how hydrocarbon reserves are produced

From the Reservoir Limit to Pipeline Flow:

How Hydrocarbon Reserves are Produced

8/25/2015 1 George E. King Engineering

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Rock Occurance and Production

Estimate of Rock Occurance and Hydrocarbon Production

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

shale sandstone carbonates

Occurance

Production

Although carbonates are a smaller volume of rock present, they dominate oil production totals (Mid East fields). Why?


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What routes are open to flow?

Individual formations and flow channels within each formation may vary widely in their ability to allow flow of fluids across the reservoir.

Permeability variances between horizontal and vertical are usually very large.


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What is the accuracy of the Information?

Where are the fractures and large pores in the rock?


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Cross section of a reservoir

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This type of illustration helps to understand reservoir complexity,

compartments, potential pays and water sources. Permeabilities in

these pays are reported at 1 to 9 Darcies.

Segments

• Rock properties and reservoir character, quality, • Reservoir fluid qualities – how they change during movement and over time with

depletion. • Reservoir flow paths and compartments impact on fluid flow • The effects of pressure drop and back pressure on fluid flow in the reservoir • Well Placement and Impact of Wellbore-to-Reservoir contact • Fluid behavior in approach and entry to the wellbore • Lift type and optimization of flow from bottom hole through the tubing • Operations effect on the flow rate –

– Choke settings – Restrictions – Separator operations – Pipeline – Start-ups, operations, shut-downs, stabilizing actions


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y = 1.3661x2.4865

R2 = 0.982

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

mean hydraulic radius (mm)

perm

eab

ilit

y (

mD

)

SDA-01 Balakhany X (SP2) Hg permeability mDSDA-01 Fasila B (SP3) Hg permeability mDSDA-02 Balakhany VIIIC Hg permeability mDSDA-02 Fasila D (SP4) Hg permeability mDK mDPower (K mD)

Pore Size vs. Permeability

MI for BP SD field

Large connected pores and natural

fractures dominate the permeability

of a formation.

Are the flow channels

generally known for a

reservoir?

How can they be found?


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Reservoir Fluids – What a PE needs to understand.

• What phases are present?

• Where are they?

• Do the fluid compositions or quantities change? How?

• How do fluids and fluid changes affect permeability?


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PVT Properties (Pressure Volume Temperature)

• Oil Formation Volume Factor – how many reservoir barrels it takes to equal a stock tank barrel after the oil volume shrinks during production due to loss of associated gas.

• Bubble Point Pressure – the pressure at which free gas is seen in a reservoir with no gas cap.

• GOR – gas to oil ratio of produced oil. • API Gravity (density): APIo = [(141.5/SG)-131.5] • Dynamic Viscosity – the viscosity at reservoir

conditions (temperare and associated gas decrease viscosity making the viscosity in the reservoir lower than the viscosity at surface).


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What happens to the oil viscosity during production? Why?

Reservoir Fluid Viscosity as a Function

of Pressure at 60F

0

2

4

6

8

10

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000

Pressure (psia)

Oil V

isc

os

ity

(c

P)

Horn Mountain, PVT report NAM 179

?

?


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Oil Types

• Paraffin Base – Straight chain hydrocarbons. Natural gas

condensates, waxes, lube oils.

• Naphthene Base Oils – Ring or cyclic structure, but single bonds.

– Usual API gravities below 25o API. Dominates the longer chain, heavier weight oils.

• Olefinic Series – double bonds in a straight carbon chain.

• Aromatic Series – double bonds in a ring

Saturated Hydrocarbons

Unsaturated Hydrocarbons


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Oil Types

Aromatic – or cyclic structure carbon chain

Paraffin – or linear carbon chain

Asphaltene (Naphthene) – normally cyclic groups with Nitrogen and Sulfur components (Heavy)


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Hydrocarbon Liquids

• Crude Oils

• Condensates (API 40 and above)

• NGL – natural gas liquids

• LPG – Liquified Petroleum Gas

• LNG – Liquified Natural Gas

Range of compositions from C2 to C6+


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Reservoir Brines

• A vast array of water based fluids from fresh water with very low resistivity to super saturated salt water.

• Tracking the composition of waters and the changes with time can be beneficial to determine the source of water production and leaks.

