4.

WATER INFLUX

4.1 Introduction

Many reservoirs are bounded on a portion or all of their peripheries by water bearing rocks called
aquifers. The aquifers may be so large compared with the reservoirs they adjoin as to appear
infinite for all practical purposes, and they may range down to those so small as to be negligible in
their effect on reservoir performance.

In response to a pressure drop in the reservoir, the aquifer reacts to offset, or retard, pressure decline
by providing a source of water influx or encroachment by
(a) expansion of the water;
(b) expansion of other known or unknown hydrocarbon accumulations in the aquifer rock;
(c) compressibility of the aquifer rock; and/or
(d) artesian flow, which occurs when the aquifer rises to a level above the reservoir, where
it outcrops or not, and whether or not the outcrop is replenished by surface water.

To determine the effect that an aquifer has on the production from a hydrocarbon reservoir, it is
necessary to be able to calculate the amount of water that has influxed from the aquifer.

Choosing an appropriate model for water influx involves many uncertainties. Some of these include
the size and shape of the aquifer and aquifer properties such as porosity and permeability.
Normally, little is known about these parameters largely because the cost to drill into the aquifer to
obtain the necessary data is not often justified.

In this chapter, several models that have been used in reservoir studies to calculate water influx
amounts are considered. These models can be generally categorized by a time dependence (steady-
state or unsteady-state) and whether the aquifer is an edge-water or bottom-water drive.

4.2 Steady-State Models

The simplest model we discuss is the Schilthuis steady-state model1. This model assumes that the
pressure at the external boundary of the aquifer is maintained at the initial value Pi and that flow to
the reservoir is proportional to the pressure differential, assuming that the water viscosity, average
permeability, and aquifer geometry remain constant.

dW e = k(P - P)
i
dt
where,
We = Amount of water influx, bbl;
k = water influx constant, bbl/day/psi;
Pi = initial aquifer pressure, psi;
P = pressure at time t, measured at the original water-oil contact, psi.

If the value of k can be found, then the value of the cumulative water influx, We can be found.
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4.3 Unsteady-State Models

In nearly all applications, the steady-state models discussed in the previous section are not adequate
in describing the water influx. For large aquifers a mathematical model is required which includes
time dependence, for the fact that it takes a finite time for the aquifer to respond fully to a pressure
change in the reservoir. In the next two subsections two such models will be studied; firstly that of
van Everdingen and Hurst2 and secondly, the approximate method of Fetkovich3.

4.3.1 The van Everdingen and Hurst Edge-Water Drive Model

Consider a circular reservoir of radius ro, as shown in Figure 4.1, in a horizontal, circular aquifer of
radius re, which is uniform thickness, permeability, and porosity, and in rock and water
compressibilities. The radial diffusivity equation expresses the relationship between pressure,
radius, and time for a radial system such as Figure 4.1, where the driving potential of the system is
the water expandability and rock compressibility:

 2 P 1 P φμ c t P
+ =
r 2 r r 0.0002637 t

where,
k = average aquifer permeability, md;
t = time, hours;
φ = aquifer porosity, fraction;
μ = water viscosity, cp;
ct = aquifer compressibility, 1/psi;
r = radius, ft;
P = pressure, psi.

Figure 4.1 Radial aquifer geometry.

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This equation is generally solved for what is referred as the constant terminal rate case. The
constant terminal rate case requires a constant flow rate at the inner boundary, which is the well
bore when an oil well is opened up on production. In this solution it is desirous to know the
pressure behavior at various points in the reservoir because a constant flow of fluid comes into the
well bore from the reservoir.

In the description of water influx from an aquifer into a reservoir there is greater interest in
calculating the influx rate rather than the pressure drop. This leads to the determination of the influx
as a function of a given pressure drop at the inner boundary of the system. In this chapter, the
diffusivity equation is applied to the aquifer where the inner boundary is defined as the interface
between the reservoir and the aquifer. With the interface between the reservoirs as the inner
boundary, the pressure at the inner boundary remains constant and the flow rate as it crosses the
boundary is observed with time. Mathematically this condition is stated as
P = constant = Pi - ΔP at r = ro
where ro is a constant and is equal to the outer radius of the reservoir (i.e., the original water-oil
contact). The pressure must be determined at this original oil-water contact. van Everdingen and
Hurst solved the diffusivity equation for this condition, which is referred to as the constant
terminal pressure case, for the following initial and outer boundary conditions:

Initial condition:
P = Pi for all values of r
Outer boundary condition:
For an infinite aquifer:
P = Pi at r = 
For a finite aquifer:
P
=0 at r = re
r
At this point, the diffusivity equation is written in terms of the following dimensionless parameters:

Dimensionless time:

kt
t = 0.0002637
φμ c t r o2
Dimensionless radius:
r
rD =
ro
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Dimensionless pressure:
Pi - P
PD =
P i - P wf
With the dimensionless parameters, the diffusivity equation becomes:

2 PD 1  PD  PD
+ =
 r 2D rD rD t D
In this respect van Everdingen and Hurst solved the radial diffusivity equation for the aquifer-
reservoir system by applying the Laplace transformation and converted their solutions to
dimensionless, cumulative water influx values and made the results available in a convenient form
given in Tables 4.1-4.2 for various ratios of aquifer to reservoir size, expressed by the ratio of their
radii, re/ro. Figures 4.2-4.6 are plots of some of the tabular forms. The data are given in terms of
dimensionless time, tD, and dimensionless water influx, WeD, so that one set of values suffices for
all aquifers whose behavior can be represented by the radial form of the diffusivity equation. The
water influx is then found by using the following equation:
W e = UP W eD
where
θ
U = 1.119φ c t r o2 h
360
U = water influx constant, bbl/psi;
θ = the angle subtended by the reservoir circumference;
h = aquifer thickness, ft.

