Engineering Concepts Useful in Oil Finding

This paper discusses first the inter-relationship between relative permeability, capillary pressure, and the vertical distribution of interstitial water in a reservoir. It demonstrates further how this distribution, the resulting position of oil-water or gas-water contacts, and the thickness of the transition zone are affected by the permeability and porosity and by the density difference between hydrocarbons and interstitial water. These principles are then applied to the case of a tilted oil-water contact with changing rock parameters and the problem of minimum structural closure required for water-free production. The second part of this paper deals with the concept of material balance and its application to the problem of determining the potential size of a new discovery and the possibility of finding any undiscovered extensions.