ReservoirSimulation

Exam1999

Q1
Considerthefollowingstatementwhichismadereferringtoareservoirdevelopmentplanforafield
whichhasbeeninproductionforsometime:
AreservoirengineershouldalwaysapplyMaterialBalancecalculationsandshouldusuallybut
notalwaysuseNumericalReservoirSimulation.
(i)WhyshouldyoualwaysperformsomesortofmaterialMaterialBalancecalculations?
Advantagesofmaterialbalancemodels
verysimple
canaddressquestionsrelatingtoaveragefieldpressureforgivenoil/water/gasproductionand
waterinflux
fromgiveninitialquantitiesandinitialpressure(assumptions).
(ii)Whatisthemaindisadvantageofusingmaterialbalancecalculationsinreservoirdevelopment?
Disadvantages
(essentiallya"tank"model)
cannotaddresspressuresintwosectorsofreservoirbeingdifferent(singleaveragePisacore
assumption)
anyotherspatialquestione.g.welllocation,etc
(iii)Intheabovecontext,explainwhenyouwoulduseReservoirSimulationandwhenyoumaynot
useit.Giveanexampleofeachcase.
WhenyouwoulduseReservoirSimulation+Example:
ReservoirSimulatorsapplyMBapproachwithineachoftheirmultidimensionalcells.Thevalueof
thisclassicaltoolisthatitenablestheengineer'stogeta'feel"ofthereservoirandthevarious
processes influid production. A danger ofblind application ofreservoir simulators is that the
awarenessofthevariouscomponentsresponsibleforproductionmightbelosttotheengineerusing
thesimulationoutputinpredictiveforecasting.ReservoirSimulatorIstheonlytoolavailableto
tacklecomplexreservoirdevelopment/flowproblemwhichextendsmaterialbalance.Clearlyitis
muchbetterthansimplematerialbalance.
Example:Waterfloodingsimulation
WhenyoumaynotuseReservoirSimulation+Example:
Therearealotofuncertainties

Q2
Varioustypesof2Dand3Dgridsareusedinreservoirsimulationcalculations.Describewhatyou
think the best type of grid is for performing calculations on each of the reservoir processes
describedbelowandsaywhy.
Reservoirprocesses:
(i)Modellingoflikelygasandwaterconinganditseffecton(vertical)wellproductivityinalight
oilreservoirwithagascapandanunderlyingaquifer;
Setupanearwell r/zgeometryfine grid possibly50layers and setreservoir nearwell rock
propertiese.g.Layering,Tzmodifiers,Rel.perms.etc.
Performsimulationstolookatissuessuchaseffectofrate,verticalcommunication,gas/oil/water
Rel.perms.etc
GenerallyneedsafineDr,Dzgrid,oftenfinernearthewellwheremostrapidchangesofSgand
pressurewithtimeoccur.
(ii)Simulatingalargenumberofoptionsinaninjector/producerwellpairinagasinjectionscheme
wheretheobjectiveistolookattheeffectsofformationheterogeneityongasoildisplacementand
todevelopsomepseudorelativepermeabilitiestouseinafullfieldmodel;

(iii) Carrying outan appraisal ofan entire flank of a complexfaulted field whichhas several
injectorandproducerwells.
(i)Whichgrid?

Why?

(ii)Whichgrid?
2DCartesiangrids:2D crosssectional(x/z)gridsmaybeusedto;(a)studyverticalsweep
efficiency in a heterogeneous layered system; (b) calculate water/oil displacements in a
geostatisticallygeneratedcrosssection;(c)generatepseudorelativepermeabilites(canbeusedto
collapsea3Dcalculationdowntoa2Dsystem);(d)tostudythemechanismofagasdisplacement
processe.g.todeterminetheimportanceofgravityetc.

Why?

(iii)Whichgrid?
3D(x/y/z)Cartesiangridsareusedtomodelaverywiderangeoffieldwidereservoirproduction
processesandwouldoftenbethedefaulttypeofcalculationforatypicalfullfieldsimulationof
waterflooding,gasflooding,etc.(Figure1(f)).

Why?

