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WATERFLOODING
What is Waterflooding?
Injection
Well
Water
Injection
Pump
Separation and
Storage Facilities
Oil Zone
Production Well
Injection Water
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What is Waterflooding?
Description
y Most widely used post-primary recovery method
y Water injected in patterns or along periphery of reservoir
Mechanisms That Improve Recovery Efficiency
y Water drive
Limitations
y High oil viscosities / higher (more adverse) mobility ratios
y Heterogeneity such as stratification, permeability
contrast, and fracturing reduce sweep efficiency
Challenges
y Poor compatibility between injected water and reservoir
may cause formation damage
y Subsurface fluid control to divert injected water and shut
off undesirable produced fluids
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Waterflood Mechanisms
Injector
Producer
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Ratio of
Producers to
Injectors
Required
Drilling Pattern
2:1
Triangular
2:1
Square
1:1
Square
1:2
Triangular
2:1
Triangular
1:3
Square
Inverted 9-Spot
3:1
Square
Direct Line Drive
1:1
Rectangle
Staggered Line Drive 1:1
Offset lines
of wells
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a
d
5-Spot Pattern
y A special case of the staggered
line drive where d/a ratio is 0.5
y Most common pattern resulting
from primary well spacing
y Drilling pattern is square
y Other pattern configurations
generated by simply rearranging
position of injectors & producers
flexible
y Number of producers = number of
injectors
y Highly conductive pattern since
shortest flow path is a straight
line between injector & producerprovides good sweep behavior
a
d
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7-Spot Pattern
Normal 7-Spot
Inverted 7-Spot
(4-Spot)
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9-Spot Pattern
Normal 9-Spot
Inverted 9-Spot
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Peripheral Flood
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Irregular Shaped
5-spot Development
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5
9
Base
y Also practical
when directional
permeability exists
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Mobility Ratio
y Favorable mobility ratios (M<1) produce higher
vertical sweep efficiencies
- Injectivity into high permeability zones will
decrease as flood front advances - retards
injection in high injectivity zones
y For unfavorable mobility ratios (M>1)
- Injectivity in the high injection zones increases as
waterflooding occurs
- This causes even earlier water breakthrough &
decreases vertical sweep efficiency
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Mobility Ratio
y For mobility ratios less than 1.0, the relative
injectivity will decrease as flood front advances
y For mobility ratios greater than 1.0, the relative
injectivity will increase
Relative
Injectivity
with
Various
Mobility
Ratios
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Gravity Segregation
y Effects of gravity segregation:
-
Injected water
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Reservoir Heterogeneities
y Understand directional permeability & vertical
fractures to achieve high sweep efficiencies &
successful waterflooding
Reservoir Heterogeneities
y Reservoir heterogeneities which can have impact
on waterflood recovery:
-
Pay discontinuities/pinchouts
Faults
Permeability variations/anisotropy
Porosity variations
Horizontal fractures
Vertical fractures
Formation dip
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Production
Water front at breakthrough
10md, 5 ft
50md, 3ft
100md, 2 ft
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Permeability Variation
Layer
Number
Permeability
md
Porosity
%
Cumulative
md-ft
Cumulative
porosity-ft
252.8
15.9
253
16
116.0
13.6
369
30
83.1
13.8
452
43
65.4
13.4
517
57
51.8
13.8
569
71
43.0
12.6
612
83
36.3
11.9
648
95
31.5
11.1
680
106
27.8
12.3
708
118
10
21.2
10.3
729
129
11
18.9
11.1
748
140
12
17.3
11.6
765
151
13
15.8
11.2
781
163
14
14.2
11.0
795
174
15
13.0
11.4
808
185
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Permeability Variation
y The Lorenz coefficient is calculated using the
areas designated in the figure below as:
area ABCA
Lorenz Coefficien t =
area ADCA
y The value of the Lorenz
coefficient ranges from
zero to 1. A uniform
permeability reservoir will
have a coefficient of 0. A
reservoir with a high
permeability variation will
have a coefficient of 0.9 or
greater
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Dykstra-Parsons Method
Basic procedure for determining the permeability variation using
Dykstra-Parsons method:
1. Divide the permeability samples into layers of equal
thickness, usually 1 foot
2. Arrange the permeability data in decreasing order
3. Calculate for each sample the percentage of samples that
have a greater permeability & express this number as
"percent greater than
4. Plot data on log-probability paper with permeability on the
log scale & "percent greater than" on the probability scale
5. From the best straight line fit of the data, determine the
permeability at 84.1 % probability and 50 percent probability.
The best fit straight line should be weighted toward the
middle points
6. Compute the permeability variation, V, as: V = k50 - k84.1
k50
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Dykstra-Parsons Method
y The value of V is a quantitative indicator of the
degree of reservoir heterogeneity
- A value of zero indicates a homogeneous
system
- Increasing
degrees of
heterogeneity
will have
higher values
of V
DykstraParsons
Probability
Plot
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Dykstra-Parsons Method
Dykstra-Parsons Waterflood Recovery Prediction
WC = 50%
ER= (1-Sw ) = 0.01
WC = 83.3%
WC = 96.2%
ER= (1- 0.52Sw ) =
0.01
WC = 99.0%
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Chemical
Completions
Gelled Foam
In-Depth Gel
Lignosulfonate HighTemperature Gel
Relative Permeability
Modifiers
Resin
Ringing Gel
Stimulation
Dual String
Production /
Injection
Recompletions
Selective Injection
Equipment
Slimhole
Completions
Separation
Downhole Oil / Water
Separators
- Conventional
- Reverse coning
Other
Microbial EOR
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Mechanical
y Cement
y Liners
y Mechanical isolation
y Packers
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Chemical
y Gelled foam
y In-depth gel
y Lignosulfonate high-temperature gel
y Relative permeability modifiers
y Resin
y Ringing gel
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Completions
y Stimulation
y Dual string production / injection
y Recompletions
y Selective injection equipment
y Slimhole completions
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Separation
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Other
y Microbial EOR
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Slimhole Completion
< 5 casing
No tubing
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O
W
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Gel Treatment
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Bridge Plug
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Scab Liner
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Improving Waterfloods
Selective Gel Blockage:
y If a waterflood is practical, one method to control
high water production is selective gel blockage.
y When the zone needing treatment is identified, a
mixture of a polymer and crosslinker is injected to
retain water in a Jello-like material.
y The treatment can work for years and is usually
very cost effective.
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Improving Waterfloods
Polymer Flooding:
y Waterfloods can also be improved by polymer
flooding. Addition of polymer makes the water
more viscous so that oil is produced faster.
y Obviously, this is not an good idea in a low
permeability reservoir or one with a high clay
content that can adsorb the polymer.
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Improving Waterfloods
Surfactant-Enhanced Waterfloods:
y These projects are only practical in sandstones
where adsorption of chemicals is not high or the
water is not so hard that the alkali precipitates.
y The projects are very profitable if injectivity of the
chemicals is high and oil recovery is rapid. This
means that projects are likely to be more profitable
if the permeabilityDepth/Pattern Area is greater
than 0.3.
y On the other hand, the projects with small well
spacing can be shallow, but that larger patterns
should be deeper and have higher permeability.
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