PETROLEUMSOCIETY

PAPER2005113

CANADIAN INSTITUTE OF MINING, METALLURGY & PETROLEUM

DynamicMaterialBalance
(OilorGasinplacewithoutshutins)
L.MATTAR,D.ANDERSON
FeketeAssociatesIncorporated

ThispaperistobepresentedatthePetroleumSocietys6th CanadianInternational PetroleumConference(56th AnnualTechnical

Meeting),Calgary,Alberta,Canada,June79,2005. Discussionofthispaperisinvitedandmaybepresentedatthemeetingif
filedinwritingwiththetechnicalprogramchairmanpriortotheconclusionofthemeeting. Thispaperandanydiscussionfiledwill
be considered for publication in Petroleum Society journals. Publication rights are reserved. This is a preprint and subject to
correction.

theaveragepressurethatexistsinthereservoiratthattimeb)
use this calculated average reservoir pressure and the
correspondingcumulativeproduction,tocalculatetheoriginal
oil or gasinplace by traditional methods. The method is
illustratedusingdatasets.

Abstract
Material Balance calculations for determining oil or gas
inplacearebasedonobtainingstaticreservoirpressuresasa
functionofcumulativeproduction.Thisrequiresthewellstobe
shutin, in order to determine the average reservoir pressure.
In a previous publication(1), it was shown that the material
balancecalculationcouldbedonewithoutshuttinginthewell.
The method was called Flowing Material Balance. While
this method has proven to be very good, it is limited to a
constantflowrate,andfailswhentheflowratevaries.

Introduction
Thematerialbalancemethodisafundamentalcalculationin
reservoirengineering,andisconsideredtoyieldoneofthemore
reliable estimates of hydrocarbonsin place. In principle, it
consistsofproducingacertainamountoffluids,measuringthe
averagereservoirpressurebeforeandaftertheproduction,and
with knowledge of the PVT properties of the system,
calculatingamassbalanceasfollows:

The Dynamic Material Balance is an extension of the

Flowing Material Balance. Itis applicable to either constant
flow rate or variable flow rate, and can be used for both gas
andoil.TheDynamicMaterialBalanceisaprocedurethat
converts the flowing pressure at any point in time to the
average reservoir pressure that exists in the reservoir at that
time. Once that is done, the classical material balance
calculations become applicable, and a conventional material
balanceplotcanbegenerated.

RemainingHydrocarbonsinplace=
InitialHydrocarbonsinplace ProducedHydrocarbons
At face value, the above equation is simple however in
practice,itsimplementationcanbequitecomplex,asonemust
accountforsuchvariablesasexternalfluidinflux(waterdrive),
compressibility of all the fluids and of the rock, hydrocarbon
phasechanges,etc

The procedure is graphical and very straightforward: a)

knowing the flow rate and flowing sandface pressure at any
given point in time, convert the measured flowing pressure to

In order to determine the average reservoir pressure, the

well is shutin, resulting in loss of production. In high
permeabilityreservoirs,thismaynotbeasignificantissue,but
in medium tolow permeability reservoirs, theshutin duration
mayhavetolastseveralweeks(andsometimesmonths)before
a reliable reservoir pressure can be estimated. This loss of
production opportunity as well as the cost of monitoring the
shutinpressureisoftenunacceptable.

pR1- pR2 = pwf1- pwf2

(1)

pR 2 - pR3 = pwf2 - pwf3

(2)

Rearranging,
pR1 - pwf1 = pR2 - pwf2 = pR3 - pwf3

Itisclearthattheproductionrateofawellisafunctionof
many factors such as permeability, viscosity, thickness etc
Also, the rate is directly related to the driving force in the
reservoir, i.e. the difference between the average reservoir
pressure and the sandface flowing pressure. Therefore, it is
reasonable to expect that knowledge about the reservoir
pressurecanbeextractedfromthesandfaceflowingpressureif
both the flow rate and flowing pressure are measured. If,
indeed, the average reservoir pressure can be obtained from
flowing conditions, then material balance calculations can be
performedwithouthavingtoshutinthewell.Thisisofgreat
practicalvalue.

