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Limestone Reservoirs
1
JUAN JONES-PARRA, h.
MEMBER AIME
RAFAEL SEIJAS REVTOR
AB STRACT
The porosities of fractured limestone reservoirs can
be divided into two broad types in accordance with their
effects on fluid distribution and fluid flow. In the coarse
porosity, gravity segregaNon takes place freely and the
resistance to fluid flow is very small. In the fine porosity
there is no segregation and a high resistance to flow,
and it has relative permeability characteristics similar to
tight sandstones.
By analyzing the affect of the two porosities it is concluded that in some cases to recover the maximum
amount of oil it is necessary to remove large quantities
of gas from the reservoir by producing at high gas-oil
ratios. In this manner the fine porosity is drained of its
oil and the gas-oil contact drops slowly permitting higher
production rates from the oil leg. Since this conclusion
is contrary to widely accepted principles of conservation, a mathematical model (Fig. 1) was constructed to
duplicate the conditions desired.
The behavior of the model indicates that under certain conditions it is possible to recover more oil by producing at high gas-oil ratios than by production at low
gas-oil ratios, and that the rate of production is affected
more by gas shut-offs than by the decrease in pressure
(Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5).
r---
f --
I -I
---~
fAS
II
s.
So
s ..
Pll
ArID
8,.
INTRODUCTION
It has been noted that certain limestone reservoirs behave in such a way as to indicate that there are two
distinct types of porous spaces available for fluid storage
and fluid flow. Regardless of the nature of these porous
spaces the distinguishing characteristic is that in one
type of porous space there is definite gravity segregation between the oil and the gas; while in the other, the
gas evolved tends to remain distributed equally throughout the reservoir. For the sake of simplicity the porosity
in which gravity segregation takes place at a fast enough
rate to affect the behavior will be called "coarse poOriginal manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Engineers
office Nov. 19, 1957. Revised manuscript received March 23, 1959.
Paper presented at Second Annual Regional Meeting of Venezuela
Petroleum Sections in Caracas, Nov. 6-9, 1957.
,9
13
0.74
II
070
0.026
1.<
.T
058
/2
0,014
400
om
1200
1600
lOO:)
2400
2800
.5
1.0
SPE 990-G
68
Fig. 1 shows a model of the reservoir under consideration. Its total pore volume is composed of two
zones. The j zone is that in which gravity drainage does
not take place and the reservoir behaves in the same
manner as a tight sandstone reservoir producing by solution gas. This is the fine porosity zone. In the coarse
porosity zone (1 - f) gravity segregation takes place
subdividing it into a gas-filled zone (H) and an oil-filled
zone (1 - H). Zone j contains oil (So), gas (So) and
connate water (S",).
From Fig. 1 it can be seen that the free gas in the
reservoir at any pressure and at reservoir conditions is
given by
NB; [H(1 - f)
+ Sgj]
(1)
SoiT
This volume of gas can also be obtained by subtracting from the original gas that which has been produced
and that which is still in solution and converting to
reservoir conditions.
v[Nr, - nrp -
(2)
(N - n)r]
lOOO . - - - - - r - - - , - - - - , - - - - , - - - ,
lOOO ,--,-------,,--,-----,------,,-----,----,
1800 f.1.\\--+---+-f----+---I----+--___1
1600
Hffi\--+-----'~--+---f---_+_-___1
1400
!___-\lW~-H,________+_--I---_+_-___1
1100
!___---j\\rt--'~!______\_+_--I---_+_-___1
1000
f---_+_-\--\-'<~~-+\,_________1--_+_-___1
1.3
1100
!-----t---t----t--~__-__1
/6
1000'------'---'----'---'----'
04
10
0.1
0.6
0.8
o
0.14
FIG.
MAY. 1959
OF
nlN
FIG. 4--RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
PRESSURE.
n/N
AND
69
I) + sun _ r, - r
(3)
SOiTV(r - rp)
r - rp
This ratio can also be obtained from the following
equation'.
n/N
= B,[H(1 -
B,
1.0
0.1
..~r..
,;::."
n/N = ---=---
(4)
0.'
04
SoiT
B;
02
(5)
[1 - I + ISo _
B!:'T]
Bvr~~O'T
C
D = (1 - I) (B - vr)
With the value of H thus obtained, the ratio n/N can
(8)
= 1-
DPI
(u o B)
(9)
1.0
1.6
0.1
1.0
1.6
P
2,025
1,770
1,.615
1,840
1,540
1,370
H
0.63
0.27
0.06
0.96
0.61
0.38
00/001
-0:23"
0.38
0.42
0.02
0.16
0.22
NOMENCLATURE
N = initial stock-tank oil in place, bbl
n = stock-tank oil produced, bbl
ST = saturation based on total pore volume
S = saturation based on fine pore volume
H = fraction of coarse porosity occupied by gas
I = fraction of total pore volume where gravity
segregation does not take place
v = volume occupied in barrels in the reservoir
by a standard cubic foot of gas
r1' = cumulative produced gas-oil ratio
r = gas in solution, cu ft/bbl
B = oil formation volume factor
flo = viscosity, cp
k = relative permeability
P = pressure, psi
Q = production rate, STB/D
'p/r;
OT
where (1 - H) has been substituted for ko in the wellknown equation.' Assuming further that the pressure
drawdown is a constant fraction of the static pressure,
the ratio of the production at any pressure and any
value of H to the production capacity at initial condition would be given by
Qo
(1 - H) (uoB) iP
(10)
uoBP,
Qo.
70
to
Os
CONCLUSIONS
A = r,v
os
where
04
(6)
(7)
+D
02
SUBSCRIPTS
0,
i = initial values
oil, gas and water
g, W =
REFERENCES
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