A Discussion on Some of the Factors Affecting Well Spacing*

By

F. M.

BREWSTER,

WASHINGTON,

D. C.

FROM the standpoint of getting oil from the reservoir sands our present
methods of extraction are very inefficient. From all data compiled it is
evident that about three times as much oil remains in the sand after
economic production has ceased as was originally produced.
Spacing is not so much a problem of determining how many acres a
well will drain as it is a problem of obtaining the greatest possible yield
at the minimum expense. In this paper will be discussed some of the
factors affecting yield to show how little we know about recovery and to
indicate the possibilities for further research along the suggested lines.
Property lines and surface restrictions should be disregarded and the
economic spacing of wells should be governed by subsurface conditions.
However, it is obvious that all existing conditions, both surface and
subsurface must enter into this problem.
Some of the important factors affecting production are: Structural
position; thickness, porosity and grain size of the sand; gas pressure and
hydrostatic pressure; viscosity, capillarity, adhesion and surface tension
of the oil; dissolved and occluded gases; isothermal expansion and the gasoil ratio in lifting the oil.
STRUCTURAL POSITION
An oil or gas structure is any arrangement of sand of .such a nature
as to form a trap suitable for the accumulation of commercial quantities
of oil or gas. Structural position has an important effect on a well in
that the life of the well, the amount of oil produced and the efficiency of
the operation depend on this factor. The potential amount of recoverable oil is less at the limits of the field and theoretically could be handled
by a fewer number of wells. But to prevent water coning and the
bypassing of water with the resultant entrapping of oil, the wells should
be spaced so that control can be maintained over water encroachment.
There is some justification for spacing wells near together in the direction of strike when it is assumed that the movement of oil is up the dip
of the structure. Theoretically a screen of closely-spaced wells along
the crest of the anticline and across the direction of flow would completely drain it under the influence of hydrostatic pressure. However,
if drainage is due to gas pressure which acts equally in all directions, the

* Published by permission of the Director, U. S. Bureau <if Mines.

t Petroleum Engineer, U. S. Bureau of Mines.
37

38

A DIRCUSRION ON ROME OF TIm FACTORR AFFECTINn WELL SPACING

wells should be logically placed nearer together in the direction of dip

rather than in direction of strike as the well intersections with the sand
are further apart as measured in the plane of the dip than they would be
with reference to a horizontal plane. 1
THICKNESS OF SAND

The storage capacity of a reservoir will be directly proportional to

the thickness of the sand.
Phelps and Lake state: 2 "The thickness of the stratum and type of
structures influence the area that a well will drain and also the best
location for production. In flat lying structures with thin productive
strata the gas accumulations will occupy an appreciable area for thc
complete thickness of the strata at the top of the structure, while in steep
dipping structures with relatively thick series of productive strata the
gas accumulation will occupy a small area at the top of the structure to
a partial depth of the series. Where the strata are thin and flat lyinp;,
the petroleum will accumulate below the gas on the structure and occupy
a greater area down the flanks of the structure than in relatively thick
strata in steep dipping structures."
The above is true, only when the gas is insoluble at that pressure or
when the hydrostatic pressure is insufficient to force the oil to the top of
the structure. However, if the gas is soluble in oil and the hydrostatic
pressure is sufficient the oil will accumulate in the top of the structure
with no free gas space above it.
Recovery should be based on barrels per acre foot of effective sand
and not as barrels per acre. Coring in an eastern field has shown that a
certain formation is fairly constant in thickness but the amount of sand
beds vary. It is also revealed that no matter how thin the sand, it waR
invariably saturated with oil. 3
POROSITY

Porosity is the volume of pore space expresRed as a percentage of the

total volume of the sand.
A relation apparently exists between the average porosity of an oil
sand and the amount of oil that is recoverable by present methods. The
production of wells with identical sand porosities would not be the same
for Burbank and Bradford but the proportion between yields of sands of
12 and 15 per cent. porosity would probably be similar in the two fields.
For example, in Burbank a sand with a porosity of 17.3 per cent. yields
about 2H times as rapidly as a sand with a porosity of 14 per cent. The
ratio between the rate of flow of the two oil sands of the same porosities
Lester C. Uren: Petroleum Production Engineering.
Phelps and Lake: Petroleum Engineering.
3 L. S. Panyity: Nat'l Pet. News (Aug. 13, 1924).

