogIcn_~
li! 1d!
Ioil
, 0
1
"
8
oil
0 ~ 0
~~ 0
well bore when the effect of capillary number is ignored. such models are likely to be costly and time consuming. One
However, the condensate saturation goes through a maximum option is to use single well fine scale numerical simulations to
especially in higher permeability zones when the influence of cap- predict the near wellbore behaviour. The full field model can then
illary number is taken into account. be calibrated to reproduce the fine scale model results using pseu-
The next step in modelling the reservoir performance is to cali- do functions.
brate the full field model using pseudo functions so that the fine
scale single well simulation results are reproduced(1.21). The full NOMENCLATURE
field model should still allow for variations in the relative perme-
g gravitational acceleration
ability curves based on the balance between capillary, viscous and
gravity effects to be able to represent gas and condensate flow k vertical permeability
faithfully far from the wellbore. It is also preferable to represent NB Bond number
the dependence of the capillary pressure curve on the 1Ff(13l. Such Nc capillary number
a functionality would allow one to represent the possibility of con- S spreading coefficient
densate reimbibition to the higher parts of the reservoir after grav- V velocity
ity segregation once the capillary pressure become significant 1.1 displacing phase viscosity
with continued pressure depletion. Consequently, this process 0' interfacial tension
ensures that both the near wellbore and field wide phenomena are O'wg interfacial tension between water and gas
accounted for. O'wc interfacial tension between water and condensate
O'gc interfacial tension between gas and condensate
~p density difference between condensate and gas
Summary
As the pressure is depleted in a gas condensate reservoir a liq- REFERENCES
uid condensate phase is generated below the dew point pressure. 1. ALI, J.K., MCGAULEY, PJ., and WILSON, C.J., The Effects of
The force balance which controls the multiphase flow of gas and High Velocity Flow and PVT Changes Near the Wellbore on
condensate can change drastically when fluids travel towards the Condensate Performance; Paper SPE 38923, presented at the 1997
wellbore in the reservoir and with time. Consequently, the gas and SPE Annual technical Conference and Exhibition, San Antonio, TX,
condensate relative permeabilities which are affected by inertial, 5-8 October, 1997.
viscous, capillary and gravity forces become functions of space
2. FEVANG, O. and WHITSON, C.H., Modeling Gas Condensate
and time. Furthermore, the capillary pressure which influences
Deliverability; SPERE, pp. 221-230, November 1996.
fluid distribution in the reservoir also changes with time as pres-
sure is depleted. The correct prediction of reservoir performance 3. MCCAFFERY, F.G. and MUNGAN, N., Contact Angle and
should use an approriately tuned EOS in a compositional simula- Interfacial Tension Studies of Some Hydrocarbon-Water-Solid
tor which also takes into account the aforementioned variations in Systems; Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, pp. 185-196,
relative permeabilities and capillary pressure. The observations July - September 1970.
highlight the need for carefully designed and controlled relative 4. DULLIEN, FAL., ZARCONE, C., MACDONALD, I.P., COLLIN,
permeability experiments for input into the numerical simulator. A., and BOCHARD, RD.F., The Effects of Surface Roughness on
The degree of detail required to take into account the near well- the Capillary Pressure Curves and the Heights of Capillary Rise in
bore phenomena necessitates the use of very fine grids near the Glass Bead Packs; Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 127(2),
production wells. Thus, the full field performance predictions with pp. 362-372, 1989.