Effect of Gas-Oil Ratio on the Behavior of Fractured

Limestone Reservoirs
1

JUAN JONES-PARRA, h.

MEMBER AIME
RAFAEL SEIJAS REVTOR

AB STRACT
The porosities of fractured limestone reservoirs can
be divided into two broad types in accordance with their
effects on fluid distribution and fluid flow. In the coarse
porosity, gravity segregaNon takes place freely and the
resistance to fluid flow is very small. In the fine porosity
there is no segregation and a high resistance to flow,
and it has relative permeability characteristics similar to
tight sandstones.
By analyzing the affect of the two porosities it is concluded that in some cases to recover the maximum
amount of oil it is necessary to remove large quantities
of gas from the reservoir by producing at high gas-oil
ratios. In this manner the fine porosity is drained of its
oil and the gas-oil contact drops slowly permitting higher
production rates from the oil leg. Since this conclusion
is contrary to widely accepted principles of conservation, a mathematical model (Fig. 1) was constructed to
duplicate the conditions desired.
The behavior of the model indicates that under certain conditions it is possible to recover more oil by producing at high gas-oil ratios than by production at low
gas-oil ratios, and that the rate of production is affected
more by gas shut-offs than by the decrease in pressure
(Figs. 2, 3, 4 and 5).

ESCUELA TECNICA INDUSTRIAL

MINISTRY OF MINES & HYDROCARBONS
CARACAS, VENEZUELA

rosity", while that in which this is not so will be termed

"fine porosity".
The behavior of a reservoir of this type would be
different than that of a sandstone reservoir, especially
if most of the oil is in the fine porosity. It has been observed that fluid flow to the wells takes place mostly
through the coarse porosity. The large fractures which

r---

f --

I -I

---~

fAS

II

s.

So

s ..

Pll

ArID

8,.

FIG. I-RESERVOIR MODEL

INTRODUCTION
It has been noted that certain limestone reservoirs behave in such a way as to indicate that there are two
distinct types of porous spaces available for fluid storage
and fluid flow. Regardless of the nature of these porous
spaces the distinguishing characteristic is that in one
type of porous space there is definite gravity segregation between the oil and the gas; while in the other, the
gas evolved tends to remain distributed equally throughout the reservoir. For the sake of simplicity the porosity
in which gravity segregation takes place at a fast enough
rate to affect the behavior will be called "coarse poOriginal manuscript received in Society of Petroleum Engineers
office Nov. 19, 1957. Revised manuscript received March 23, 1959.
Paper presented at Second Annual Regional Meeting of Venezuela
Petroleum Sections in Caracas, Nov. 6-9, 1957.

,9

13

0.74

II

070

0.026

1.<

.T

058

/2

0,014

400

om

1200

1600

lOO:)

2400

2800

.5

1.0

FIG. 2-BASIC INFORMATION FOR SOLVING EQUATIONS.

SPE 990-G
68

JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY

make up this porosity have such a high fluid carrying

capacity as to make unimportant that of the rest of the
rock in contact with the well. Hence, in these reservoirs, the fine porosity produces into the coarse porosity
which produces into the wells. This being the case, most
of the gas that flows from the fine porosity into the
coarse porosity wiII migrate upwards; and, if there is
vertical continuity in the coarse porosity, it will accumulate up-dip creating a secondary gas cap in the coarse
porosity.
Since the normal tendency is to produce at reasonably low gas-oil ratios, gas shut-offs are usually made
to isolate the up-dip fractures which are filled with migrating gas, isolating at the same time large quantities
of oil in the fine porosity and reducing considerably the
production rate of the wells. Since most of the gas
which is produced from the fine porosity flows up-dip
instead of flowing towards the well, in these reservoirs
it is possible to produce at very low gas-oil ratios as
long as gas-filled fractures are isolated. However, the
high pressure of the fluids in the coarse porosity prevents the production from the fine porosity into the
coarse porosity so that the higher the pressure at which
the gas cap occupies all the coarse porosity the less oil
from the fine porosity which would have been produced.
In other words, a relatively small volume of oil in the
coarse porosity could be produced very efficiently at the
expense of the oil in the fine porosity.
The possibility that the higher pressures available
would maintain production rates high enough to shorten
the period required to produce the oil to the extent that
the shorter pay-out would compensate for the oil left behind is eliminated by the fact that the reduction in production due to gas shut-off is much more significant than
that due to the decrease in pressure. In some reservoirs
it might be possible to recover the oil left behind in the
reservoir by producing the gas in the coarse porosity;
however, the only place to establish continuity in the

oil from the fine porosity to the coarse porosity to the

well would only be at the bottom of the reservoir, so
that before the oil can be produced it is necessary that
it drain by gravity all the way down-dip.
The production mechanism which is proposed is logical. but the main conclusion is contrary to firmly established concepts. Hence, equations are derived for a
model reservoir having the required characteristics
which, when solved, indicate that under certain conditions the higher the cumulative produced gas-oil ratio
the more oil that can be recovered from it at a faster
rate.
DERIVATION OF THE EQUATIONS

Fig. 1 shows a model of the reservoir under consideration. Its total pore volume is composed of two
zones. The j zone is that in which gravity drainage does
not take place and the reservoir behaves in the same
manner as a tight sandstone reservoir producing by solution gas. This is the fine porosity zone. In the coarse
porosity zone (1 - f) gravity segregation takes place
subdividing it into a gas-filled zone (H) and an oil-filled
zone (1 - H). Zone j contains oil (So), gas (So) and
connate water (S",).
From Fig. 1 it can be seen that the free gas in the
reservoir at any pressure and at reservoir conditions is
given by
NB; [H(1 - f)

+ Sgj]

(1)