1
2

F. M. BREWSTER

39

in the Bradford field would probably be about the same. It is probable

that little if any oil could be recovered by present methods in a sand
having a porosity of less than 10 per cent.4
Uren4a states: "High porosity in a granular rock results from uniformity in size and shape of grains and is independent of the size of
grains, while the size of the grain, theoretically, does not influence the
storage capacity of a sand, the size of the pores between the grains will
determine what fluids may enter and will have a marked influence upon
the rate of movement of fluids through the sand. It can be shown experimentally that water follows the ordinary laws of hydraulics only when
it flows through openings greater than capillary size."
Reservoirs are usually of sands or sandstones often loosely cemented,
so that the percentage of voids may range as high as 35 per cent. The.
average sandstone has a porosity of about 16 per cent. The average
oil-bearing sands range between 20 and 25 per cent. porosity. The
arrangement of grains is also an important factor in determining porosity.
A sandstone made up of uniform 200-mesh spherical grains has as high a
porosity as a similar one of 20-mesh grains. It can be demonstrated
that true spheres of uniform size, packed as closely as possible have a
porosity of 25.95 per cent. If the rock particles are spherical but of
assorted sizes and closely packed, the porosity will be less than this.
Only when the particles are of irregular or angular shape may the porosity be greater than 26 per cent.4a
GRAIN SIZE

The size of the sand grains or particles and their arrangement appear
to have a far greater effect on production than porosity. It has been
shown experimentally that water will flow about 2500 times as fast
through a stratum of fine gravel as it will through one of very fine sand
although the percentage porosity may be the same in both materials. 6
It has also been shown experimentally that 15 times the flow of gas
was obtained through a sand having a porosity of 38.4 and a grain diameter of 0.5 mm. as against a sand having 42.45 per cent. porosity and
a grain .diameter of 0.085 mm. Hence it is evident that the grain size
was the predominating factor. The flow varies inversely as the logarithm
of the distance through the sand. The finer-grained the sand, the less
is the distance from the well where the frictional resistance becomes equal
to the differential flowing pressure and flow toward the well practically
ceases. Therefore the size of the grain has an important bearing on
the production. The frictional-resistance factor in well spacing should
A. E. Melcher: National Petroleum News (Apr. 22, 1925).
Lester C. Uren. Op. cit.
5 C. S. Slichter: Water Supply Papel' No. 140 U. S. Geol. Surv. (1905).

4a

40

A DISCUSSION ON SOME 0]<' THE FACTORS AFFECTING WELL SPACING

be calculated from experimental data on the pressure drop of flow

through samples of the particular sand in the structure. 6
GAS PRESSURE

Gas is the most active agent in the expulsion of oil, but capillarity
and adhesion are probably the most active agents in the retention of oil
in the sand. Gas pressure has to be excessive to overcome this capillary
force. The radius of influence of wells in oil drainage is an important
consideration in planning and development. This undrained volume
of sand increases with the distance between wells. Due to friction a
greater force is necessary to cause movement of the oil 100 ft. from a well
than is necessary to move oil 1 ft. from the well. With a uniform
pressure throughout the sand it follows that the areas near the well are
more completely drained than those at a distance. But uniform pressures
do not prevail throughout the life of a well. Hence the oil in the sand
immediately surrounding the well will get the benefit of maximum pressure and needs, it least whereas oil located at some distance from the well
will have to move under a much reduced pressure prevailing during the
latter part of the period of extraction. Furthermore, there is the probability of gas associated with the distant oil escaping through the unsaturated sands in the vicinity of the well, without doing useful work. ca
This substantiates the practi~e of pumping air or gas into a sand and
holding a pressure on the sand, not as a high differential in pressure
between inlet and outlet wells, but as a nearly uniform pressure over the
entire field. Under this pressure part of the gas will dissolve in the oil
and will decrease the viscosity of the oil. 7 Movement of the thinner oil
can be effected with less energy and greater quantities of oil can be
recovered, but the dissolved gas is no longer capable of exerting any
propulsive force and must be replaced with other gas to propel the oil to
the hole.
The presence of gas in or occluded with the oil is an important factor
in causing natural flow. Oil tends to form a film around a gas bubble
and to be carried along with the gas. If gas is present in sufficient
quantity and has enough pressure to overcome the column of fluid
in the hole the well will flow. But eventually in the history of a flowing
well there is a period when the gas pressure and volume a~e insufficient
to cause a natural flow. The forces moving oil are not constant and the
drainage area constantly decreases. When a well is drilled the pressure
is relieved at that point allowing both oil and gas to escape. This
reduction in pressure allows the volume of the gases to increase and
I. B. Williams, gas engineer, U. S. Bur. Mines. (Personal communication.)
Lester C. Uren. Op. cit.
7 D. B. Dow and L. P. Calkin: Reports of Investigations, U. S. Bur. Mines, Serial
2732. "Solubility and Effects of Natural Gas and Air in Crude Oils" (Feb., 1926).
6

