Basic Reservoir Engineering - BR Virtual, Blended Learning

This is Reservoir Engineering

• About the Principal Tasks of a Reservoir Engineer
• About the Principal Tools of a Reservoir Engineer
• How this course is organized to cover these topics

Reservoir Rock Properties

• Different types of rocks
• Primary rock properties from a reservoir engineering point of view
• How rock properties are measured
• How rock property values are interpolated/extrapolated throughout the reservoir

Reservoir Rock Properties Fundamentals

• Describe the concept of fluid contacts
• Describe how saturations change when crossing contacts
• Describe wettability
• Describe interfacial tension
• Describe how residual oil saturation is controlled by the interplay of different forces
• Define capillary pressure
• Explain how capillary pressure is a combination of several related phenomena
• Describe how capillary pressure can be used to explain macroscopic reservoir phenomena
• Show how collecting capillary pressure data can actually save money
• Discuss the various choices available for measuring relative permeability in the laboratory
• Discuss the various choices available for measuring capillary pressure in the laboratory
• Show how reservoir engineers model relative permeability
• Show how reservoir engineers model capillary pressure
• Describe how reservoir engineers define saturations
• Apply concepts discussed in the module to build relative permeability and capillary data datasets

Reservoir Fluid

• Describe how fluids change in response to changes in pressure and temperature
• Define the engineering properties of reservoir fluids
• Describe the make-up of reservoir fluids
• Describe how fluids are sampled
• Describe how fluid properties are measured in the laboratory

Reservoir Flow Properties

• Explain the origin of Darcy's law and how it evolved
• State the difference between gravity and the pressure gradients, and how they play a role in determining the rate of which fluid could flow in the porous medium
• Identify the differences between the equations of Linear versus radial flow when calculating the flow
• Explain how do heterogeneities affect the flow in porous medium, and how Darcy's law can be applied to homogenize to calculate effective permeability
• Differentiate between oil and gas flow
• Apply Darcy's law to gas and oil
• Calculate the amount of fluid that is flowing when you have single cell phase vs single phase oil
• Describe the Importance of non-Darcy effect on well performance
• Apply Darcy's law when calculating the rate of the of oil and gas well
• Identify the differences between layers in parallel and layers in series
• Discuss the effective permeability of both layers in parallel and layers in series
• State limitations of Darcy's law
• Assess the differences between gas and oil reservoirs
• Describe the effect of non-Darcy flow

Reservoir Material Balance

• Describe the purpose of the material balance technique to estimate the initial hydrocarbons in place
• Differentiate between volumetric analysis and material balance technique
• State the basic principle of material balance analysis
• Describe the principles behind material balance equation
• Identify the data that is needed to apply the material balance equation and the uncertainties associated with collecting such data
• Identify the purpose of the modified black oil model in material balance equation
• State the assumptions involved in applying the material balance equation
• Identify the limitations of material balance technique
• Develop the material balance equations from the first principle
• Identify and explain the different mechanisms influencing the production of hydrocarbons and how they are incorporated in the material balance equation
• Understand the necessary equations to be used depending on the type of reservoir from which hydrocarbons produce
• Develop appropriate equations for dry gas, wet gas, condensate, volatile oil and black oil reservoirs
• Describe modifications of material balance equations to estimate the initial oil and gas in place
• Explain the Havlena and Odeh method and the appropriate way to linearize the material balance equations
• Express the importance of water influx and how to detect the presence of aquifer based on production data
• Recognize the uncertainties associated with predicting the water influx as a function of time

Decline Curve Analysis and Empirical Approaches

• Perform Basic Statistics
• Calculate Decline Curve Analysis
• Estimate Recovery Factors

Reserves and Resources

• The importance of integration with other disciplines
• Calculations using the volumetric formulas for gas and oil
• The importance of dividing into flow units for dynamic reserves in reservoir simulation
• Reserves management: what it is and how to do it
• The Reservoir Engineer's input to reserves and resources (R&R)
• How a Geoscientist and Reservoir Engineer work together on reserves
• The risk and uncertainty that drive reserves
• Other non-technical factors that influence R&R
• The standardized process between reserve estimates
• The ethical basis underlying R&R estimations

Pressure Transient Analysis

• Pressure transient analysis concepts, terminology, equations and objectives
• Pressure transient analysis in buildup and drawdown tests
• Time period analysis - challenges and objectives
• Semi-log and log-log analysis

Rate Transient Analysis

• Describe the relationship between 'rate transient analysis' and 'pressure transient analysis'
• Describe the situations under which rate transient analysis would be preferred to pressure transient analysis

Reservoir Fluid Displacement

• Fluid displacement as immiscible, linear, and vertical (overcoming gravity)
• Dispersed and segregated flow
• Aquifers models
• Coning in oil/water systems, including when it is most likely to occur, and how to prevent it

Enhanced Oil Recovery

• Discusses the modification of rock and fluid properties in tertiary recovery
• Describes (at a high level) the range of secondary and tertiary recovery techniques currently available (and relates them back to rock & fluid properties)

Reservoir Simulation

• Describe the physical basis, use and limitations of reservoir simulation models
• Describe the kind of data required to perform a simulation study
• Describe the issues and requirements for making rate and recoverable predictions for unconventional reservoirs with simulation tools (UC)
• Describe the issues and requirements for making rate and recoverable predictions for heavy-oil reservoirs with simulation tools (HO)

Reservoir Surveillance

• Explain that collecting data has value and cost
• Describe the different kinds of errors that appear during a measurement event
• Describe the kinds of measurements which can be used to monitor producing wells
• Describe the kinds of measurements which can be used to monitor injecting wells
• Describe the kinds of measurements which can be used to monitor the relationships between wells
• Outline the use of data integration methods
• Describe the difference between 'data-driven' and 'model-driven' reservoir surveillance

Reservoir Management

• Retain flexibility in reservoir management without giving up key principles for depletion
• Build flow units critical to reservoir management of an asset
• Describe how the value of an asset is defined
• Explain the roles of risk and uncertainty in that valuation
• Evaluate vertical equilibrium and no-crossflow, and how to get the most out of each through integrated technologies from multiple disciplines