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Oil recovery factor and recoverable reserves

The recovery factor as the product of the displacement, sweep and flooding efficiencies; the displacement efficiency comes from the initial and residual oil saturations of core floods. Recoverable reserves are that share of the oil in place.

Formula
K_выт = (K_н − K_но) / K_нКИН = K_выт · K_охв · K_зQ_извл = Q_геол · КИН

The displacement efficiency is the share of oil the water drives out of the flushed volume (from core); the sweep efficiency is the share of the reservoir the displacement reaches; the flushing factor allows for the swept volume not being fully flushed by the economic limit. The saturation form of the displacement efficiency assumes the same oil formation volume factor before and after the flood. The approved recovery factor comes from the field development plan; this is an estimate.

Source: A. P. Krylov's formula: RF = E_D · E_V; Craig, The Reservoir Engineering Aspects of Waterflooding, SPE Monograph 3 (1971)

Inputs

You can change a field's unit: the value is converted to the formula's units automatically.

Q_геол
Calculate
K_н

S_oi = 1 − S_wc, as in the volumetric estimate.

K_но

From core floods after many pore volumes of water; usually 0.2–0.35.

K_охв

Share of the reservoir volume the water reaches, areally and vertically; depends on heterogeneity, well pattern and mobility ratio. Usually 0.6–0.9.

K_з

Share of the swept volume flushed to residual oil by the economic water-cut limit (usually 98 %); 1 if it is not separated.

Unit converter for this formulaMass · Fraction and percent
Metric
  • kg1
  • t0.001
  • kt1·10⁻⁶
US field units
  • lb2.20462
  • short ton (US)0.00110231
All units
Result
КИНOil recovery factor
Fill in all fields
  • K_вытDisplacement efficiency
  • Q_извлRecoverable oil reserves

More in Reserves and recovery

Results are engineering estimates from standard formulas; for design decisions check them against the codes, project documents and specialists' calculations. The formulas carried over from the original set are unchanged, and their errors are described in the notes.