(3)

Thus, if the sandface flowing pressure and the average

reservoir pressure are plotted versus time (or cumulative
production), they will have the same trend, and will be
displaced by a constant. In a conventional material balance
calculation, reservoir pressure is measured or extrapolated
basedonstabilizedshutin pressuresatthewell.Whileawellis
flowing,itisobviousthattheaveragereservoirpressurecannot
be measured, but the equations above give the relationship
betweenthewellflowingpressure(whichcanbemeasured)and
theaveragereservoirpressure.

In a previous publication(1) the authors presented The

FlowingMaterialBalanceforgaswellsflowingataconstant
rate.Experiencehasshownthatthismethodworksverywell,
butunfortunatelyislimitedtocaseswherethewellisflowingat
a constant rate. The following development extends the
FlowingMaterialBalancemethodtocaseswheretheflowrate
isnotconstant.ItiscalledtheVariableRateFlowingMaterial
BalanceorDynamicMaterialBalance.Thisnamehasbeen
chosen to contrast with the traditional material balance
procedure,whichreliesonstaticreservoirpressuredata.

ConstantRateFlowingP/ZPlot
Appendices A, B and C develop the equations that relate
average reservoir pressure to flowing pressure. For a gas
reservoir, the equations are given in terms of pseudopressure,
andthematerialbalanceisexpressedintermsof p/z.
Figure 2 demonstrates the Flowing Material Balance as
appliedto a gasreservoir. It shows how the flowing pressure
(pwf / z) andthe average reservoir pressure (pR/z)arerelated,
and how the OriginalGasInPlace (OGIP) can be obtained
fromtheflowingpressureiftheinitialpressureisknown.The
line drawn through the measured flowing pressure data needs
onlytobeshiftedupwardssothatitgoesthroughtheinitial
(pi/zi) point.

AreviewoftheFlowingMaterialBalancemethod(constant
flow rate) is given below to introduce the concepts of the
method.ThisisthenfollowedbydevelopmentoftheDynamic
MaterialBalancebyextendingtheconstantrateanalysistothe
variableratesituation,thusgeneralizingtheapplicabilityofthe
method.

DynamicMaterialBalance(VariableRate
FlowingP/ZPlot)

Forthepurposesofthispaper,theequationsarederivedfor
a volumetric reservoir (i.e. no water drive or external fluid
influx), but the method can be extended to include such
complexities.Themethodisvalidforbothoilandgassystems,
but it is sometimes more convenient to present a particular
concept (or equation) in terms of gas rather than oil, or vice
versa.

The Flowing Material Balance described above has proven

tobeaverysuccessfulwayofdeterminingoriginalgasinplace
when the flow rate is held constant. However it fails
completely if the flow rate is variable. Unfortunately most
wells do not flow at constant rate for extended periods of
production.Atypicalhighdeliverabilitygaswellmayhavea
productionprofileasshowninFigure3.

FlowingMaterialBalance
Strictly speaking, both the Flowing Material Balance
(constant rate) and the Dynamic Material Balance (variable
rate) are valid only when the flow has reached Boundary
Dominated conditions. The principles underlying these
methods are best illustrated using constant rate production.
When the flow becomes dominated by the boundaries, i.e.
stabilizedorpseudosteadystateconditionsareachieved,the
pressureateverypointinthereservoirdeclinesatthesamerate.
This is illustrated in Figure 1, which shows that the pressure
dropmeasuredatthewellboreisthesameasthepressuredrop
thatwouldbeobservedanywhereinthereservoir,includingthe
location which represents average reservoir pressure. pR1, pR2
and pR3 represent the average (static) reservoir pressure that
wouldbeobtainedifthewellwasshutinattimest1,t2,andt3.
Itisevident,fromFigure1,thatthechangeinaveragereservoir
pressureisequaltothechangeinthesandfaceflowingpressure.

