One of the most important tasks that a petroleum engineer has to undertake is determining how much hydrocarbons are contained in a potential reservoir. Key physical characteristics that they will be concerned with include porosity, permeability, net-to-gross ratio and bulk rock volume.
This information can then be used to calculate original oil in place (OOIP) and original gas in place (OGIP). Hence, for a given exploration prospect, explorers and commercial analysts can use this crucial information to determine whether a prospect is financially viable.
This paper seeks to discuss bulk rock volume and its importance in determining the amount of hydrocarbon in a reservoir. An instrument called a planimeter is used to determine the area of the contours on an isopach map and uses both Simpsons Rule and the Trapezoidal Rule to calculate the bulk rock volume of the reservoir.
OBJECTIVE / AIM
To analyze particle size distribution of a given sediment using a sieve shaker.
THEORY
Petroleum reservoirs have the ability to contain precious hydrocarbons in the microscopic pores under geological formations and to transmit the fluids under certain driving forces.
One of the core roles and responsibilities of a reservoir engineer is to make a good estimation of the hydrocarbons in place in a reservoir. That is, he must be able to determine the Oil Initially In Place (OIIP) and the Gas Initially In Place (GIIP). Many factors have to be carefully considered and the one discussed in this lab is the Bulk Rock Volume and how it is acquired.
Bulk rock volume is really the gross rock volume of rock above any hydrocarbon-water contact. It can be determined by mapping and correlating contour maps of the given area. The net-to-gross ratio is then calculated to determine the proportion of the area that contains reservoir rocks. The bulk rock volume multiplied by the net-to-gross ratio