RESERVOIRS

- Implies storage
- That rock in which the hydrocarbon can be stored and
from which it can be produced.
-Fluids of the subsurface migrate according to density
-Fluids : hydrocarbon gas, hydrocarbon liquids and salt
water.
- Hydrocarbons tend to migrate upward, displacing the
heavier salt water down elevation.
- Hydrocarbons may be forced from their source rock
during lithification, and migrate into the reservoir rock in
which they are stored.

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
- The key properties for describing a petroleum reservoir
are porosity, pore saturation, and permeability.
Porosity refers to the capacity of the reservoir to hold
fluids.
Basically represents the interstices, or pores, present
within the reservoir rock. Typical porosities of oil
reservoirs are of the order of 20 - 40%.

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Porosity

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Porosity

- Is the proportion of the non-solid volume to the total

volume of material, and is defined by the ratio:

Vp is the non-solid volume (pores and liquid)

and

Vm is the total volume of material, including the solid

non-solid parts.
is used to denote porosity.

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Porosity
- Is

a fraction between 0 and 1

- Ranging from less than 0.01 for solid granite to more

than 0.5 for peat and clay
- May also be represented in percent terms by multiplying
the fraction by 100%.

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Porosity
- Is

an important consideration when attempting to

evaluate the potential volume of hydrocarbons it may
contain.
Factors affecting porosity:

Rate of burial
Depth of burial
Nature of the connate fluids
Nature of overlying sediments (which may impede
fluid expulsion).

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Porosity
Types of porosity

1. Primary porosity is the main or original porosity

system in a rock
2. Secondary porosity can be a result of chemical leeching
of minerals or the generation of a fracture system. This
can replace the primary porosity or coexist with it

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Porosity
Types of porosity

3. Fracture porosity is porosity associated with a fracture

system or faulting.
4. Vuggy porosity is secondary porosity generated by
dissolution of large features (such as macrofossils) in
carbonate rocks leaving large holes, vigs, or even caves.
5. Effective porosity refers to the fraction of the total
volume in which fluid flow is effectively taking place

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Porosity
Measuring porosity
- Boyles Law Method
Allow gas to expand into sample chamber, filling the pore
spaces
Apply Boyles law P1V1 = P2V2

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability

- Factor that quantifies how hard or how easy it is for the

fluid to flow through the reservoir
- Greater the permeability, the easier the fluid flows.
- Is a measure of the ability of the rock to transmit fluids
through it.
- It is of great importance in determining the flow
characteristics of hydrocarbons in oil and gas reservoirs,
of groundwater in aquifers.

and

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability

- Unit for permeability is the darcy, or more commonly

the milli-darcy or md (1 darcy = 1 x 1012m).
- Is a property of the porous media only, not the fluid.
- In naturally occurring materials, it ranges over many
orders of magnitude .

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability

- For a rock to be considered as an exploitable

hydrocarbon reservoir, its permeability must be greater
than
approximately 100 md (depending on the nature of the
hydrocarbon - gas reservoirs with lower permeabilities
are
still exploitable because of the lower viscosity of gas
with
respect to oil). Rocks with permeabilities
significantly lower
than 100 md can form efficient seals .
Unconsolidated sands may have permeabilities of 5000+
md.

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability

Darcys Equation for linear incompressible fluid flow

Darcy is a unit of permeability. It is not an SI unit, but it
is widely used in petroleum engineering and geology. The
darcy has units of area.
The darcy is defined using Darcys Law which can be written as:

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability
is the permeability of a medium
v is the superficial (or bulk) fluid flow rate through the
medium
is the dynamic viscosity of the fluid
P is the applied pressure difference
x is the thickness of the medium

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability

Assumes laminar, steady state, single incompressible

fluid flowing through the system.
-

A medium with a permeability of 1 darcy permits a flow of 1

cm/s of a fluid of 1 cP viscosity under a 1 atm/cm pressure
gradient.