Q3
Numericaldispersionandgridorientationaretwoofthemainnumericalproblemsthatoccurin
reservoirsimulation.Explaininyourownwords,withthehelpofasimplesketch,themeaningof
eachoftheseterms:
(i)Numericaldispersion?Sketch:

Numericaldispersion?Explanation:
Numericaldispersionistheartificialspreadingofsaturationfrontsduetothenumericalgridblock
structureinthesimulation.Itarisesbecausewetakelargegridstorepresentmovingfronts.Itcanbe
improvedbyrefiningthegrid(globallyorlocally)orbyusingimprovednumericalmethods.
(ii)Gridorientation?Sketch:


Gridorientation?Explanation:
Theinjectedfluidtendstoflowparallelwiththegridfromtheinjector(I)totheproducer(P)see
previouspage.ThismeansthatearlybreakthroughandpoorerrecoveriesareseeninAtheninB
abovei.e.

Q4
Figure 1below shows the results ofa series of 6waterflooding and gas flooding calculations
(labelledAF)ina2Dverticalcrosssectionalnumericalsimulationmodel.Resultsareplottedas
OilRecoveryat1PVInjectionvs.1/NZ,whereNZisthenumberofverticalgridblocksinthe
simulation.Assume(a)thatthenumberofgridblocksinthexdirection(NX)issufficientlylarge
andisconstantinallcalculations;and(b)thattheaxesofthegrapharequantitative.

Answerthefollowingquestions:
(i)Howmanyverticalgridblocks(NZ)wereusedincaseF?2

(ii) Do the simulated waterflood and gas flooding calculations become more optimistic or
pessimisticaswetakemoreverticalgridblocksinthecalculation?
OptimisticWaterflooding
PessimisticGasinjection

(iii)ExtrapolateeachofthecalculationstoNZ> forboththewaterfloodandthegasfloodon
Figure1.Estimatethe%recoveryforeachandtheincrementalrecoveryofthegasfloodcompared
withthewaterflood. Commentontheimplicationsofyourresultforcarryingoutagasflooding
projectinthisreservoir.
Estimations
Waterflooding:54%
Gasinjection:50%
1/NZ
Waterflooding
Gasinjection
Incremental
Comment:

0
54
50

0.1
50
53
3

0.25
46
56
10

0.5
38
65
27

Gasinjectionhasshownamassiveadvantageoverwaterfloodingaslessnumberofgridsareused.
Q5
Figure2belowshowsacontrolvolumeblockiforsinglephasecompressibleflowin1D.The
quantitiesqi+1/2 andqi1/2 arethevolumetricflowratesofthefluidattheboundariesofblocki.All
gridblocksarethesamesizeinthexdirection( x)andthecrosssectionalareaisconstant,A=
y. z(where yand zaretheblocksizesintheyandzdirections).Thedensityandporosityare
denotedbysymbols and respectively.

Withreferencetotheabovefigure
(i)Writeaclearmathematicalexpressionforthechangeinmassinblockioveratimestep t
duetoflow:
Changeinmassduetoflowovertimestep t=

(ii)Writeaclearmathematicalexpressionforthechangeinmassinblockifromthebeginningof
thetimesteptotheend(i.e.theaccumulation):
Differenceinmassinblockiovertimestep t=

(iii)Consideringtheabovetwoexpressions,whatequationcanyounowwritefrommaterialbalance
?

(iv)Arethereanyassumptionsintheequationyouhavejustwritteninpart(iii)above?Briefly
explain.
WeassumethatxandAareconstant
(v)NowusethesinglephaseDarcyLawintheequationyouwrotein(iii)aboveandshowhowby
takingLimits x, t>0youobtainthepressureequationforsinglephasecompressibleflow:
Showthestepsyoutake.

(vi)Ifyouhavewrittendowntheanswertopart(v)abovecorrectly,thenyoushouldhavewritten
downanonlinearpartialdifferentialequation(PDE).Whatdoesnonlinearmeaninthiscontext
andexplaininphysicaltermswhatthemainproblemiswiththissortofequation.
Nonlinear?
Thenonlinearitycomesfromthefactthatthecoefficientsintheequationdependonunknown
pressurewhichisattemptedtoberesolved.
Theproblem?
Bynonlinearwemeanthatthecoefficientsintheequationtheinputdependonthequantity
wearetryingtofind,theunknownpressure,P(x,t).Inotherwords,quantitiessuchasC(P),(P),
(P)etc.dependontheanswer
Q6
(i)Fromthefourassumptionslistedbelow,showclearlyhowEquation1arisesfromthenonlinear
equationyouderivedinQ.5part(v)above.Indicateclearlywhereyouuseeachoftheassumptions
inyourderivation.

(ii) From your answer to part (i) above, write down what constant is in terms of the other
constants.

