Basic of Reservoir Engineering

B. Understanding Well Construction and Performance

1. Reservoir Types
2. Understanding Basic Reservoir
Engineering Concepts
3. Well architecture
4. Performance Issue
• Damage
• Production
5. Stimulation.
• Acid Stimulation
• Hydro Fracturing
• Other remedial
 Reservoir Types - Introduction
An oil and gas reservoir is a formation of rock in which oil and natural gas has accumulated. Types of Reservoirs can be
categorized in many ways :
• Based on Storage and Flow Characteristic (Porous,
fractured, or both. )
• Based on Development geology Age / Depositional
Environment (Geological timescale and depositional
characteristic)
• Reservoir Geology / Volumetric Capacity
• Fluid content (Oil / Gas)
Until recently there were two primary types of
reservoirs considered for completion and
intervention designs which are limestone and
sandstone.
Recently techniques such as Fracking helped
completion engineers to construct the well in shale
as reservoir as well, which was considered as
Caprock.
Reservoir Basics Terms - Petroleum System
• Lithology: Identifies Visually Observable Characteristics and helps determine reservoir
rock Vrs Impermeable rock based on :
• Grain-size & sorting changes affecting Matrix Permeability
• Fractures and Vuggy Porosity
• Laminations & Other Flow Barriers

• Porosity :Identifies portion of the bulk rock occurring as void space. Expressed in either
fraction or percentile of the bulk rock volume eg : Porosity of 0.1 =10% void or Bulk volume – Grain
volume

• Permeability :Identifies measure of fluid conductivity / ease of flow through a porous

medium. Very similar to electrical conductivity. Permeability can be absolute / derived / relative and
measured using core analysis.

• Saturation : Identifies fluid content of the rock. i.e whether it is oil / water / gas.
Expressed as percent / decimal and is a function of relative permeability of fluids

• Grain Density : Identifies mass per unit grain volume expressed in gms/cc Eg : Quartz :
2.65, Feldspar : 2.55 - 2.76, Calcite : 2.71, Dolomite 2.85, used to calibrate logs

• Hydraulic Flow units : Discrete reservoir zone having a characteristic range of

geologic and petrophysical properties. Combination of depositional rock-pore system, diagenetic
modification of rock-pore system, and stratigraphic position.
Reservoir Types - Recent Terminologies
• Sometimes the reservoirs are also
classified based on the resources
contained and distinct
hydrodynamic realms.
• Oil Shale, Gas Hydrates, Coal Bed
Methane (CBM), and shale are
examples of unconventional
resources.
• Are these types of reservoirs ??
Certainly the structure, and location
of hydrocarbon changes from the
normal Sedimentary Rocks.
• The completion styles vary based on
the method of exploiting the
resources, which impact the
intervention strategies.
Reservoir Types - As per Location
• Conventional and Unconventional reservoirs also need
specific completion design based on the location of the well
to be constructed.
• The resource requirement for well construction change based
on the location which will impact the well intervention
strategies for the specific types of reservoirs located in
different location for example a well intervention vessel is
warranted for servicing the sub sea completed wells.
• Well interventions for different type of reservoirs can be
considered for 3 major objectives :
• Maintain reservoir flow assurance by monitoring the
well integrity
• Optimize the flow potential by selective flow of fluids
and / or Stimulate the producing zone / adding a zone.
• Abandon the reservoir at the end of its commercial life.
• All above require a good understanding and knowledge of the
reservoir.
 Understanding the Reservoir
Porosity

Porosity is the first of two essential requirements for a rock to act

as a hydrocarbon reservoir. It is simply a measurement of the pore
or void spaces in a rock and is usually expressed as a percentage
using the formula:

Porosity (%) = 100

Porosity is often represented by the Greek letter phi ( ).

Figure 1 shows the frequency of oil and gas reservoirs plotted

against porosity. Almost all reservoirs have porosities in a range of
five to thirty percent with the majority falling between ten and
twenty percent.

