Indian IOR / EOR Experience

Case Studies
Mumbai High IOR Rolling Plan
Balol ISC- Heavy Oil EOR
M M Dwivedi , GM (R), IRS

Mumbai High IOR

Rolling Plan

About the Field

Year of Discovery:

1974

Type of Field:

Offshore Multilayered

Water Depth:

80 meters

Location:

About 165 km west of

Mumbai, in offshore

Area:

About 1800 Sq. Km

Structure:

Anticline; eastern
boundary fault; 1-2dip.
(Graben in between N & S )

IOIP:

1659 MMt approx.

Gas cap:

Large, covering about

50% area

General Geology

Multi layered carbonate-sand-shale

complex of middle Miocene

70 km Long 25 km wide with a vertical

closure of 375 m

Commercially Exploitable zones are

L-II , L-III
S1

Limestone
Sand / Silt St.

Oil & Gas

Gas

Age

Formation

Post to
Mid
Miocene

Chinchini

Units

L-I

Mid.
Miocene

L-III contains over 80% HC volume of

the field
For more than 35 years production has
come from this pay .

Bandra

L-II

Tapti
S-I

Mahim
Mid to
Early
Miocene
Bombay

L-III

Major Reservoir: L-III

GR

Divided into several

layers From A to
J with intervening
Shales
Layer A is the
thickest and the main
producer

A1
A2-I
A2-II
A2-III
A2-IV
A2-V
A2-VI
A2-VII

Layer A is divided
into A1 & A2
1350-

Layer A2 is further
subdivided into
seven layers A2-I to
A2-VII
Around 65 m thick

RLLD

Basic Parameters
MHN / MHS

In-place

Oil, MMt
Gas, BCM

Ultimate

Cum Prod

Reserves

~ 1500

~ 560

~ 376

~ 184

~ 390

~ 173

~ 128

~ 44

GOC (m)

1315/1330

Deepest Free Water level (m)

1408/1460

Reservoir thickness (m)

60 -100

Porosity (%)

18-30

Permeability (md)

50 -500

Initial Oil Saturation

40 -70

Initial Res Pressure (kg/cm2)

157

Reservoir temperature C

116

Oil FVF

1.39

Gas FVF

0.008

API

40

Stages of Exploitation
Performance of Mumbai High
500000
Phase-II
Phase-I

Water Inj.

450000

Base
Gas Lift
Infill Drilling

Initial Development
400000

IOR
Phase-II

Oil Rate, bopd

350000
IOR
Phase-I

300000

250000

200000

150000

100000

50000

0
1974

1977

1980

1983

1986

1989

1992

1995

1998
Time

2001

2004

2007

2010

2013

2016

2019

Concerns Felt (1998-2000)

Mum bai High (L-III) :: Production Perform ance
400

600000

Continuous decline in Oil

rate and increase in
Water-cut in spite of
drilling inputs

Oil/ Liquid Rate, bpd

480000

360
320

420000

280

360000

240

300000

200

240000

160

180000

120

120000

80

60000

40

0
Apr-76

Apr-80

Apr-84

Apr-88

Apr-92

Apr-96

Str on Prod

540000

Liq Rate
Oil Rate
Str on Prod

0
Apr-00

Tim e
Mum bai High (L-III) :: Injection Perform ance
1100000
1000000
900000
800000

1100
Cum Void
Cum WI
WI Rate

1000
900
800

700000

700

600000
500000

600
500

400000

400

300000

300

200000

200

100000

100

0
Apr-76

Apr-80

Apr-84

Apr-88
Tim e

Apr-92

Apr-96

0
Apr-00

Cum WI/ Cum Voidage,

MMm3

CVC was 50% and Water

injection rate was steeply
declining

WI Rate, bwpd

Concerns Felt (1998-2000)

Deviation in Recovery
Vs water-cut

Pressure sink areas

Mum bai High : Watercut vs Recovery

1.0
0.9
0.8

Watercut,%

0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.0
0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Recovery, %

