An Innovative 1-D Material Balance Model for Undersaturated Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs by Introducing Water Imbibition Drive Index

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Institute of Petroleum Engineering, School of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

2 Petropars Ltd., Oil and Gas Company, Tehran, Iran

10.22078/pr.2025.5558.3465

Abstract

The material balance (MB) technique has proven to be a dependable and straightforward method for evaluating reservoir performance. It is primarily used to determine the initial volumes of oil and gas in a reservoir, estimate production driving indexes (such as gas cap drive, solution gas drive, rock and water expansion drive, and aquifer water drive), and predict reservoir performance under various production scenarios. These applications are mainly relevant to conventional reservoirs. Conversely, naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs (NFRs), which account for a significant portion of the world’s established oil reserves, are typically dual porosity systems with distinct matrix and fracture porosity characteristics. It is well-known that additional production mechanisms, such as Gravity Drainage (in gas-invaded zones) and Water Imbibition (in water-invaded zones), can be predominant in oil fractured reservoirs, which are not considered in the conventional material balance technique. This study aims to extend the traditional (zero-dimension) MB method to a 1-D MB method by incorporating water imbibition as a key production mechanism in undersaturated NFRs with an active aquifer. A FORTRAN code based on the new 1-D MB method was developed and successfully applied to a real field case. The results of the developed model were validated by closely matching the results of detailed numerical simulation. The coefficient of determination (R²) was found to be 0.987 for the average reservoir pressure data and 0.97 for the water-oil contact data, indicating a very good match between the results of the material balance model and the reservoir simulator. Furthermore, based on the energy plot at the end of the prediction period, it was determined that more than 60% of the reservoir’s energy for oil production is provided by the water imbibition drive mechanism.

Keywords

Main Subjects

References

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Journal of Petroleum Research
Volume 35, 1404-3 - Serial Number 142
September and October 2025
Pages 29-43

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