Figure 1
Sandstone Burial

Most modern sands are deposited with porosities of somewhere between 40 and
Any porosity less than five percent is very seldom commercial, and any porosity over thirty- 50 percent. In general, this porosity is lost with increasing depth of burial.
five percent is extremely unusual. Porosity can be measured in the laboratory from cores and
down the borehole using well logs, especially the sonic, density and neutron logs.
Occasionally, it can be estimated from seismic data. Sandstones lose porosity with burial at various rates according to several factors.
Figure 1 illustrates the effect of mineralogy.
There are three main types of porosity: interconnected, connected and isolated.
Interconnected porosity utilizes multiple pore throat passages to connect neighboring pores
A Branch of Geoengineering dealing with Natural Occurring Hydrocarbon Reservoirs
Reservoir Engineer Roles – Classification
 Reservoir Engineering – Tasks / Jobs
Reservoir Simulation is primary task of Reservoir engineer which can be described as

VRR : Voidage Replacement Ratio of Volume Injected to produce at reservoir conditions

RCS / SCAL (Routine Core Analysis, Special Core Analysis)
 Specific Roles For Discussion
• Reserve Estimation – RE
• Basic Material Balance Equation
• Bubble maps
• Decline Curve Analysis
• Pressure Transient Analysis (PTA)
• PVT Analysis
• Core Analysis
• Production Allocation
• Nodal Analysis
• Flow Simulation
Reserve Estimation
Basic Material Balance Equation
 Bubble Maps
• Relatively Easy to Make
• Give easily comprehensible visual
clue
• Proper Calculation necessary for
drainage area for each well, help
identify water influx Oil Down to
(ODT) Gas Down To (GDT).
• Software's are used to estimate
the hydrocarbon in different
scenarios
• Field Development is made based
on the models.
 Decline Curve Analysis
• As the reservoir is produced after
initial peak and plateau period, the
production rate starts to decline at
certain rate. Analyzing this decline, a
reservoir engineer can predict the
Estimated Ultimate Recovery (EUR).
This technique is called as Decline
Curve Analysis (DCA)
• While identifying DCA / trend
production should occur at constant
operating conditions. For example
constant bean size in producing
well.
Decline Curve Analysis
Well Architecture / Choices for Configuration
Well Configuration Vrs Completion
Summary of Reservoir Interfaces in a Well
Well Architecture - Open Hole Completion
Reservoir
• Open hole completions
Interface • Simple in design and are typically cost
effective. Eg Barefoot completions in
Limestone reservoirs
• Barefoot horizontal completions in
limestone help increase reservoir exposure,
however are quite challenging to service
during interventions.
• Completion in Sandstone offer variety of
selections eg : Screen only, expendables /
gravel pack.
• One of the major challenge during
intervention is reach in the completion and
conformance control (Water / gas shut off
techniques may not be effective)
Well Architecture – Cased Hole Completions
• Cased hole completions
• Cased hole completions are typically more sturdy
and provide selective production from single /
multiple zones and are usually perforated.
• Cased hole completions support gravel packing frac
packing / hydraulic fracturing.
• Cased hole completions are less challenging to
intervention as they do have a tubulars cemented in
place for easier and extended reach of intervention
aids such as service tools conveyed on Coil tubing
• Provide excellent support to operated
commingled / selective production Open
hole completions
Well Architecture - Multi Zone Completions
• Multi Zone Completions
• Multiple zones in a well can be completed
using commingled / Sequential / Selective
zone productions
• The Completion tubulars can also designed
and installed as single string / dual string /
concentric production tubing.
• Dual completions are complex in design and
installation operation.
• These completions require more number of
interventions during production life.
• Multi zones can be completed using SMART
techniques
Summary of Casing Tubing Interface
Well Architecture Casing Tubing Interface
Packer In the Completions :
• Packers to isolate the reservoir fluid from the large
section of casing may not be necessary for low
pressure land wells.
• For Offshore wells packers are necessary and help
in serving as Barrier in addition to flexibility of
utilizing the annular space for artificial lift fluids
such as gas and help in well control.
• Packers can be shallow / deep set and can be
either permanent (millable) / retrievable.
Retrievable packers are used typically for
multizone completions.
• Packers also help well operations such as
interventions to temporarily isolate reservoir by
use of wireline.
 Well Architecture - Surface Facility interface