A different methodology, called the Dynamic Material

Balance,hasbeendeveloped,andisthesubjectof thispaper.It
isapplicabletobothconstantrateandvariablerateproduction.
Itisobviousthat,fortheflowingpressureprofileseeninFigure
3,wecannotassumeaconstantpressuredifferencebetweenthe
average reservoir pressureandthe measured flowing pressure.
Thecompletedevelopmentoftheappropriateequationsisgiven
in Appendices A, B and C, but a simplified summary of the
concepts as they apply to variable rate production is
summarizedbelow:

PseudosteadyStateFlow:
pi - pwf =

qt
+ bpssq
coN

7.
8.

(4)

CumulativeProduction:
(q t = Np)

9.

Convert the average reservoir pseudopressure to

averagereservoirpressure, pR.
Calculate pR/Z and plot against cumulative gas
produced, Gp, just like the conventional Material
Balancegraphforagaspool.TheinterceptontheX
axisgivestheoriginalgasinplace,G.SeeFigure5.
UsingthisnewvalueofG,repeatsteps3to7untilG
converges.SeeFigure5

(5)

MaterialBalanceEquation:

Limitations
pi - pR =

Np
coN

Theproceduresdescribedinthispaperareveryeffectiveand
provide extremely valuable information. However, like any
otherreservoirengineering,ithasitslimitations.

Becausetheformulationofthematerialbalancetime
and pseudotime are, strictly speaking, rigorous only during
boundarydominated flow, data obtained during transient flow
cannot be used inthis analysis. However, for the majority of
productiondata,thisis notaproblem. Thetransientdatacanbe
identifiedasthecurvedpartofthegraphinFigure4andshould
beignored.

Experience with this method has shown that in

certain situations such as pressuredependent permeability, or
continuouslychangingskin,(bothfactorshavebeenignoredin
the development of the equations) this method will tend to
underpredict the hydrocarbonsinplace. However, these
factors can readily be accounted for by more complex
definitionsofpseudopressureandpseudotime.

When comparing the Dynamic Material Balance to

the more traditional buildup tests for obtaining average
reservoirpressure,itshouldbekeptinmindthatbothmethods
havetheirstrengthsandtheirlimitations.Thedynamicmaterial
balance is an indirect method of determining the average
reservoirpressure.Assuch,itincorporatesmanyassumptions.
Ontheotherhand,buildupteststhemselveshavetheirownsets
ofassumptionswhenthebuilduppressurehastobeextrapolated
to obtain the average reservoir pressure. Accordingly,
whenever possible, these methods should be used in concert
witheachotherratherthanasalternativestoeachother.

(6)

Combingequations4, 5and6:
pR - pwf = bpssq

(7)

Rearranging:
pR = pwf + bpssq

(8)

The above equation illustrates how the Dynamic Material

Balance can beappliedto a well with varying production rate
andcorrespondinglyvaryingflowingpressure.Theconversion
from flowing pressureto average reservoir pressure musttake
into account the varying flow rate. Since the flow rate is
known,weneedonlydeterminethevalueofbpss ,usingsome
independentmethod.Onewaytoobtainareliableestimateof
bpss isdiscussedinAppendixA.Aplotof(pipwf/q) versusNp/q
should yield a straight line when boundary dominated flow is
reached.Theinterceptofthisplotisbpss .Notethatthevalue
of bpss is subject to interpretation, as it depends on the proper
identification of the stabilized (straightline) section of the
graph.
The above summary equationsare for asingle phaseliquid
system. The corresponding equations for a gas reservoir are
developedinAppendixC.

Conclusion

Foragasreservoir,twomodificationsarenecessary:

a)Thepressuremustbeconvertedtopseudopressure,pp,
to account for the dependence of viscosity () and Z
factoronpressure,and

b) materialbalancetime must be converted to

pseudotime, tca, to account for the strong dependence of
gascompressibility,cg,onpressure.

The step by step procedure for generating a Dynamic

Material Balance plot for a gas well with varying flow rate is
givenbelow:

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Convertinitialpressuretopseudopressure, ppi
Convert all flowing pressures to pseudopressures,
ppwf
AssumeavaluefortheOriginalGasinPlace,G
Calculate pseudotimefromEquationC11
Plot(ppippwf/q)versus pseudotime,tca.s.Theintercept
givesbpss.SeeFigure4.
Calculate the average reservoir pseudopressure from
EquationC19.

