Basic Mechanics of Oil Reservoir Flows

A petroleum reservoir is a complicated mixture of porous rock, brine, and hydrocarbon fluids, usually residing underground at depths that prohibit extensive measurement and characterization. Petroleum reservoir engineers face the difficult task of using their understanding of reservoir mechanics to design schemes for recovering hydrocarbons efficiently. In the past decade or so the reservoir engineer’s reliance on mathematical models has grown at a remarkable rate, and, in view of the evolution of many other successful branches of engineering, it seems fair to expect this reliance to continue increasing. This monograph examines several aspects of the development of mathematical reservoir models. Before embarking on technical discussions, though, we shall give a brief, relatively nontechnical survey of how an oil reservoir works.