(iii)UsingthenotationinFigure3below,applyfinitedifferencestoEquation1aboveanddefine
thediscretisedspatialderivativeatthenewtimelevel,(n+1)(i.e.animplicitmethod).Showeach
stepinyourworkingandshowclearlyhowthisleadstoasparsesetoflinearequations.

(iv)Wecanwritedownthesetoflinearequationsthatarisesfromapplyingfinitedifferencestothe
flowequationsasfollows:

whereAisamatrix,xisthevectorofunknownsandvectorbisknown. Write out Equation 2

explicitlyfor three equationsandrearrangethesetoshowhowasimple iterative schemecanbe
formulated.Sayverybrieflyhowthisissolved.Giveoneadvantageandonedisadvantageofan
iterativescheme.

Algorithmis:

(i)Makeinitialguessatthesolution,iteration=0:
(ii)Updatethesolutiontothenextiteration+1usingequations
(iii) Estimate an Error term (Err.) by comparing the latest with the previous iteration of the
unknowns,e.g.:

(iv)IsErr.<Tol.Ifyestheschemehasconverged;ifnogobacktostep(ii)andcontinuethe
iterations.
Advantage?
oftenrelativelysimplytoapplyandprogram
oftenhelpstousethelatestavailablecomputedinformation
Disadvantage?
methodmaynotconvergeforsome"difficult"problems
mayneedgoodfirstguesstomakemethodfast.cannottellinadvancehowmanyiterationsneeded
toconvergeaniterativescheme(goodinitialguesshelps)
Q7
Theoilflux,Jo,intoandoutofagridblockisshowninFigure4below.Otherquantitiesaredenoted
as follows: Oil saturation So; porosity, ; Formation volume factor, Bo; Oil density at standard
conditions,osc;Darcyvelocityofoil,vo(similarquantitiesapplytothewaterphase).

(i)Writeanexpressionfortheoilflux,Jo,givinganypossibleunits.

(ii)Theconcentrationofoil,Co,isdefinedasthemassofoilperunitvolumeofreservoir.Writean
expressionforCointermsofthequantitiesdefinedabove.
Co=Soo
(iii)Provethat,in1Dtwophaseflow,thenfortheoilphase:

showingyourworkingclearly.

(vi)StatethetwophaseDarcyslawforoilusing(dPo/dx)forthepressuregradientandkro forthe
relative permeability,and substitute this into Equation 3 aboveand derivethe oil conservation
equation.
TwophaseDarcyLawfortheoilphase(intermsofDarcyvelocity,vo)
ThedifferentialformofthetwophaseDarcyLawin1D,againincludinggravitywhichistakentoactinthe
zdirection,isasfollows:

Oilconservationequation:

Q8
Inthreephaseflow(oil,waterandgas),wecandefineagasflux,Jg,andagasconcentration,Cg,in
exactlythesamewayaswasdefinedforoilinQ.7above.
(i)Explainphysicallywhythegasfluxandthegasconcentrationaremorecomplicatedthanthe
correspondingquantitiesfortheflowofoilorwater.

(ii)UsingRso andRo todenotethegassolubilityfactors,deriveexpressionsforJ g andCg showing

yourworking.
GasSolubilityFactors(orSolutionGas/OilRatios):Thesefactorsdescribethevolumeofgas(usuallyin
standardcubicfeet,SCF)pervolumeofoil(usuallystocktankbarrel,STB);symbol,R so andRsw;units
SCF/STB

(iii)UseyourexpressionsforJg andCg intheconservationEquation3(forgas)towritedownthe

firststepinobtainingtheconservationequationforgas.

Q9
Explainwhathistorymatchingisinareservoirsimulationofafieldsayingbrieflyhowitisdone
andwhatcangowrong.
Historymatching?Howisitdone?Whatcangowrong?
History Matching: History Matching in numerical simulation is the process of adjusting the
simulatorinputinsuchawayastoachieveabetterfittotheactualreservoirperformance.Ideally,
thechangesinthesimulationmodelshouldmostcloselyreflectchangeintheknowledgeofthefield
geology e.g. the permeability of a high perm streak, the presence of sealing faults etc. The
observableswhicharecommonlymatchedarethefieldandindividualwellcumulativeproductions,
watercutsandpressures.
Examples:Examplesofhistorymatchingofpressureandwateroilratio(WOR)intworeservoirs
areFigure36.NotethatintheWORmatchthefirstpasswasveryinaccuratebutthateventuallya
suitablematchwasfound.Avitallyimportantpointisthatagoodhistorymatchmustbeobtained
fortherightreason.Itmaybepossibletogetasatisfactorymatchforthewrongreasoni.e.by
adjustingavariablethatisnottheprimarycauseofthemismatch(indeed,thisisveryoftenthe
case).However,suchamodelwilleventuallyhaveverypoorpredictiveproperties.
Q10
(i)Writedowntheformulaeforthearithmetic(ka),harmonic(kh)andgeometric(kg)averagesofa
permeabilityfieldwithpermeabilitiesk1,k2,....kM.Thenumberofdatapointsyouhave=M.

