CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

3.1

Generic Oil Rim Model Description

The structure of the model is a simple 3D box, with uniform average properties and a
rectilinear refined grid around the producing well designed to resolve coning effects.
Details of the model are presented in Appendix A. There are two horizontal wells
(one dedicated to oil rim production and one to gas cap production) in the model.
The grid is refined near the oil wellbore to properly capture coning behaviour while
keeping runtimes manageable. The model geometry is based on a rectangular
drainage area.
MoReS ScenarioManager functionality has been used to All parameters (reservoir, fluid
and well) are Scenario Manager variables to allow the impact of all key factors (except
heterogeneity, dip and anisotropy) to be modelled systematically. This allows the user to
run sensitivities without changing the underlying input, by defining parameters in the
deck. The approach to the model generation itself has been modular. That is, the relevant
include files are brought together under the umbrella of the main input deck.
The figure below shows a cross section through one of the models run.

Figure 5.1: A vertical cross section through one of the models run
The constraints applied to the generic oil rim model are:
_

Initial production rate of 2,500 stb/day

_

Horizontal wells length of 500 metres

_ Minimum BHP of 1900 psi
_ Maximum allowable water cut of 80%.
_

Simulation time of 30 years.

The size of the box model was chosen to be 2000 m by 2000 m to prevent both underdrainage for larger boxes and over-drainage for smaller boxes. Figure 5.2 shows the
impact of box size on oil recovery factor. As the box size increases the recovery factor
declines as a lower fraction of the total oil in place is produced before the well stops
flowing due to a technical limit set in the model. The focus of the model was to assess
near well bore dynamics and eliminate edge effects. The box size of 2000 m by 2000 m
fulfilled the objective in this study.

A generic simulation model has been developed/adapted to assess the impact on

oil recovery of various sub-surface uncertainties in oil rim situations. The model
and input parameters are briefly described below.

3.1.1 Model Geometry and Grid structure

The geometry of the model has been fixed at 2000m x 2000m in the X and Y directions,
which are considered sufficiently large to avoid boundary or edge effects impacting the
recovery process and results. The thickness of the model is varied depending on the
required thickness of oil rim to be tested and gas cap size. The base grid is 11x11 grid
blocks in the X and Y directions. The grid in the Z direction is 5ft over the initial gas cap
and 3ft over the oil rim and water leg. In addition, a 2 level local grid refinement is
introduced around the well and shown below to more accurately represent the drawdown
and pressure distribution around the horizontal well.

Reservoir Properties and Barriers

Constant properties (permeability, porosity, NTG) are used throughout the model.
Permeability and porosity are set in the Scenario Manager script while NTG is set equal
to 1. No shale barriers or faults have been introduced in the model. This simplistic
geological description is intended to allow focus on the underlying physics of oil rim
movement and be influenced by localised flow barriers.
PVT
Oil and Wet gas properties are generated using MoReS built in correlations. The bubble
point pressure is set equal to the pressure at the gas oil contact. API gravity and Specific
Gas Gravity are used as input variables. Zero N2, H2S or CO2 contamination is assumed.
Condensate is introduced using the following relation

CGRi = 0.012 * D 75 (D= depth of gas oil contact)

CGR declines with pressure based on correlations from PVT Manual
Some example PVT plots generated by MoReS are shown below. The plots are based on
the following input data
- Oil API Gravity 30
- Gas SG 0.65
- Temperature 180 degF
Oil Properties:

4. Relative Permeability
The rationale used to generate relative permeability for the model is described in the
attached note. The technical details are based on a study work originating in EPT-S and
used to assess oil rim development of reservoirs in the NUGS clusters. Different relative
permeability models are used for the oil rim and gas cap portions of the reservoir to
more accurately model the different displacement processes occurring in each. This
approach has been used in the generic model.
6. Initialisation
Hydrostatic initialisation is assumed. Pressure at the OWC is calculated to be
Powc = Depth(OWC) * 0.433 + 14.7 psia
7. Well description
A horizontal oil production well is placed centrally within the oil rim section of the
model. The well length is a variable in the analysis. A homogeneous mixture well bore
flow model is applied to take into account the pressure drop along the horizontal section
of the well. The model is based on MoReS internal correlations

In addition, a horizontal gas production well is placed in gas cap of the model. This well
is used to develop the gas cap after the oil rim has been developed in the case of the Oil
Then Gas development or, at the same time as the oil rim the Concurrent Oil and Gas
development scenario.