Secondary Recovery

Methods

 Over the lifetime of the well the pressure will fall, and at some
point there will be insufficient underground pressure to force the
oil to the surface.
After natural reservoir drive diminishes, secondary recovery
methods are applied.
secondary recovery methods rely on the supply of external energy
into the reservoir in the form of injecting fluids to increase
reservoir pressure, hence replacing or increasing the natural
reservoir drive with an artificial drive.

 secondary recovery techniques increase the reservoir's pressure

by water injection, natural gas re-injection and gas lift.
Typical recovery factor from water-flood operations is about 30%,
depending on the properties of oil and the characteristics of the
reservoir rock.

On average, the recovery factor after primary and secondary oil

recovery operations is between 30 and 50%.

Water Injection/ Flooding

Water injection refers to the method in oil industry where water is
injected back into the reservoir, usually to increase pressure and
thereby stimulate production.
Water is injected (1) to support pressure of the reservoir , and (2)
to sweep or displace oil from the reservoir, and push it towards a
well.
Normally only 30% of the oil in a reservoir can be extracted, but
water injection increases that percentage (known as the recovery
factor) and maintains the production rate of a reservoir over a
longer period of time.