Tom Aage Jelmert

NTNU
Department of Petroleum Engineering
and Applied Geophysics

1

THE RESERVOIR LIMIT TEST

Introductory remarks
The resevoir limit test is a long drawdown test. The objective is to quantify the pore
volume, V
p
, which is of economic importance. For instance, the oil initially in place,
N
I
, is given by:

0
0
B
V S
N
B
I

=

In the above equation, the formation volume factor, B
0
, and the bulk volume, V
B
, may
be obtained by PVT-analysis and seismic studies respectively. The average porosity,
, and the oil saturation,
0
S
, may be estimated by core analysis or well logging.

The length scale of core analysis and logging is much smaller than the length scale of
reservoir analysis while the length scale of seismic is larger. Upscaling and
downscaling of measurements to the required length scale is uncertain. Hence it is
advantageous to avoid length scale problems as far as possible


Note that the pore volume, V
p
, is given by:
V
p
=
B
V

Since V
p
may be obtained directly by a reservoir limit test on the correct length scale,
the uncertainty of material balance calculations may be reduced.
Test procedure
1 Produce the well for a long period at a constant rate
2 Measure the well flowing pressure
3 Make interpretations

Tom Aage Jelmert RESERVOIR LIMIT TEST 2

Figure 1: Schematic of a reservoir limit test

Determination of porevolume, cylindrical drainage area
During pseudo-steady flow, the drawdown equation for a cylindrical reservoir is given
by:

+ +

= S
r
r
r c
kt
kh
B q
p p
w
e
e t
i wf
4
3
ln
2
2
2

The above equation will show up as a straight line in a Cartesian coordination system.


Figure 2: Pressure response during pseudo-steady flow

The slope is given by

Tom Aage Jelmert RESERVOIR LIMIT TEST 3
h r c
qB
m
e t
2

=


The bulk volume of the reservoir is:

h r V
e B
2
=

and the pore volume is:

V
p
=V
B

Hence the equation for the slope will reduce to:

m =
p t
V c
qB


The above equation is valid regardless of the reservoir shape.
Hence the pore volume may be computed from

m c
qB
V
t
p
=
The slope is given by:

3600 ) (
1 2
2 1


=
t t
p p
m
wf wf

when the time is measured in hours.