Itispossibletoobtaintheaveragereservoirpressure
withoutshuttinginawell.
Theflowingpressurecanbeconvertedtotheaverage
reservoir pressure existing at the time of the
measurement using a very simple and direct
procedure.
The average reservoir pressure obtained from the
Dynamic Material Balance method can be used
anywhereitistraditionallyused.
Foragaswell,aconventionalpR/Zplotcaneasilybe
generated without shuttingin the well, and the
originalgasinplacedeterminedasusual.
The Dynamic Material Balance applies to variable
rate production. It is an extension of the Flowing
Material Balance method which was limited to a
constantratesituation.
TheDynamicMaterialBalanceshouldnotbeviewed
as a replacement to buildup tests, but as a very
inexpensivesupplementtothem.

NOMENCLATURE
A= Reservoirarea,ft2
B

ta

tc

= Materialbalancetimeforliquid,day

Pseudotime,daypsi/cp

tca = Materialbalancepseudotimeforgas(EquationC
11),day

= Formationvolumefactor,bbl/stb

bpss = Reservoirconstant (EquationA4)

2.637 10-4kt 24

tD

= Dimensionlesstime,

= Reservoirtemperature,R

Oilcompressibility,psi1

Tst

= Standardtemperature,519.668R

G =

Originalgasinplace,MMscf

Gp =

Cumulativegasproduced,MMscf

= Gascompressibilityfactorataveragereservoir
pressure

Paythickness,ft

Zi

= Gascompressibilityfactoratinitialreservoirpressure

Reservoirpermeability,md

= Hydrocarbonfilledporosity

= Viscosity,cp

mi

= Viscosityatinitialreservoirpressure,cp

cg = Gascompressibilityataveragereservoirpressure,psi1

cgi = Gascompressibilityatinitialreservoirpressure,psi1
co

N =

Originaloilinplace,Bbl

Np =

Cumulativeproductionproduced,Bbl

pD =

Dimensionlesspressure,

( pi - p)kh
or
141.2qBm

fm crw2

REFERENCES

( ppi - pp)kh
6

1.417 10 qT

pi

pR =

1.Mattar,L.,McNeil,R.,The'Flowing'GasMaterialBalance
JournalofJCPT,Vol.37#2,page,1998.

Initialreservoirpressure,psi
Averagereservoirpressure,psi

pst =

Standardpressure,(14.65psiinAlberta)

pwf =

Flowingpressureattheinterface,psi

pp =

Pseudopressure,(EquationC2)

pp =

2.Blasingame,T.A.,Lee,W.J.,VariableRateReservoirLimits
Testing PaperSPE15028 presentedatthePermianBasinOil
andGasRecoveryConference, Midland, TX,March1314,
1986
3.Lee,J.,Spivey,J.P.,Rollins J.B.,PressureTransient
Testing SPETextbookSeriesVol.9,pg.15,2003.

Pseudopressurecorrespondingtoaveragereservoir
2

pressure p ,psi /cp

ppD= Dimensionlesspseudopressuredifference

4.E.R.C.B.GasWellTesting TheoryandPractice Energy

andResourceConservationBoard,Alberta,Canada,1975,
ThirdEdition.

correspondingtoaveragereservoirpressure,
( ppi - pp)kh
1.417 24qT
pp =
i

5.Agarwal,R.G.,Gardner,D.C.,Kleinsteiber,S.W.,Fussell,
D.D.,AnalyzingWellProductionDataUsingCombinedType
CurveandDeclineCurveAnalysisConcepts SPEReservoir
EvaluationandEngineering,October,1999.

