Petroleum Reservoir Simulations

Jamal H. Abou-Kassem is professor of petroleum engineering at the UAE University in the United Arab Emirates, where he has taught since 1993. Before joining the UAE University,he was associate professor of petroleum and natural gas engineering at The Pennsylvania State University (1985-1992), where he was a tenured faculty member, supervised to completion two MS and two PhD students, and served on 10 thesis advisory committees. He held posts with the Research Institute of KFUPM (1981-1984) in Saudi Arabia and Pan Canadian Petroleum Ltd. (1978-1979) in Canada. He received a BE (Cairo U., Egypt, 1970) and MS (U. of Alberta, Canada, 1975) degree in petroleum engineering, and earned a PhD degree in reservoir simulation from the U. of Calgary (Canada) in 1981. He is a co-author oftwo textbooks, author/co-author of 32 technical articles in first class journals, and another 12 technical articles in symposium proceedings. His areas of expertise cover reservoir simulation, thermal and polymer EOR methods, fluid flow through porous media, and fundamental properties of natural gas. He has attended and presented numerous technical papers in international, regional, and local petroleum engineering symposiums. He has 36 years of experience in academia, research organizations, and petroleum industry. He is a member of SPE. Dr. S.M. Farouq Ali is Distinguished Professor of petroleum engineering at the University of Houston. He has over 40 years of experience in industry and academia, having served as a professor at Pennsylvania State University, the University of Alberta and the University of Regina. Considered one of the world’s leading experts in reservoir engineering, oil recovery and simulation, Farouq Ali advises oil companies and various governments on oil policy and production strategies. He has authored more than 500 papers, conducted more than 200 petroleum reservoir studies and designed over 30 major oil fields projects. Farouq Ali earned his master’s and doctoral degrees in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Penn State University. As a graduate student he conducted pioneering research on micellar-polymer flooding, a process in which a micelle solution is pumped into a reservoir to recover oil. The technique has since become the industry standard for enhanced oil recovery. He is also credited with some of the earliest experimental work on steam flooding, a method of injecting steam to extract heavy crude oil from an oil reservoir. Today steam injection is one of the primary enhanced oil recovery techniques in use. Farouq Ali has been honored with awards from the Society of Petroleum Engineers, the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy, the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta and the Russian Academy of Sciences.

• PrefaceIntroductionNomenclature1 Introduction 1.1 Background1.2 Milestones for the Engineering Approach1.3 Importance of the Engineering and Mathematical Approaches1.4 Summary1.5 Exercises2 Single-Phase Fluid Flow Equations in Multidimensional Domain 2.1 Introduction2.2 Properties of Single-Phase Fluid2.3 Properties of Porous Media2.4 Reservoir Discretization2.5 Basic Engineering Concepts2.6 Multidimensional Flow in Cartesian Coordinates2.7 Multidimensional Flow in Radial-Cylindrical Coordinates2.8 Summary 2.9 Exercises 3 Flow Equations Using CVFD Terminology 3.1 Introduction3.2 Flow Equations Using CVFD Terminology3.3 Flow Equations in Radial-Cylindrical Coordinates Using CVFD Terminology3.4 Flow Equations Using CVFD Terminology in any Block Ordering Scheme3.5 Summary3.6 Exercises4 Simulation with a Block-Centered Grid 4.1 Introduction4.2 Reservoir Discretization4.3 Flow Equation for Boundary Gridblocks4.4 Treatment of Boundary Conditions4.5 Calculation of Transmissibilities4.6 Symmetry and Its Use in Solving Practical Problems4.7 Summary4.8 Exercises5 Simulation with a Point-Distributed Grid 5.1 Introduction5.2 Reservoir Discretization5.3 Flow Equation for Boundary Gridpoints5.4 Treatment of Boundary Conditions5.5 Calculation of Transmissibilities5.6 Symmetry and Its Use in Solving Practical Problems5.7 Summary5.8 Exercises6 Well Representation in Simulators 6.1 Introduction6.2 Single-Block Wells6.3 Multiblock Wells6.4 Practical Considerations Dealing with Modeling Well Operating Conditions6.5 Summary6.6 Exercises7 Single-Phase Flow Equation for Various Fluids 7.1 Introduction7.2 Pressure Dependence of Fluid and Rock Properties7.3 General Single-Phase Flow Equation in Multi Dimensions7.4 Summary7.5 Exercises8 Linearization of Flow Equations 8.1 Introduction8.2 Nonlinear Terms in Flow Equations8.3 Nonlinearity of Flow Equations For Various Fluids8.4 Linearization of Nonlinear Terms 8.5 Linearized Flow Equations in Time8.6 Summary8.7 Exercises9 Methods of Solution of Linear Equations 9.1 Introduction9.2 Direct Solution Methods9.3 Iterative Solution Methods9.4 Summary9.5 Exercises10 Introduction to Modeling Multiphase Flow in Petroleum Reservoirs 10.1 Introduction10.2 Reservoir Engineering Concepts in Multiphase Flow10.3 Multiphase Flow Models10.4 Solution of Multiphase Flow Equations10.5 Material Balance Checks10.6 Advancing Solution in Time10.7 Summary10.8 ExercisesA User’s Manual for Single-Phase SimulatorA.1 IntroductionA.2 Data File PreparationA.3 Description of Variables Used in Preparing a Data FileA.4 Instructions to Run Simulator A.5 Limitations Imposed on the Compiled Version A.6 Example of a Prepared Data FileReferences Author IndexSubject Index