Applications of The Coefficient of Isothermal Compressibility To Various Reservoir Situations With New Correlations For Each Situation
Applications of The Coefficient of Isothermal Compressibility To Various Reservoir Situations With New Correlations For Each Situation
Applications of The Coefficient of Isothermal Compressibility To Various Reservoir Situations With New Correlations For Each Situation
co = − 冉 冊
1 ⭸V
V ⭸p T
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (1)
mine values of fluid properties, values of oil compressibility are
used to extend values of some fluid properties from the bubble-
point pressure of the oil to higher pressures. One example is oil
However, in application the situation becomes somewhat complex. formation volume factor.
Usually the equation is integrated by separating variables:
co = − 冉 冊
1 ⭸Bo
Bo ⭸p
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (3)
兰 兰
p2 V2 dV T
co dp = − . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (2)
兰 兰
p1 V1 V p Bo dBo
co dp = − . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (4)
Moving oil compressibility outside the integral sign requires the pb Bob Bo
assumption that it is constant. Because it is not constant, the use of Bo = Bob exp关−co共p − pb兲兴. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (5)
this equation requires a value of oil compressibility that is a pressure-
weighted average across the pressure range used in the calculations. Placing oil compressibility, co, outside of the integral sign in Eq.
There are three applications for oil compressibility in reser- 4 implies that it is constant. Oil compressibility certainly is not
voir engineering: constant as pressure changes (as seen in Fig. 1). Eq. 5 can be used
to calculate the oil formation volume factor at pressures above
bubblepoint pressure using the value of Bob calculated at the
bubblepoint with a correlation. However, the value of co to be used
Copyright © 2007 Society of Petroleum Engineers
in Eq. 5 must be a pressure-weighted average of oil compressibility
This paper (SPE 96415) was first presented at the 2005 SPE Annual Technical Conference from the bubblepoint pressure to the pressure of interest. In this
and Exhibition, Dallas, 9–12 October, and revised for publication. Original manuscript re-
ceived for review 1 July 2005. Revised manuscript received 5 September 2006. Paper peer
case, the derivative in Eq. 3 is approximated by the slope of a
approved 10 October 2006. chord from the bubblepoint pressure to the pressure of interest. We
1 ⭸
r ⭸r
r 冉 冊
⭸p
⭸r
=
co ⭸p
k ⭸t
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (10)
co = −
1 ⭸Bo
Bo ⭸p冉 冊 T
+
1 Bg ⭸Rso
1,000 Bo ⭸p 冉 冊 T
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (11)
will call this the coefficient of isothermal compressibility from the Development of New Correlations
bubblepoint, cofb. Values of cofb can be determined easily from the We have developed new correlations for the coefficient of isother-
constant-composition-expansion experiment of a routine black-oil mal compressibility and equations for calculating values for each
fluid property report (McCain 1990) and used to create a correla- of the three applications for oil compressibility. Because of the
tion for cofb as a function of various properties, including reservoir way fluid-property data are reported in standard laboratory reports,
pressure, that are readily available from field data. it is more convenient to develop a correlation for cofb than for cofi
or co. Thus, our correlation gives cofb. Equations for calculating
The Material-Balance Equation for Undersaturated Oil Res- values for cofi and co with the cofb correlation have been developed.
ervoirs. Another use of oil compressibility is in the material-
balance equation for undersaturated oil reservoirs (i.e., reservoirs Correlation for Coefficients of Isothermal Compressibility
in which the pressure is higher than the bubblepoint pressure). Eqs. From the Bubblepoint to a Pressure of Interest. A correlation
6 and 7 show this application (Craft and Hawkins 1959). for cofb has been developed using a technique to reveal the under-
lying statistical relationships between variables corrupted by ran-
Bo − Boi dom error. The method of alternating conditional expectations
co ≡ , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (6a)
Boi共pi − p兲 (ACE) is intended to alleviate the main drawback of parametric
regression: the mismatch of the assumed model structure and the
where underlying relationship of the actual data (Breiman and Friedman
Soco + Swcw + cf 1985). Thus, an a priori knowledge of the functional relationship
ce ≡ , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (6b) between the dependent variable and the independent variables is
So not required. The program GRACE, a user-friendly implemention
of the ACE algorithm, was used for this work. GRACE first cre-
giving the material-balance equation
ates individual transformations for each variable in an optimum
NBoice共pi − p兲 = NpBo − We + BwWp. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (7) way. Then, these single-variable transformations may usually be
approximated by curve fitting in a commercial spreadsheet pro-
Eq. 7 demonstrates that this application starts at initial reservoir gram using low-order polynomials (Xue et al. 1997).
pressure, pi, and goes to a lower pressure, p, which occurs after A database was assembled comprising 3,537 lines of constant-
some oil production. Thus, the oil-compressibility value should be composition-expansion data at pressures above bubblepoint pres-
a pressure-weighted average starting at the initial reservoir pres- sures from 369 service-company reservoir-fluid studies of black
sure. In this case, the derivative is approximated by the slope of a oils. The statistics of these assembled data, which cover the ranges
chord from initial pressure to the pressure of interest. We will call of the independent variables to be expected in black-oil reservoirs,
this the coefficient of isothermal compressibility from initial pres- are given in Table 1. Extreme caution should be used in dealing
sure, cofi. This definition of compressibility is analogous to the with oils with properties outside the ranges in this table; extrapo-
cumulative compressibility terms defined by Fetkovich et al. lation of the equations presented is risky.
