This section contains two (2) miscellaneous papers, as follows.
"A Pressure-Volume-Temperature Correlation for Mixtures of California Oils and Gases" By M. B.Standing, Standard Oil Company of California, La Habre; Calif. (Presented a t Pacific Coast District, Los Angeles, Calif., May 1947) I "Formation and Operation of Unit Projects in Secondary Recovery" By K. E. Beall, Phillips Petroleum Company, Bartlesville, Okla (Presented at Mid Continent District Meeting, Amarillo, Texas, May 1947) A PRESSURE-VOLUME-TEMPERATURE CORRELATION FOR MIXTURES OF CALIFORNIA OILS AND GASES t ABSTRACT The solution of reservoir-performance problems re- clulres t hat t he physical properties of t he reservoir fluids be known These propert ~es may be determined The paper presents correlat~o~is of bubble-polut pres- sures, for~natlon volumes of bubble-po~nt Iigu~ds, and forn~atlon volun~es of gas plus liqu~d phases as em- pir~cal f ul ~ct ~ol ~s of gas-011 ratlo, gas gravlty, 011 gravlty, pressure, and temperature. Although the correlat~o~ls in t he laboratory either from bottom-hole samples or froin proper recoinb~nation of surface t r ap samples If t he results of laboratory t est s a r e not available, how- are on Calrforll~a crude 011s and gases, comparrsons are made for the varlous crudes reported by Katz. In order to fac~l~tate the use of the data, the results of the cor- r e l at ~o~~s are prese~itecl 111 the form of calculat~~ig charts. ever, t he physical properties must be estinlated from field i neasuren~ent s The purpose of t hl s paper is t o give the results of several correlations between t he variables normally measured in t he field and t he phys- ical properties necessary for t he solution of reservoir- perfornlance problems Other correlations of t hi s t ype have been reported by Gosline and Dodson,l" and by Katz Sage and Ol ds4 have recently reported a n es- cellent correlation of formation volumes of condensate systeins The accuracy of t he following P-V-T correlations is restricted by two fact ors 1 The varied and con]- plex multi-component hydrocarbon systeins which ar e dealt with ar e defined by only t hree siinple paramet ers gas gravity, oil gravity, and gas-oil rat i o, and, 2 These parameters themselves depend upon t he process by which t he oil and gas ar e separated The method used by Sage and Reamer2 i n t he Rio Bravo Field studies of specifying hesanes and heavier mat eri al a s "oil" and al l pentanes and lighter material as "gas" \vould overcome these difficulties However, t hi s approach does not lend : Itself t o field usage A furt her aid to prepari ng correlations would be to make use of a st andard procedure i n separat i ng t he oil and gas when gas-oil ratios a r e determined How- ever, a s t he P-V-T dat a ar e prepared f or individual field conditions, it is now~al l y not posslble to use such a method The gas-oil ratios, gas gravities, oil gravities, and formation volumes presented in t hi s paper ar e labora- t ory values They ar e t he result of a 2-stage flash separation a t 100 deg F-the first st age norinally being within t he pressure range of 250 psi t o 450 psi and * Stanc1,ird Or1 Co of Cnlrfor~ira, Ln t1.1lrri1, Cnl ~f , r e~nor ed, 1'34; t o Cn11fornr.r Research Cabrli. La Habm. Ca l ~f t Presented a t tlie sprrng meetlug of tlre Pacrtic Coast D~s t r l c t , Dl \ l s ~o n of Proi111ctron. Los Augeles, Cal l , B1a.r 15, 1947 pre- srdlng, E V Wat t s. General Petroleurn Corp . Los Bugeles. 'Calrf a F~g n r e s refer t o REFERENCES on 1, 279 second st age a t atmospheric pressure This procedure is considered t o approximate t he average California field practices Bubble-POIII~ Pressure Correlat~o~~s One of t he inp port ant functions of P-V-T dat a 1s to indicate whether t he reservoir oil is undersaturated or saturated, or whether free gas i s being produced from t he sand This requires a knowledge of t he gas solu- bility-bubble-point-pressure relationship of t he oil and gases associated 111 t he reservoir I n considering t he manner 111 which t he several variables affect t he bubble-point pressure of a mixture of an 011 and a gas, ~t seems reasonable