It should be appreciated that there are more uncertainties attached to this subject, in reservoir
engineering, 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 have frequently to be inferred from what has been observed in the aquifer. Even
more uncertain, however, is the geometry and areal continuity of the aquifer itself.

Because of the many uncertainties in the dimensions and properties of the aquifer, the calculation of
water influx independently of material balance appears somewhat unreliable.

There are differences in the way in which the dimensionless time and aquifer constant are
calculated, dependent on geometry. These differences are summarized in Figures 4.7-4.8.

In the preceding section the calculated cumulative water into a reservoir was due to an
instantaneous pressure drop applied at the outer boundary. In the more practical case of history
matching the observed reservoir pressure, it is necessary to extend the theory to calculate the
cumulative water influx corresponding to a continuous pressure decline at the reservoir aquifer
boundary. The recommended method of approximating the continuous pressure decline, by a series
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of pressure steps is illustrated in Figure 4.94.

Suppose that the observed pressures, which are assumed to be equal to the pressures at the original
water-oil contact, are Pi, P1, P2…. etc., at the times 0, t1, t2….. etc. Then the pressure drops
occurring at times 0, t1, t2….. etc. are then approximation of the pressure history is made by
making the pressure drop at any time(4):

P j-1 - P j +1
ΔP = P j - P j 1 =
2
where

P j-1 - P j
Pj =
2

Therefore, to calculate the cumulative water influx We at some arbitrary time T, which corresponds
to the nth time step, requires the superposition of solutions, to give:

where ΔPj is the pressure drop at time tj, and WD (TD - tDj) is the dimensionless cumulative water
influx, obtained from van Everdingen and Hurst solutions, for the dimensionless time (TD - tDj)
during which the effect of the pressure drop is felt.

4.3.2 The Approximate Water Influx Theory of Fetkovich for Finite Aquifers

The unsteady-state methods discussed in the previous section provide correct procedures for
calculating water influx in nearly all reservoir applications. However, the calculations tend to be
somewhat cumbersome, and therefore have been various attempts to simplify the calculations. The
most popular and seemingly accurate method is one developed by Fetkovich using an aquifer
material balance and an equation that describes the flow rate from the aquifer3. The equations for
flow rate used by Fetkovich are similar to the productivity index equation.

Fetkovich first wrote a material balance equation on the aquifer for constant water and rock
compressibilities as:

P = -( P i ) W e + P i
W ei

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where;
P = the average pressure in the aquifer after the removal of We bbl of water;
Pi = the initial pressure of the aquifer;
Wei = the initial encroachable water in place at the initial pressure.

dWe Wei d P

dt Pi dt
Fetkovich next defined a generalized rate equation as:

m dWe
q w B w = J (P - PR ) 
dt

where;
qwBw = the flow rate of water from the aquifer;
J = productivity index of the aquifer which is a function of the aquifer geometry;
PR = the pressure at the reservoir-aquifer boundary;
m = 1 for Darcy flow.

The above two equations can be combined to yield the following equation:

W ei
We = (P i - P R )[1 - e A ]
Pi
where;

JP i t
A=-
W ei
This equation derived for constant pressures at both the reservoir-aquifer boundary, PR, and the
average pressure in the aquifer, P. At this point, to apply the equation to a typical reservoir
application where both of these pressures are changing with time, it would normally be required to
use the principle of superposition. Fetkovich showed that by calculating the water influx for a short
time period, Δt, with a corresponding average aquifer pressure, P, and an average boundary
pressure, PR, and then starting the calculation over again for a new period and new pressures,
superposition was not needed. The following equations are used in the calculation for water influx
with this method:

W ei
Δ W en = (P n -1 - P Rn )[1 - e B ]
Pi
where;

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 JP i Δ t n
B=-
W ei

 n 1 
  ΔWej 
P n -1 = P i (1 - e )  Pi 1  J 1 
W
W ei  Wei 
 
 

+
P Rn = P Rn -1 P Rn
2
where
n represents a particular interval;
Pn-1 = the average aquifer pressure at the end of the n-1 time interval;
PRn = the average reservoir-aquifer boundary pressure during interval n;
We = the total, or cumulative, water influx and is given by:

W e = ΣΔ W en

The productivity index, J, used in the calculation procedure is a function of the geometry of the
aquifer. Table 4.3 contains several aquifer productivity indexes as presented by Fetkovich.

REFERENCES

1. Schilthuis, R.J., "Active Oil and Reservoir Energy", Trans. AIME (1936), 118, 27.

2. van Everdingen, A.F., Hurst, W., "The Application of the Laplace Transformation to Flow
Problems in Reservoirs", Trans. AIME (1949), 186, 305.

3. Fetkovich, M.J., "A Simplified Approach to Water Influx Calculations-Finite Aquifer Systems",
JPT (July 1971), 814-828.

4. van Everdingen, A.F., Timmerman, E.H., McMahon, J.J., "Application of the Material Balance
Equation to a Partial Water-Drive Reservoir", Trans. AIME (1953), 198, 51.

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Figure 4.2 Dimensionless water influx, constant terminal pressure case, radial flow.

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Figure 4.3 Dimensionless water influx, constant terminal pressure case, radial flow.

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Figure 4.4 Dimensionless water influx, constant terminal pressure case, radial flow.

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Figure 4.5 Dimensionless water influx, constant terminal pressure case, radial and linear flow.

Figure 4.6 Dimensionless water influx, constant terminal pressure case, radial flow.

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Figure 4.7 Radial flow geometry

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 Figure 4.8 Linear flow geometry.

Figure 4.9 Matching a continuous pressure decline at the reservoir-aquifer boundary by a series of
discrete pressure steps.

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