70

80

90

100

IOR Phase-I : Implementation

Afresh Geo-Cellular Model was prepared by Integrating
Log Processed Data, 3-D Seismic Data and Geological
information (capturing Heterogeneity)
Reservoir Simulation Carried out on Fine Scale Model
using ECLIPSE Software
Installation of 14 Additional Platforms, Drilling of about
200 infill locations were envisaged under the Plan
The recovery envisaged to be of the order of 32% by
March 2030 ( 27% Base case)
Approach to implementation: (2000-2007)
Dynamic planning flexibility, focused attention
Learn-use-learn

IOR Phase-I Experience

Field response to new technology & approach
brought modifications in the plan
Good success in accessing by-passed oil with
increased productivity
Success in Technology
Horizontal & Multi-lateral
Use of LWD for Landing & Placement of Drain-hole
Use of Glycol & Synthetic Oil based mud system
Drilling of SRDH & MRDH to rehabilitate poorly
performing wells

IOR Phase-I Benefits Accrued

Acreage per well

reduced from 825 to
500
Build up of Oil Prod

Mum bai High (L-III) :: Production Perform ance

500000
450000
400000
Oil Rate, bpd

350000
300000
250000
200000
150000
100000
50000

Decline rate arrested

0
0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

500

80

90

100

Cum Oil, MMm 3

Water-cut stabilized

M um bai High : Wate r cut vs Re cove r y

1.00
0.90

Imbibed New
Technology in
Drilling & completion
MDT work culture
developed for IOR
management.

0.80
0.70
W
C,%

0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
0

10

20

30

40

50
Re c,%

60

70

IOR Phase-I Evaluation

Significant Oil Gained

Phase-I has been a significant learning curve to

continue with the similar philosophy for IOR phase-II
Contribution of IOR Wells
40

New Wells
Sidetracks

35

Cum. Oil

30

25

20

15

10

0
2000-01

2002-03

2004-05
Tim e

2006-07

CumOil, MMm3

Yearly Oil, MMm3

IOR Phase-II Aims

Further improvement in Recovery Factor (~ 34%)
Further reduction in inter-well spacing (385 acres per
well)
Improvement in voidage compensation through water
injection ~ VRR 100 %.
Higher withdrawals through Submersible Pumps in
High Productivity wells
Development of Crestal area below GOC
Integration of L-I & L-II development with L-III
Drilling cost optimization, modular rigs

IOR Phase-II Inputs Envisaged

Installation of 10 Additional Platforms, Drilling of

about 160 Locations
Installation of Submersible Pumps on ~100 wells
Enhanced Water Injection through ~65 additional
injectors
The recovery envisaged to be of the order of 34% by
March 2030
Under implementation. Completion schedule 2013

IOR Projects And Expected Recovery

Improvements
25

15
34%

10

32 %

27%

Actual

Base Case

Phase-I

Phase-II

Current Actual

28-29

25-26

22-23

19-20

16-17

13-14

10-11

07-08

04-05

01-02

98-99

95-96

92-93

89-90

86-87

83-84

0
80-81

O il MMt

20

Way Forward: Beyond 2013

Redistribution of water injection

Intelligent and segmented completion (gas, water
control)
High reservoir contact wells (Multilaterals)
Ultra short radius drilling towards exploitation of
Tighter layers sandwiched between flooded layers
(about 26% in-place is locked in)
Produced water handling (~500000 bwpd)
Improvements in sub-surface modeling using
information from horizontal wells
Learning curve of Phase-II will guide the future plan

Balol ISC
Heavy Oil EOR

Location of Balol field

Balol Field Parameters

Discovered in
:1970
Put on production : 1985
Viscosity : 50 - 1000 cp
API : 15 deg API
Low Primary Rec. ~ 13 %
Dip : 3-5 deg
13 km length & 1 km wide

19

Thermal EOR processes

Primary recovery very low (13%)

This necessitated Thermal EOR
Steam process was constrained due to
depth ,small pay thickness, strong water
drive
ISC process was therefore preferred

Oil bearing sands & Top-bottom shales

OIIP

Tarapur Shale
0.10 MMt
17.42 MMt
3.56 MMt
0.97 MMt

Upper Suraj Pay (U)