(1998). Values of this property can be obtained using the correla- Applying the GRACE technique produced the following equa-
tion for cofb with initial reservoir pressure and the lower pressure. tions for estimating values of cofb with the independent variables
listed in Table 2.
Tangent Compressibility for Pressure-Transient Analysis. The
partial-differential equations describing single-phase fluid flow in ln cofb = 2.434 + 0.475z + 0.048z2, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (12a)
porous media do not require that the equation be integrated. In-
6
stead, oil compressibility is calculated at the pressure of interest
with the value of the derivative of Eq. 1 determined by measuring z= 兺z ,
n=1
n . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (12b)
the slope of the tangent line to the volume-vs.-pressure curve at the
pressure of interest. In other words, the value of oil compressibility
zn = C0n + C1n xn + C2n xn2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (12c)
is not a weighted average but an “instantaneous” value at the
pressure of interest. For instance, for single-phase flow, Eqs. 8 and To apply these equations, use the natural logarithm of each vari-
9 apply. able and the coefficients listed in Table 2 to calculate a value of zn
冉 冊
for each of the six independent variables. The values of zn are added,
1 ⭸o
co = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (8) and the sum is used in the cofb equation (Eq. 13). A discussion of
o ⭸p T the accuracy and precision of this equation will be given later.
兰
BoidBo Boi Thus, the correlation for cofb, Eqs. 12a, 12b, and 12c, can be used
ln
Bob Bo Bob ln Bob − ln Boi to develop an equation for calculating co.
cofb 共p 兲 = − =− = , . . . . . . . (13b)
兰 pi − pb pi − pb
i pi
dp ⭸cofb ⭸z
= cofb共0.475 + 0.096z兲 , . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (16a)
⭸p ⭸p
pb
兰
Bo dBo Bo where cofb is calculated with Eq. 12a, z is calculated with Eq. 12b,
ln
Boi Bo Boi ln Boi − ln Bo and ⭸z/⭸p is given by
cofi =− =− = . . . . . . . . . . . . . (13c)
兰 p − pi p − pi
p
dp p
pi −0.608 + 0.1822 ln
⭸z pb
The difference between Eqs. 13a and 13b can be used to determine = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (16b)
⭸p p
an equation for cofi.
共p − pb兲cofb共p兲 − 共pi − pb兲cofb共pi兲 = ln Boi − ln Bo. . . . . . . . . (13d) Calculating the Coefficient of Isothermal Compressibility for
Saturated Oils. For consistency, the tangent compressibility for
Thus, pressure-transient analysis should be calculated from correlation
equations for Bo, Rso, and Bg by differentiating the equations for Bo
共p − pb兲cofb共p兲 − 共pi − pb兲cofb共pi兲 ln Boi − ln Bo and Rso:
= = cofi. . . . (13e)
p − pi p − pi
1 ⭸Bo 1 Bg ⭸Rso
co = − + . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (17)
Finally, rearrange to obtain the equation for calculating cofi with Bo ⭸p 1,000 Bo ⭸p
the correlation equations for cofb.
共p − pb兲cofb共p兲 − 共pi − pb兲cofb共pi兲
cofi = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . (14)
p − pi
Evaluation of the Proposed Correlations higher values appears to be caused by data from a few laboratory
Fig. 2 compares the results of calculations of cofb using Eqs. 12a, reports that may have some internal error.
12b, and 12c with the data used in developing the correlation. Fig. 3 A comparison of the calculations and the data in terms of average
compares these data with calculations of co based on Eqs. 15c, 16a, relative error (ARE) and average absolute relative error (AARE)
12a, 12b, and 16b. The bulk of these calculations fit the data very appears in Table 3. Figs. 4 through 7 show that the calculations
closely. In both figures, the scatter of the measured results at hold up well across the ranges of the independent variables.
兺冏 冏
1 calc − meas
100
n meas
ARE ⳱ average relative error, %
calc − meas
兺
1
100
n meas
API ⳱ stock-tank-oil gravity, oAPI
Bg ⳱ gas formation volume factor, RB/Mscf
Bo ⳱ oil formation volume factor, RB/STB
Bob ⳱ oil formation volume factor at bubblepoint
pressure, RB/STB
Boi ⳱ oil formation volume factor at initial reservoir
pressure, RB/STB Fig. 7—AARE as a function of bubblepoint solution-gas/oil
Bw ⳱ water formation volume factor, RB/STB ratio. Each data point represents an average of approximately
ce ⳱ effective fluid compressibility, defined in 240 calculations.