Tilted Oil and Gas Pools: Some Published Examples

Abstract

The procedures presented in the previous chapters have been developed from the body of hydrogeological theory that was discussed earlier. It predicts that hydrocarbon-water contacts in oil and gas pools will be oriented nonhorizontally under sufficiently hydrodynamic conditions. The degree of OWC tilt depends on the intensity of flow within the underlying and surrounding formation water, the comparative densities of the moving water, and associated hydrocarbon phases. It was also noted that the methods presented are most effectively utilized prior to drilling, so as to predict whether an accumulation can be trapped and held under existing hydrogeological conditions; if a particular geological feature will be completely devoid (flushed) of oil or gas due to a hostile hydrological environment; whether hydrocarbons might be accumulated in a position offset from the crest of the structure concerned; and the degree of tilting in any pool that might be encountered and how the size of the pool has been affected either constructively or adversely. Several U, V, Z problems in the preceding chapter have illustrated the concepts.