Advances in Petroleum Reservoir Fluids

Analysis
Properties of Oilfield Waters

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Topics
Brine composition and density
Water (brine) compressibility
Formation volume factor and Pb
Viscosity
Mutual solubilities (gas in water, water in gas)

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Water Production Issues

Oil and gas wells produce more water than oil
(7 bbl/1 bbl oil in Texas)
Composition of co-produced water
determines need for anti-scaling additives
Regulations limit disposal and beneficial use
options
Environmental impact

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Oilfield Water Issues

Expensive Oilfield Water Management
Diversity of Oilfield Waters (amount,
compositions)
Corrosion, Scale Control and Plugging
Microbiological Problems
Water Quality for Water-flooding, Steam
Injection or Surface Disposal
Injectivity Decline in Water Injection Wells
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Composition of Oilfield Water

All formation waters contain dissolved solids, primarily

sodium chloride
Common cations - Na+, Ca++, Mg++ occasionally K+, Ba++,
Li+, Fe++, Sr++
Common anions - Cl-, SO4--, HCO3- occasionally CO3--,
NO3-, Br-, I-, BO3---, S-Also trace quantities of 30 to 40 other ions

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154

Formation Water Salinity

As low as 200 ppm to saturation, which is slightly over

300,000 ppm

For reference, sea water has about 35,000 ppm total solids

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156

Total Dissolved Solids (TDS)

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Water Salinity - Common Units

Term

Symbol

weight percent solids

Cw

parts per million

Cpm

Definition

g solid
100 g brine
g solid
106 g brine

milligrams per liter

Cmg/l

g solid
106 ml brine

grains per gallon

Cgr/gal

grains solid
gallon brine

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Stiff Diagrams

Milliequivalents per liter

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Typical Concentrations

TDS = 68,030 ppm 6.8% get w convert to mg/l

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Specific Gravity of
Formation Water

w =

brine

pure water

both densities measured at the same temperature and

pressure, usually 60F and atmospheric pressure

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Bubblepoint Pressure of
Formation Water

Oil reservoir - bubblepoint pressure of water equals

bubblepoint pressure of the oil

Gas reservoir - bubblepoint pressure of the water equals the

initial reservoir pressure

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Formation Volume Factor (Bw)

Depends upon pressure
Offsetting

Depends upon temperature

Depends upon gas in solution
negligible effect -

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Formation Volume Factor of Water (Bw)

Bw = (1+ Vwp ) (1+ VwT )

Works well even for brines up to 30% TDS

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Temperature Correction

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Pressure Correction

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Effect of TDS on Brine Density

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Solubility of Hydrocarbons in Water

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Solubility of Methane in Water

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Effect of Salinity on solubility of gas in water

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Coefficient of Isothermal Compressibility (Cw)

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Viscosity of Water versus Pressure

At a fixed T

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Water (Brine) Viscosity versus TDS

Increasing
TDS

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At
atmospheric
pressure

Viscosity of Water at Reservoir Pressure

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Solubility of Water in Natural Gas (low pressure)

Lb of water /
MMSCF

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Solubility of Water in Gas (high P)

Lb of water / MMSCF

To evaluate
dehydration requirements
(equipment, chemicals)
In natural gas processing

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Resistivity of Oilfield Water

Use in logging tools
Formation evaluation
Resistivity is inversely proportional to
conductivity
Rw = rA/L = [ohm/meters]

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Salinity of Formation Water

Obtaining accurate samples of formation water is difficult

Log analyst has to have water resistivity at reservoir

temperature

Salinity and water resistivity correlate

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Resistivity of Equivalent NaCl Solutions

Temperature
(oF) (oC)
500 260
240
220
400 200
180
160
300
250

140
120
100

200

R
( . m)
20
Equivalent NaCl
Concentration
grains/gal
ppm
or
@ 24oC
mg/kg
or 75oF
200
300
400
600
800
1000

90

2000

80

3000
4000

70
150
60

( )(

6000
8000
10,000

20
30
40
50

100
90

60,000
80,000
100,000

20

200,000
300,000

60
50

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30,000
40,000

30

80
70

20,000

6
5
4
3
2

100
200

1
0.8

300
400
500

0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3

50
40

10
8

1000

0.2

2000
3000
4000
5000

0.1
0.08

10,000
13,000
17,500

0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03

10

0.02

0.01

165

Calculate Resistivity or TDS

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