Well construction is complete when the surface facility interface (comprising of wellhead and tubing hanger) is hooked up
and the X Mas tree is installed for taking well fluids for onward processing / production.
Well Architecture - Horizontal / Smart Completion
• Horizontal Completions :
• Horizontal completions are installed to
increase reservoir exposure. However they
tend to be more expensive.
• Usually these are installed as made as
SMART completion for offshore /
deepwater fields
• Horizontal Barefoot completions for
limestone reservoirs are cost effective.
However are prone to issues such as Water
Gas coning Conformance issues.
• Horizontal completions are the most
complex considering the conveyance of
the service tools.
 Production Performance - Basic Concepts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAEzc8H8Yag
• Sustained trouble free production of well
Inflow Performance Relationship (IPR) and Vertical fluids is critical business objective for the
Lift Performance (VLP) Curve well once handed over to for producing.
• Well has specific deliverability with the
processes followed and equipment installed
during construction.
• The productivity of the well depends on an
efficient use of compressional energy
(pressure) in the reservoir allowing the
reservoir fluids to flow toward the
production separator.
• That Consider Pwf as average reservoir
pressure causing the production rate q. If
we plot the relationship we can ger absolute
flow potential (Pwf=0) and available
reservoir pressure at wellbore (where q=0)
Production Performance - Basic Concepts
IPR Vs Tubing Outflow Curve
• IPR helps to estimate the flow rate feasible
against specific reservoir pressure. Several co-
relations to estimate the production rate are
available. VOGEL observed that flow rate
changes below bubble point.
• The flow capacity of the well also changes
based on the outflow feasible using the
production tubing, and larger diameter
production tubing can help in reducing the
friction losses during production and can
achieve higher flow rates from the well.
• It may not however be feasible to select large
diameter for the production tubing due to the
size of the production casing / liner
• To have a better outflow characteristic, it is
recommended to minimize the restrictions in
the production tubing which will help reduce
pressure loss.
• https://production-technology.org/introduction-ipr-vlp/
Production Performance – Elements
• Production performance from the well
depends on three performance stations/
nodes which is reservoir extent, near
wellbore area and production tubing.
• The production tubing also shall have
several components where pressure loss
can take place such as restrictions for
landing nipples, sub surface safety valve
• For well intervention engineers it is
essential to understand elements of
production performance, to design the
stimulation treatments and improvement
in the production.
• Nodal Analysis / Well test analysis can help
the engineers to assess the performance
of the completion and propose remedial
treatments.
Production Performance – Elements
 Well Stimulation
Well Stimulation refers to primarily well intervention operations
performed on a well to improve its productivity.

Stimulation operations can be focused on the wellbore or on the

producing formation / reservoir.
These are designed for old and / or new wells including remedial
purposes.

There are two main types of stimulation operations:

1. Matrix stimulation
2. Fracturing treatments
1. Acid fracturing
Producing 2. Hydro fracturing
Formation
While Matrix stimulation is performed below the reservoir fracture
pressure in an effort to restore the natural permeability of the
reservoir rock, fracturing is taken up to stimulate the well by
fracturing the near bore / deeper sections of reservoir
Well Stimulation – Direction of Flow of fluids
Direction of Flow of Fluids is very critical to
understand the pre – post stimulation Scenario

This forms the basis of stimulation design

Well Stimulation - Example of Stimulation
Here is an example of one of the wells which had an initial Open flow
potential of 250 STM3/D (~1575 BOPD with Flowing Tubing head
Pressure (FTHP) of 90 kg/cm3 or 1325 psi as damaged production
rate.
However the same well after stimulation is assessed to give little over 3
times the open flow potential ( ~5030 BOPD)

Typical volume gains realized after stimulation can be multiple times

provided the treatment is designed and executed properly.

Poorly designed and / or executed stimulation treatment can impair the

productivity and create secondary issues such as water breakthrough

Example of fracturing stimulation can be measured by FCD Fracture

conductivity Dimensionless (typically 5-10)
 History of Stimulation

Stimulations have been carried out since past century.. Techniques have changed quite drastically - Ref
Shell’s video https://youtu.be/kFe55WwTNgE
 Well Stimulation – Video for Re-Capture of

https://youtu.be/VY34PQUiwOQ

Link to the Animation of Fracturing

https://youtu.be/bkgw6IkRwH4

Schlumberger Video

https://youtu.be/3NgYm9Lzqbg

Acidizing Fundamentals
Well Stimulation – Work Flow
Alternate Stimulation Technique