The Application of the Buckley-Leverett Frontal

Advance Theory to Petroleum Recovery

I N T R O D U C T I O N
STEPHEN G. DARDAGANIAN*
JUNIOR MEMBER Al ME
Basically, t he Buckley-Leverett
theory involves two systems which
are similar in nature but are differen-
tiated by time. These systems may be
described by the fractional flow and
frontal advance equations which es-
sentially characterize the mechanics
of oil movement while being expelled
from the reservo'ir.
A & M COLLEGE OF TEXAS
COLLEGE STATION, TEX.
The fractional flow equation orig-
inally developed by Leverettl may be
expressed in the more usable form
[I221 - .433 AY sin e
I
The development of this equationz is
based on Darcy's law describing fluid
flow through porous media and ap-
plies to the flow at only one point
(it is a point function). For simpli-
fication, the fractional flow equation
is written in the above form because
the capillary forces always increase
the fractional flow of the displacing
phase regardless of the direction of
flow or the displacing phase.
If, for simplicity, the effects due
to gravity and capillary pressure dif-
ferences are neglected, the fraction
of the displacing fluid, f,, at any
point in the flowing stream is related
--
Original manuscript received in Society of
Petroleum Engineers ofice on March 11. 1957.
Revised manuscript received Feb. 26. 1958.
Paper presented at Joint University of Texas-
A & M College of Texas Student Chapters of
AIME Regional Meeting in Austin, Tex., Feb.
14-15, 1957.
*Presently completing 'The Atlantic Refin-
ing Co. training program, Dallas. Tex.
'References given at em1 of paper.
to the properties of the system by
0 k*
Thus, it is seen that in the absence
of capillary and gravitational effects,
f d for a given sand and fluids varies
only with saturation and pressure.
The magnitude of the viscosity ratio,
Pa
-, has an effective range (range of
Po
about 30) in the system where gas is
displacing oil and a much smaller
range for water displacing oil.
In order to make the fractional
flow equation more versatile, it is
necessary to connect the fractional
flow at a given point and saturation
with time. This problem was ap-
proached by Buckley and Leverett"
who developed the frontal advance
equation,
( ) Af AS,, S., . . ( 3 )
Eq. 3 states that the rate of advance
of a plane that has a fixed saturation,
Sd, is proportional to the change in
composition of the flow stream caused
by a small change in the saturation
of the displacing fluid. It is, essential-
ly, a transformation of a material
balance equation representing the net
rate of accumulation of the displac-
ing phase within a homogeneous sand
block. This accumulation is propor-
tional to the difference between the
rate at which the displacing fluid
enters the sand and that at which it
leaves.
Eq. 3 describes the velocity with
which a plane of constant displacing
phase saturation advances through a
porous system. Buckley and Leverett,"
Babson,' Kern," Wel ge, hnd others
have adequately discussed the basic
mechanism and application of the
fractional flow and frontal advance
equations.
APPLICATIONS OF THE
FRONTAL ADVANCE THEORY
TO PETROLEUM RECOVERY
Two general applications of the
Buckley-Leverett frontal advance the-
ory involve the system in which the
oil is being displaced by an expand-
ing gas cap overlying the oil zone
and that in which the oil is being
displaced by water.
A system in which gas is the dis-
placing phase may be thought of as
having two forces effecting the dis-
placement process. These forces are
the gravitational force and that force
exerted by the displacing gas. The
gravitational effects control the dis-
placing efficiency of the gas. The gra-
vitational effect will be less at higher
rates of flow, thereby reducing the
effectiveness of the displacement of
the oil by the gas. The more efficient
displacements occur at flow rates
which are less than the gravity free
fall rate. Capillary forces can be neg-
lected without materially changing
the magnitude of the gas saturation.
The Mile Six pool is used herein
to illustrate the calculating proce-
dures in evaluating gas drive-gravity
drainage field perfomlance. These
calculations represent the determina-
tion of the gas-oil contact when the
distribution of the hydrocarbon pore
volume is considered. Two methods
VOL. 2 1 3 , 1 9 5 8 365
Jre ava~lable lor making such calcu-
lations: ;I lincar block method and a
volumetric invasion method.
The lincur hlock method involves
the treatment of t he reservoir as a
uni f ~) r n~ block. The displacement of
oil by thc advancing gas cap is
evaluated by
!!,
k A .
1 4- .001127--2--( - ,433 a; sin 6 ;
/J& 0,
.. - ..~ .. -
I + -5,;-
1 , k,l
. . . . . . . . . .
(4)
which is the same as Eq. 1 except
that the capillary forces are neglec-
ted. It should be noted that the cross-
sectional area normal to flow must be
determined before the fractional flow
can be evaluated. Ther e ar e two
methods presented by Amys, Bass.
and Whiting which can be ~ ~ s e d for
the determination of this area. A res-
ervoir voidage rate of 9,177 BI D
and ot her propert i es reported by
Welge and Anders' were used in the
calculations shown in Fig. 1.
