Reservoir Pressure

Is defined as the fluid pressure within the reservoir pore, which are in equilibrium, both before
and after the production process. Based on the results of the investigation, the amount of
reservoir pressure follows a linear relationship with the depth of the reservoir. It can be
interpreted as a result of the expansion of the reservoir rock formation to the surface, so the
reservoir receives the hydrostatic pressure of the formation fluid filling. Under this condition,
generally the pressure gradient is between 0.435 psi / ft.
With the overburden pressure of the rocks above, the pressure gradient can be considerably
larger than the value mentioned above, this depends on the depth of the reservoir. In the
presence of gas leakage before / during the geological age of oil migration, may result in lower
reservoir pressure.
Tekanan Hidrostatik
The hydrostatic pressure (Ph) is the pressure caused by the weight of the fluid in a column written
in the equation below:
Ph = g h
Where h is the column height, is the fluid density, and g is the acceleration of gravity. The size
and shape of the column does not affect the hydrostatic pressure in the formation. The fluid
density depends on the type of liquid, the concentration of dissolved mineral solids (such as salts
and other minerals), the gas in the liquid column and the temperature of the formation fluid.
Figure 3.12 below illustrates hydrostatic pressures.
Figure 3.12. The relationship of pressure and hydrostatic gradients (modification of Lee et al,
1998)
Figure 3.12. Explains that in general the pressure will increase with the increase of column depth
of a fluid, but if we talk about the hydrostastic pressure gradient it will not be affected by the
depth as long as there is no change in density at a depth. Formation pressure gradients are
typically written in pounds per square inch per foot (psi / ft). In the British system is called the
ratio of formation pressure in psi to the depth (feet). In general, the hydrostatic pressure gradient
Ph (in psi / ft) can be defined as follows:
Ph (psi/ft) = 0.433 x (fluid density) (in g/cm3)
With a note of 1 psi / ft = 0.0225 MPa / m. The pressure gradient of 0.465 psi / ft (0.0105 MPa /
m) is typical of the Mesiko Bay region with the assumption of salinity 80 000 ppm of NaCl at
77F.
Tekanan Overburden
The overburden pressure is the pressure that results from the weight of the rock and fluid matrices
in the rock pores above the formation at a certain depth. This overburden pressure depends on the
depth and increases in the addition of depth. Overburden pressure is formulated as follows:

= g b ()

Where b is the bulk density of rock and g is the acceleration of gravity. Overburden pressure
increases with increasing depth. In some literatures, overburden pressure is also often referred
to as geostatic pressure or lithostatic pressure. For the determination of bulk density values from
the surface to the bottom of the well can be done with the approach of the Miller equation.
Rumus log densitas sintetik metode Miller yang digunakan adalah sebagai berikut:
= a + b exp (-K(depth)1/n
= matrix (1- ) + w

= Sediment bulk density (gr/cc)

The law (Terzaghi, 1967) states that overburden is the result of the effective pressure sum resulting
from the rock matrix and the pore pressure generated from the fluid located between the matrices
at a depth. In other words in concept, the more deeply the accumulation of a sediment the greater
the overburden pressure or vice versa.
Figure 3.13. Shows an illustration of the relationship between overburden, effective pressure and
pore pressure on a formation.

Figure 3.13. Illustration of overburden relationship, effective pressure and pore pressure
(Modifications from Lee et al., 1998)
Saturation water
Saturation is the proportion of the pore space occupied by water. To be safe it is better to
explicitly talk of water saturation because if unspecified it is natural to assume it refers to what
we are really interested in: the hydrocarbons. Like porosity it is a ratio so can either be expressed
as a fraction or a percentage. The term saturation units is also sometimes used, this is simply
saturation expressed as a percentage (SU).
Water saturation is described in two ways:
1. Evaluated level by level at the well(s).
2. Modelled at every point in a structure.
The former invariably involves calculating water saturation as a continuous curve along the well
track using log analysis. More often than not Archies equation or one of its numerous
modifications forms the basis of the analysis. The modelling approach seeks an equation that
calculates water saturation at any point in the structure (including away from the wells). The
equation is known as a saturation-height function (SHF) because as a minimum it is a function of
the height above the contact (or more properly the free water level). Normally, there will be
other inputs such as permeability and geological zone or facies. The SHF is needed to model the
distribution of hydrocarbons throughout a structure, which in turn is needed to accurately
calculate in-place volumes and as a starting point for dynamic modelling.
Log analysis generally works by calculating porosity by some means and the volume of water in
the system using a different tool (often, although not necessarily, resistivity). Water saturation is
then given by:

=

where Vw is the volume fraction of water in the rock. Notice that any error in the porosity carries
through to saturation and since the volume of water will be subject to some uncertainty as well,
saturation is always less certain than porosity.
Water saturation is a ratio that takes values between one and zero. The latter is hardly if ever
achieved in the subsurface except possibly above the water table in arid locations (in the
laboratory plugs are routinely dried completely). Instead the water saturation reaches a lower
limit known as the irreducible water saturation. This is such an important property of the rock
that it will be given its own symbol (Swir). It can vary from a few per cent in high-quality reservoir
rocks to a hundred per cent in shales. It is mainly a result of the strong affinity of commonly
occurring minerals for water that was discussed in the porosity section.
Most rocks start out saturated with water and if oil or gas enters the pores, this occurs later. But
a reservoir rock that has contained oil or gas cannot normally be returned to a state of complete
water saturation (apart from in a laboratory). A low saturation of oil or gas typically remains
trapped in the rock. This is referred to as residual oil or gas and the saturations are given the
symbols Sor (Sgr). Values typically range from a few per cent to 25%.
There is not much more to say other than to ask What Porosity? In an effective porosity model
the volume of water (Vw) should not include the water associated with the clays. In a total
porosity model on the other hand the clay water is included in Vw.
Log analysis software often computes effective and total saturations where
( , )
=


