Enhance Oil Recovery

Lecture-1 (Second Week)
Principles of Enhanced Oil Recovery
DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM & GAS ENGINEEIRNG

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING & TECHNOLOGY LAHORE
1
Phase trapping
Phase trapping is referring to immobilization of fluids as
disconnected blobs or ganglia due to capillary forces
Capillary and viscous forces govern the phase trapping

and mobilization of fluids in porous media and thus
microscopic displacement efficiency.
Capillary forces
• Surface Tension and IFT
• Solid Wettability
• Capillary Pressure
Trapping is known to depend on:
(1) Pore structure of the porous medium

(2) Fluid/rock interactions related to wettability
(3) Fluid/fluid interactions reflected in IFT
Principles of Enhanced Oil Recovery – Department of Petroleum & Gas Engineering, UET Lahore 2
What is a Waterflood?
• It is the injection of water into a wellbore to push, or “drive” oil to another well
where it can be produced
• Some oil reservoirs have natural water influx, which increases oil production
–Called “water drive” reservoirs

–They are natural “waterfloods”
How does a waterflood work?
• Certain oil wells are converted to water

injection wells
•Other oil wells remain as producers
• The injected water displaces, or “pushes” oil to

the producing wells
FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN WATERFLOODING
For waterflooding, the following reservoir characteristics must be
considered:
• Reservoir geometry
• Reservoir depth
• Rock properties
• Fluid properties
• Primary reservoir driving mechanisms
Solution Gas Drive
–Recovers avg 15% OOIP
–Leaving behind 85% of the OOIP
• Timing of flood – earlier is better
–Higher primary depletion (lower pressure) increases
gas saturation
–High gas saturation decreases oil recovery
• Pattern selection
–Balanced patterns improve Ea
Waterflooding can recover much of the oil left behind under “Primary” production,
especially a solution gas drive system
Pattern floods
Waterflood Progression

9
Waterflood Progression
Waterflood Recovery Potential
• Should recover an additional 20% to 40% of the reservoir OOIP

• Secondary to primary ratio (S/P)
Effect of Initial gas and trapped gas on waterflood recovery
Waterflooding results in the formation of an oil bank, or zone of increased oil

saturation, ahead of the injection water. The moving oil bank will displace a
portion of the free water ahead of it, trapping the rest as a residual gas.
Case: Effect of trapped gas on residual oil during waterflood
recovery
An oil reservoir is being considered for further development by initiating a

waterflooding project. The oil–water relative permeability data indicate that
the residual oil saturation is 35%. It is projected that the initial gas saturation
at the start of the flood is approximately 10%. Calculate the anticipated
reduction in residual oil, ∆Sor, due to the presence of the initial gas at the
start of the flood.
Selection of an optimum gas saturation for waterflooding
Khelil (1983) suggests that waterflood recovery can possibly be improved if a so-
called “optimum gas saturation” is present at the start of the flood.
Selection of Optimum gas saturation for waterflooding
An absolute permeability of 33 md, porosity of 25%, and an initial water saturation

of 30% characterize a saturated oil reservoir that exists at its bubble-point pressure
of 1925 psi. The water viscosity is treated as a constant with a value of 0.6 cp.
Results of the material balance calculations are given below:
Solution
Re-pressurization of the reservoir during waterflooding
What pressure (“new” bubble-point pressure) would be required in order to

dissolve the trapped gas in the oil system?
The new pressure that corresponds to the new gas solubility on the Rs vs. p
relationship is then identified
A solution gas-drive reservoir that is under consideration for a waterflood project.
The volumetric calculations of the field indicate that the areal extent of the field is
1612.6 acres. The field is characterized by the following properties
Thickness = 25 ft
Porosity = 15%
Initial water saturation = 20%
Initial pressure = 2377 psi
Results from the MBE in terms of cumulative oil production Np as a function of reservoir pressure p
The PVT properties of the crude oil system are tabulated below
21
Solution:
Calculate initial oil in place N
Calculate remaining oil saturation at 1650 psi
Calculate gas saturation at 1650 psi
Solution:
Calculate the trapped gas saturation from graphical correlation
Calculate the gas solubility when all the trapped gas is dissolved in the oil
Enter the tabulated PVT data with the new gas solubility of 814 scf/STB and find the corresponding pressure of
approximately 2140 psi.
Overall Recovery Efficiency
The overall recovery factor (efficiency) RF of any secondary or tertiary oil recovery
method is the product of a combination of three individual efficiency factors as
given by the following generalized expression.
In terms of cumulative production:
Displacement efficiency
Displacement efficiency is the fraction of movable oil that has been recovered from
the swept zone at any given time
Example
A saturated oil reservoir is under consideration to be waterflooded immediately
after drilling and completion. Core analysis tests indicate that the initial and residual
oil saturations are 70 and 35%, respectively.
Calculate the displacement efficiency when the oil saturation is reduced to 65, 60,
55, 50, and 35%. Assume that Bo will remain constant throughout the project life.
Solution:
Calculate initial water saturation and Ed

28
Determining the increase in the average water saturation in the swept area as a
function of cumulative water injected (or injection time)
Buckley and Leverett (1942) developed a well-established theory, called the frontal
displacement theory. This classic theory consists of two equations:
• Fractional flow equation
• Frontal advance equation
Linear displacement in a tilted system