to postulate a correlation of t he form P, = *(GOR, y,, T, API ) (1) P b = bubble-point pressure, 11~1, absolute GOR = gas-oil ratio, cu f t per bbl 7, = gravi t y of dissolved gas (ai r = 1) API = gravi t y of t ank oil, deg API T = temperature, deg F. 9 = a function of I n developing t he specific equation relating t he bubble- point pressure to t he variables on t he n g h t side of equa- tion ( I ) , t he general relationship between t he variables was used to suggest graphical methods of determining specific rel at ~onshi ps For example, t he bubble-point pressure normally increases with an increase i n gas-oil rat i o This suggests t hat Pa = +, (GOR)' or P,, = a2(.4) L " Likewise t he bubble-point pressure increases with an increase in temperature, but decreases with an Increase in oil gravi t y (deg API) or gas gravl t y (ai r = 1) Aft er a number of at t empt s it was found t hat a plot. of log(?) vs log Pa resulted in a series of st rai ght lines with a n average slope of 0 83 Mathematically, t hi s gave t he relationship [ P b l GOR T Al . 1 Predrctlon of Bubble-Polnt Pressure from Gas-011 Ratlo, Solution-Gas Gravity, Tank-011 Grau~ty, and Temperature. FIG. 1 A second plot of log VS T S O re- sulted in straight llnes of almost constant slope, or, expressed mathemat~cally Flnally, a third correlatlon was made to determine the effect of 011 gr av~t y, and the following specific relationship was obtalned To obtaln the relationships expressed In equatlon (4) it was necessary to have tests on numerous mix- tures of oil and gas a t a variety of temperatures Fl g 1 shows the results of plottlng 105 experllnentally determined bubble-polnt pressures on 22 different crude- oil-natural-gas mlxtures The range of the data was as follows Bubble-polnt pressures 130 to' 7,000 psi, absolute Temperature 100 to 258 deg F Gas-011 ratlos 20 to 1,425 cu f t per bbl Tank-011 gravities 16 5 to 63 8 deg API Gas gravities 0 59 to 0 95 (air = 1) The agreement to be expected from the foregoing correlatlon can be estimated from the curves shown In Fi g 2 The upper curve shows t hat 58 per cent of the I00 80 6 0 40 2 0 0 0 100 COO 300 PRESSURE DISAGREEMENT - PSI - 14- 12- 10 - 8 - 6 - 4 - 2 0 2 4 6 8 M 12 14 16 DISAGREEMENT - PER CENT Frequency D~str~but~on of Bubble-Po~nt Pressure Correlat~on. FIG. 2 points d~ffered froln the correlatlon by less than 100 psi, and t hat only 12 per cent were further than 200 psi from the correlatlon The lower curve gives the fre- quency distribution of the errors resulting from esti- matmg the bubble-polnt pressure froln the correlation More than half of the experimental points were wlthln 5 per cent of the correlatlon The arithmetic average error was 4 8 per cent and 106 psl The data on 53 crudes reported by Kat z3 do not, when plotted as lndlcated in Fl g 1, give as good a correlation as the data reported In thls paper A llne drawn approximately 150 psi hlgher than t hat shown in Flg 1 gave the best correlatlon of the Katz data. However, in terms of the present correlation, 52 per cent of the Katz data fell withln 200 psl of the correla- tlon as compared to 88 per cent of the California data The better correlation obtalned In the case of the California crudes is posslbly explained by the fact t hat the crudes reported by Katz were from a larger varlety of sources Differences in laboratory methods, however, lnlght account for part of the dlsagreement Formation Volumes of Bubble-Point Lquids A second factor requlred in reservoir calculations IS the formation volume of the saturated llquid phase This factor is used to compute the shrinkage of the reservoir oil when ~t IS processed to the stock tanks. The fornlatlon volumes of the 105 bubble-point llquids used In the prevlous section were correlated In terms of the gas-011 ratio, gas gravlty, tank-oil gravity (spe- cific gravlty), and temperature The correlatlng equa- tion finally selected was Vb = forlnatlon volume of bubble-po~nt hquld, bbl per bbl of tank oil GOR = gas-011 ratio, cu f t per bbl -ys = gravity of dissolved gas (air = 1) yo = speclfic gravlty of tank 011 a t 60 deg F T = temperature, deg F .f. = a