In order to determine the position
of the gas-oil contact at any time, it
is necessary to solve the following
equations for various values of time
or gas-oil contact position
These are essentially forms of Eq. 3.
Eq. 5 may be restated in terms of
hydrocarbon pore space provided the
fractional flow equation is expressed
with gas saturation as a fraction of
hydrocarbon pore volume (as shown
in Fig. I ) . The following is noted:
f' =f(l - S , ) .
5 ,:x
4 ( I - S l l
F r c . ~- ( FROAI Ittr. 7 ) FRACTIONAI. E'LO\V
OF A GAS AS A F ~ J NCTI ~ N OF GAS SATURA-
TI ON EXPRISSSCD AS 4 FK\ ( : TI ~N OF HYDRO-
CAR1:OT ~) ( : ( ' uT' I I ' I ) 1' 0~1: ~ l ' r ~ ~ ~ ; .
rlf ,
'I lld --
1 (If
- - - - - -. -
d S , - ( I S , ) (1s'
Using the above definitions, Eq. 5
may hc rewritten as
5.61 L Af '
Q,T = , . . ( 6)
where Q, T is the cumulative reser-
voir voidage.
The volumetric invasion met hod
involves the use of the hydrocarbon
pore distribution. The invaded hy-
drocarbon pore volume appears in
Eq. 6 as: hydrocarbon pore volume
= L A f ( 1 - S, , ) , cu ft such that
its value can be read directly from
Fig. 2 which shows the distribution
of the hydrocarbon pore volume of
the oil zone with depth in the Mile
Six pool. The distance along the bed-
ding planes ( L) is converted to ver-
tical heights by h = L sin 0. This
conversion is performed because the
vertical displacement of the gas-oil
contact is of basic importance in res-
ervoir study.
Using the modified form of Eq. 6
such that
Q T sin 0
( d! . )
Ah I= -:-- -
5.61 A f' ( 1 - S, ) dS', '
. . . . . . . . . ( 7)
the saturation distribution with height
may be calculated. As the position
of the front is specified in each case,
the cumulative reservoir voidage term
may be replaced by Eq. 6 such that
Eq. 7 becomes
Ah -= L sin OF$/ (2:) f]
. . . . . . . . . .
( 8)
Thus, for any given position of the
gas-oil contact denoted by L, the sat-
uraticn di st ri but i on can be deter-
mined.
Sample calculations for the deter-
mination of the gas-oil contact when
the distribution of the hydrocarbon
pore volume is taken into considera-
tion are presented in 'Table 1. The
data calculated in Table 1 are plotted
in Fig. 3, which shows a comparison
of the computed position of the gas-
oil contact to that observed from
field data. Only small deviations are
noticed at low values of cumulative
production with the deviation increas-
ing with increased production.
The time and cumulative produc-
tion are readily obtained as it was as-
sumed that thc rate of reservoir voi-
dage was a constant and that no pro-
FIG. 2-(FROM REF. 7) DISTRIBUTION OF
HYD~I OCARDON PORE VOLUME I N THE OIL
ZONE WITH DEPTH, MILE SIX POOL.
duction occurred behind the front.
'Thus, @,T = N,B, , where Q, and
B, are known, and Q,T is expressed
and calculated as a function of the
gas-oil contact position by Eq. 6.
The fractional flow and frontal ad-
vance calculations for a system in
which water is the displacing phase
are basically the same as the calcu-
lations for a system in which gas
is the displacing phase. However, the
latter generally occurs in a system in
which a third immobile phase (water)
is usually present, whereas, in a
water-drive system, the third phase
(gas) may or may not be present
and may exist either in a mobile or
immobile state.
Pressure is the controlling factor
which defines the state of the third
phase (gas) in a water-drive system.
If the reservoir exists at a pressure
above the bubble-point pressure of
the oil, no free gas phase will exist,
and the system may be evaluated as
a two-phase system. Assuming the
reservoir exists at a pressure slightly
below the bubble-point pressure of
the oil, the gas that has been evolved
from the oil may be thought of as
being immobile. This system may be
evaluated as a three-phase system
with an immobile third phase. If,
however, the reservoir exists at a
pressure sufficiently below the bub-
ble point such that the evolved gas
has mobility, the problem will then
become one involving three mobile
phases. The treatment of such a prob-
lem will now be discussed.
Consider a reservoir in which a
gas phase has been created by pro-
duction and pressure depletion. The
saturation distribution is such that
three mobile phases exist. The frac-
tional flow-frontal advance t heory
breaks down when applied to this
system as a whole. However, this
problem may be simplified remem-
bering that an oil bank develops
ahead of a waterflood f r ont when
flooding in the presence of a mobile
PETROLEUM TRANS ACTI ONS , AI ME
TABLE I-CALCULATION OF GAS-CAP POSITION AS A FUNCTION OF CUMULATIVE PRODUCTION
(Voi dage Rate-9,177 B/ D, B o = 1.196)
, Q, = L A f I - S ( 0
5.61 (Sgal r
. * Np =TQI-
B"
-I From Fig. 2
-
gas saturation. This complex system
of three mobile phases may now be
thought of as two separate systems in
which only two mobile phases exist.