Pseudopressurecorrespondingtoinitialreservoir
pressure,psi2/cp

ppwf = Pseudopressurecorrespondingtothesandface
flowingpressure,psi2/cp
q

re

= Exteriorradius,feet

Productionrate(canbeafunctionoftime),BPDor
MMscfd

reD = Exteriorradiusdimensionless,

6.Fraim,M.L.,Wattenbarger R.A.,GasReservoirDecline
CurveAnalysisUsingTypeCurveswithRealGas
PseudopressureandNormalizedTime SPEFormation
Evaluation,December,1987.

re
rw

7.Palacio,J.C.,Blasingame,T.A.,DeclineCurveAnalysis
UsingTypeCurves AnalysisofGasWellProductionData
PaperSPE25909presentedattheJointRockyMountain
RegionalandLowPermeabilityReservoirsSymposium,Denver,
CO,April2628,1993.

rwa = Apparentwellboreradius,feet
rw

= Wellboreradius,feet

Time,day

A Cartesian plot of (pipwf/q) versus Np/q will yield a

straightlinewithaninterceptof bpss.

Appendices
AppendixA:

AppendixB:

FlowingMaterialBalance:(ConstantRate)
Oil:

DynamicMaterialBalance:(Variablerate)

Thepseudosteadystateequationforan oilwell,abovethe
bubblepoint,flowingataconstantrateisgivenbyLee(3):
pD =2tD /reD2 + ln(reD)-

3
4

Oil:
Strictly speaking, the relationships developedin Appendix
Aapplytoaconstantratesituationonly.
Numerouspublications(5)(6)(7) inthefieldofproductiondata
analysishavedemonstratedthatiftheflowtime,t,isreplaced
byMaterialBalanceTime,tc,theequationsofAppendixAare
valid for varying rate production. For an oil reservoir, tc is
definedas:

(A1)

Thistranslatesto:
pi - pwf =

qt 141.2qBm
re
+
)(ln
coN
kh
r
wa

(A2)

tc =
pi - pwf

qt
=
+ bpss q
coN

Accordingly, for any flow condition (constant rate or

variablerate)theanalysisprocedureis:
3

a) Plot a Cartesian graph of (pipwf/q) versus Np/q. The

earlypartofthedatamaybecurvedbecauseoftransientflow.
However,theboundarydominatedflowwillyieldastraightline
withaninterceptequalto bpss.

(A4)

Notethatbpssisaconstant.Theformofthisequationwas
giveninBlasingame(2).

b) Convert the measured flowing pressure to the average

reservoir pressure existing in the reservoir at that time using
EquationA7

Recognizing that in Equation A3, the term qt is the

cumulativeproduction,Np.Thecumulativeproductionrelates
the initial reservoir pressure to the current reservoir pressure
through the Material Balance Equation for an oil reservoir
abovethebubblepoint:
pi - pR =

Np
coN

qt
coN

AppendixC:
(A5)

DynamicMaterialBalance:(VariableRate)
Gas:

pR - pwf = bpss q

(A6)

pR = pwf + bpss q

(A7)

Thedevelopmentoftheequationsforgasflowparallelsthat
foroilflow(AppendixA).
pD =

This equation shows that if bpss were known, the average

reservoirpressureatanytimecanbedeterminedbymeasuring
theflowingpressureandsimplyaddingtoitthetermbpss xq,
where q istheinstantaneousflowrate.

q
=

Np
coNq

2tD
reD2

+ ln(reD)-

3
4

(A1)

Substitutingforthedimensionlessquantitiesintermsofgas
variables(ERCB1975,equation4N21):

bpss can be determined by rearranging Equation A3 as

follows:
qt
=
+ bpss
coNq

(A7)

pR = pwf + bpss q

CombiningEquationsA3andA5

(p i - pwf )

(B1)

(A3)

where,
re
141.2Bm
b pss =
ln( )kh rwa

Np

p pi - ppwf =

24 2348 T q t

p f m i cgi re2 h

r
1.417 106 q T
3
+
ln( e )-
k h
4
rwa

(A8)

+ bpss

(C1)

wherepseudopressure, pp isdefinedby:
p
pp =2
dp
mZ

t ca
1
=
t m cg

(C2)
Usethechainrule

InthesamemannerasfortheoilequationsinAppendixA,
theMaterialBalanceEquationforgaswillbeincorporatedinto
EquationC1.
Thegasmaterialbalancecanbestated as
p

pp
tca
pp

Gp
pi
(1)
Zi
G

(C3)

tca

p q
p
=- i

t Z
ZiG

(C4)

