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Water Formation Volume Factor

Water formation volume factor (Bw) is the ratio of the volume of water at reservoir conditions to its volume at surface conditions. Bw increases as pressure decreases due to liquid expansion. Below the bubble point pressure, gas is liberated but Bw still increases because liquid shrinkage is outweighed by expansion. Bw is typically measured in a lab but can be estimated using density correlations accounting for dissolved gas. Bw is affected by gas liberation, liquid expansion, and temperature-induced water shrinkage as pressure changes.

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808 views

Water Formation Volume Factor

Water formation volume factor (Bw) is the ratio of the volume of water at reservoir conditions to its volume at surface conditions. Bw increases as pressure decreases due to liquid expansion. Below the bubble point pressure, gas is liberated but Bw still increases because liquid shrinkage is outweighed by expansion. Bw is typically measured in a lab but can be estimated using density correlations accounting for dissolved gas. Bw is affected by gas liberation, liquid expansion, and temperature-induced water shrinkage as pressure changes.

Uploaded by

Khairil Ikram
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Water Formation Volume Factor (

Bw

Water formation volume factor is defined as the ratio of the volume of water at
reservoir (in-situ) conditions to that at stock tank (surface) conditions. It is occupied by 1
stock tank barrel (STB) of formation water plus its dissolved gas. It represents the change in
volume of the formation water as it moves from reservoir conditions to surface conditions.
The formula is as below.

Bw

V reservoir

V surface

Effect of Pressure on Formation Volume Factor of Water


The graph below shows a typical plot of water formation volume factor versus the
Pb
Bw
pressure. As the pressure is decreased to the bubblepoint (
), the
increases as the
liquid expands. At pressures below the bubblepoint, gas is liberated. But in most cases, the
Bw
still will increase because the shrinkage of the water resulting from gas liberation is
insufficient to counterbalance the expansion of the liquid. This is the effect of the small
solubility of natural gas in water.

Fig. 1: A graph of B w versus pressure

Measuring Water Formation Volume Factor


The most accurate source of

Bw

is from the laboratory data. It can also be

calculated from density correlations if the effects of solution of gas have been accounted
Bw
properly. Eq. 1 is used to estimate
if solution of gas is included in the laboratory
measurement.

.....(1)

Where :
Vrc

volume occupied by a unit mass of water at reservoir conditions (weight of gas


dissolved in water at reservoir or standard conditions is negligible), ft3,

Vsc

volume occupied by a unit mass of water at standard conditions, ft3,

sc

density of water at standard conditions, lbm/ ft3,

rc

density of water at reservoir conditions, lbm/ ft3.

The density correlations and the methods of estimating


described previously. The

Bw

sc

and

rc

were

can be less than 1 if the increase in volume resulting from

dissolved gas is not great enough to overcome the decrease in volume caused by increased
Bw
pressure. The value of
is seldom higher than 1.06.
There are also another three effects involved in

Bw

. Firstly is liberation of gas from

water as pressure is reduced. Secondly, the water undergo expansion as the pressure is
reduced and lastly, the shrinkage of water as the temperature is reduced.

References
McCain, W.D. Jr.: McCain, W.D. Jr. 1990. The Properties of Petroleum Fluids, second
edition. Tulsa, Oklahoma: PennWell Books.
McCain Jr., W.D. 1991. Reservoir-Fluid Property Correlations-State of the Art (includes
associated papers 23583 and 23594). SPE Res Eng 6 (2): 266-272. SPE-18571PA. http://dx.doi.org/10.2118/18571-PA
http://www.fekete.com/SAN/TheoryAndEquations/WellTestTheoryEquations/Water_Formati
on_Volume_Factor.htm
http://petrowiki.org/Produced_water_formation_volume_factor#Effect_of_pressure_on_form
ation_volume_factor_of_water

Chew, J., and Connally, C.A.: /1959/,"A Viscosity Correlation for Gas Saturated Crude Oils",
Trans. AIME 216, 23 (1959).

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