functlon of Fi g 3 shows the results of plotting the experlinental format~on volumes agalnst the function shown in equa- tlon (5) To glve an idea of the nlagnitude of the errors Involved in the correlatlon, llnes of 5 per cent d~sagreement are shown The frequency dlstributlon of the errors is shown in Flg 4 I t wlll be noted t hat 45 per cent of the points fit the correlatlon with errors less than 0.5 per cent, and that no errors were greater than 7 per cent The arithnletlc average of the errors IS 1 17 per cent The shrinkage data presented by Katz, when con- verted to formation volumes, showed an arithmetic average error of 120 per cent when correlated by equa- t ~ o n (3) These close agreements indicate t hat the cor- relation of bubble-golnt formation volume IS more general than the bubble-polnt pressure, and t hat the correlations can safely be used for estlinates on a wider variety of crude 011s and gases. Predletion of Formation Volulne of Bubble-Po~nt Liquld from Gas-011 Ratlo, Solut~on-Gas Gravrty, Tank-Oil Gravity, and Temperature. FIG. 3 1 1 CORRELATING EQUATION 1 I Frequency Distribution of Bubble-Po~nt Formation- Volun~e Correlation. FIG. 4 Two-Phase Forn~at~on Volumes The formation-volume dat a of t he gas plus liquid phases cover a much wider range of gas-011 ratlos t han do t he bubble-polnt pressure or bubble-point formation- volume correlations Th1s. l ~ because bubble-point llqulirs rarel y have gas-oil ratios in excess of 2,000 cu f t per bbl, whereas 2-phase format~on-volume dat a a r e often required f or mlxtures havlng rat i os a s hlgh a s 100,000 cu f t per bbl A correlatlon based on t he equatlon where VF = formatlon volume of gas plus llquld phases, bbl per bbl of t ank 011 P = pressure, psi, absolute GOR = gas-011 ratio, cu f t per bbl T = temperature, deg F ys = gas gravity ( a ~ r = 1) yo = speclfic gravi t y of t ank oil a t 60 deg F + = a function of Predi ct ~on of formatlon volume of gas plus llquid phases is shown In Fl g 5 Thl s correlation contams 387 experimental polnts, 92 per cent of which ar e within 5 per cent of t he correlation The ranges of t he dat a ar e as follows Pressure 400 t o 5,000 psl, absolute Gas-oil rat i o 75 to 37,000 cu f t per bbl Temperat ure 100 to 258 deg. F. Gas gravl t y 0 59 to 0 95 ( ai r = 1) Tank-011 gravl t y 16 5 t o 63 8 deg API The raising of t he oil gravi t y t o a power which In itself is a function of gas-011 rat l o IS a necessary feat ure of t hl s correlatlon Thl s causes t he tank-oil gravi t y to become relatively unimportant a t rat l os ~n excess of 2,000 cu f t per bbl, wh ~ c h IS 111 accordance with act ual behavlor of hydrocarbon systems Fig 6 shows t he agreement between esperimentally determined formatlon volumes and t he values obtained from t he correlation At t he tlme t he correlations were prepared, t he dat a of Sage and Ol dsL on hlgh gas-oil-ratio mixtures were not available and, therefore, could not be used ~n pre- pari ng t he correlations A recent check with t he Sage and Olds dat a showed t hat , above 160 deg F, t he correlations reproduced 58 experimental observa- t ~ o n s w ~ t h a maximum error of 5 4 per cent and a n arithmetic average error of 1 5 7 per cent At 100 deg F t he errors amounted t o a s much a s 11 per cent, t he great est error being noted In t he case of t he 5,000 psi, absolute, vol un~es Use of the Correlat~ons The evaluation of bubble-polnt piessure, bubble-point formatlon volume, and.2-phase formatlon vol un~es from t he correlations presented In Fl g 1, 3, and 5 IS somewhat laborious To facilitate t he use of t he col-relations, t he calculating chart s shown la Fig 7, 8, and 9 were constiucted Esanlples of t he use of each of t he chart s a r e , ~ndi cat ed on t he chart s From these chart s i t IS possible qulckly t o obtain engineering est ~mat es of t he physical properties of multi-com- ponent hydrocarbon ' systems under pressure and tem- perat ure conditions encoul~tered in 011- and gas-pro- ducing reservoirs ACKNOWLEDGMENT The aut hor IS grat eful to t he nlanagelnent of t he St andard 011 Company of Cahfornia f or permission t o publlsh t hi s paper REFERENCES ' J E Gosllne and (L' R Dodson, " Sol nl >~l ~t s Relations and Vol rl ~nrt rl c Br hnr l or of Tl ~ r r p (.;r:rrltles of C r n d ~ s a nd Assoc~:lted C:ases." Llrrllrrrg n1t17 Proclrrrtro~i Pr ~t ct l cc. 43.1 (1938) and Gas from -1fct E~r g r s 14 3 n I. Kn t s t he Rln Bm\ o Field." Trolls dill. Il l st ~l f l ~l r l r o 2, 179 (1941) - 4 . " P r e ~ l ~ c t ~ ~ n of the_Shr~r!li;l~ge of Crude O~l s , " ~ r r c r ~ r ~ o ~ t d Prc 4 R A S:IBP )drrctron Prnct rcr 1'37 (1942) .