(ii) State how you would use these averages for calculating the effective permeabilities in the
horizontalandverticaldirectionsinthemodelsinFigures5(a)and5(b)below.

ForFigure5(a):Horizontalkeff&Verticalkeff:
Horizontal:

Vertical:

ForFigure5(b):Horizontalkeff&Verticalkeff:

(iii)CalculatetheeffectivepermeabilityforflowacrossthelaminaeinFigure6below.Showyour
working.

Q11
ThediagraminFigure7belowshowsagridconsistingof2coarsegridblocks,with7x3fine
blocksineachofthesecoarseblocks.

Supposeyouarecalculatingthepseudorelativepermeabilitiesfortheleftcoarseblockusingthe
KyteandBerrymethod.Assumethatyouhaveallthenecessaryinformation(saturations,pressures,
flowsetc.)fromafinescale(3x14)simulation.
(i)ShowclearlyonFigure7whichpartofthegridyouwoulduseforcalculatingthefollowing
quantitiesandgiveabriefsentenceofexplanation:
theaveragewatersaturation
i=17,j=13
theaveragepressuregradient
i=4,j=13andi=11,j=13

thetotalflowsofoilandwater
i=814,j=13
(ii)Whatistheformulafortheaveragewatersaturation?

(iii)Whatistheweightingfortheaveragepressure?Giveabriefsentenceofexplanation.
Inthefirstcoarseblock(numbered,I),theaveragepressureis:

whereD3j isthedepthofcell(3,j)and DistheaveragedepthofcoarsecellI.Thetermgf(D3j D)isto

normalisethepressuretothegridblockcentre.TheaveragepressureforcoarseblockIIiscalculatedinthe
samemanner,butusingcolumn8insteadofcolumn3.

(iv)Whatistheformulaforthetotalflowofwater?

Q12
(i)Bymeansofasimplesketch,showhowacubicpackingofsphericalgrainsisarranged.
Sketch:

(ii)Usethesketchtohelpyoucalculatethespecificsurfaceofthesampleperunitvolumeofsolid,
Ss(inm2/m3).
Specificsurfaceworking:
(i)Thesurfaceareaoftheporesperunitvolumeofsolids(Ss),and;
(ii)Thesurfaceareaoftheporesperunitbulkvolume(Sv).
Mathematicalrelationshipsfor(i)and(ii)canbederivedbynotingthatthesurfaceareaofasphere
is4R2.Forthisidealizedsystem,wefindthatSs=3/R
Specificsurfaceperunitvolumeofsolid,

m2/m3

(iii)Ifthegrainradiusistakentobe10m,determinetheporosity()ofthesample
Porosityworking:

0.47

Porosity=

(iv)Ifthegrainradiuswas100minsteadof10m,whatwouldtheporosity()ofthesamplenow
be?
Porosity=

0.47

(v)Whatdotheresultsofparts(iii)and(iv)abovesuggestconcerningtheporosityofcubicsphere
packs?
Porositydoesntdependonthegrainsize

(vi)WritedowntheCarmanKozenyequationintermsofthegraindiameter(D),porosity(),and
thespecificsurfaceperunitvolumeofsolid,Ss
CarmanKozenyequation:

(vii)Takingthegrainradiustobe10 mandthetortuosityofthesampletobeT=1,calculatean
approximatepermeabilityinDarciesforacubicpackingofspheres(NBUsetheporosityfoundin
Q.12part(iii)inthiscalculation).
Working:

Permeability=7.749Darcies.

Q13
(i)Describethemeaningofthetermcontactangleanddrawaroughsketchtoillustrateyour
answer
Contactangle?
Thecontactangleistheangleatwhichaliquid/vaporinterfacemeetsasolidsurface.Thecontact
angle is specific for any given system and is determined by the interactions across the three
interfaces.
Sketch

(ii)Ifanoil/watermeniscusisatequilibriuminacylindricalcapillarytube,whatistheequation
thatrelatesthecapillarypressure,Pc,tothetuberadiusRandthecontactangle?