• Tracking the composition of flow back after a workover or a stimulation that uses an injected brine can signal when the job has cleaned up.


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Water Analysis Over Time

Date NaCl Cl Na Ca Mg pH HCO3 Ba SO4 Fe Sr TDS

12/23/04 112,000 67,961 4,400 680 6.80 230 110 45

01/13/05 104,000 63,107 34,000 3,300 600 8.50 230 100 61 1.3 130

02/11/05 101,000 61,286 32,000 3,000 560 7.46 450 99 20 1.3 130

03/24/05 97,000 58,859 31,000 2,800 550 7.84 166 90 37 0 120 102,000

04/28/05 60,400 31,700 2,680 650 7.90 195 94 10 5.8 127 96,400

05/19/05 59,320 28,100 2,164 612 7.85 225 82 7 1 117 91,140

07/21/05 68,075 36,210 3,441 759 7.68 137 109 4 1 147 109,700

08/11/05 68,075 32,440 2,800 766 7.84 220 99 11 1 132 105,000

11/10/05 58,065 29,000 2,400 470 7.97 176 81 15 1 110 90,508

11/17/05 58,064 29,000 2,400 480 6.35 219 85 0 14 120 90,574

12/29/05 58,064 29,000 2,300 490 7.39 195 75 0 2.3 110 90,440

01/05/06 60,066 32,000 2,600 510 7.87 214 89 0 1 120 95,832

01/19/06 61,067 2,700 520 7.41 195 93 1 0 130 95,909

DW GOM Well

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Brine Reactivity Factors

1. Ion type (usually cations) in fluids moving through the matrix pores (some impact on fluids in fractures but to a lesser extent)

2. Size of the cations

3. Charge on the cation

4. Effective salt concentration – higher salt concentrations are usually more effective in controlling mineral concentrations. Due to cation exchange, salt concentration is lost from the brine with rock contact.

5. pH – low pH fluids have generally less effect on clays than high pH fluids.

6. Clay location – detridal clays (in the matrix body) are usually less reactive than authogenic (in the pore throat forms).

7. Clay type – Smectite typically has a high reactivity while kaolinite and chlorite usually have low reactivities.

8. Clay form – some clays like illite may have forms like the “hairy or spider web” deposits that can be more reactive due to higher surface areas.

9. Coatings on clays such as heavy oil fractions can prevent many reactions unless removed by soaps or solvents.

10. Time in contact.


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Reactivity of Clays Mineral Typical Area (M2/g) Cation Exchange

Capacity Range

(Meq/100 g)

Sand (up to 60

microns)

0.000015 0.6

Kaolinite 22 3 - 15

Chlorite 60 10 - 40

Illite 113 10 - 40

Smectite 82 80 - 150

Size ranges for clays depend on deposit configuration. CEC’s affected by coatings and configurations.


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Load Water Recovery

• Range – 5% to 60%+ : the amount of load fluid recovery depends on the formation properties, the fluids properties, the pressure and the time span between pumping and flow back.

• Assists – some surfactants (not all), alcohol, nitrogen gas.

• Detriments – high vertical permeability, high interfacial & surface tension, long shut-in times, low energy, small pore throats….


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Scale Deposition Causes

• Change in flow conditions make the scale minerals super-saturated and an upset causes precipitation – Temperature change – Pressure change – Outgassing of CO2

– Change in pH – Evaporation of water

• Mixing incompatible waters • Contact with existing scale – scale crystal growth

from ions in the water.


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Rock Structure

• Lithology or mineralogy – describes the solid or matrix portion of the rock, generally the primary mineralogy, e.g., sandstone, limestone, etc.

• Mineralogy analysis often describes the chemical composition of the components of the rock: sand (SiO2), limestone (CaCO3), dolomite (CaMgCO3), anhydrite (CaSO4), clays, etc.

• SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) analysis shows the shape and form of the minerals.


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Evaluation of Damage and Barriers • Production Logs

– Fluid type and entry or exit at specific intervals,

– Mechanical condition of parts of the well or equipment,

– Fluid movement (and holdup) along the wellbore.

• Production History – Rates and types of fluids, decline %, water increase, etc.

– Sudden changes, flood arrivals, workover tracking.

• Deliverability Tests – Isochronal, flow-after-flow, four point tests – describe the flow from the

formation.