- and R H ~ l d s , ' " Vol ~~r ne t r ~c Rehnrl or of 011 and- as from Several San J oaql ~l n Valley Fields," Tml rs Awl I ns t MI I ~ I I L ~ Net Elrgrs 17n 15G 119-1SL . . , . A . . . . , A . . . , of Hs~l r ocar bon Gases and TTapors," DISCUSSION B H Sage (California Institute of Technology, Pasa- dena, Calif) The aut hor has presented a n ~nt er est r ng correlatlon of t he volumetric and phase behavlor of nat ural l y occurring lnlstures of 011 and gas of low and ~nt e r me d~a t e gas-oil ratlo The analytical expres- slons proposed f or t he relationship of bubble-polnt pres- sures and formatlon volumes to gas-oil ratios ar e some- Prediction of Formation Volume of Gas Plus Liquid Phases from Gas-Oil Ratlo, Total Gas Gravity, Tank-Oil Gravity, Temperature, and Pressure. FIG. 5 P R O D U C
T l O N
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what complex In order to peri n~t inore direct ut111z.a- tion of the data, the last three figures of t h s paper present graphical solut~ons for the equat~ons From these it is a relatively s~lnple matter to estimate the pressure and fornlation volume a t bubble-point and the formation volume in the heterogeneous reglon froin knowledge of the pressure, temperature, gas-oil raho, and the gravities of the oil and gas The correlat~ons apparently are empirical and, there- fore, it is improbable t hat they can be applied with known accuracy to condit~ons widely &berent from those covered by the primary data upon which the correlations were based It IS belleved t hat the ~nf or - mation subni~tted in Fig. 7, 8, and 9 affords a useful means of estiniating the pressure and formahon volume Temperature a t bubble point as well as the 2-phase formation volume for a wide variety of m~xt ures of 011 and gas from Cal~fornia fields In Table 1 (Sage) of this discussion is presented a comparison of predicted and exper~mental bubble-point pressures for 3 fields wh~ch were not involved in the paper under d~scussion. The calculated values were froin 8 per cent below to 21 per cent above the observed bubble-point pressures This large variation shows the uncertainty that may be realized in using the correla- tion for materials involv~ng ail oil of relatively h ~ g h gravity Table 2 (Sage) indicates the agreement be- tween the observed and calculated values of the forma- tion volume a t bubble point In this instance calcu- lated values were from 7 6 per cent below to 2 3 per TABLE 1 (SAGE) Bubble-Po~nt Pressure F~el d "A" Field "B" Field "C" Deg F u. 100 190 250 100 190 250 100 190 250 Observed value Calculated value Difference Pressure. pountls per square Inch D~R'erence expressed as per cent TABLE 2 (SAGE) Fornlat~on Volun~e at Bubble Polnt F~el d "A" F~e l d "B" Field "C" Deg F Temperature 100 190 250 100 190 250 100 190 250 Observed value Calculated value Difference = Ditference expressed us per cent TABLE 3 (SAGE) Format1011 Volun~e in the Two-Phase Reg~on F~e l d "A" Field "B" Deg F Field "C" Temperature . . 100 190 250 100 190 250 100 190 250 Pressure, pounds per square inch, absolute 1,000 1,000 1,000 800 800 1,000 1,000 1,000 2,000 Observed value 1 7 8 2 11 2 33 272 335 316 239 3 1 3 1 9 9 Calculated value " 1 8 8 2 30 2 55 2 96 3 60 3 30 2 58 3 28 2 30 Difference 5 6 ' 9 0 9 4 8 8 7 5 4 4 7 9 4 8 1 5 6 Calculated value 1 7 6 204 2 2 3 282 342 3 3 1 Difference -11' - 3 3 - 4 3 3 7 2 1 4 7 a = Calculated fro111 Stunding's correlation = Calculated from equation (1) of thi s d~scussi on = Difference expressed as per cent cent above t he observed fonnat l on voluine a t bubble point Agaln, t he l argest discrepancy was found f or mi st ures involving an oil