A comparison of black-oil versus compositional simulation methods for evaluating a rich gas-condensate reservoir

Abstract

Over time, researchers have endeavoured to use conventional black-oil (BO) models to model volatile-oil and gas-condensate reservoirs as accurately as possible, with variable levels of success. The black-oil approach allows for the implementation of a simpler and less expensive computational algorithm than that associated with a compositional model. The first-mentioned can result in substantial time-saving in full field studies. This project evaluates the use of modified black-oil (MBO) as well as compositional (equation of state- EOS) approaches to determine the expected recovery and performance of a rich gascondensate reservoir. After initialization, the models reflected very similar in-place hydrocarbon volumes, with a deviation percentage of less than 5 % between the two modelling approaches.