A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models

Primary drainage capillary pressure data are usually correlatable with a 3D predictable property of grid cells. Accordingly, rock typing is normally performed based on an established correlation. Primary drainage as well as corresponding imbibition and/or secondary drainage capillary pressure curves...

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Main Authors: Abouzar Mirzaei-Paiaman, Behzad Ghanbarian
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2021-01-01
Series:Energy Geoscience
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666759220300627
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author Abouzar Mirzaei-Paiaman
Behzad Ghanbarian
author_facet Abouzar Mirzaei-Paiaman
Behzad Ghanbarian
author_sort Abouzar Mirzaei-Paiaman
collection DOAJ
description Primary drainage capillary pressure data are usually correlatable with a 3D predictable property of grid cells. Accordingly, rock typing is normally performed based on an established correlation. Primary drainage as well as corresponding imbibition and/or secondary drainage capillary pressure curves are averaged to establish a saturation table for each rock type region in reservoir modeling. This study investigates the reliability of this industry-accepted methodology, and has two main contributions. First, we show that if different types of capillary pressures are plotted against water saturation, comparing them might be highly misleading. We demonstrate that although primary drainage capillary pressure data may be plotted against water saturation, the imbibition and secondary drainage capillary pressure data should be plotted against imbibed water saturation. This would enable reservoir engineers to check whether rocks with similar primary drainage capillary pressures do or do not have similar imbibition/secondary drainage counterparts. Using this technique, rock quality can be also deduced from imbibition and secondary drainage capillary pressure curves. We use capillary pressure data measured on limestone and sandstone samples from the Asmari Formation in three Iranian oilfields to evaluate our technique. The second contribution of this study is the proposal of a new methodology for preparing capillary pressure curves for reservoir models. In our methodology, a grid cell can represent more than one rock type region, each specific to a saturation function. As a part of this methodology, we present new physically meaningful equations for averaging primary drainage, imbibition, and secondary drainage capillary pressure curves.
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spelling doaj.art-f3d4d1b98e834edab2342f8c16d7e89f2022-12-21T22:02:54ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Energy Geoscience2666-75922021-01-01215262A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir modelsAbouzar Mirzaei-Paiaman0Behzad Ghanbarian1National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), Department of Petroleum Engineering, Ahvaz, Iran; State University of Campinas (UNICAMP), Campinas, SP, Brazil; Corresponding author. National Iranian South Oil Company (NISOC), Department of Petroleum Engineering, Ahvaz, Iran.Porous Media Research Lab, Department of Geology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, 66506, KS, USAPrimary drainage capillary pressure data are usually correlatable with a 3D predictable property of grid cells. Accordingly, rock typing is normally performed based on an established correlation. Primary drainage as well as corresponding imbibition and/or secondary drainage capillary pressure curves are averaged to establish a saturation table for each rock type region in reservoir modeling. This study investigates the reliability of this industry-accepted methodology, and has two main contributions. First, we show that if different types of capillary pressures are plotted against water saturation, comparing them might be highly misleading. We demonstrate that although primary drainage capillary pressure data may be plotted against water saturation, the imbibition and secondary drainage capillary pressure data should be plotted against imbibed water saturation. This would enable reservoir engineers to check whether rocks with similar primary drainage capillary pressures do or do not have similar imbibition/secondary drainage counterparts. Using this technique, rock quality can be also deduced from imbibition and secondary drainage capillary pressure curves. We use capillary pressure data measured on limestone and sandstone samples from the Asmari Formation in three Iranian oilfields to evaluate our technique. The second contribution of this study is the proposal of a new methodology for preparing capillary pressure curves for reservoir models. In our methodology, a grid cell can represent more than one rock type region, each specific to a saturation function. As a part of this methodology, we present new physically meaningful equations for averaging primary drainage, imbibition, and secondary drainage capillary pressure curves.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666759220300627Capillary pressurePrimary drainageImbibitionSecondary drainageReservoir simulation
spellingShingle Abouzar Mirzaei-Paiaman
Behzad Ghanbarian
A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models
Energy Geoscience
Capillary pressure
Primary drainage
Imbibition
Secondary drainage
Reservoir simulation
title A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models
title_full A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models
title_fullStr A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models
title_full_unstemmed A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models
title_short A new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models
title_sort new methodology for grouping and averaging capillary pressure curves for reservoir models
topic Capillary pressure
Primary drainage
Imbibition
Secondary drainage
Reservoir simulation
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666759220300627
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