of a relatively high gravi t y This is not unexpected, lilasinuch a s t he aut hor indi- cated t hat only a llinlted amount of dat a lncludlng such materials was available The formation voluine in t he heterogeneous r e gon f or a pressure of 1,000 psl has been conlputed f or 2 ml st ures of oil and gas on t he basis of t he correlation shown i n t he paper under dlscusslon A comparison of t he observed and calculated values 1s presented In Table 3 (Sage) I11 t hi s Instance t he calculated forma- tlon volumes ar e from 4 4 t o 15 6 per cent l arger t han t he observed values As a11 alternative procedure, t he formation voluine i n t he two-phase region was computed uslng t he following espressi onz TZ V = Vb+O 005062 F;- (r-rb) (1) 1 I n applylng equation (1) t he experimentally observed formation volunle and gas-011 rat l o a t bubble point were employed f or st at es corresponding t o t he pres- sure and t emperat ure of i nt erest The compressibility fact or also was obtained from e ~p e ~l i n e n t a l dat a How- ever, these dat a could have been estimated from avail- able correlations based upon t he pseudo-reduced st at e and t he lnforlnatlon submmtted In t he St andmg paper The results of t he application of equat ~on (1) a r e in- cluded in Table 3 (Sage) R H Smi t h (Signal Oil and Gas Company, Los Angeles, Calif ) The chart s prepared by Mr Stand- i ng will reduce a cumbersome laboratory or calculating process to a slide-rule type of operation I t hi nk it may be st at ed t hat t hl s information incorporates t he best broad definition of P-V-T behavior of California crude 011s yet ava~l abl e i n published form Because it does represent definite progress i n t he calculation method, t he question of choice between laboratory de- t ermnat i on or derivation by reference t o systeinatlzed esperlence dat a is agai n raised Without at t empt i ng t o revlew all t he fact ors involved i n making t he choice, I would rat her confine my comment t o one factor, vi z, t he iinportance of which IS frequently overlooked The accuracy and usefulness of all P-V-T dat a a r e dependent upon a properly carried out sampllng opera- tlon, as well a s upon t he precision with which t he laboratory can work Under many circumstances en- countered 111 t he field, a sample representative of sub- surface composltlon is difficult t o obtaln As nat ural l y disposed in a con~pl es reservolr, or a reservoir of l arge closure, hydrocarbon fluids frequently display a marked degree of compositional variation which must be 111- vestigated t o Insure correct t reat ment in working out t he subsurface inechaiucs The best guarant ee t hat sampllng methods have been adequate would be t he adoption of a program of multiple sampling designed t o nlinlmize or explore t he uncertainties. The employment of correlated experience dat a, on t he other hand, 1s a practlce which neatly avoids t he v~cissltudes of sampling, i e , it replaces t he element of sampling with a n equivalent operation over wh ~ c h a great er degree of control can be eserclsed I n t he assembly of P-V-T dat a as background material, only those variables subject to definltlon in t he laboratory ar e deal t mlth No assumptions regarding t he fidelity achieved In reprocluclng reseilroir fluid con~positioil a r e made a t t hl s p o ~n t I t t hen remains t o qualify and adapt t he einplrical P-V-T composit~on relation t o meet speclfic need A general survey of t he mass of surface and subsurface information which has been accumu- lated 111 t he field t hrough t he pertinent ranges of time, zone, or location will afford t he perspective necessary to accomplish t he adaptation The sacrifice i n assured accuracy inherent in obtalnlng pressure and vol un~e factors from general correlations is frequently offset by t he inore hscreet t reat ment which may be given t he varlous portions of t he pool This approach has meri t when lack of ~nfori nat i on or t he conlplesity of t he reservolr problem dictates a recourse t o trial-and-error methods The dat a t he autllor has presented may be used t o advantage m coinbinatlon with specific laboratory