Modeling fluid flow through complex reservoir beds

Journal Article · Tue Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1992 · SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2118/21240-PA· OSTI ID:6911274

Durlofsky, L J ^[1]

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1. Chevron Oil Field Research Co., La Habra, CA (United States)

Complex beds can significantly affect the flow of fluids in reservoirs. However, current simulators generally are not well-suited to model such flows, in part because they typically do not model permeability as a tensor quantity. This paper demonstrates the importance of treating permeability as a full tensor quantity in simulating flow through complex beds by considering two related problems. First, fluid flow through cross-stratified beds is studied. Second, the modeling of flow through anisotropic, inclined reservoir beds is studied. With simple model problems, the differences between simulation results for different orientations of the permeability tensor and differences between results from horizontal and stratigraphic layering are quantified. These differences, which are substantial in the case of high reservoir dip and high anisotropy, emphasize the importance of a knowledge of the full permeability tensor in predicting flow through complex reservoir features.

• OSTI ID: 6911274
• Journal Information: SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States), Journal Name: SPE Formation Evaluation (Society of Petroleum Engineers); (United States) Journal Issue: 04 Vol. 7:4; ISSN 0885-923X; ISSN SFEVEG
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020200* -- Petroleum-- Reserves
Geology
& Exploration
ANISOTROPY
FLOW MODELS
FLUIDS
GEOLOGY
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
PERMEABILITY
RESERVOIR FLUIDS
RESERVOIR ROCK
STRATIGRAPHY