24-Pet-B4 Well Testing · December 2016
Nivaar worked solution (AI-drafted; not reviewed by a licensed engineer)
EGBC National Exam — Petroleum Engineering, 2016-Dec. 3 hours duration; closed book. This sitting's own cover page reads “98-Pet-B4, Petroleum Geology” and every question is descriptive/interpretive petroleum geology (source rocks, hydrocarbon chemistry, oil sands and tight-oil development, shale gas and coalbed methane, carbonate traps, siliciclastic/deltaic traps) – no well-test pressure-transient content anywhere. Five (5) of the paper's six 20-mark sections are marked (NOTES item 5); all six are solved in full below so this set also serves as a complete study reference. This sitting's Section 6 is a Siliciclastic Traps section (wave-dominated delta, grain-size–permeability–porosity relations, sandstone diagenesis). The paper is entirely qualitative (draw/describe/define/list), with no numeric given data anywhere.
Reference texts: Selley, R.C. & Sonnenberg, S., Elements of Petroleum Geology, 3rd ed., Academic Press (source rocks, migration, traps, carbonate systems, oil sands); Tissot, B.P. & Welte, D.H., Petroleum Formation and Occurrence, 2nd ed., Springer (kerogen typing, maceral groups, catagenesis); Boggs, S. Jr., Petrology of Sedimentary Rocks, 2nd ed., Cambridge (source-rock, deltaic and carbonate lithofacies; sandstone diagenesis); James, N.P. & Jones, B., Origin of Carbonate Sedimentary Rocks, Wiley-Blackwell (carbonate platform/ramp/sabkha facies models); Butler, R.M., Thermal Recovery of Oil and Gas, Prentice Hall, 1991 (SAGD, CSS, oil sands thermal recovery); Green, D.W. & Willhite, G.P., Enhanced Oil Recovery, SPE Textbook Series Vol. 6 (thermal EOR mechanisms); Law, B.E. & Curtis, J.B., “Introduction to Unconventional Petroleum Systems,” AAPG Bulletin 86, 2002 (shale gas, tight gas, coalbed methane); Lee, W.J. & Wattenbarger, R.A., Gas Reservoir Engineering, SPE Textbook Vol. 5 (unconventional gas reservoir characterization).
Question text not reproduced: the examination questions are © Engineers and Geoscientists BC. Open the official past paper (linked at the top of this page) to read the question, then follow the worked solution below.
Given. Oil density is conventionally expressed as API gravity, an inverse, offset scale defined relative to the specific gravity (SG) of the oil measured at 60 °F relative to water.
Formula.
$$\text{API} = \frac{141.5}{\text{SG}_{60/60}} - 131.5$$Because API is inversely related to density, a higher API number corresponds to a lighter (less dense) oil, and API = 10° corresponds to SG = 1.0 (the density of water).
Typical ranges. Light oil is generally taken as API > 31.1° (SG < 0.87), commonly extending up to roughly 40–45° before it grades into condensate; heavy oil is generally taken as API < 22.3° (SG > 0.92), extending down to around 10°, below which it is classified as extra-heavy oil or bitumen (API < 10°, Q2-1c). Medium oil occupies the intermediate 22.3–31.1° band.