6a

41

F. M. BRJ:;W::;TER

thus the bubbles grow larger and bring oil with them as they approach
the hole. As the resistance is greater for oil than for gas, the gas is usually
exhausted first and this frequently means the economic limit of the production of oil. For in dissipating the gas, the oil has been robbed of its
motive force and also of its lighter constituents and is left as a relatively
heavy, viscous, dead oil which has a high adhesive attraction and increased
surface tension and which the force of gravity is barely able to move.
HYDROSTATIC PRESSURE

Hydrostatic pressure is that force exerted by a liquid and is an active

agent in the expulsion of oil. The pressure or head on the oil must be
suffi.cient to overcome capillary attraction and pore friction. This force
is enduring and usually constant throughout the life of the field. The
hydrostatic head developed within a sand is directly proportional to the
depth of the. superimposed column of fluid. In many fields containing
oil or g9,s sands it is found that the closed-in initial pressure increases
with depth and is proportional to the vertical depth below the outcrop
of the strata in which the oil occurs. If edge water encroaches to fill the
voids left by extraction of oil, theoretically, complete recovery could be
expected. Under normal operating conditions, however, it seems improbable that such encroachment can effect anything more than a slow
incomplete extraction.
The pores are wet with oil and afford no capillary attraction for the
water. The surface tension of the oil being lower than that of the water
will cause the oil to adhere to the walls of the pores and resist displacement by water.
The replacement of oil by water usually takes place very irregularly
and is responsible for the trapping of large quantities of oil where a well
or a group of wells have flowed unrestricted and drawn the water through
the coarser streaks in the sand. This unrestricted producing is also
responsible for water coning around a well. In a field producing entirely
by hydrostatic pressure, or where gas pressure is very low and hydrostatic
pressure high, great care must be taken in spacing the wells so that the
water drive can be controlled.
The Hogback field in the Navajo reservation of New Mexico has no
gas, but the shut-in hydrostatic pressure is approximately 200 lb. at the
well head. s This field probably will have no pressure depletion throughout its life but the wells cannot be produced too rapidly as water has a
greater surface tension than the oil and therefore a corresponding decrease
in capillary attraction, and will tend to bypass the oil. In fields of this
type the rate of flow through sand should be determined and wells located
and produced near the outer limits with a spacing that will give relatively
periodic information on the progress of the water up the dip. But,
~less its action is controlled on the producing wells by back pressure or
8

K. B. Nowels, petroleum engineer, Bur. Mines.

(Personal communication.)

42 A

DI~CU~SION ON ~OME OF 'l'HE FACTOR~ AFFEC'rING WELL SPACING

restricted flow, the water tends to finger out causing the oil to move at
right angles to the direction of the predominating water movement.
Advantage is taken of this factor where water flooding is practiced and
wells are staggered. Naturally the most economic spacing is the triangular system having equal distances between wells.
Water flooding has its hazards. Certain chemicals in the water may
unite with chemicals in the sand or oil, or the water may dissolve certain
salts in the sand. Later these may be deposited due to lower saturation
point of the solvent or by further chemical action. These deposits are
frequently impervious and will dam the pore space.
VISCOSITY

Viscosity is the resistance of a liquid to flow and is responsible for a

large percentage of the oil remaining in the sand under our present
methods of production. But it is amenable to certain treatment and
can be controlled to some extent.
Viscosity is greatly influenced by temperature. Viscosity temperature curves of petroleum when plotted to the proper scale are to all
intents and purposes a straight line function. Not only do viscosity
temperature curves become straight line functions when suitably plotted,
but such straight lines for a wide variety of oils meet practically at a point
or within a small area called" the origin of curves." It would appear
then that the "mean point" may be used with suitable accuracy to
determine the change in viscosity of an oil with temperature. 9
Since temperature is one of the prime factors that influences viscosity,
it is essential that accurate temperatures of the sand be obtained in order
that the effects of viscosity can be determined.
Since viscosity is the result of internal molecular attraction or friction,
whereas adhesion is the attraction or friction at the surface contact with
sand particles, it is seen that both work toward the same end to oppose
any force which tends to remove the oil from contact with itself or from
the sand grains. Thus it can be seen that viscosity affects well spacing
very materially. Heavy, viscous oils require a very close well spacing.
CAPILLARITY

