Pressure and PVT Uncertainty in Material Balance Calculations

Abstract

Original Oil In Place (OOIP) calculations based on material balance methods are strongly influenced by data uncertainty. Although some research is available in literature, usually the effects of data uncertainty on material balance calculations are rarely considered and quantified in most studies. This work presents an approach to properly quantify and account for the impact of reservoir pressure and PVT data uncertainty on material balance calculations under different drive mechanisms and using different material balance methods. This study allows reservoir engineers properly select the most suitable material balance method when uncertainty on reservoir pressure and PVT data is significant.In this work, two different methodologies are proposed. First, a sensitivity analysis was conducted using generated realizations of reservoir pressure and PVT data to evaluate their effect on material balance calculations. Second, a more robust approach was proposed using experimental design and analysis of variance to systematically evaluate the influence of reservoir pressure and PVT data on material balance calculations in an optimal and integrated fashion. In both methodologies, different material balance methods were used and computed OOIP were compared to reference values from a conceptual reservoir model with known PVT data and simulated reservoir pressure. A MATLAB-based program, with graphical user interface, was coded for this purpose 1 .