WHAT IS RESERVOIR ENGINEERING

Reservoir

Engineering is a branch of Petroleum Engineering that applies scientific principles to the drainage problems arising during the development and production of oil & gas reservoirs so as to obtain a high economic recovery

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A RESERVOIR ENGINEER

Major

responsibilities of a Reservoir Engineer are: Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimation

Material Balance Volumetric Estimation Decline Curve Analysis Reservoir Simulation

Well

Testing
Well Test Designing Well Test Interpretation

Reservoir

Management

Reservoir Simulation Economic Analysis Production Forecast Field Development

RESPONSIBILITIES OF A RESERVOIR ENGINEER

Reservoir

engineer also play a central role in field development planning, recommending appropriate and cost effective reservoir depletion schemes Reservoir Engineer should also have know-how about wireline logs interpretation

Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimation

Material Balance Method
The Material Balance Method use mainly for following: 1. Determining the initial hydrocarbon in place 2. Determining reservoir drive mechanism 3. Calculating water influx 4. Predicting reservoir pressures Material Balance Method is used after having enough production data approximately 10% recovery of initial hydrocarbon in place

Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimation

Volumetric Estimation
The Volumetric Estimation Method use mainly for determining initial hydrocarbon in place in exploration phase of field where there is no production and pressure history available at that stage The Volumetric Method uses subsurface and isopachous maps based on the data from electric logs, cores and drill stem and production test The Reservoir Engineer uses these maps to determine the bulk productive volume of the reservoir

Two equations/methods are commonly used to determine the approximate volume of the productive zone namely pyramidal and trapezoidal method

Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimation

Volumetric Estimation
Pyramid equation for calculating reservoir volume

Trapezoid equation for calculating reservoir volume

Later in the life of reservoir, when the reservoir volume is defined and the performance data are available, volumetric calculations provide valuable checks on gas in place estimates obtained from material balance methods

Hydrocarbon Reserves Estimation

Decline Curve Analysis
Decline Curve are one of the most extensively used form of data analysis employed in evaluating gas reserves and predicting future production The Decline Curve Analysis is based on the assumption that past production trends and their controlling factors will continue in the future and, therefore, can be extrapolated and described by a mathematical expression Arps recognized the following three types of rate decline behaviour: 1. Exponential decline 2. Harmonic decline 3. Hyperbolic decline

Reservoir Management
Reservoir Simulation
Simulate as to assume the appearance of without reality Simulation of petroleum reservoir performance refers to the construction and operation of a model whose behavior assumes the appearance of actual reservoir behavior

Well Testing

Well Testing
Well Test Designing
Choose the appropriate test for the existing situation such as build up, drawdown, multiple-rate, interference test etc Estimate the test duration and expected pressure response Select appropriate pressure measuring equipment Describe what other data are required

Well Testing
Well Test Interpretation
Following methods generally used Semi-Log Plot Log-Log Plot Deconvolution Following major reservoir properties are obtained from well test interpretation Reservoir Pressure Permeability Skin Drainage area

Reservoir Management
Reservoir Simulation
Simulate as to assume the appearance of without reality Simulation of petroleum reservoir performance refers to the construction and operation of a model whose behavior assumes the appearance of actual reservoir behavior

Reservoir Management
Economic Analysis
Most economic problems in the petroleum producing industry involved determining what is considered to be economical in the long run, that is, over a period of time Accordingly it is necessary to recognize the time value of money, that is, the interest on capital investment. A dollar now is worth more than the prospect of dollar next year or at some later date Reservoir Engineer must have know-how about some basics i.e. investment and types of investments, interest and types of interest, annuity, depreciation and its types, financial measures, profitability analysis, rate of return, payback time, discount rate, net present value, break-even, sensitivity analysis, optimization techniques etc

Reservoir Management
Production Forecast
Petroleum production forecast is generated in order to set sell agreement, for future operation/infill drilling and to find out the life of reservoir Mainly, Decline Curve Analysis and History Matching techniques are used to generate future prediction Annual budget and field development plan are also based on production forecast

Reservoir Management
Field Development
On the basis of reservoir properties, reservoir extent/boundaries, estimated hydrocarbon reserves and production forecast Reservoir, Engineer give his input to develop the field efficiently and economically Field Development Plan included no. of wells, determining time to drill a new well, production per well, future workover programs, periodically well testing programs, installation of surface facilities, etc

Software
Reservoir Engineering software
Following major software are being used in worldwide petroleum industry for reservoir engineering activities Reserves Estimation IPM (Mbal) Tank (Ryder Scott) Well Test Designing & Interpretation Ecrin PanSystem Well Test (Paradigm)

Software
Reservoir Engineering software
Production Surveillance OFM Nodal Analysis Pipesim IPM (Prosper) Reservoir Modeling/Simulation Petrel Eclipse

THANKS
Author: ATIF ZAFAR Reservoir Engineer Petroleum Exploration (Pvt) Limited atif_zafar1984@yahoo.com 0345-2731454