Capillarity is the action by which the surface of a liquid, where it is

in contact with a solid, is elevated or depressed. With reference to oil
capillarity is that property which causes it to rise in narrow spaces
against the action of gravity. Furthermore the presence of partings,
9 G. B. Vroom, Lt. Comdr., U. S. N.: Fuel Oil Viscosity.
Jnl., Amer. Soc. Naval
Eng. (1925) 37, No.4, Nov.
E. W. Dean and F. W. Lane: Viscosity Temperature Curves of Fractions of
Typical American Crude Oils. Ind. & Eng.Chem. (1921) 13, (1921) Sept.

F. M. BREWSTER

43

such as shale or other impervious material. increases the effset of capillarity as each stratum will act as a base for the operation of this force.
Of the oil retained in the sand after a well has reached economic
exhaustion under usual methods of production, probably the greater part
that may be obtained by new methods of recovery is held by capillarity.
Oil will not drain out naturally. Capillarity depends on the size of the
pores, the finer the spaces the greater the capillary action. This force is
ever present.
It has been demonstrated for oil-saturated sands with water as the
invader that the water does not displace the oil in finer-grained sands
as readily as in the coarser sands. lO This is explained by the fact that
the pores were wet with oil and that the smaller pores have no attraction
for water. The larger pores of the coarser sand permit the water to pass
through displacing only the oil in the center of the pores. It follows then
that the relative surface tension and adhesion are the important factofF!
in such cases.
The resistance offered by any uniform series of openings is proportional to the viscosity and adhesion of the liquid passing through them.
In order that capillary movement may take place one of the liquids must
be drawn over the surface of the pores. That is, the molecules of the
solid which are not covered by the liquid attract molecules of the liquid
from their previous position and the result is that the liquid moves over
the surface of the pores. Once the walls of the pores are wet with the
liquid, capillarity will act. This force tending to draw the liquid over the
surfaces of the walls of the pores is adhesion. If adhesion draws a liquid
over the surfaces of the pores that had previously been wet with a liquid
of higher surface tension, capillarity will cause the liquid of lower surface
tension to drive the liquid of higher surface tension out of the pores. lO
ADHESION

Adhesion is a molecular force by which bodies of matter are caused

to stick together. When a liquid forms a thin film over the surface
of a smooth solid, adhesion and surface tension tend to oppose each
other, because adhesion tends to increase the area of the film, while
surface tension tends to cause the film to contract and gather in drops.
The force of surface tension of water is much greater than that of oil,
hence the tendency for a film of water to spread out is resisted by a much
greater force than is the case with a film of oil. On the other hand, when
a liquid is in a tube or a long narrow pore, the forces of adhesion and
surface tension do not act in direct opposition to each other. The forces
of adhesion will tend to draw the liquid over the sides of the tube, but if
the force of surface tension draws the whole surface an equal distance
along the tube, the area of the surface will not be increased, provided that
10

Orren W. Skirvin: Econ. Geol. (1922) Sept.

