Page tree


Natural Oil Depletion



The STOIIP V_O is related to reservoir oil volume V_o as:

(1) V_O = V_o/B_o

while the latter is related to the reservoir pore volume V_\phi as:

(2) V_o = s_o \, V_\phi = (1-s_{wi}) \, V_\phi

so that

(3) V_o = B_o \, V_O = (1-s_{wi}) \, V_\phi \quad \Rightarrow \quad V_\phi = \frac{B_o \, V_O}{1-s_{wi}}


The pore volume reduction due to cumulative offtakes Q_O is:

(4) \delta V_\phi = B_o \, Q_O

and this can be related to total compressibility c_t as:

(5) c_t = \frac{1}{V_{\phi}} \frac{\partial V_{\phi}}{\partial p} = \frac{1-s_{wi}}{B_o \, V_O} \frac{B_o \, Q_O}{\delta p} =\frac{1-s_{wi}}{\delta p} \frac{Q_O}{V_O} = \frac{1-s_{wi}}{\delta p} \cdot {\rm EUR_O}

where

(6) c_t = c_r + s_{wi} c_w + (1-s_{wi})c_o

is total compressibility of oil saturated formation .


The pressure reduction \delta p due to pore volume reduction caused by offtakes is going to be a difference between initial formation pressure p_i and minimal bottom-hole flowing pressure p_{wf, \, {\rm min}}:

(7) \delta p = p_i - p_{wf}


For low compressible oil, the total compressibility can be assumed constant c_t = \rm const and (5) becomes:

(8) \frac{1-s_{wi}}{(p_i - p_{wf \, min})} \cdot {\rm EUR_O} = c_t = \rm const

and

(9) {\rm EUR}_O = \frac{ (p_i - p_{wf \, min}) \, c_t}{(1-s_{wi})}


For the naturally flowing wells the bottom hole pressure under flowing conditions can be roughly assed by homogeneous multiphase pipe flow model assessed as:

(10) p_{wf} = p_s + \rho_g \, g\, h + \bigg( 1- \frac{\rho_g}{\rho_o} \bigg) \, p_b


where  p_s – tubing-head pressure defined by the production gathering system,  h – is the true vertical depth at formation top,  \{ \rho_o, \, \rho_g \} – oil and gas densities,  p_b – bubble-point pressure.



Natural Gas Depletion


The Expected Ultimate Recovery during the natural gas depletion can be assessed with the following formula:


(11) EUR_{GD} = \frac{Q_g}{V_g} = 1- \frac{p_{wf}}{p_i}


See also


Petroleum Industry / Upstream /  Production / Field Development Plan / Recovery Methods / Natural Depletion Recovery

  • No labels