=-

dGp(t)

(C13)

2 pi q
GZi

(C14)

2 pi qtca
GZi

(C15)

Alsorecognizingthat

(C5)

dt

pp tca -1

t t

pp - pp =

G=

SimilarlyfrompartiallydifferentiatingEquation(C2)with
respectto p ,onegets
pp

Assumingaconstantrateqandintegratingwithappropriate
limits

Differentiatingpartiallywithrespecttorealtime,t,onegets

where q(t)=

(C12)

fAhpiTst

(C16)

ZipstT

MultiplyingbothsidesofEquation(C15)by(kh/1.417qT)
andmanipulatingyields

2 p

(C6)

m Z

kh
2.637 104 24ktca
(pp - pp)= 2p
i
1.417qT
f A

(C17)

Onecanalsorecognizethat
CombiningEquationsC1andC17resultsintheDynamic
MaterialBalanceEquation.

p 1 p dZ pcg
= =
p Z Z Z2 dp
Z

(C7)
(C18)

p p = ppwf + qbpss

wherethegascompressibilityisdefinedas
where,
cg =

1 Z
p Z p

(C8)

1.417106T re
bpss =
ln
kh
rwa

(C19)

Now,usingthechainrule
p pp p

= .
.
t
t Z p p Z

pp

Theabovedefinitionofbpss appliestoaverticalwellinthe
center of a circular reservoir. Similar definitions, in terms of
shapefactors,canbedevelopedforrectangularreservoirs.

-1

(C9)

The value of bpss for a gas system is obtained from

combiningEquationC1withthedefinitionofpseudotime.

Substituting the values from Equations (C4), (C6) and

(C7)inEquation(C9),itfollows
pp
t

=-

2 pi q
Zi Gm cg

p pi - ppwf =
(C10)

p f m i cg re2 h
i

r
1.417 10 q T
3
+
ln( e )-
k h
4
rwa

Atthispoint,itisappropriatetointroducethedefinitionof
pseudotimeforgas

tca =

24 2348 T q tca
(C20)

This equation shows that a Cartesian plot of (ppippwf/q)

versus tca willyieldastraightlinewithaninterceptof bpss.

dt

mc

(C11)

Figures:

ConstantRateq
1
pR1
2

pR2
3
pwf 1
pR3
pwf 2
AverageReservoirPressure
pwf 3

rw

re

Distance

Figure1:PressureDropinaReservoirasafunctionofRadial
DistanceandTimeDuringBoundaryDominatedFlow

pi
Zi

Pressurelossinreservoir

( p - p )
R

wf

PressureMeasured
atwellduring
constantflowrate

OriginalGasinPlace,G

CumulativeProduction
CumulativeProduction

Figure2:TheFlowingP/ZPlotatConstantRateProduction
7

ProductionData
30

1400

1200

25

1000

800
Flow ingSandfacePre ssure

15

600

FlowingBHP(psi)

GasRate(MMscfd)

20

10
400

Gas Rate

5
200

0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

Tim e(days)

Gasrate(MMscfd)

FlowingBHP(psi)

Figure3:ProductionData

Determinationofbpss
50.00

45.00

40.00

35.00

bpss
(Ppi Ppwf)/q

30.00

25.00

20.00

15.00

10.00

5.00

0.00
0.0

500.0

1000.0

1500.0

MaterialBalancePseudoTime

Figure4:Determinationofbpss
pss

2000.0

2500.0

DynamicMaterialBalancePlot
1800

30

1600
P/Z

25

1400
P/Zextrapolate dto

G =24Bcf

1200

20

1000
15

Flow ingSandfacePres sure

800

600

10

400
5
200

Rate(M Mcfd)

0
0

Cum ulative Production(Bcf)

Figure5:DynamicMaterialBalancePlot
Figure5:DynamicMaterialBalancePlot

0
10

Rate(MMcfd)

Pressure(psi)

Ave rageRe servoirPressure