SoiT

This volume of gas can also be obtained by subtracting from the original gas that which has been produced
and that which is still in solution and converting to
reservoir conditions.
v[Nr, - nrp -

(2)

(N - n)r]

Combining these equations the following expression

is obtained for the ratio of produced oil to oil initially
in place.

lOOO . - - - - - r - - - , - - - - , - - - - , - - - ,
lOOO ,--,-------,,--,-----,------,,-----,----,

1800 f.1.\\--+---+-f----+---I----+--___1

1600

Hffi\--+-----'~--+---f---_+_-___1

1400

!___-\lW~-H,________+_--I---_+_-___1

1100

!___---j\\rt--'~!______\_+_--I---_+_-___1

1000

f---_+_-\--\-'<~~-+\,_________1--_+_-___1

1.3

1100

!-----t---t----t--~__-__1
/6

1000'------'---'----'---'----'
04
10
0.1
0.6
0.8
o

0.14

FIG.

3 - RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FRACTION

COARSE POROSITY OCCUPIED BY GAS AND
PRESSURE.

MAY. 1959

OF

nlN
FIG. 4--RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
PRESSURE.

n/N

AND

69

I) + sun _ r, - r
(3)
SOiTV(r - rp)
r - rp
This ratio can also be obtained from the following
equation'.

n/N

= B,[H(1 -

B,

1.0

0.1

..~r..

,;::."

n/N = ---=---

(4)

0.'

04

SoiT

B;

02

but since the figure indicates that

SoT = (l - H) (l - f) + ISo
then
n/N = 1 _ ISoB,I_ (1 - H) (1 - j)B,
SOiTBI
So'TB
Combining Eqs. 3 and 6 and sol~ing for H,
rp A - B
H= _r_,_ __
rpC

(5)

[1 - I + ISo _

B!:'T]

= vr( 1 - I + ISo) + ISgB

= r,v(1 - j)

Bvr~~O'T

C
D = (1 - I) (B - vr)
With the value of H thus obtained, the ratio n/N can

be obtained from Eqs. 3 or 6. Using Eq. 6,

n/N = E - (1 - H)F ,
where

(8)

ISoB, and F = (1 - j)B, .

So'TB
SoiTB
Assuming that all the production rate is due to the
coarse porosity, the decline in productivity index (DPI)
would be given by
(1 - H)

example, if P = 1,450 and H = 0.4 then the production

would be 0.23 of the initial production.

The limiting value of n/N shown in Fig. 4, when

the gas occupies all the coarse pore volume (when H
= 1), clearly indicates that the lower the pressure at
which this occurs the greater the volume of oil which
can be recovered.
That the productivity depends more on the value of
H than on the pressure is fairly obvious, but can best
be shown by specific examples. From Figs. 3, 4 and 5
it is possible to obtain the effect of arriving at any stage
of depletion at different cumulative gas-oil ratios. From
the figures the following tabulation was obtained:
n/N
0.10
0.10
0.10
0.14
0.14
0.14

= 1-

DPI

(u o B)

(9)

1.0
1.6
0.1
1.0
1.6

P
2,025
1,770
1,.615
1,840
1,540
1,370

H
0.63
0.27
0.06
0.96
0.61
0.38

00/001

-0:23"
0.38
0.42
0.02
0.16
0.22

NOMENCLATURE
N = initial stock-tank oil in place, bbl
n = stock-tank oil produced, bbl
ST = saturation based on total pore volume
S = saturation based on fine pore volume
H = fraction of coarse porosity occupied by gas
I = fraction of total pore volume where gravity
segregation does not take place
v = volume occupied in barrels in the reservoir
by a standard cubic foot of gas
r1' = cumulative produced gas-oil ratio
r = gas in solution, cu ft/bbl
B = oil formation volume factor
flo = viscosity, cp
k = relative permeability
P = pressure, psi
Q = production rate, STB/D

APPLICATION OF TIlE EQUATIONS

Fig. 2 shows the basic information used to solve
the equations. A value of I = 0.95 and a value of S., =
0.20 were chosen. The relationship between So and pressure shown in the figure was obtained using the standard material balance equation; with the Ku/Ko curves
given by Muskat' corrected to a value of Sw of 0.20.
The relationship between H and the pressure as a
function of the ratio of cumulative produced gas-oil
ratio to initial solution gas-oil ratio is given in Fig. 3
and that between n/N and the pressure is shown in Fig.
4; the limiting values of n/N when H = 0 and when
H = 1 are also shown. The curves indicate the behavior
from 3,000 to 1,000 psi.
In Fig. 5 the relationship between the production ratio as functions of the pressure and H is indicated. For

'p/r;

OT

This tabulation clearly indicates that the production

declines less when producing at the higher gas-oil ratios
in spite of the fact that at any given stage of depletion
the pressures are lower.

where (1 - H) has been substituted for ko in the wellknown equation.' Assuming further that the pressure
drawdown is a constant fraction of the static pressure,
the ratio of the production at any pressure and any
value of H to the production capacity at initial condition would be given by
Qo
(1 - H) (uoB) iP
(10)
uoBP,
Qo.

70

to

Os

CONCLUSIONS

A = r,v

os

FIG. 5-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PRODUCTION RATIO AS

FUNCTIONS OF PRESSURE AND H.

where

04

(6)

(7)

+D

02

SUBSCRIPTS
0,

i = initial values
oil, gas and water

g, W =

REFERENCES

1. Calhoun, J. C., Jr.: "Reservoir Engineering Fundamentals",

Oil and Gas Jour. Series, No. 337 and No. 345.
2. Muskat, M.: Physical Principles of Oil Production, Mc
Graw-Hill Book Co., Inc., N. Y. (1949).

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