• Buildup & Draw-down Tests – Pressure Transient Analysis (PTA) – Investigates damage extent and depth (?), drainage radius, boundaries, etc.

Requires some critical assumptions.


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Complexity in the Reservoir

Simple Reservoir ? Only in a text

book. How can this reservoir be produced?

What type of completions and what

flexibility are needed to effectively

deplete the reserves.


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Pay Quality

1 2 4 5 3 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Attribute Range Average

Gross h (TVT feet) 3-82’ 47’

Net Pay (TVT feet) 3-77’ 43’

Net-to-Gross .88-.99 .91

Porosity .25-.31 .29

Sw .10-.30 .18

The XX is a clean and very fine grain bedded to amalgamated sand. Where present, thin shale occurs as interbeds capping

turbidite bed complexes. XX architecture ranges from channelforms and parallel lobes to shingled complexes. Erosion has

removed much of the XX on the ramp causing moderate to significant baffling which limits the effectiveness of the waterflood.

100’

Terrace Ramp


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Inflow – What is the flowpath from near wellbore into the reservoir

Convergent Flow – less and less pore space as fluids near the wellbore – higher friction, higher turbulence.

Even with a fracture, flow towards a single point becomes restrictive as the inflow point is neared.


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Permeability

• Permeability, k, is the ability of the rock to transmit fluids.

• Permeability is controlled by the size of the connecting passages between the pores.

• Secondary porosity, particularly natural fractures and solution vugs dominate permeability – often are 100x the matrix permeability.

• Permeability is NOT a constant – it changes with stress, fluid saturation, produced fluid deposition, stimulations, damage from fluids, etc.


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Relative Permeability Note that the permeability to the starting fluid decreases with invasion of a second

phase, and that permeability to the invading phase gradually increases with

saturation of that phase.


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Permeability Measurements

• Absolute Permeability – the ability of a rock to transmit a single fluid when it is saturated with that fluid.

• Effective Permeability – the ability of the rock to transmit one fluid in the presence of another when the two fluids are immiscible.

• Relative permeability – the ratio between effective permeability to a specific fluid at partial saturation and the absolute permeability.

Source – AAPG Basic Well Log Analysis, Asquith. G., Krygowski, S.


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What is the pressure drop in the Perforation Tunnel

Flow rate in bbls per perf per day

Pressu

re dro

p th

rou

gh th

e perf, p

si

The perforations open a very small area in the casing.

If that area is filled with sand, the pressure drop increases significantly.

SPE


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4600 psi or 313 bar

1000 psi or 68 bar 15 psi

10 psi 25 psi

100 psi

Column Densities:

Gas = 1.9 lb/gal = 0.1 psi/ft = 1900 psi in a 10,000 ft well

Dead oil = 7 lb/gal = 0.364 psi/ft = 3640 psi in a 10,000 ft well

Fresh water = 8.33 lb/gal = 0.433 psi/ft = 4330 psi in a 10,000 ft well

Salt water = 10 lb/gal = 0.52 psi/ft = 5200 psi in a 10,000 ft well

Gas cut flowing oil = 5 lb/gal = 0.26 psi/ft = 2600 psi in a 10,000 ft well

10,000 ft or 3050 m

Press.

Drop

Differential pressure, DP, is actually a pressure balance

4600 psi reservoir pressure

-2600 psi flowing gradient for oil

- 150 psi press drop

- 100 psi through the choke

- 25 psi through the flow line

- 10 psi through the separator

- 15 psi through downstream flow line

-1000 psi sales line entry pressure

----------------------

DP = 700 psi drawdown pressure

Where does the pressure drop or

DP come from?

8/25/2015 29 George E. King Engineering GEKEngineering.com

Liquid Height Over The Pump – Does it matter?

More fluid height over the pump?

Holds more back pressure.

Restricts the inflow?

May keep gas collapsed!

Less fluid over the pump?

Lower BHFP.

At higher gas content, pump may become gas locked.

Too little fluid increases the potential for pump-off.

The ideal fluid height over the pump depends on fluid and wellbore characteristics.


