Reservoir Engineering 2 Course (1st Ed.

)
1. Introduction
2. Classification Of Aquifers
3. Recognition Of Natural Water Influx
1. Water Influx Models
A. The Pot Aquifer Model
B. Schilthuis SS Model
C. Hursts Modified SS Model
Aquifer uncertainties
It should be appreciated that in reservoir
engineering there are more uncertainties
attached to this subject than to any other.
This is simply because one seldom drills wells into
an aquifer to gain the necessary information about
the porosity,
permeability,
thickness, and
fluid properties.
Instead, these properties frequently have to be inferred
from what has been observed in the reservoir.
Even more uncertain, however, is
the geometry and
areal continuity of the aquifer itself.

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Water influx model requirements
Several models have been developed
for estimating water influx that are based on
assumptions that describe
the characteristics of the aquifer.
Due to the inherent uncertainties in the aquifer
characteristics, all of the proposed models require
historical reservoir performance data
to evaluate constants representing
aquifer property parameters
since these are rarely known from exploration-development
drilling with sufficient accuracy for direct application.

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evaluation of the constants
The material balance equation can be used
to determine historical water influx
provided original oil in place
is known from pore volume estimates.
This permits evaluation of the constants
in the influx equations
so that future water influx rate can be forecasted.

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mathematical water influx models
The mathematical water influx models that are
commonly used in the petroleum industry include:
Pot aquifer
Schilthuis steady-state
Hursts modified steady-state
The van Everdingen-Hurst unsteady-state
Edge-water drive
Bottom-water drive
The Carter-Tracy unsteady-state
Fetkovichs method
Radial aquifer
Linear aquifer

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The Pot Aquifer Model; Basis
The simplest model that can be used to estimate
the water influx into a gas or oil reservoir
is based on the basic definition of compressibility.
A drop in the reservoir pressure,
due to the production of fluids,
causes the aquifer water to expand and
flow into the reservoir.
The compressibility is defined mathematically as:
V = c V p

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The Pot Aquifer Model;
all directions water encroachment
Applying the above basic compressibility definition
to the aquifer gives:
Water influx = (aquifer compressibility) *
(initial volume of water) * (pressure drop) or

We = cumulative water influx, bbl

cw = aquifer water compressibility, psi1
cf = aquifer rock compressibility, psi1
Wi = initial volume of water in the aquifer, bbl
pi = initial reservoir pressure, psi
p = current reservoir pressure
(pressure at oil-water contact), psi

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The Pot Aquifer Model;
initial volume of water
Calculating the initial volume of water
in the aquifer requires the knowledge of aquifer
dimension and properties.
These, however,
are seldom measured since wells are not deliberately
drilled into the aquifer to obtain such information.
For instance, if the aquifer shape is radial, then:
ra = radius of the aquifer, ft
re = radius of the reservoir, ft
h = thickness of the aquifer, ft
= porosity of the aquifer

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The Pot Aquifer Model;
fractional water encroachment
Quite often,
water does not encroach on all sides of the
reservoir, or the reservoir is not circular in nature.
To account for these cases, a modification must be made
in order to properly describe the flow mechanism.
One of the simplest modifications is to include
the fractional encroachment angle f in the equation, to give:

the fractional encroachment angle f is defined by:

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Radial aquifer geometries

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Dake consideration
The Pot Aquifer Model is only applicable
to a small aquifer, i.e., pot aquifer, whose dimensions
are of the same order of magnitude as the reservoir itself.
Dake (1978) points out that
because the aquifer is considered relatively small,
a pressure drop in the reservoir is instantaneously transmitted
throughout the entire reservoir-aquifer system.
Dake suggests that for large aquifers,
a mathematical model is required which includes
time dependence to account for the fact that it takes
a finite time for the aquifer
to respond to a pressure change in the reservoir.

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Schilthuis Steady-State Model
Schilthuis (1936) proposed The above relationship can
that for an aquifer that is be more conveniently
flowing under the steady- expressed as:
state flow regime,
the flow behavior could be ew = rate of water influx,
described bbl/day
by Darcys equation. k = permeability of the
The rate of water influx ew aquifer, md
can then be determined by h = thickness of the aquifer,
applying Darcys equation: ft
ra = radius of the aquifer, ft
re = radius of the reservoir
t = time, days

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Schilthuis Steady-State Model;
Influx constant
The parameter C is called the water influx constant
and is expressed in bbl/day/psi.
This water influx constant C may be calculated
from the reservoir historical production data
over a number of selected time intervals,
provided that the rate of water influx ew has been
determined independently from a different expression.
For instance, the parameter C may be estimated by combining
the Equation with ew = Qo Bo + Qg Bg + Qw Bw.
Although the influx constant can only be obtained
in this manner when the reservoir pressure stabilizes,
once it has been found,
it may be applied
to both stabilized and changing reservoir pressures.

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Notes
If the steady-state approximation adequately
describes the aquifer flow regime,
the calculated water influx constant C values
will be constant over the historical period.
Note that the pressure drops
contributing to influx
are the cumulative pressure drops
from the initial pressure.

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the cumulative water influx
In terms of the cumulative water influx We, the
Equation is integrated to give the common
Schilthuis expression for water influx as:

We = cumulative water influx, bbl

C = water influx constant, bbl/day/psi
t = time, days
pi = initial reservoir pressure, psi
p = pressure at the oil-water contact at time t, psi

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Calculating the area under the curve
When the pressure
drop (pi p) is plotted
versus the time t, as
shown in the Figure,
the area under the
curve represents the
integral

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Calculating the cumulative water
influx
This area at time t can be determined numerically
by using the trapezoidal rule (or any other
numerical integration method), as:

The Equation can then be written as:

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the apparent aquifer radius ra
One of the problems associated with
the Schilthuis steady-state model is that
as the water is drained from the aquifer,
the aquifer drainage radius ra will increase
as the time increases.
Hurst (1943) proposed that
the apparent aquifer radius ra
would increase with time and, therefore
the dimensionless radius ra/re
may be replaced with a time dependent function, as:

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Hursts Modified Steady-State Model
Substituting the dimensionless radius into
Schilthuis Steady-State Model gives:

The Hurst modified steady-state equation can be

written in a more simplified form as:

and in terms of the cumulative water influx

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Determination of the Hurst modified
steady-state constants; a and C
The Hurst modified steady-state equation contains
two unknown constants, i.e., a and C,
that must be determined from
the reservoir-aquifer pressure and
water influx historical data.
The procedure of determining the constants a and
C is based on expressing the Equation as a linear
relationship.

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Graphical determination of C and a
The Equation indicates
that a plot of (pi
p)/ew versus ln(t) will
be a straight line with a
slope of 1/C and
intercept of (1/C)ln(a),
as shown schematically
in the Figure.

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1. Ahmed, T. (2010). Reservoir engineering
handbook (Gulf Professional Publishing).
Chapter 10
1. mathematical Water Influx models;
A. The van Everdingen-Hurst Unsteady-State Model
a. Edge-Water Drive
I. computational steps for We at successive intervals