Calculation of Natural Water Influx Using Material Balance Equation

It is important to calculate water influx into a hydrocarbon reservoir where the effect of aquifer on oil production
rates is determined. Such calculations will help in developing new enhanced recoveries in the future if no enough
pressure maintenance is achieved. There is two methods to calculate water influx, either using the material balance
method or using the unsteady Van and Hurst model.
Material Balance Method:
This method provides accurate results. Havlena and Odeh expressed material balance equation for an undersaturated
oil reservoir with an active aquifer as the following form:

Where F represents underground withdrawal in BBL,N represents the oil initially in place, Eo represents the expansion
of oil and its originally dissolved gas in BBL/STB, Np represents the cumulative oil produced in STB, and Efw
represents the expansion of formation and water in BBL/STB.
When a new field is discovered, the reservoir engineer should first classify the reservoir if it is a volumetric reservoir
or not where reservoir drive mechanism is provided by expansion of solution gas. In order to know if there is an
active aquifer or not, we can plot the term F/(Eo+Ef,w) for each pressure and time versus cumulative production Np
as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1- Classification of the Reservoir
The plot can assume 2 shapes which are:
a- All the calculated points of F/(Eo+Ef,w) lie on a horizontal straight line ( plot A) plot A show that no water drive
is present and the reservoir can be classified as volumetric.
b-If the calculated points for F/(Eo+Ef,w) rise ( plot B and C) this means that an active aquifer is present and the
reservoir is energized by water influx.

Results and Discussion

This section includes the main aims of this study, which are to determine the reservoir drive mechanism, original oil
in place, and the effect of water influx.
Determination of Reservoir Drive Mechanism:
The reservoir mechanism can be determined by plotting F/(Eo+Ef,w) vs Np as shown in Figure 2, the calculated points
increase with time and a concave shape is observed , which indicates that water drive is the main drive mechanism.
Figure 2- Drive Mechanism
Water Influx Calculation:
The original oil in place N and the water influx constant B can be calculated by plotting F/Eo versus ΣΔPWeD/Eo,
B will be the slope of the straight line and N will be the intersection of the straight line with Y axis. From Figure 3,
N will be equal to 247 MMSTB and B equal to 68.068 bbl/psi.

Figure 3- Calculation of STOIIP and B

Water Influx was calculated using both material balance equation and Van and Hurst model, both methods showed
similar results as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4- Water Influx using MBE vs using VH model.

Water Influx Prediction

Water Influx was calculated using both material balance equation and Van and Hurst model, the results are shown in
table 1.