Permeability
Darcys Law for linear flow

kA P2 P1
q
L

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability Darcys Equation

kA dP
q
dL
Field units
Q = 1.127

-k A p
L

Q = Fluid flow, bbls/day

A = cross-sectional area, ft2
p = pressure differential, psi
= fluid viscosity, cp
L = Length, ft
K = permeability, Darcies

Darcys Equation Radial Flow

q

kA dP
dL

A = 2rh, substituting for A and integrating:

re

Pe

q dr k
dP

2h r w r Pw
q
k Pe
re
ln r r P P
w
2h
w
q
re k P e Pw
ln
2h rw

Darcys Equation Radial Flow

2kh Pe Pw
q
ln r e / rw
Field Units

Q = 7.08x10-3 k h p stb/day
oBo ln (re/rw)
Q = Fluid flow, bbls/day
h = thickness, ft
p = pressure differential, psi
= fluid viscosity, cp
re = reservoir boundary radius, ft
rw = wellbore radius
K = permeability, millidarcies
Bo Formation Volume Factor for oil, bbl/stb

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Permeability

- Absolute permeability is the permeability of a rock

which has only a single fluid flowing through it.
The effective permeability to a fluid is the permeability
of the rock to that particular fluid when there are
more than one fluids flowing in the reservoir.
e.g. ko is the permeability to the flow of oil when there
is, say, oil and water flowing through the rock.

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Relative Permeability

Relative permeability is defined as the ratio of the

effective permeability of a fluid at a given value of saturation to
the effective permeability of that fluid at
100% saturation
(absolute permeability)
Kro(50,30) = Ko(50,30)
k
K ro(50,30) is the relative permeability to oil when the medium is
saturated with 50% oil, 30 % water and 20% gas respectively

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Relative Permeability
Relative Permeability curve
1

Relative permeability %

0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
Kro
Krw

0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Water Saturation %

0.7

0.8

0.9

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Water Saturation

- The fraction of water in a given pore space.

- Expressed in volume/volume, percent or saturation
units.
Sw 1.0 - So
Sw = Water saturation in a rock
So = Oil saturation in the rock

RESERVOIRS
Reservoir Properties
Water Saturation

- The fraction of water in a given pore space.

- Expressed in volume/volume, percent or saturation
units.
Sw 1.0 - So
Sw = Water saturation in a rock
So = Oil saturation in the rock

 PHASE DIAGRAM

LIQUID
ONLY

 Oil

Formation Volume Factor, Bo

Oil formation volume factor is defined as the ratio of

the volume of oil (and its dissolved gas) at reservoir
(in-situ) conditions to that at stock tank (surface) conditions.
This factor, is used to convert the flow rate of oil
(at stock tank conditions) to reservoir conditions.
It is defined as:

Vres
Bo
Vsurf

 Oil

Formation Volume Factor, Bo

Below the bubble point pressure, the oil formation
volume factor increases with pressure.
This is because more gas goes into solution as the
pressure is increased causing the oil to swell.
Above the bubble point pressure, the oil formation
volume factor decreases as the pressure is increased,
because there is no more gas available to go into
solution and the oil is compressed.

 Gas

Formation Volume Factor, Bg

Gas volume at reservoir conditions divided by gas volume

at standard conditions. This factor is used to convert
surface measured volumes to reservoir conditions,
just as oil formation volume factors are used to convert
surface measured oil volumes to reservoir volumes.
It is defined as:

Vres
Bg
Vsurf

Solution Gas-Oil Ratio (Rs)

The solution gas oil ratio is the amount of gas dissolved in
the oil (or water) at any pressure.
It increases approximately linearly with pressure and is a
function of the oil (or water) and gas composition.
A heavy oil contains less dissolved gas than a light oil.
In general, the solution gas oil (or water) ratio varies from 0
(dead oil (or water)) to approximately 2000 scf / bbl (very
light oil (or water)).

Solution Gas-Oil Ratio (Rs)

The solution gas oil (or water) ratio increases with pressure
until the bubble point pressure is reached, after which it is a
constant, and the oil (or water) is said to be undersaturated.

API Gravity
API gravity is related to specific gravity as follows:

141.5
API
131.5
SG
API Gravity for water = 10