THE GENERAL MATERIAL BALANCE EQUATION

The general material balance equation is simply a volumetric balance, which states that since the
volume of a reservoir (as defined by its initial limits) is a constant, that algebraic sum of the volume
changes of the oil, free gas, water, and rock volumes in the reservoir must be zero. In making these
calculations the following production, reservoir, and laboratory data are involved :

1. The initial reservoir pressure and the average reservoir pressure at successive intervals after the
start of production.
2. The stock tank barrels of oil produced, measured at 1 atm and 600F, at any time or during any
production interval.
3. The total standard cubic feet of gas produced. When gas is injected into the reservoir, this will be
the difference between the total gas produced and that returned to the reservoir.
4. The ratio of the initial gas cap volume to the initial oil volume, symbol m.
𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑟 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑒 𝑔𝑎𝑠 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
𝑚=
𝐼𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑟 𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒
If this value can be determined with reasonable precision, there is only one unknown (N) in the
material balance on volumetric gas cap reservoirs, and two (N and We) in water-drive reservoirs.
The value of m is determined from log and core data and from well completion data, which
frequently helps to locate the gas-oil and water-oil contacts. The ratio m is known in many
instances much more accurately then the absolute values of the gas cap and oil zone volumes.
5. The gas and oil volume factors and the solution gas-oil ratios. These are obtained as functions of
pressure by laboratory measurements on bottom hole samplesby the differential and flash
liberation methods.
6. The quantity of water that has been produced.
7. The quantity of water that has been enroached into the reservoir from the aquifier.

In the development of general material balnace equation, the following terms are used :

N Initial reservoir oil, STB Gf Amount of free gas in the reservoir, SCF
Boi Initial oil formation volume factor, bbl/STB Rsoi Initial solution gas-oil ratio, SCF/STB
Np Cumulative produced oil, STB Rp Cumulative produced gas-oil ratio,
SCF/STB
Bo Oil formation volume factor, bbl/STB Rso Solution gas-oil ratio, SCF/STB
G Initial reservoir gas, SCF Bg Gas formation volume factor, bbl/SCF
Bgi Initial gas formation volume factor, bbl/SCF W Initial reservoir water, bbl
Wp Cumulative produced water, STB Vf Initial void space, bbl
Bw Water formation volume factor, bbl/STB cf Formation isothermal compressibility,
psi-1
We Water influx into reservoir, bbl Cw Water isothermal compressibility, psi-1
∆𝑝̅ Change in average reservoir pressure, psia Swi Initial water saturation
 The general volumetric material balance equation :

𝐵𝑔
𝑁(𝐵𝑡𝑖 − 𝐵𝑡 ) + 𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ] + 𝑁𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖 (1 − )
𝐵𝑔𝑖
𝑐𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑖 + 𝑐𝑓
= 𝑊𝑒 − 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝 + (1 + 𝑚)𝑁𝐵𝑡𝑖 [ ] ∆𝑝̅
1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖

This is the general volumetric material balance equation. It can be rearranged into the following
form that is useful for discussion purposes.

𝑁𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖 𝑐𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑖 + 𝑐𝑓
𝑁(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 ) + (𝐵𝑔 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 ) + (1 + 𝑚)𝑁𝐵𝑡𝑖 [ ] ∆𝑝̅ + 𝑊𝑒
𝐵𝑔𝑖 1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖

= 𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ] + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝

The general material balance equation for a gas reservoir can then be obtained
𝑐𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑖 + 𝑐𝑓
𝐺(𝐵𝑔 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 ) + 𝐺𝐵𝑔𝑖 [ ] ∆𝑝̅ + 𝑊𝑒 = 𝐺𝑝 𝐵𝑔 + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝
1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖
Normally, when using the material balance equation, an engineer considers each pressure and
the corresponding production data as being separate points from other pressure values. From each
separate point, a calculation for a dependent variable is made. The Havlena-Odeh method uses all the
data points, with the further requirement that these points must yield solutions to the material balance
equation that behave linearly to obtain values of the independent variable. The Havlena-Odeh equation
defined as
𝑁𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖
𝐹 = 𝑁𝐸𝑜 + 𝑁(1 + 𝑚)𝐵𝑡𝑖 𝐸𝑓,𝑤 + [ ] 𝐸𝑔 + 𝑊𝑒
𝐵𝑔𝑖

MATERIAL BALANCE IN SINGLE-PHASE GAS RESERVOIRS

The general material balance equation for gas reservoir was

𝑐𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑖 + 𝑐𝑓
𝐺(𝐵𝑔 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 ) + 𝐺𝐵𝑔𝑖 [ ] ∆𝑝̅ + 𝑊𝑒 = 𝐺𝑝 𝐵𝑔 + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝
1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖

For most gas reservoirs, the gas compressibility term is much greater than the formation and
water compressibilities, and the second term on left-hand side of equation above becomes negligible

