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Petroleum Technology 1
Unit 3, Petroleum Properties

Open Distance Learning

PgC/PgD/MSc in Oil and Gas Engineering

2
January 2002, Version 1
School of Mechanical and Offshore Engineering

postgraduate
PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
Mechanisms

Topic 18: Reservoir Drive Mechanisms

Review

In this topic the effects of the various types of drive mechanisms on ultimate
hydrocarbon recovery during the production life of the reservoir are
described.

Content
METHODS OF RECOVERY

Various sources of energy are available in the reservoir to provide drive mechanisms
-ie, to cause the hydrocarbons to flow to the producing wells and hence to the surface .
Recovery is conventionally classified as either primary, secondary or enhanced.

Primary recovery

This refers to recovery carried out by utilising the natural energy available in the
reservoir and the adjacent aquifer. In some cases primary recovery is never used and
water injection is started on day 1. The Alba field is one such example, the reason being
that the oil is heavy and the sand unconsolidated so water injection has to be introduced
straight away to optimise the recovery process.

Secondary recovery

This refers to recovery carried out by adding energy to the reservoir by the injection of
water and/or the reinjection of produced gas. If the water injection (water-flooding)
and/or gas reinjection are carried out in such a way as to maintain the reservoir
pressure approximately constant, the process is referred to as pressure maintenance.
WAG (water alternating gas) recovery is being undertaken for the BP Magnus field in
the UK North Sea.

Enhanced recovery

This refers to a variety of processes used to increase the ultimate oil recovery from a
reservoir, such as the injection of steam, carbon dioxide, LPG (propane or butane) or
surfactants (polymers). (Conventional secondary recovery processes –ie, the injection
of plain water or reinjection of produced gas are not considered as enhanced recovery
operations ). Enhanced recovery operations were formerly used only after secondary
recovery had been carried out, and were therefore usually referred to as tertiary
recovery. The term enhanced recovery operations (EOR) is now preferred , as in some
cases these operations are carried out immediately following primary recovery, without
any secondary recovery stage as such. Improved oil recovery (IOR) is a less specific
term sometimes used.

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PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
Mechanisms

Consider first a simple example of primary recovery . The isothermal compressibility, c,

is defined by:-

1  ∂V 
c=−  
V  ∂p  T

where p = pressure, T = temperature, V = volume

(Isothermal conditions are appropriate since there will be no temperature change in the
reservoir) .

Then for a small drop in pressure, dp ,

dV = cVdP

where dV is the resulting increase in volume of the fluid concerned - gas, oil or water.

Assume that the reservoir is volumetric –ie, that there is no water influx -and that the
compressibilities of the rock and the connate water are negligible. Hence there is no
change in the volume of the reservoir, and any increase in the total volume of the
reservoir fluids will appear as produced fluids at the wellhead. Consider a cylindrical
section of the reservoir surrounding the well.

Then if dVtot is the total volume of fluids produced at the wellhead, and subscripts g, o
and w denote gas, oil and water respectively:-

dVtot =increase in volume of fluid

dVtot
originally in reservoir

= dVg + dVo + dVw

= dp(c g Vg + c o Vo + c w Vw )
(since pressure drop dp is the
GAS
GAS Vg same for all the fluids).
Typical values of the fluid
compressibility for a reservoir
pressure of 2000psia are:-
OIL
oil
OIL Vo c o = 15 × 10 −6 /psia

c w = 3 × 10 −6 /psia
WATER
Vw
c g = 500 × 10 −6 /psia

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PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
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It can be seen that if a substantial gas cap is present, the expansion of this gas will
make the largest contribution to production. Hence wells should be completed in the oil
zone, and the gas in the cap should be allowed to remain in the reservoir. Expansion of
the water will only contribute significantly if the water volume is very large and the gas
cap is small or absent .

The above simplified example shows how expansion of a reservoir fluid (gas, oil or
water) due to a pressure drop provides a drive mechanism. In this example the following
energy sources were neglected:
1. Compaction – the reduction in pore space in the reservoir resulting from
compaction of the rock as the fluid pressure falls;
2. Expansion of the connate water present in the oil and gas zones of the reservoir.