de- terminations The chart s have use i n calculatlng t he effect of snlall changes In any of t he variables (pres- sure, temperature, deilslty of t he 011 or gas, and t he gas-oil rat i o) oil preclse laboratory measurements when t he investigation was not c a r r ~e d into t he range of lmnlediate interest As Mr Standlnrr has nointed out, t he accuracv at t al n- - able 111 applylng this type of correlation 1s limited by t he degree to whlch co~npositioil of nat ui al l y occurring systems can be specified by t he statement of gas-011 ratio, gas gravity, and oil gravi t y If any method, such a s t hat of Sage and Reamer defi n~ng t he gas a s al l t he pentanes and lighter fraction of t he composite, can be employed with improvement 111 general apphcability, t hen lt 1s t o be hoped t hat t he fund of baslc dat a which was drawn upon f or t he correlations herein presented ultimately will be restated In t he inore precise form Hydrocarbon analyses ar e perfonned wlth facility and could be made available In inany instances when added precision is desired Mr St andi ng Mr Sinit11 has a good p o ~ n t One difficulty t hat I have stressed is t he effect of t he inethod of separabon of t he oil and gas a t t he surface on t he resulting gas-oil rat i o As no doubt many of you will recall, In Sage and Lacey's Rio Bravo report an at - t empt was made t o get around t hl s difficulty by speclfy- 1ng pentanes and heavier mat eri al a s oil, and butanes and hght er materlal a s gas Thi s method is a step in t he ri ght direction However, it is confusing t o t he field man and, as yet, ~t has not caught on t o t he extent I should like t o see ~ t . do IV Teinpelaar Lietz (Shell Oil Company, Inc , Los Angeles, Cahf ) Mr St andi ng 1s t o be congratulated on a very constructive and interesting paper Obvi- ously, a trenlendous amount of work was required t o obtain and correlate t he dat a One outstanding use f or t he calculatlng chart s will be to give us some idea of orlginal leservoir cond~t ~ons In t he older fields 011 whlch no P-V-T dat a a r e available However, we should hke t o polnt out t hat , on comparing t he calculated bubble-point pressures with 21 experimental detern~lnations, devia- tions of from 700 p s ~ , gage, to -415 psi, gage, a r e found, wlth an average of 120 psi, gage One of t he lnajor uses of P-V-T dat a i s i n carryi ng out material-balance calculat~ons, especially ~n t he earl y life of t he field, in order to choose t he most desirable development schelne However, a t such a n earl y date, pressure drops ar e small, and, ~f an error such as 700 psl, gage, or -415 p s ~ , gage, were introduced, any conclus~ons drawn from t he balance calculation would not be valld On t he other hand, on colnparing t he calculated forl nat ~on voluines of bubble-polnt liqulds wlth act ual determlnations, it appears t hat 18 out of t he 24 determlnatlons check very closely, t he reinalnlng 6 havlng a d e v ~a t ~o n of froin 4 t o -9 per cent E C Babson (Peerless Pacific Company, Portland, Ore ) * Mr St andl ng has glven us a set of correla- tlons from whlch ~t IS possible t o estimate t he bubble polnts and t he formation-volume fact ors f or nllxtures of Cal i forn~a oils and gases under a wide range of pressures, temperatures, and 011 gravities If al l Call- forma 011s and gases behave in t he same manner a s t he samples studled In t hl s ~nvest i gat i on, one could feel fai rl y confident t hat bubble polnts estimated by t hl s method would be within 10 per cent and formation- volume fact ors wl t h ~n 4 per cent of t he t r ue values Although ~t 1s obv~ous t hat any correlations wh ~ c h would permit such accuracy a r e of gr eat value, a dis- cusslon of methods of u s ~ n g t he dat a niay t hrow some hght on t he possiblllty of u s ~ n g these correlations In- stead of making laboratory P-V-T ~nvest i gat ~ons P-V-T dat a ar e used prl ~l cl pal l y In material-balance cal cul at ~ons which range from sllnple estlmates of t he or1 orlg~rlally In place to det a~l ed studles of reservolr perforniance The results of such calculatlons can be used f or a varlety of purposes