𝐺(𝐵𝑔 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 ) + 𝑊𝑒 = 𝐺𝑝 𝐵𝑔 + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝 𝑬𝒒. (𝟑. 𝟏𝟓)

When reservoir pressures are abnormally high, this term is not negligible and should not be
ignored. When there is neither water encroachment into nor water production from a reservoir of interest,
the reservoir is said to be volumetric. For a volumetric gas reservoir, equation above reduces to :
𝐺(𝐵𝑔 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 ) = 𝐺𝑝 𝐵𝑔
 𝑝𝑠𝑐 𝑧𝑇𝑆𝑤𝑖
𝐵𝑔 = 𝑬𝒒. (𝟏. 𝟏𝟔)
𝑇𝑠𝑐 𝑝

Equation (3.15) may be expressed in terms of the initial pore volume, 𝑉𝑖 , by recognized that 𝑉𝑖 = 𝐺𝐵𝑔𝑖
and using Eq.(1.16) for 𝐵𝑔 and 𝐵𝑔𝑖 .

𝑍𝑓 𝑇𝑃𝑖 𝑉𝑖 𝑍𝑓 𝑇𝑃𝑠𝑐 𝐺𝑝
𝑉𝑖 [ − 1] = + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝 − 𝑊𝑒
𝑃𝑓 𝑍𝑖 𝑇 𝑃𝑓 𝑇𝑠𝑐

For volumetric reservoirs, this equation can be reduced and rearranged to give :

𝑃𝑠𝑐 𝐺𝑝 𝑃𝑖 𝑉𝑖 𝑃𝑓 𝑉𝑖
= −
𝑇𝑠𝑐 𝑍𝑖 𝑇 𝑍𝑓 𝑇

MATERIAL BALANCE IN GAS CONDENSATE RESERVOIRS

Many gas-condensate reservoirs are produced under a partial or total water drive. When the
reservoir pressure stabilizes or stops declining, as occurs in many reservoirs, recovery depends on the
value of the pressure at stabilization and the efficiency with which the invading water displaces the gas
phase from the rock. The liquid recovery is lower for the greater retrograde condensation, because the
retrograde liquid is generally immobile and is trapped together with some gas behind the invading water
front. This situation is aggravated by permeability variations because the wells become “drowned” and
are forced off production before the less permeable strata are depleted. In many cases, the recovery by
water drive is less than by volumetric performance.

When an oil zone is absent or negligible, the material balance Eq.(3.15) may be applied to
retrograde reservoirs under both volumetric and water drive performance, just as for the single-phase
(nonretrograde) gas reservoirs for which it was developed . The Eq.(3.15) may be used to find either the
water influx 𝑊𝑒 or initial gas in place G. The equation contains the gas deviation factor z at the lower
pressure. It is included in the gas volume factor 𝐵𝑔 in Eq.(3.15). Because this deviation factor applies to
the gas-condensate fluid remaining in the reservoir, when the pressure is below the dew-point pressure
in retrograde reservoirs, it is a two-phase gas deviation factor. The actual volume in Eq. (1.6) includes
the volume both of both the gas and liquid phases, and the ideal volume is calculated from the total moles
of gas and liquid, assuming ideal gas behavior. For volumetric performance, this two phase deviation
factor may be obtained from such laboratory data.

MATERIAL BALANCE IN UNDERSATURATED RESERVOIRS

The material balance equation for underaturated reservoirs was developed is :

𝑐𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑖 + 𝑐𝑓
𝑁(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 ) + 𝑁𝐵𝑡𝑖 [ ] ∆𝑝̅ + 𝑊𝑒 = 𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ] − 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝
1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖

Neglecting the change in porosity of rocks with the change of internal fluid pressure, which is treated
later, reservoirs with zero or negligible water influx are constant volume or volumetric reservoirs. If the
reservoir oil is initially undersaturated, then initially it contains only connate water and oil, with their
solution gas. The solubility of gas in reservoir waters is generally quite low and is considered negligible
for present discussion. Because the water production from volumetric reservoirs is generally small or
negligible, it will be considered as zero. From initial reservoir pressure down to the buble point, then, the
reservoir oil volume remains a constant, and oil, is produced by liquid expansion. Incorporating these
assumptions into equation above we get :

𝑁(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 ) = 𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ] 𝑬𝒒(𝟓. 𝟔)

While the reswrvoir pressure is mantained above the buble-point pressure and the oil remains
undersaturated, only liquid will exist in the reservoir. Any gas that is produced on the surface will be gas
coming out of solution as the oil moves up through the wellbore and through the surface facilities. All this
gas will be gas that was in solution at reservoir conditions. Therefore, during this period, 𝑅𝑝 will equal
𝑅𝑠𝑜 and 𝑅𝑠𝑜 will equal 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 since the solution gas oil ratio remains constant. The material balance equation
becomes

𝑁(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 ) = 𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑡

This can be rearranged to yield fractional recovery, RF, as

𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖
𝑅𝐹 = =
𝑁 𝐵𝑡

The fractional recovery is generally expressed as a fraction of the initial stock tank oil in place. If
the free gas remains distributed throughout the reservoir as isolated bubles. Equation (5.6) can be
rearranged to solve N and the fractional recovery, RF, for any undersaturated reservoir below the buble
point.

𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ]

𝑁=
(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 )

𝑁𝑝 𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖
𝑅𝐹 = = 𝑬𝒒(𝟓. 𝟏𝟏)
𝑁 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ]

The net cumulative produced gas-oil ratio 𝑅𝑝 is the quotient of all the gas produced from the
reservoir 𝐺𝑝 and all the oil produced 𝑁𝑝 . In some reservoirs, some of the produced gas is returned to the
same reservoirs, so that the net produced gas is only that which is not returned to the reservoirs. When
all the produced gas is returned to the reservoirs, 𝑅𝑝 is zero.

An inspection of Eq. (5.11) indicates that all the terms except the produced gas-oil ratio, 𝑅𝑝 , are
functions of pressure only and are the properties of the reservoir fluid. Because the nature of the fluid is
fixed, it follows that the fractional recovery RF is fixed by the PVT properties of the reservoir fluid and the
produced gas-oil ratio. Since the produced gas-oil ratio occurs in the denominator of Eq(5.11), large gas-
oil ratios give low recoveries and vice versa.
MATERIAL BALANCE IN SATURATED RESERVOIR

The general Schiltuis material balance equation :

𝑁𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖 𝑐𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑖 + 𝑐𝑓
𝑁(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 ) + (𝐵𝑔 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 ) + (1 + 𝑚)𝑁𝐵𝑡𝑖 [ ] ∆𝑝̅ + 𝑊𝑒
𝐵𝑔𝑖 1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖

= 𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ] + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝

Equation (2.7) can be arranged and solved for N, the initial oil in place :

𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ] − 𝑊𝑒 + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝

𝑁=
𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖 𝑐𝑤 𝑆𝑤𝑖 + 𝑐𝑓
(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 ) + (𝐵 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 ) + (1 + 𝑚)𝐵𝑡𝑖 [ ∆𝑝̅
𝐵𝑔𝑖 𝑔 1 − 𝑆𝑤𝑖 ]

If the expansion term due to the compressibilities of the formation and connate water can be neglected,
as they usually are in saturated reservoir, then Eq. (6.1) becomes

𝑁𝑝 [𝐵𝑡 + (𝑅𝑝 − 𝑅𝑠𝑜𝑖 )𝐵𝑔 ] − 𝑊𝑒 + 𝐵𝑤 𝑊𝑝

𝑁=
𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖
(𝐵𝑡 − 𝐵𝑡𝑖 ) +
𝐵𝑔𝑖 (𝐵𝑔 − 𝐵𝑔𝑖 )

MATERIAL BALANCE AS A STRAIGHT LINE

From equation 2.3

𝑁𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖
𝐹 = 𝑁𝐸𝑜 + 𝑁(1 + 𝑚)𝐵𝑡𝑖 𝐸𝑓,𝑤 + [ ] 𝐸𝑔 + 𝑊𝑒
𝐵𝑔𝑖

This equation is then reduced for a particular application and arranged into a form straight line. When
this s done, the slope and intercept often yield valuable assistance in determining such parameters as N
and m. For the case of a saturated reservoir with an initial gas ca and neglecting the compressibility term,
𝐸𝑓,𝑤 the equation above become

𝑁𝑚𝐵𝑡𝑖
𝐹 = 𝑁𝐸𝑜 + [ ] 𝐸𝑔 + 𝑊𝑒
𝐵𝑔𝑖

If N is factored out of the first two terms on the right hand side and both sides of the equation are divided
by the expression remaining after factoring, we get

𝐹 𝑊𝑒
=𝑁+
𝑚𝐵 𝑚𝐵
𝐸𝑜 + 𝐵 𝑡𝑖 𝐸𝑔 𝐸𝑜 + 𝐵 𝑡𝑖 𝐸𝑔
𝑔𝑖 𝑔𝑖

For cases where the water production values were not known. For this reason, two dummy parameters
are defined as F’ = F - 𝑊𝑝 𝐵𝑤 and 𝑊𝑒′ = 𝑊𝑒 − 𝑊𝑝 𝐵𝑤 . Equation above then becomes

𝐹′ 𝑊𝑒 ′
=𝑁+
𝑚𝐵 𝑚𝐵
𝐸𝑜 + 𝐵 𝑡𝑖 𝐸𝑔 𝐸𝑜 + 𝐵 𝑡𝑖 𝐸𝑔
𝑔𝑖 𝑔𝑖