In certain cases, these energy sources may also contribute significantly to hydrocarbon
production, e. g. in reservoirs with no free gas. In some shallow unconsolidated
reservoirs, values of rock compressibility may be so high that compaction is the
predominant drive mechanism. However , in reservoirs where free gas is present and
rock compressibility is within the normal range of values, the effects of compaction and
connate water expansion may be neglected.
If several energy sources make significant contributions to production, the reservoir is
said to have combination drive. In some cases it is found that one particular drive
mechanism is dominant, with other energy sources making negligible contributions. It is
helpful to examine the characteristics of the significant drive mechanisms; these are:-

1. Undersaturated Oil Drive

2. Gas Drive: this may be of two types:-

a. Dissolved Gas Drive (depletion drive or solution gas drive)
b. Gas Cap Drive

3. Water Drive
4. Artesian Flow Drive
5. Compaction Drive

The characteristics of these drive mechanisms will now be defined. It should be borne in
mind that any one single drive mechanism is unlikely to be dominant throughout the
entire production history of a reservoir.
1. Undersaturated Oil Drive

For a reservoir to be undersaturated , the reservoir pressure must exceed the bubble
point pressure, and no free gas will be present - i.e. the gas saturation Sg is zero. It is
assumed that water influx is negligible; this will be the case if the adjacent aquifer is
relatively limited in extent - as is usually the case, for example, with a stratigraphic
trap. The drive is provided mainly by expansion of the oil, with some contribution from
connate water expansion and compaction of the pore volume. Since the
compressibility of oil is relatively low , the reservoir pressure drops rapidly, and in
most cases will reach the bubble point after not more than 1% or 2% of the oil initially
in place has been produced. When the pressure reaches the bubble point the oil
becomes saturated and a free gas saturation begins to develop in the reservoir; the
drive mechanism then changes to dissolved gas drive. (Since the quantity of oil
produced during the undersaturated stage of the reservoir production history is so

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PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
Mechanisms

small, under saturated oil drive is sometimes treated as the initial stage of dissolved
gas drive rather than as a separate mechanism in its own right).
2. Gas Drive
a. Dissolved Gas Drive (Solution Gas Drive, Depletion Drive)

When the pressure in an initially undersaturated reservoir falls to the bubble-point

value, a free gas saturation begins to develop in the reservoir; it is the expansion
of this gas which provides the principal drive mechanism for dissolved gas drive.
(It is assumed as before that water influx is negligible. Since the gas has a high
compressibility, the effects of connate water expansion and rock compressibility
may be neglected).
Initially the free gas saturation will be low and the free gas will be immobile; the
producing GOR will be equal to Rs which will decline slightly as the reservoir
pressure falls. The free gas saturation will however soon build up to the critical
value at which the gas becomes mobile and begins to flow to the producing wells.
In reservoirs of high relief with favourable permeability in the up-dip direction
some gas will migrate up-dip and may start to form a secondary gas cap.
As free gas saturation continues to increase the permeability of the formation to
gas will increase while its permeability to oil will decrease, leading to a sharp
increase in the producing GOR. This GOR increase is undesirable, since
examination of the material balance shows that high gas production leads to low
oil recovery . However attempts to keep down the GOR by means such as
shutting-in or reducing the production of wells showing the highest GOR values
or periodically shutting-in the whole reservoir are usually ineffective. The
reservoir pressure declines quite rapidly, and eventually the GOR passes through
a maximum and begins to decline (blowdown).
The economic limit of production is typically reached at quite low oil recovery
efficiencies –eg, 15% to 25%. This poor recovery is a result of the rapid loss of
gas from the reservoir, since it is the expansion of the free gas in the reservoir
which provides the main drive mechanism. In reservoirs of high relief with good
up-dip permeability , the gas may be lost less rapidly, especially if any wells
completed high in the fomation are shut in as their GOR starts to rise sharply. In
such cases better recovery efficiency may be achieved.

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PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
Mechanisms

Figure 1 below shows typical features of the production history of a reservoir,

initially undersaturated, producing by dissolved gas drive. It is typically found that
the recovery efficiency achieved with dissolved gas drive reservoirs is relatively
independent of production rates or well spacings. Note the rapid decline of
reservoir pressure and oil production rate typical of dissolved gas drive.