such a s 1 Estimation of reserves 2 Est ~mat i on of s ~ z e of reservoir 3 Evaluation of st rengt h of wat er drlve 4 Pr e d~c t ~on of f ut ur e performance of a pool 5 Evaluation of a proposed production program Sometlines a rough es t ~mat e 1s all t hat 1s justified by t he circun~stances, and it IS obvlous t hat t he corre- l at ~ons i n t hl s paper ~ 1 1 1 be h~ghl y satisfactory f or such work The real question regardi ng thew appl ~ca- tion arises when t he h~ghes t precision attainable is really needed, and t hl s s~t uat i on often arlses i n material- balance work Inasmuch a s it IS unwise t o requlre great er accu- racy In t he P-V-T dat a t han In t he ot her fact ors enter- l ng into t he calculat~ons, ~t seems pertlneiit t o examine sonle of these ot her factors from t hi s standpoint I n most material-balance calculations ~t i s necessary t o know t he volume ava~l abl e f or 011 and gas In t he reservolr I n order t o arrl ve a t t hl s figure, it IS neces- sar y to estimate. * Presented by Jan Lam, consultant, Los Angeles, Culff [PERATURE CORRELATION 287 1 The hulk sand volume 2 The average poiosity 3 The lnterstihlal-water saturation Considering t he uncertainties enterlng into each of these estlmates, ~t seeins unlikely t hat t he uncertainty 111 estimating t he reservoir volume will be less t han 5 to 10 per cent except under most favorable concll- tions I n many cases, of course, t he uncertainty wlll be even great er t han t h ~ s A second fact or t hat ent ers into al l material-balance calculatlons is t he composition of t he reservoir hydro- carbons, usually expressed a s a n ~n-pl ace gas-011 rat l o Unfortunately, careful investigation seems to ~ndl cat e t hat t hl s fact or often vanes materially fro111 point t o point with111 a reservoir I t IS not uncommon f or t he h~ghes t gas-oil rat i o In a new field t o be double t he lowest gas-011 ratlo, wlthout any evldence of f r ee gas In t he reservolr Under these conditions it would be necessary t o conduct a long and eqens l ve laboratory i nvest l gat ~on t o develop representative P-V-T dat a The t hl rd fact or t hat is necessary III all material- balance cal cul at ~ons is t he reservoir pressui e Sub- surface pressures In wells can be measured t o almost any desired degree of accuracy if enough t est s a r e lnacle wlth sufficient s k~l l Unfortunately, t he pressure measured in t he wells may not be representatlve of t he pressure In t he reservolr Unless t he permeability of t he sand is h ~ g h enough to permit pressure equahza- tioil In a reasonable period of t ~me , ~t 1s very difficult t o obtaln representatlve reservoir pressures Furt her- Inore, ~f pressures vary ~nat erl al l y from urell t o well, it IS clifficult to con~put e a represei l t at ~ve average Also, i n many matenal-balance calculat~ons, t he critlcal fact or 1s t he relation bet ween-t he-fonnat ~on- volume fact or and pressure, rat her t han t he absolute value of t he format~on-volume fact or a t any given pres- sure If t he slope of t he f ~~mat i on- vol ume fact or vs pressure curve IS represent at ~ve of t he conditions In t he reservolr, satisfactory material-balance cal cul at ~ons can be made even though t here nlay be some discrepancy In t he absolute values With these fact ors 111 mind, it seems to me t hat Mr Standlng' s ~ o ~ r e l a t ~ o n could well be used In place of laboratory P-V-T lnvestigatlons In engineering work 011 pools h a v ~ n g 1 Few wells 2 Irregul ar sands 3 Low permeahihties 4 Llttle or no wat er drive On t he other hand, it seeins t o me t hat laboratory P-V-T lnvestlgations w11 be advisable 111 fields of l arge slze havl ng consistent sands of relatively h ~ g h permeability and soine reasonable expectation of a st rong wat er drlve Laboratory dat a would be particu- l arl y needed a t pressures above t he bubble polnt, a s Mr Standlng' s correlations do not cover t he compres- slbllity of undersaturated liquld It IS obvious fro111 t he last two paragraphs t hat I would cons~der these ' correlations t o be entirely ade- quat e f or t he maj orl t y of t he oil fields In Ca l ~f o r ~u a