44

DISCUSSION ON ROME OF THE FACTORS AFFECTING WELL SPACING

the tube is of a constant diameter. It is customary to calculate the force

of capillarity in sands upon the basis of the surface tension.H
The surface of sand grains are wetted with oil and a thin film still
remains after the oil has been drained off. Even though this film is very
thin the aggregate surface of the sand grains are very great and the oil film
remaining is considerable.
SURFACE TENSION
The surface tension in any liquid is due to the cohesive action of the
particles composing the liquid. Hence at the surface of every liquid
there is a force, surface tension, which acts inward and causes the liquid
to act as if it .were covered by an elastic skin.
The surface tension of petroleum from various sections of the United
States has been determined. It was found that surface tension increases
with the specific gravity. The presence of high-boiling fractions and
products of high viscosity tend to raise the surface tension of the lighter
petroleum oils. Surface tension decreases as the temperature increases.
The surface tension of crude oils varies from 28 to 32 dynes per centimeter for crudes ranging from 48 Be. to 35 Be. at a temperature of about
77 F. and this force decreases about 0.05 dynes per centimeter for each
degree increase in temperature. The surface tension of 62 Be. gasoline
is about 26 dynes per centimeter.12
In recent experiments it has been demonstrated that certain dissolved
gases decrease the surface tension. 13
This factor has a material effect on the future recovery of oil. Even
near wells that are economically exhausted, not only are the grains still
coated with oil but the pores remain full of oil. This oil has been robbed
of its lighter fractions and is now dead oil. The introduction of certain
gases or substances soluble in this oil will tend to lower the viscosity and
surface tension and thus lessen the force of capillarity so that it can be
recovered by displacement. Hence it can be seen that it is essential that
in new fields the gas must be conserved and made to do work not only in
lifting the oil but in keeping the viscosity of the oil at its lowest point.
In our present methods of development it takes the gas dissolved and
occluded in seven barrels of oil to produce one barrel of oil, thus leaving
five or six barrels of dead oil in the sands.
If this natural force of dissolved and occluded gas is used to best
advantage our recovery can be materially increased.
11 Wm. L. Russell: Some Experiences on Capillarity and Oil Migration.
Econom.
Geol. (1924) 19, No.1, Jan.-Feb.
12 Francis and Bennett: Surface Tension of Petroleum.
Ind. & Eng. Chem.
(1922) July.
13 H. L. Doherty: Control of Pressure Urged by Doherty to Increase Recovery.
Oil & Gas Jnl. (Jan. 21, 1926).

F. M.

BH]<;W~T]<;It

45

ISOTHERMAL EXPANSION

It has been demonstrated experimentally that a mixture of fluid and

gas acts under isothermal conditions in lifting fluid by gas through tubing.
It is possible then by the proper design of inlet orifices in the perforations of the tubing opposite the producing sands to produce oil under
conditions approaching isothermal expansion. This means an enormous
saving of gas as the gas is made to work at almost its highest efficiency
in lifting the oil. This will prolong the flowing life of the well and increase
the ultimate recovery of oil,14
GAS-OIL RATIO

In our present method of flowing wells the gas is not made to do very
much useful work in lifting oil to the surface. It is not uncommon to find
flowing wells producing 4000 cu. ft. of gas per barrel of oil. Under
isothermal expansion this could be reduced to less than 300 cu. ft. of gas
per barrel of oil,14
In old fields where the gas has been exhausted it will be necessary
to replace this gas with air, gas or other substances to revive the dead oil
and propel it to the hole to secure additional recovery.
CONCLUSION

From the foregoing discussion it can be seen that subsurface conditions

govern the extraction of oil and that well spacing should conform to
these conditions.
Structural position, porosity, grain size and grain arrangement are
conditions beyond our control and can not be changed. But their effect
on production must be known to space the wells economically.
Gas pressure, hydrostatic pressure, viscosity, capillarity, adhesion,
surface tension, dissolved and occluded gases, isothermal expansion and
the gas-oil ratio can be controlled to a certain extent. Very little is known
about the effects of these factors, but in the light of recent discoveries it
has been shown that they are controlling factors in extraction and that
their effects must be taken into consideration in the spacing of wells.
But until these factors are evaluated the present method of erratic
spacing due to surface restrictions, property lines, prearranged plans for
plants, camps, pipelines and surface equipment necessary in the successful
operation of any property, will govern the spacing.
With the application of research and new methods of recovery, which
will probably be attempted on the present 300,000 producing wells,
valuable information will be secured from which the future economic
spacing of wells can be determined.
14

I. B. Williams.

0[1. cit.

DISCUSSION

R. H. J()HNSO~, Pittsburgh, Pa.-I question whether the spacing of

the wells differently on straight and on dip need always concern us.
I believe that it depends on the fineness of grain and the pressure, and
where the pressure is relatively high and the fineness of grain sufficient,
that we need not be so concerned and can space our wells with reference
only to the two dimensions.

J. B. UMPLEBY, Oklahoma City, Okla.-The little experience that I

have had in well spacing has been confined to where there is water flooding
and in those places the triangular spacing is the method that has clearly
worked to greatest advantage. In water flooding, if the base between
two intake wells is 250 ft. apart, the most economic point to place the
corresponding oil well is at a distance of 149 ft. from each of the intake
water wells. That, I think, only applies to the part of the paper where
Mr. Brewster mentioned the encroachment of edge water.