Principles of Petroleum Reservoir Engineering

Volume 1 of this book dealt with the techniques behind the acquisition, processing and interpretation of basic reservoir data. This second vol- ume is devoted to the study, verification and prediction of reservoir behaviour, and methods of increasing productivity and oil recovery. I should like to bring a few points to the reader's attention. Firstly, the treatment of immiscible displacement by the method of characteristics. The advantage of this approach is that it brings into evidence the various physical aspects of the process, especially its dependence on the properties of the fluids concerned, and on the velocity of displacement. It was not until after the publication of the first, Italian, edition of this book (February 1990) that I discovered a similar treatment in the book Enhanced Oil Recovery, by Larry W. Lake, published in 1989. Another topic that I should like to bring to the reader's attention is the forecasting of reservoir behaviour by the method of identified models. This original contribution to reservoir engineering is based on systems theory - a science which should, in my opinion, find far wider applica- tion, in view of the 'black box' nature of reservoirs and their responses to production processes.