Kalol Sand-I (K-I)
Kalol Sand -II (K-II)
Lower Pay
Cambay Shale

E-W Cross Section

B#167

B#153

B#163

B#159

P
US

KS
-I

USP
KS
-I

USP

KSII

KS-I
KS-II

Reservoir & Fluid Properties

o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o
o

Depth
Res Pressure
Res Temperature
Porosity
Permeability
Formation
Drive
Avg Oil Sat.
GOR
FVF

: 1000 m
: Hydrostatic
: 70 deg C
: 25-30%
: 8 Darcies
: Unconsolidated Sand
: Active water
: 77 %
: 20 26 v/v
: 1.05

Transition from Laboratory to Field

N

Prior to commercialization,
process successfully tested in
Laboratory
Field Pilot Stage
Semi-Commercial
Stage

Phase-II

SemiCommercial

B-85

Regular Pattern

Phase-I

Pilot Area

Pilot

Air Injectors
Not to scale

AIR INJECTION WELL BALOL-21

Dominance of Gravity Segregation

(Pilot observation well)

1050

Siderite

1054

Sand

1058

Water Swept Zone

1062
Shale

Depth, m

1046

Shale

Temperature at different time intervals

80 120 160 200 240

Temperature, Deg C

Advantages of Up-dip Line drive

Easy to control the process
Nullifies heterogeneity to a large extent
Less flue gas handling as part of flue gas will remain as
gas cap
Mitigate re-saturation of swept zone during unplanned
stoppage of air injection
Each producer will be traversed by the high temperature
front only once in the life of the project.
Air injection can be switched over to an adjoining hot
producer, thereby avoiding the necessity of artificial
ignition.

Commercialization of ISC process

Phase - I: Initiated in
October 1997
Phase II: Initiated in
May 2000
Envisaged Ignition of
30 wells in the first row

Ignition
Artificial ignition ( Gas Burner)
Process initiation at HTO mode
Enables high vertical sweep
Low Chances of oil saturation near the well bore

Spontaneous Combustion tested in the

field and carried out wherever required

Stabilized Produced Gas Composition

25

100

N2

20
15

60
40

CO2

10
5

20

O2
0

CO:ppm
0

CO2, O2 %

N2 , %

80

Field : Air Rate Vs Oil Production

rate

800

Total Oil Rate, m /d

700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

0.1

0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5

Air Injection Rate, MM Sm3/d

0.6

0.7

Field : Cum Air Injection vs Cum

EOR oil
1.4

Envisaged Cum Oil, MMt

1.3

Actual Cum Oil, MMt

1.2

Cum EOR Oil, MMt

1.1
1
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 1700

Cum Air Inj, MMSm

7500

100

6000

80

4500

60

3000

40

1500

20

1997

98

99

2000

01

02

03

04

05

06

07

08

09

WC_percent

Fluid Produced (Res), m3/d

Fluid_Injected (Res), m3pd

Injected and Produced Fluid Volumes

(Reservoir Condition)

Saturation Reduction in Substitute

Injector

Field : Performance

EOR Oil

Anxieties
Air Compressors
Explosions in compressed air piping due to
accumulation of carryover lubricants
Choking of cooling water lines due to scaling.
Appropriate synthetic lubricant was introduced
having higher auto ignition temperature
Reverse osmosis plant was set up to remove the
possibility of scale deposition
Regular chemical cleaning of the lines intensified
to mitigate the problem.

Anxieties
Well Completion
Well completion of old wells used as air injectors
Annular leaks of two air injectors resulted in
stoppage of air injection in entire field.
All old air injectors have been abandoned.
New substitute air injectors are being drilled.
New casing policy and right metallurgy for tubing,
casing and packer is adopted in all new air
injectors to ensure rust free environment in the
annulus.

Our Experience
ISC is an effective method for recovering oil from
heavy oil/bitumen reservoirs. (More than 40% RF)
Compression and injection of air into hydrocarbon
reservoirs is proven, but specialized technology.
Successful ISC requires robust engineering based on an
informed understanding of the process.
High temperature ignition, monitoring, and optimum air
injection rates are important.
Opportunity exists in terms of increasing oil production,
adding reserves and making money, provided ISC is
operated in high temperature mode.

The journey needs to continue

Thanks for Kind Attention