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Tubing Flow and Artificial Lift


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Artificial Lift Comparative Efficiencies

12

18

3840

52

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Intermittent GL

Continuous GL

ESP

Hydraulic Lift

Beam Lift

Beam pumps have higher efficiencies, but lower rates and problems with gas and solids. There is no perfect lift system.


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Completions - Tubing Performance

TUBING PERFORMANCE RELATIONSHIP

unstable region,well may not flowunder theseconditions.

increasing GOR helps at lowrates (like a natural gas lift).Too much gas hinders(friction).

increasing water cuts meanmore pressure is requiredto flow at same rate.

initial tubing performance curve(0% w/c, initial GOR).

increasing frictionincreasinghydrostatic pressure

Liquid Flowrate


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How Wells Produce - Production Rate and Tubing Sizing

• The pressure drops are plotted against flowrate to give

– inflow performance relationship or IPR

– the tubing performance curve or lift curve

Inflow Performance Relationship (IPR) and tubing Performance Curves

The lift curve = 'required pressure'

(For a particular sized tubing)

The IPR = 'Available pressure'

Pw

Pr

Flowrate

Pump pressure (If a higher rate is required)

31/2" 41/2" 51/2"

drawdown

Barrels of Oil per Day

Bottom holeflowingpressurr

If bottom hole flowing

pressure is the same as

the reservoir pressure

the well will not flow

As the bottom hole pressure is

reduced the well begins to

flow - pushed by the reservoir

pressure. The greater the

drawdown the greater the flow.

Tubing Performance Curves: Calculated by computer or taken

from tables, to predict the pressure loss up the tubing. Depends

upon rate , type of fluid (oil vs gas), gas-oil-ratio, water content

etc. for different tubing sizes.

Natural flowrate: in this

particular case the well

will flow naturally at this

rate with this tubing in

the hole.


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Expansion of gas occurs as the gas rises from the bottom of

the well. The expanding gas can entrain and carry liquid

with it if the flow rate reaches critical velocity (the velocity

necessary to lift liquid).

5,000 ft

2150 psi

2500 ft

1075 psi Remember – the volume of the gas

bubble (and indirectly the velocity of the

upward flowing fluid) is controlled by the

pressure around it. This pressure is

provided by the formation pore pressure

and controlled by the choke and other

back pressure resistances.

Gas breaks out and expands as it flows up the wellbore


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Flow pattern changes with gas expansion. One or more flow patterns may be present in

different parts of the well. Flow patterns may explain differences in lift, corrosion and

unloading.

Mist Flow – external phase is gas with a

small amount of liquid

Channel or annular flow

Slug or churn flow

Piston flow

Bubble flow

Single phase liquid flow

Depth

and

Pressure


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Increasing Gas Injection or GLR

FBHP

– As gas is added, the FBHP decreases due to gas cut liquid. When too

much gas is added, the friction from the flowing volume increases.

Increasing

friction

decreasing

flowing fluid

gradient

Effect of increasing GLR on Flowing Bottom Hole Pressure (FBHP)


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Variable Chokes - good for

bringing wells on gradually and

optimizing natural gas lift flow in

some cases.

Prone to washouts from high

velocity, particles, droplets.

Solutions - hardened chokes

(carbide components), chokes in

series, dual chokes on the well

head.

Chokes


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surface 14.7 psi (1 bar)

5000 ft 2150 psi (146 bar)

(1524m)

10000 ft 4300 psi (292 bar)

(3049m)

292 cm3

2 cm3

1 cm3

Size of a Bubble in a Water Column

What will the expansion of the bubbles produce at surface?

Energy and friction. 8/25/2015 39 George E. King Engineering

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Inlet

Impingement

Plate

Liquid Oil

Water, to disposal well

Mist Eliminator

Gas 3-Phase Horizontal Separator

Large interface to promote gas separation


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Conclusions

• The Flow System – from reservoir to pipeline

– Every pressure drop lowers production

– Pressure drops:

• Converging flow

• Damaged permeability or natural fractures

• Low flow capacity fractures

• Perforations that are partly plugged

• Liquid in the wellbore

• Choke backpressures

• Friction in tubulars

• Facility backpressures 8/25/2015 41

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how hydrocarbon reserves are produced

Documents

reservoir fluids

reservoir flow paths

reservoir character

reservoir complexity

reservoir barrels

reservoir lower

reservoir limit

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