Aquifer strength is usually inferred rather than measured, and the inference is made from pressure behaviour that has more than one explanation. A reservoir maintaining pressure better than depletion drive would predict may have aquifer support, or a larger in-place volume than mapped, or communication with an adjacent compartment, or a rock compressibility higher than assumed. Material balance fitting can produce an aquifer that matches the history while being physically implausible, and constraining the fit with geological evidence about where an aquifer could actually be is what separates a model from a curve fit.

Timing matters as much as size. An aquifer's response lags production because pressure must propagate through it, and the lag depends on aquifer diffusivity and geometry. A large but slow aquifer provides little support during early production and substantial support later, which produces a pressure history that a poorly chosen model will misfit. Getting the transient behaviour right matters for prediction even when the ultimate influx volume is approximately correct.

The recovery consequence cuts both ways. Water drive maintains reservoir pressure, which keeps wells flowing and avoids gas coming out of solution, and displacement by water is efficient at the pore scale. But water arriving too fast, or channelling through high permeability layers, or coning up beneath a well, leaves oil behind and imposes water handling cost that eventually ends the well's economic life. Strong aquifer support is not automatically good news.

Finally, aquifer representation in simulation is frequently the weakest part of an otherwise careful model. Analytical aquifers attached to boundary cells are simple to implement and difficult to constrain, and their parameters are often adjusted during history matching to absorb errors elsewhere in the model. A simulation whose history match depends heavily on tuned aquifer parameters is predicting on a weak foundation.

By the end of this training, participants will be able to:

• Characterise aquifer geometry, size, properties and connectivity from geological and pressure evidence
• Derive and apply steady state and unsteady state water influx models
• Select the appropriate influx model for a given aquifer geometry and time scale
• Fit aquifer models to field pressure and production history and assess non-uniqueness
• Distinguish aquifer support from alternative explanations of pressure maintenance
• Predict water drive reservoir performance and estimate recovery factor
• Analyse water coning and cusping and predict breakthrough timing
• Represent aquifers correctly in reservoir simulation models
• Design surveillance to reduce aquifer uncertainty
• Make reservoir management decisions appropriate to water drive reservoirs

Organisations sending participants to this training will:

• Improve in-place and reserves estimates by resolving aquifer contribution properly
• Improve production forecasts for water drive reservoirs and water handling requirements
• Improve well placement and completion decisions to delay water breakthrough
• Reduce facility water handling capacity errors caused by poor breakthrough prediction
• Strengthen simulation models by constraining aquifer parameters properly
• Improve reservoir management decisions in fields where aquifer support is uncertain

Participants will:

• Analyse water influx from field data and quantify aquifer support
• Recognise where aquifer fitting is non-unique and constrain it appropriately
• Predict water breakthrough and coning behaviour
• Represent aquifers defensibly in simulation models
• Interpret pressure maintenance correctly rather than assuming aquifer support
• Build a specialist capability relevant to a large proportion of producing fields

Participants will:

• Analyse water influx from field data and quantify aquifer support
• Recognise where aquifer fitting is non-unique and constrain it appropriately
• Predict water breakthrough and coning behaviour
• Represent aquifers defensibly in simulation models
• Interpret pressure maintenance correctly rather than assuming aquifer support
• Build a specialist capability relevant to a large proportion of producing fields

• Reservoir engineers working water drive and combination drive fields
• Simulation engineers building models with aquifer support
• Production engineers managing water production and well performance
• Reserves and evaluation engineers
• Geoscientists characterising aquifer geometry and connectivity
• Facilities engineers sizing water handling capacity
• Technical staff conducting field reviews and due diligence

Upon successful completion of this training course, delegates will be awarded an official Certificate of Completion issued by the Petroleum Engineers Association (PEA), an ISO 9001:2015 certified training organization. The certificate carries 10 Credits and formally records the total learning hours completed.

Each certificate is signed by the Course Facilitator and the CEO of the Petroleum Engineers Association, and serves as verifiable proof of professional training that delegates can present to employers and professional bodies worldwide.