2024 M.

KING HUBBERT
CONCLUSION
At the outset of the present paper we proposed to investigate the forces which
cause petroleum to migrate and the characteristics of the positions in which it will
become entrapped under the general conditions when the environmental ground
water is in some state of motion. This we have done and our formulations reduce,
as they should, in the special case for which the water is at rest, to the results with
which we are already familiar: vertical and parallel impelling forces, and traps for
both oil and gas in the spaces between downwardly concave impermeable barriers
and horizontal surfaces.
If the water is in motion, however, in a non-vertical direction, which often is
the case, our formulation leads to consequences which are by no means familiar.
Oil and gas equipotentials are no longer horizontal but are inclined, with the
angle of inclination of the equipotentials for oil greater than that of the equipo-
tentials for gas. The paths of migration for oil and gas in the same space are no
longer vertical, nor are they parallel, the paths for oil being deflected away from
the vertical by an angle greater than that of the paths for gas. Likewise the traps
for oil and gas no longer coincide and may in fact be separated entirely. In the
latter event a trap for oil will not hold gas nor a trap for gas, oil; the fluids will
migrate to their respective traps instead.
The oil- and gas-water interfaces will not be horizontal but inclined at an angle
given by
dz dh
tan 0 = = _________
dx Po dx
where p
o
is the density of the oil or gas, respectively.
Under such circumstances oil or gas entrapments will not occur in the con-
ventional positions. They may occur in anticlines in asymmetrical positions with the
water high on one side and low on the other, or in completely unclosed structures
such as noses or terraces, with the water flowing down the dip. Again, if the closing
dip of an anticline in the downstream direction is less than the angle of tilt, this
structure will not hold the specified fluid under the conditions prevailing.
These theoretical deductions have been confirmed experimentally, and the
predicted phenomena have also been sought in the field. Not only have they been
found, but the frequency of their occurrence has exceeded expectations, and in
every major oil-producing area so far examined, hydrodynamic conditions in at
least some reservoir formations, with oil-field tilts ranging from tens to hundreds
of feet per mile, have been observed. We are thus led to the suspicion that many
off-structure accumulations of oil and gas, which, on the basis of hydrostatic
premises, have been classified as fault or stratigraphic traps, may in fact be
hydrodynamic traps instead.
From such considerations it becomes evident that in the prospecting for petroleum
in any area, as complete a knowledge as possible, in three-dimensional
ENTRAPMENT I T ' DER HYDRODYNAMI C CONDI TI ONS 2025
space, of the ground-water hydrology is of importance comparable with a knowl -
edge of the stratigraphy and the structure. If conditions can be demonstrated to be
very nearly hydrostatic, then our customary procedures are appropriate; if
hydrodynamic conditions prevail, it is important that these be determined in detail,
stratum by stratum, over the given basin in order that the positions of the traps
may better be determined.
For this purpose regional geology and topography constitute the initial and most
readily available information. Next comes the information obtainable from wells of
which the most informative are widely spaced wildcats. Water samples for analysis
and density determination should be taken in such wells in every regional sand or
permeable formation. In addition, in the same formations, accurate shut-in pressures,
together with the precise elevation of the point of measurement, should also be
taken. This information is essential for the computation of the po-
tential or the head h, by means of the equations
(D
v
, = gz
P.
h,= z P
P w g
where p is the undisturbed pressure in the formation and z the elevation of the point
of measurement.
The systematic assembling of data of this kind is appropriately a cooperative
enterprise for the whole petroleum industry, and such data should be taken and
exchanged between various groups in the same manner that well-log information is
now exchanged. It will be found that our present procedures in taking pressure
measurements in wildcat wells are inadequate, both as to frequency and accuracy.
Since pressure measurements are most often made incidental to drill-stem tests, there
is need for an improvement in the pressure measurements and procedures in making
such tests. This includes both an improvement in the precision of pressure
measurements, and also a change of the routine so that shut-in pressures may be taken
prior to the drastic disturbance produced by the withdrawal of fluids, rather than
afterward.
In the light of the evidence before us it appears essential that in addition to our
customary procedures in petroleum geology, involving principally stratigraphy and
structure, we must now add regional ground-water hydrology if many otherwise
obscure accumulations of petroleum are not to be overlooked.
REFERENCES CITED
ADAMS, JOHN EMERY, 1936, "Oil Pool of Open Reservoir Type," Bull. Amer. Assoc. Petrol. Geol.,
VOL 20, pp. 78o-96.
BEAL, CARL H., 1917, "Geologic Structure in the Cushing Oil and Gas Field, Oklahoma, and Its Relation
to the Oil, Gas, and Water," U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 658. 64 pp.
CHAMBERS, L. S.,
1
943, "Coalinga East Extension Area of the Coalinga Oil Fields," Geologic Forma-