Fractional Flow Equation
For two immiscible fluids, oil and water, the fractional flow of water, fw (or any
immiscible displacing fluid), is defined as the water flow rate divided by the total flow
rate
Consider the steady-state flow of two immiscible fluids (oil and water) through a tilted-
linear homogeneous porous media as shown in Figure
Rearranging Equations
Subtracting the above two equations yields
From the definition of the capillary pressure pc
Differentiating the Pc expression with respect to the distance x gives
Combining Equations
From the water cut equation
In field units, the above equation can be expressed as
Relative permeability ratios and, , and for two-phase flow, the total flow
rate qt are essentially equal to the water injection rate, i.e., iw= qt
Above equation can be expressed in a more generalized form to describe the

fractional flow of any displacement fluid
where the subscript D refers to the displacement fluid

For example:
Because the capillary pressure gradient is generally small, so ignored.

The limits of the fw curve (0 and 1) are defined by the end points of the relative
permeability curves
For any two immiscible fluids, e.g., water and oil, the fraction of the oil (oil cut) fo
flowing at any point in the reservoir is given by:
Reduce the water fractional flow by investigating the effect of the injected
water viscosity, formation dip angle, and water-injection rate on the water
cut
Effect of Water and Oil Viscosities
• Higher injected water viscosities- a

downward shift
• Higher oil viscosities- an upward shift
Effect of Water and Oil Viscosities
Effect of Dip Angle
Assuming a constant injection rate and realizing that density difference is always
positive
where the variables X and Y are a collection of different terms that are
all considered positives and given by:
Up dip flow, i.e., sin(α) is positive.
Lower water-injection rate iw is desirable

injection well is located downdip
Downdip flow, i.e., sin(α) is negative
Higher water-injection rate iw is desirable
injection well is located updip
The sign convention is referenced such that positive is upward flow
Schematic of sign convention for any flow angle
Counterflow
Oil phase is moving in a direction opposite to

that of the water
The water cut fw could reach a value greater

than unity
Horizontal flow
horizontal reservoir, i.e., α = 0 and sin(α) = 0,
the injection rate has no effect on the
fractional flow curve
Effect of dip angle on fw.
Assignment 1 [25 marks]
Question 1 [10 marks] Use the relative permeability as shown in Figure to plot the
fractional flow curve for a linear reservoir system with the following
Properties:
Perform the calculations for the

following values of oil viscosity =0.2,
0.25, 1.5, 2, 2.5, 5, 10 and 15 cp. And,
water viscosities of 0.5 and 1 consider
to develop two cases. Provide
relevant discussion on results
Assignment 1 [25 marks]
Question 2: [5 marks] Past, current and future water flooding projects with
more emphasis on water flooding field operations in link with technology [5
marks]
Note: It should be well-written and composed of minimum 5 pages. Don’t

forgot to provide the citation in the text and its reference in the end.
Question 3: [10 marks] The linear system in Q1 is under consideration for a
waterflooding project with a water injection rate of 1000 bbl/day. The oil
viscosity is considered constant at 2.0 cp. Calculate the fractional flow curve for
the reservoir dip angles of 15, 25, and 35˚, And, water viscosities of 0.5, and 1
consider to develop two cases. assuming (a) updip displacement and (b)
downdip displacement. Please, provide relevant discussion on results
Last date: 12-02-2017

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Lecture-1 (Second Week)

Principles of Enhanced Oil Recovery

DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM & GAS ENGINEEIRNG

Capillary and viscous forces govern the phase trapping

Trapping is known to depend on:

(1) Pore structure of the porous medium

–Called “water drive” reservoirs

• Certain oil wells are converted to water

•Other oil wells remain as producers

• The injected water displaces, or “pushes” oil to

DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM & GAS ENGINEEIRNG

• Should recover an additional 20% to 40% of the reservoir OOIP

Waterflooding results in the formation of an oil bank, or zone of increased oil

An oil reservoir is being considered for further development by initiating a

An absolute permeability of 33 md, porosity of 25%, and an initial water saturation

What pressure (“new” bubble-point pressure) would be required in order to

Calculate initial oil in place N

Calculate remaining oil saturation at 1650 psi

Calculate gas saturation at 1650 psi

In terms of cumulative production:

DEPARTMENT OF PETROLEUM & GAS ENGINEEIRNG

Linear displacement in a tilted system

Subtracting the above two equations yields

From the definition of the capillary pressure pc

From the water cut equation

In field units, the above equation can be expressed as

Above equation can be expressed in a more generalized form to describe the

where the subscript D refers to the displacement fluid

Because the capillary pressure gradient is generally small, so ignored.

Effect of Water and Oil Viscosities

• Higher injected water viscosities- a

• Higher oil viscosities- an upward shift

Effect of Dip Angle

Up dip flow, i.e., sin(α) is positive.

Lower water-injection rate iw is desirable

Downdip flow, i.e., sin(α) is negative

Higher water-injection rate iw is desirable

injection well is located updip

Schematic of sign convention for any flow angle

Oil phase is moving in a direction opposite to

The water cut fw could reach a value greater

Effect of dip angle on fw.

Perform the calculations for the

Note: It should be well-written and composed of minimum 5 pages. Don’t

Last date: 12-02-2017

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