Department of Petroleum Technology
Dibrugarh University
Dibrugarh, Assam-786004
AN OVERVIEW OF AQUIFER AND WATER
DRIVE RESERVOIR
Submitted to: Presented by:
Dr. Minati Das Dhiraj Kumar Deka
Dept. of Petroleum Technology Shailaj Bharadwaj
Dibrugarh University Subhasish Sutradhar
1st semester
CONTENTS
AQUIFER AND ITS TYPES
AQUIFER PARAMETERS
ASSOCIATION OF AQUIFER WITH WATER DRIVE RESERVOIR
CLASSIFICATION OF RESERVOIR AQUIFER SYSTEM
DEGREE OF PRESSURE MAINTENANCE
FLOW GEOMETRIES
OUTER BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PRODUCTION TRENDS
RECOVERY
WHAT IS AQUIFER ?
An underground layer of water bearing rock
Saturated and unsaturated
Isotropic and anisotropic
Confined and unconfined aquifers
Artesian well
Perched aquifer
AQUIFER PARAMETERS
In order to access the aquifer potential in any area, it is essential to evaluate
the aquifer parameters.
STORAGE COEFFICIENT: The property of aquifer to store water in soil or
rock pores. Also known as Storativity.
TRANSMISSIVITY: The property of aquifer to transmit water.
Aquifer test software is used in association with Theis and Copper Jacob
plot.
ASSOCIATION OF AQUIFER WITH WATER
DRIVE MECHANISM
Nearly all hydrocarbon reservoirs are associated with water bearing rocks.
Reservoir-aquifer system is beneficial when size of aquifer is large enough
and permeability of rock is high.
In water drive reservoir, the oil zone is in communication with an aquifer
that provides the bulk of the reservoir's drive energy.
The aquifer responds to the pressure decline of the reservoir in form of
water influx or water encroachment.
CLASSIFICATION OF RESERVOIR AQUIFER SYSTEMS
Reservoir aquifer systems are commonly classified on the basis of
Degree of pressure maintenance
Outer boundary conditions
Flow regimes
Flow geometries
Degree of pressure maintenance
Active water drive:
Characterized by a gradual and slow reservoir
pressure decline
Partial water drive:
Characterized by production rate drops more rapidly
Flow geometries
Edge water drive:
water moves into the flanks of the reservoir as a result of hydrocarbon production and pressure
drop at the reservoir-aquifer boundary.
The flow is essentially radial with negligible flow in the vertical direction.
Bottom water drive:
occurs in reservoirs with large areal extent and gentle dip where the reservoir-water contact
completely underlies the reservoir.
The flow is essentially radial and, in contrast to the edge-water drive, the bottom-water drive
has significant vertical flow.
Linear water drive:
In linear-water drive, the influx is from one flank of the reservoir. The flow is strictly linear
with a constant cross-sectional area.
Outer boundary conditions
Infinite system:
Pressure changes at the oil/aquifer boundary can never be felt at the outer boundary.
This boundary is for all intents and purposes at a constant pressure equal to initial reservoir
pressure.
Finite system(bounded):
The aquifer outer limit is affected by the influx into the oil zone and that the pressure at this
outer limit changes with time.
Flow regimes
Steady State Flow
Transient Flow
Pseudo-Steady State Flow
Boundary-Dominated Flow
mathematical water influx models
Pot aquifer
Schilthuis’ steady-state
The van Everdingen-Hurst unsteady-state
The Carter-Tracy unsteady-state
Fetkovich’s method
Production trends in water drive system
GOR remains fairly constant
WOR continues to increase with time as the oil-water
contact moves upward
Water production usually occurs early in the field life
of down structure wells
Gas lift may be required for high water cut wells.
Recovery
Oil recovery ranges from 35 to 75% of the original oil in place.
Recovery also depends on the aquifer's sweep efficiency.
recovery can be improved by balancing production rates across the field so that the oil-water
contact moves up as uniformly as possible.
Thank You