=
Whatisthisreducedformoftheequationcalled?
YoungLaplaceequation
(iii)OilisintroducedattheinletfaceofthewaterfilledporenetworkshowninFigure8onthenext
page.ThenumbersonFigure8refertoporeradii(inmicrons, m).Theporesaretakentobe
capillarytubesandarewaterwet,thecontactangleis =60o ineveryporeandtheoil/water
interfacialtensionis80mN/m.Thecapillarypressureofthesystemisgraduallyincreasedandoil
beginstoinvadethenetwork.
Shadeintheporesthatbecomeoilfilledateachofthe4capillarypressurevaluesP c1,Pc2,Pc3 and
Pc4inFigure8(NB14.7psi=105Newtons/m2).
Showanyworkingoutbelow:

Figure8:Shadeintheporesthatbecomeoilfilledateachofthe4capillarypressurevaluesPc1,
Pc2,Pc3andPc4below(NB14.7psi=105 Newtons/m2).

Q14
(i)Explainthedifferencesbetweena drainage floodandan imbibition floodattheporescale,
payingparticularattentiontotherolesplayedbyporesize,filmflowandaccessibilitytotheinlet
(sketcheachdisplacementintheboxesprovidedbelowtoillustrateyouranswer).
Drainage: A Drainage displacement process is when the nonwetting phase is increasing. For
example,inawaterwetporousmedium,drainagewouldbeoildisplacingwater.Thedrainageand
imbibition capillary pressure curves and relative permeabilities are different since these
petrophysicalfunctionsdependonthesaturationhistory.Asimpleschematicofadrainageprocess
isshowninFigure11.
Imbibition: An Imbibition displacement process is when the wetting phase is increasing. For
example,inawaterwetporousmedium,imbibitionwouldbewaterdisplacingoilasshownin
Figure12.Thedrainageandimbibitioncapillarypressurecurvesandrelativepermeabilitiesare
differentsincethesepetrophysicalfunctionsdependonthesaturationhistory.
ImbibitionSketch

DrainageSketch

(ii)ThestronglywaterwetnetworkinFigure9belowisinitiallycompletelyfilledwithoilandthe
capillarypressureissohighthatnowatercancurrentlyimbibe.Ifthecapillarypressureisslowly
decreased,sothatwatercaninvadeviafilmflowandsnapoff,howistheresidualoildistributedat
the end of imbibition (i.e. when Pc=0)? Shade in the residual oil using the network template
providedinFigure10.Thenumbersonthebondsagainrefertothetuberadiiinmicrons( m).Note
thisnetworkisdeliberatelydifferentfromthatinFigure8.Also,oilcannotenterthewaterreservoir
duetothepresenceofawaterwetmembrane.

Q15
Youhavebeensuppliedwiththetableofmercuryinjectiondatabelow.

(i)Sketchtheair/mercurycapillarypressurecurveusingtheaxesprovided

(ii)Writedowntheequationusedtorescalemercuryinjectiondatatooil/watersystemsanduseit
tocompleteTable1(assumethefollowingvaluesforinterfacialtensionsandcontactangles:
mercury/air=360x103N/m,oil/water=60x103N/m,mercury/air=oil/water=0o
Equation:

NowcompleteTable1atthetopofthispage
(iii)Plottheoil/watercapillarypressurecurveusingtheaxesprovidedbelow
Sketch.

(iv)WritedowntheequationthatdeterminestheLeverettJfunctionfromcapillarypressuredata
i.e.completethefollowingequation:

J(Sw)=Pc(Sw)x
(v)UsingthecapillarypressuredatashownbelowinTable2,calculateanappropriateJfunction
andcompletethetablebelow:assumethevaluesk=100mD, =0.1,interfacialtension, =10
x103N/m,andcontactangle,=0o.Chooseanysuitableunitsbutlabelyoursketchclearly.Sketch
theJfunctionbelow.

WritedowntheformoftheJfunctionhere:

Sw
1
0.8
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.2

Jfunction
0
1.36
2.72
4.08
6.8
13.6

SketchtheJfunctionhere:

Q16
(i)Namethetwomostpopulartestsusedtodeterminethewettabilityofareservoirrock.
TheContactAngleMeasurementTest
TheAmottMethodTest
(ii)Givethethreerulesofthumbthatcanoftenbeusedtodistinguishbetweenwaterwetandoil
wetrelativepermeabilitycurves.
Rule1

Rule2

Rule3