One system is that in which the oil
bank displaces the gas to an i n~mo-
bile saturation. I n the second system,
the advancing water bank displaces
the oil from the porous rock in the
presence of an immobile gas phase.
By combining the evaluations of these
systems, it is then possible to arrive
at an evaluation of the system as a
whole. The methods for such evalua-
tions are developed in the following
paragraphs.
The residual gas sat ur at i on de-
veloped during a flood is a function
of the rock and fluid properties and
can be determined from flow tests
on the rock. During a water flood,
the oil bank that builds ahead of the
water front tends to displace any
free gas from the system. Since the
viscosity of the displacing oil is con-
siderably greater than that of the
displaced gas, the oil bank essen-
tially displaces the gas with a pis-
ton-like effect. The gas is reduced to
a "trapped" saturation assuming the
pressure is such that it does not go
into solution. Fig. 4 presents data
adapted from flow tests performed by
Kruger%n the amount of gas trapped
by wat er flooding a gas-sat urat ed
core. This shows that the magnitude
of the residual gas saturation ob-
tained is a function of the amount
of gas initially present.
The frontal advance theory may
be used to evaluate 1:he displacement
of oil by water in the presence of
the immobile gas. It is concluded that
the residual oil saturation by water
displacement will be a function of
the r es i d~~al gas within the oil bank.
The effect of the residual gas satura-
tion on the residual oil may be com-
puted by the fractional flow-frontal
advance theory if appropriate relative
permeability data are available. From
such data and frontal advance con-
cepts the residual oil saturation at
breakthrough of water may be calcu-
lated as a function of the viscosity
ratio, pU/p,. For a given reservoir,
the viscosity of water at reservoir
conditions is essentially independent
of the pressure. Therefore, the only
vari abl e effecting the resi dual oil
saturation that varies with pressur:
is the oil viscosity. Using the oil and
water viscosity data applying to a
particular reservoir, the variation of
the viscosity ratio with pressure may
be calculated. Fig, 5 illustrates a
family of curves defining the residual
oil saturation as a function of the
pressure and pas saturation.
The initial free gas saturation may
be determined from material balance
calculations, and by utilizing dat a
such as that shown in Fig. 4, the
residual gas saturation existing in the
oil bank may be estiinated. The resid-
ual oil saturation then may be de-
termined from the residual gas satu-
ration and the reservoir by
the utilization of such data as pre-
sented in Fig. 5.
I NI T' AL GAS SATURATION, PERCENT
FIG. &-(FROM REF. 9) ESTIMATED GAS
ENTRAPMENT AFTER OIL FLOOD.
In the development of this evalu-
ating process, the rcsidual gas satu-
ration cleveloped by the advancing oil
bank is considered to be the same as
the residual gas saturation hehind the
waterflood front such that the water
flood has no effcct on the gas sntura-
tion. Tn addition, the residual oil
saturation is thought of as essentially
being equal to the average oil satura-
tion behind the front. Thus, the re-
sidual oil may be defined by ( 1 -
S,, - 5 ,,,, ) . The second phase of re-
covery (displacement of oil af t er
breakthrollgh of the flood front) is
not considered since the economic
value of such recovery is sometimes
relatively low.
By evaluating the performance of
solution gas-drive reservoirs, the free
gas saturation and recovery as a func-
tion of pressurc decline may be cal-
culated. The effect of initiating and
maintaining a water flood at a given
pressure may be determined as shown
in Table 2. The results of applying
this procedure t o other systems are
shown in Fig. 6. Curves A, B, C, and
D are based on the calculated per-
formance of a solution gas-dri ve
given by Muskat'". The waterflood re-
coveries were estimated from the data
in Fig. 4 and curves corresponding
to Fig. 5 prepared for each API oil.
The curves in Fig. 6 consider 100
per cent pattern efficiency. Note that
Curves A and B show maximums in
total oil recovery at pressures below
the bubble-point pressure (3.000 psi
for all of the oils).
The maximums in total oil recov-
ery are attributed to the effect of the
free gas saturation in reducing the
residual oil following a water flood.
Maximums do not occur in Curves C
and D. This is attributed to the ef-
fect of the greater shrinkage of the
higher gravity oils. Curve E illus-
trates the effect of pattern efficiency
on the optimum flooding pressure.
F L ~ J t i P R t 5 5 1 ~ E c o
FIG. 5-(FROM RLF. 8) EFFECT or PATS-
SLRE ON RESIDI~AL OIL SATUR~TI ON BY
WATER 17~ooo~uc FOR A 30' API CRUDE
OIL.