Introduction to Reservoir Engineering

Crude oil, natural gas, and water are compounds that maintain petroleum engineers
concerned during hydrocarbons reservoir development. Independently of the state of these
substances they are handled to the surface to be produced even water which in some cases
is not desired. The phase of a fluid in a reservoir usually changes with pressure, in the other
hand temperature remains substantially constant. In the case when the fluid is produced to
the surface the state is unrelated to the state of the fluid in place. Therefore, it is necessary to
have a deep knowledge of the behaviour of hydrocarbons and water at reservoir conditions
either static or dynamic and under changing of pressure and temperature.
The study of rock properties and their relationship to the fluids contained into them in both
states static and dynamic flowing patterns is called Petrophysicists. Rock properties such as
porosity, permeability, fluid saturations and distributions, electrical conductivity of both rock
and fluids, pore structures, and radioactivity are some of the most important petrophysical
properties of rocks.
Reservoir engineering may be defined as the application of scientific principles to the drainage
issues arising during development and production of oil and gas reservoirs. The working tools
of the reservoir engineer are surface geology, applied mathematics, and the basics of physics
laws and chemistry governing the behaviour of the different phases of hydrocarbons in the
reservoir rock. Because reservoir engineering is the science of producing oil and gas, it
involves the study a study of all the factors affecting their recovery which is a concern to all
petroleum engineers, from the driller to the production engineer.
Petroleum Reservoirs
Oil and gas reservoirs usually occur in a moderate porosity and permeable structures which
are mainly sands, limestones, and dolomites, these could be traps formed by structural and
stratigraphic features. Many reservoirs are hydraulically connected to volumes of water called
aquifers, this connection with these wate-bearing rock keeps the pressure decline gradually
than other type of reservoirs where the pressure declines with depletion.
The initial mechanism of production from the underground reservoirs are accomplished by the
natural energy and it is known as primary production. The fluids are displaced to production
wells under primary production by fluid expansion, fluid displacement, gravitational drainage,
and capillary exclusion.
Gas or water injected as a displacing fluid are called secondary recover operations. When a
water injection path is used as a recover method, the process is named waterflooding. The
main purpose of either natural gas or water injection is to maintain the reservoir pressure and
improve the recovery factor.
Reservoir Characterization
Accurate reservoir characterization is a key phase in developing, monitoring, and managing a
reservoir and optimizing production. To achieve precision and to warrant that all the
information available at any given time and is incorporated in the reservoir model, reservoir
characterization must be dynamic. To achieve this goal, however, one starts with a simple
model of the reservoir (static model). As new petrophysical, seismic, and production data
become available, the reservoir model is updated to account for the changes in the reservoir.
The updated model would be a better representative of the current status of the reservoir.
Both static reservoir properties, such as porosity, permeability, and facies type; and dynamic
reservoir properties, such as pressure, fluid saturation, and temperature, needs to be updated
as more field data become available.
A model of a reservoir that incorporates all the characteristics of the reservoir that are pertinent
to its ability to store hydrocarbons and also to produce them. Reservoir characterization
models are used to simulate the behaviour of the fluids within the reservoir under different sets
of circumstances and to find the optimal production techniques that will maximize the
production.
Reservoir Characterization: Multidisciplinary Work

Figure 1 Multidisciplinary Approach of Reservoir Characterization (Author: Byron Almeida)

Multidisciplinary work is crucial while managing the risk. The objective is to integrate all the
available subsurface data and deduce different rock and fluid properties of the reservoir.
Rather than simply integrating the interdisciplinary data and results derived from experts
working in isolation, integration at the discipline level is a more robust approach (figure 1).
Forecasting the recovery potential and production performance of a field requires a clear
understanding of the geologic framework and the petroleum system. This is achieved through
the integration approach.
Estimated volumes of oil and gas in the reservoir are obtained from analysis of geological and
geophysical data. Petrophysicists use this estimate for field development and for production
planning in the economic and efficient recovery of the hydrocarbons. The process starts with
reservoir discovery from exploration drilling. This is followed by assessment and development
drilling that leads to the field development plans and for making production decisions. The
formulation of development plan for the reservoir defines the number of wells and locations of
production and injection wells to be drilled.
The Key to Reservoir Management
A comprehensive description of the reservoir rocks, fluids, and the aquifer is essential to
optimize hydrocarbon production. The need for reservoir description begins as soon as the
discovery is made in order to estimate the reserves of hydrocarbon in place, recoverable
reserves, and rates of production. Usually, as a field or reservoir goes through the life cycle of
evaluation, planning, development, and surveillance, a holistic reservoir description is
necessary.
Reservoir management requires teamwork and close coordination between geologists,
geophysicists, engineers, and managers through all stages of the life of a reservoir. Geological
and geophysical data are essential elements of most aspects of reservoir description. This
provides us with information on the reservoir facies, the qualitative and quantitative reservoir
rock properties, reservoir rock lithology, porosity, and permeability distribution, expected to be
encountered. The reservoir engineers use this data in planning the development well locations
so that they connect to the best porosity development.

References
Fanchi, J. R. (2002). Reservoir Flow Simulation. Shared Earth Modeling, 245–258.
doi:10.1016/b978-075067522-2/50014-8
Aminzadeh, F., & Dasgupta, S. N. (2013). Reservoir Characterization. Geophysics for
Petroleum Engineers, 151–189.
Dake, L. P. (1983). Fundamentals of reservoir engineering. Elsevier.
Terry, R. E., Rogers, J. B., & Craft, B. C. (2015). Applied petroleum reservoir engineering.
Pearson Education