University of Karbala

2020
College of engineering

Department of petroleum

Reservoir engineering

Report

Natural water influx

Prepared by : Murtadha Hasan Abbas .

Stage : # 3 .
Supervised by : Dr. Tahseen Al-taei .

‫ حسن‬:‫مرتضى‬
Date (2020/7)
 Introduction :

Nearly all hydrocarbon reservoirs are surrounded by

water-bearing
rocks called aquifers. These aquifers may be
substantially larger than the oil or gas reservoirs they
adjoin as to appear infinite in size, or they may be so
small in size as to be negligible in their effect on reservoir
performance.
As reservoir fluids are produced and reservoir
pressure declines, a pressure differential develops from
the surrounding aquifer into the reservoir. Following the
basic law of fluid flow in porous media, the aquifer reacts
by encroaching across the original hydrocarbon-water
contact. In some cases, water encroachment occurs due to
hydrodynamic conditions and recharge of the formation
by surface waters at an outcrop.
In many cases, the pore volume of the aquifer is not
significantly larger than the pore volume of the reservoir
itself. Thus, the expansion of the water in the aquifer is
negligible relative to the overall energy system, and the
reservoir behaves volumetrically. In this case, the effects
of water influx can be ignored. In other cases, the aquifer
permeability may be sufficiently low such that a very
large pressure differential is required before an
appreciable amount of water can encroach into the
reservoir. In this instance, the effects of water influx can
be ignored as well.

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 Water influx :
Water influx is The replacement of produced fluids
by formation water. Most petroleum reservoirs are
underlain by water, and water influx into a reservoir
almost always takes place at some rate when gas or oil is
produced. Whether appreciable water is produced along
with gas or oil depends on the proximity of the productive
interval to the oil-water contact or gas-water contact and
whether the well is coning (vertical well) or cresting
(horizontal well).

Classifications of aquifers :

Many gas and oil reservoirs produced by a

mechanism termed water drive. Often this is called
natural water drive to distinguish it from artificial water
drive that involves the injection of water into the
formation.
Hydrocarbon production from the reservoir and the
subsequent pressure drop prompt a response from the
aquifer to offset the pressure decline. This response
comes in a form of water influx, commonly called water
encroachment, which is attributed to:

• Expansion of the water in the aquifer

• Compressibility of the aquifer rock
• Artesian flow where the water-bearing formation outcrop is
located structurally higher than the pay zone.

Reservoir-aquifer systems are commonly classified on the basis

of:
• Degree of pressure maintenance . • Flow regimes.
• Outer boundary conditions. • Flow geometries .

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 Recognition of natural water influx :

Normally very little information is obtained during

the exploration-development period of a reservoir
concerning the presence or characteristics of an aquifer
that could provide a source of water influx during the
depletion period. Natural water drive may be assumed by
analogy with nearby producing reservoirs, but early
reservoir performance trends can provide clues. A
comparatively low, and decreasing, rate of reservoir
pressure decline with increasing cumulative withdrawals
is indicative of fluid influx.

Fig .1 : flow geometries .

Successive calculations of barrels withdrawn per psi

change in reservoir pressure can supplement performance
graphs. If the reservoir limits have not been delineated by
developed dry holes, however, the influx could be from
an undeveloped area of the reservoir not accounted for in
averaging reservoir pressure. If the reservoir pressure is
below the oil saturation pressure, a low rate of increase in
produced gas-oil ratio is also indicative of fluid influx.

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 Water influx models :
It should be appreciated that in reservoir engineering
there are more uncertainties attached to this subject than
to any other. This is simply because one seldom drills
wells into an aquifer to gain the necessary information
about the porosity, permeability, thickness and fluid
properties.
Instead, these properties frequently have to be
inferred from what has been observed in the reservoir.
Even more uncertain, however, is the geometry and areal
continuity of the aquifer itself. Several models have been
developed for estimating water influx that are based on
assumptions that describe the characteristics of the
aquifer. Due to the inherent uncertainties in the aquifer
characteristics, all of the proposed models require
historical reservoir performance data to evaluate constants
representing aquifer property parameters since these are
rarely known from exploration-development drilling with
sufficient accuracy for direct application. The material
balance equation can be used to determine historical
water influx provided original oil-in-place is known from
pore volume estimates. This permits evaluation of the
constants in the influx equations so that future water
influx rate can be forecasted. The mathematical water
influx models that are commonly used in the petroleum
industry include :

• Pot aquifer
• Schilthuis’ steady-state
• Hurst’s modified steady-state
• The Van Everdingen-Hurst unsteady-state
• The Carter-Tracy unsteady-state
• Fetkovich’s method .

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 Carter – tracy water influx model :
Van Everdingen-Hurst methodology provides the
exact solution to the radial diffusivity equation and
therefore is considered the correct technique for
calculating water influx. However, because superposition
of solutions is required, their method involves tedious
calculations. To reduce the complexity of water influx
calculations, Carter and Tracy (1960) proposed a
calculation technique that does not require superposition
and allows direct calculation of water influx.
The primary difference between the Carter-Tracy
technique and the van Everdingen-Hurst technique is that
the Carter-Tracy technique assumes constant water influx
rates over each finite time interval. Using the Carter-
Tracy technique, the cumulative water influx at any time,
tn can be calculated directly at tn-1 , or :

……..(1)

where B = the van Everdingen-Hurst water influx constant as

defined by Equation : B = 1.119ᴓct re2 h f .
tD = the dimensionless time as defined by
Equation : tD = 6.32*10-3 (kt/ᴓμwct re2) .
n = refers to the current time step .
n − 1 = refers to the previous time step .
Δpn = total pressure drop, pi − pn, psi .
pD = dimensionless pressure .
p′D = dimensionless pressure derivative .

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 Values of the dimensionless pressure pD as a function of
tD and rD are tabulated in Chapter 6, Table 6-2. In addition
to the curve-fit equations given in Chapter 6 (Equations 6-
91 through 6-96), Edwardson and coauthors (1962)
developed the following approximation of pD for an
infinite- acting aquifer.

……(2)

The dimensionless pressure derivative can then be

approximated by :

P'D = E/F ……..(3)

The following approximation could also be used between tD >

100:

PD= 0.5 [ln (tD) + 0.80907] .

With the derivative as given by :

P'D= 1/(2td)

It should be noted that the Carter-Tracy method is not an

exact solution to the diffusivity equation and should be
considered an approximation.
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 References :

 Reservoir engineering hand book 2nd Ed . , Tarek

Ahmed , Ph.D ., P.E .
 Fundamentals of reservoir engineering . , L.P . Dake .

 https://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/en/Terms/w/
water_influx.aspx .