=

where Vwt is the total volume of water in the system. Notice that the volume of hydrocarbon
calculated should be the same in either model. The volume of hydrocarbon per unit volume of
formation is given by:
= (1 )
So that
(1 ) = (1 )

Permeability
Permeability differs from the previous two properties in that it is not dimensionless and also,
generally, it is anisotropic (see below). Permeability is the constant that links flow-rate to the
pressure applied to a fluid. For a simple system such as a cylindrical core plug with flow parallel
to the axis of the plug, the flow-rate (Q) is given by:

=

where A is the cross-sectional area, is the length of the plug and is the viscosity of the fluid.
P is the pressure drop across the plug. The constant of proportionality k is the permeability.
Equation 2.4 can be generalised to deal with more complicated geometries but here we will deal
with the simple linear flow case. A dimensional analysis shows k has units of length squared so
the SI unit is m2. The petroleum industry of course has its own unit: the Darcy (D) which, by
coincidence, is very close to 1 m2 which is technically an SI unit (1 D = 0.987 m2).
Effective and Relative permeability
All the discussion so far has assumed a single fluid is present in the pore space and in fact it is
tacitly assumed that the fluid does not interact strongly with the rock. Under these conditions
the permeability is sometimes called the absolute permeability. In the natural state the pores
may contain water and oil or gas. When the two immiscible fluids are present they are treated
separately and each is assigned an effective permeability. There are two of these of course:
effective permeability to water and effective permeability to oil (or gas). In general these depend
on the water saturation but will always be less than the absolute permeability. There is a certain
finite value of water saturation where the effective permeability to water will fall to zero and the
effective permeability to oil (or gas) will reach its maximum value (this is the irreducible water
saturation introduced in Section 2.3). There is also a maximum water saturation at which the rock
becomes impermeable to oil and the effective permeability to water reaches its maximum value.
Effective permeabilities are related to absolute permeabilities by a special factor known as the
relative permeability.

= ( )
= ( )
Despite its name, relative permeability is dimensionless and always lies between zero and one.
The reason effective permeability is lower than absolute permeability can again be explained
using the bundle of straw model. In the section on porosity, we noted that many minerals have
a strong affinity for water, that means, amongst other things, that the water saturation will never
fall to zero. In the case of the cylindrical pores water forms a film on the surface of the pore,
which effectively reduces its radius. Oil or gas is forced to flow in what is effectively a smaller
pore and so the effective permeability is reduced. This simple explanation predicts that the
smaller the pores, the higher is the irreducible water saturation and the lower is the effective
permeability. At higher water saturations both water and oil are mobile and they both have finite
effective permeabilities but the flows normally interfere so that the sum of their flow-rates is still
less than could be achieved using a single fluid. At higher water saturations the oil(gas) is
immobilised because a small quantity remains trapped in dead end pores or is unable to squeeze
through the small pore throats (this is the residual oil or gas).
FIGURE 2.6 An example of a pair of relative permeability curves for a good quality clastic. The
curves are colour coded but in fact could be distinguished by the direction they increase (kr w in
dashed line [blue in web version] and kro in dotted line [green in web version]). The curves within
the range of water saturations defined by irreducible water (the lowest value of Sw) and residual
oil (the lowest value for 1 Sw).
An example of a pair of relative permeability curves for a clastic rock are shown in Fig. 2.6. The
end point saturations are irreducible water saturation and the residual oil saturation. The curves
do not continue beyond these limits. The highest effective permeability will be to oil when the
water is at irreducible water saturation. The highest effective permeability to water occurs at the
residual saturation but in this case it is only about 40% of the absolute permeability. At an
intermediate water saturation of about 50% the effective permeabilities for both oil and water
are low and even their sum is a lot less than the absolute permeability. This behaviour is fairly
typical of inter-granular pore systems.
In Fig. 2.6 the relative permeability curves are limited to the saturation range defined by
irreducible water and residual oil. This is the range that could exist in the reservoir today, but at
some point in the past it would have been completely saturated with water so that a high-end
effective permeability at an Sw of 100% could occur naturally. The argument that was used to
show that effective permeabilities in the presence of water are generally less than absolute
values still applies, however. In other words water adhering to the grain surfaces effectively
reduces the diameter of the pore throats, even if it is the only fluid present. The net effect is that
the permeability measured with purewater should be less than that measured with an inert fluid
such as air, helium or even oil. Figure 2.7 shows some real measurements made with air and
water and indeed the permeability in water is lower. In order to distinguish this permeability we
will give it the symbol kw (this is to distinguish it from the true effective permeability to water
in the presence of oil or gas for which we decided to use an upper case K). Notice that the
difference tends to get smaller as the permeability increases.
FIGURE 2.7 A cross-plot of permeability measured with pure water against permeability
measured with dry air for approximately 100 plugs from two different reservoirs.