This book was a bit of a disappointment, for a number of reasons: it is hard to read; it is not, as the title suggests, a hands-on approach to oil reservoir simulation; and it is a compilation of known methods on reservoir modeling. However, this last point may in fact be its best advantage.

Why is it hard to read? First, its organization: the first chapters provide an interesting overview of information on oil wells, but many charts and concepts, some of which would be better placed in the beginning, are repeated throughout the book. For example, Table 3.1 and Section 1.4 repeat data that could very well be placed in an appendix, as it is not relevant to the subject under study; also, Figures 3.3 and 4.2 both depict radial flows. Incidentally, Table 3.1 has a typographic error, as it states that the volume unit in the metric system is m².

The first two chapters introduce oil reservoir terms and concepts over approximately 20 pages. The next 160 pages are a description, sometimes with excessive detail, of oil well models, and simple-phase and multiple-phase flows. The last ten pages of the book are devoted to practical topics on reservoir simulation. This is the main reason why the book’s title is deceptive.

In the 160 pages of mathematical formulation, deduction, and demonstration of oil reservoir models and their components, there are some imprecisions and errors. On page 135, while presenting equations of state (EOS), Chen states that “there are thousands of EOS. The simplest ... is van der Waals ... . here we describe only the PR EOS; others will be given in the next chapter.” Chen fails to explain why he chooses some over others. This is a good book to read if you like to ask yourself the question, “Why is this so?” Later on the same page, an error: Chen describes how the PR’s cubic equation in Z has three roots. He states that if only one root is real, then it should be selected; generally, the roots are in the form Z1 > Z2 > Z3. Then, on the next page, he describes how each of the roots should be selected over the others, saying: “select Z2 when Z2 > 0 and Z3 < =0”; this contradicts his previous assumption on the order of the roots.

As a final note, most of the charts are hard to read, as they do not provide enough information on the nature of the axis, and some, such as Charts 2.1 and 2.2, are extremely narrow.