Figure 1. Oil Recovery versus pressure , gas oil ratio and oil production rate
in dissolved gas drive reservoir

b. Gas Cap Drive

In cases where a gas cap is initially present in the reservoir, the energy available
from the expansion of this gas cap may be utilised to provide the principal drive
mechanism (assuiming negligible water drive). As production of such a reservoir
proceeds, the gas cap expands and displaces oil downwards towards the
producing wells. To achieve good oil recovery the gas should be kept in the
reservoir as long as possible. As the gas cap expands and the gas oil contact is
displaced downwards, wells completed high in the formation (such as well A in
Figure 2 below) will show an increasing GOR and should be shut in to conserve
gas.
As reservoir pressure declines, a free gas saturation will begin to develop in the
oil zone. If the production rate is kept low, and permeability in the up-dip direction
is favourable, Some of this gas will migrate upwards to the gas cap, leading to an
increase in the ultimate recovery efficiency. At high production rates, however,
this is unlikely to happen, and the free gas will tend to be produced with the oil,
leading to an increase in GOR (as with a dissolved gas drive) and reducing the
ultimate recovery efficiency. As a result of the low viscosity of the gas, downward
displacement of the oil is subject to' fingering', when the gas overtakes the oil,
and may bypass considerable amounts of it, leading to early breakthrough of gas
to the wells completed higher in the reservoir. (Fingering is minimised by low
production rates).
The rate of decline of reservoir pressure and production rate are both lower for
gas-cap drive than dissolved gas drive, and oil recovery from a gas-cap drive
reservoir will range from 20% to 40% in typical cases. The use of gas reinjection
will improve these recovery figures, and will make it easier to control the GOR
ratios by reducing pressure decline and the development of free gas saturation.
Typical production history data are shown in the graph in Figure 3.

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PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
Mechanisms

Figure 2. Gas cap drive reservoir

Figure 3. Typical production history for gas cap drive reservoir

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PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
Mechanisms

3. Water Drive

Since the compressibility of water is low, water drive will only contribute significantly
to oil production if the volume of the aquifer in contact with the oil is very large and
there is good permeability. This is often the case, eg, in anticlinal structures where
the aquifer typically extends over a much larger area than the hydrocarbons. In the
case of stratigraphic traps or highly faulted reservoirs aquifer volumes are usually
quite limited and natural water drive therefore relatively insignificant eg, BP Magnus.
Reservoirs in which natural water drive is the dominant production mechanism are
characterised by a low rate of pressure decline, and a fairly constant producing GOR.
In some cases the reservoir pressure may remain practically constant over a
prolonged period. Little gas is therefore released from solution and the producing
gas-oil ratio R will therefore be equal to the solution gas-oil ratio Rs at the reservoir
pressure.
As the water displaces oil towards a producing well, a point will be reached at which
substantial quantities of water are produced, and the percentage of water will
increase rapidly with time. Eventually the water percentage may reach 80% or 90%
and production becomes uneconomic -the well is 'watered out' .Early watering out will
occur in structurally low wells, which can then be shut in and the production
transferred to wells completed higher in the structure. If water flooding operations are
started, watered-out wells may be used for water injection.
It is sometimes found that when a reservoir is produced at low rates the rate of
pressure decline is low and natural water drive is the dominant drive mechanism. As
the production rate is increased, however, the natural water influx does not increase
in proportion, with the result that the rate of pressure decline increases and solution
gas drive may become the dominant drive mechanism. In such cases the reservoir is
rate sensitive –ie, the ultimate recovery efficiency achieved will depend on the
production rate.
Water drive usually gives good recovery efficiency -values of over 50% may be
achieved in some cases. The overall world average is around 40% . Some large
reservoirs which are being monitored are showing good recovery values – gas
reservoirs are showing 80 – 90% recovery, oil reservoirs show less. Data is shown in
Figure 4 below.

Figure 4. Typical production history for water drive reservoir

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PgDip/MSc Oil and Gas Engineering/Petroleum Technology 1 Topic18:Reservoir Drive
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4. Artesian Flow Drive

This is a special type of water drive which is found when at some point the aquifer
rises above the oil - bearing formation. In some cases the aquifer may outcrop at the
surface, ( Figure 5 below ), and be replenished by surface water , as in some
examples in Sumatra. The Bass Strait oilfields south of the Australian mainland are
also examples of artesian flow drive; the aquifer communicates with surface rocks (in
the Snowy Mountains) which allow replenishment of the aquifer by rain water thereby
enhancing reservoir pressure support.

Figure 5. Artesian flow drive reservoir

5. Compaction Drive

In this type of reservoir the main drive mechanism is the compaction of the rock due
to the increase of grain pressure as the reservoir pressure declines. Compaction
drive will only arise when the rock compressibility is high. The value of rock
compressibility decreases with increasing grain pressures –ie, as depth increases; as
a result, compaction drive is normally found in relatively shallow oilfields – eg, the
Bachaquero field in Venezuela (depth 1000- 4000 ft).

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Mechanisms

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