Lecture 3

Water Flood

STT MIGAS, Balikpapan

Waterflooding

Basic Petroleum Engineering - 2

Recovery Mechanisms
What is water flooding?
 Primary recovery methods using natural producing
mechanisms (liquid and rock expansion and solution gas drive)
leave behind 80% or more of the original oil-in-place.
 Billions of barrels of additional oil have recovered through
water flooding, which is the most common method for improving
recovery from oil reservoirs.
 Water flooding is widely used commercial recovery process
because:􀂆􀂆􀂆􀂆
 Water is generally available
 Water is an efficient agent for displacing light/medium oil
 Low costs relative to other injection fluids
 Water is relatively easy to inject

Basic Petroleum Engineering - 3

Recovery Mechanisms
What is water flooding? – cont’d
 Description – Water flooding consists of injecting water into
the reservoir. It is the most widely used pot-primary recovery
method. Water is injected in patterns or along the periphery of the
reservoir.
 Mechanisms that improve recovery efficiency – Water drive.
 Limitations:􀂆􀂆􀂆􀂆
 High oil viscosities result in higher mobility ratios ( < 30 cp)
 Heterogeneity such as stratification, permeability contrast,
and fracturing can reduce sweep efficiency
 Challenges:􀂆􀂆􀂆􀂆
 Poor compatibility between the injected water and the
reservoir may cause formation damage.
 Subsurface fluid control to divert injected water and to shut
off undesirable produced fluids.
Basic Petroleum Engineering - 4
Recovery Mechanisms
Water-injection pressure maintenance
and Water flood processes
It is difficult to define of separation between the two processes:

 Water flooding is a secondary-recovery method by which water

is injected into a reservoir to obtain additional oil recovery
through movement of reservoir oil to a producing well, after the
reservoir has approached its economically productive limit by
primary-recovery methods.

 Water-pressure maintenance is a process whereby water is

injected into an oil-producing reservoir to supplement the natural
energy that is indigenous to the reservoir and to improve the oil-
producing characteristics of the field before economically
productive limits are reached.

Basic Petroleum Engineering - 5

Recovery Mechanisms
Important factors in water flooding
In determining the suitability of a given reservoir for water flooding:

1. Reservoir geometry
2. Lithology
3. Reservoir depth
4. Porosity
5. Permeability (magnitude and degree of variation)
6. Continuity of reservoir rock properties
7. Magnitude and distribution of fluid saturations
8. Fluid properties and relative permeability relationships, and
9. Optimal time to water flood
Generally, the influence of all these factors on ultimate recovery, rate of
return, and ultimate economic return must be considered collectively to
evaluate the economic feasibility of conducting water flood (water
pressure maintenance operations in a particular reservoir. Other factors
are price of oil, marketing conditions, operating expenses, water
availability.
Basic Petroleum Engineering - 6
Recovery Mechanisms
Top 10 Data Classes for Water flood Management
1. Well information, completion, well bore, X & Y coordinates
2. Production and injection history - both well test and allocated
3. Certain static rock and fluid data (A, φ, h, k, Swi, Sorw, Rs)
4. PVT data - Bo, Bg, Bw, Rs, µ, etc. as a function of pressure
5. Pattern allocation template
6. Interpreted injection profile data
7. Well bore data - casings, tubings, cement, packers, perfs
8. Well-work history - pump repairs, stimulation, re-completions
9. Injection rate control database
10. Pressure history- RFT, SBHP, scada data

Basic Petroleum Engineering - 7

Recovery Mechanisms
Top 10 Data Classes for Water flood Management
Other very useful data and information to have close at hand:

 Pattern log cross-sections with major flow-units correlated.􀂆􀂆􀂆􀂆

 Saturation-time data, derived from simulation
 Pressure-time data, derived from simulation
 Relative permeability (kro, krw, krg)
 Production/Injection data derived from simulation history
match and prediction
 Zone definitions – to support PLT allocations to major flow
units

Basic Petroleum Engineering - 8

Recovery Mechanisms
Design and Management

of Waterfloods
 Waterflood Processes
• Waterflood is an oil recovery process
• Water is injected to displace reservoir oil towards the producing
wells
• Waterflood is more suitable for light oil reservoirs with low natural
energy (such as solution gas drive)
• Injection well arrangement include peripheral, pattern and randomly
located injectors

Peripheral Pattern Irregular

 Waterflood Processes
• Water injection can be referred to as a pressure maintenance
process or a secondary recovery phase
• Successful waterfloods result in significant incremental oil recovery
over primary recovery
• Investments and operating costs for waterflood operations are
significantly higher than in primary recovery
• Optimum design, good reservoir management and surveillance are
key factors in implementing economically successful waterfloods

Waterflood

BOPD
Incremental recovery
Primary

Extrapolated Primary
Time
 History of Waterfloods
• Accidentally recognized (1880) when water from shallow zones
entered a depleted deeper zone causing a gain in oil production

• Pioneering projects include a Circle flood (1907), Line drive (1921)

and Five spot pattern flood (1928)

• During the 1930’s several projects were implemented in USA but

primary production was still dominant

• Waterflood activities boomed in the 1950’s due to increased need for

crude oil and observed decline in primary production

• Many waterflood projects have been implemented in Indonesia

including the giant Minas field in Sumatra
 • Mobility Ratio
• Fractional Flow
• Buckley-Laverett
• Welge
 Waterflooding Vs. Pressure
Maintenance
• Waterflooding adalah suatu metoda secondary recovery
dengan cara menginjeksikan air ke dalam reservoir,
pada saat kondisi reservoir sudah mencapai economic
limitnya secara primary, dengan tujuan akan
meningkatkan oil recovery dari reservoir bersangkutan.

• Water-pressure maintenance adalah suatu proses

menginjeksikan air ke dalam reservoir dengan maksud
memberikan energi tambahan agar kinerja reservoir
tersebut meningkat dari keadaan sebelumnya. Proses
injeksi ini dilakukan pada saat kondisi reservoir belum
pada atau dibawah kondisi ekonomiknya.
 Faktor-Faktor yang Perlu
Diperhatikan
• Geometri reservoir
• Lithology
• Kedalaman reservoir
• Porosity
• Permeability (besarnya dan variasinya)
• Kontinuitas dari sifat batuan tersebut
• Besar dan ditribusi saturasi fluida
• Hubungan sifat fluida dengan relative
permeability
 Kapan Saat Terbaik Melakukan
WF
• Saat terbaik ini sangat bergantung sekali dari
tujuan utama pekerjaan WF dilakukan.

• Beberapa tujuan pekerjaan diantaranya adalah:

– Memaksimalkan oil recovery, dan
– Memaksimalkan nilai ekonomi dari suatu reservoir
(net income, net income per dollar invested,
maximum discounted present worth)
 Prosedur Perhitungan
Displacement

• Beberapa metoda yang dapat digunakan:

– Stiles
– Dykstra-Parsons
– Buckley-Leverett
– Welge
 Metoda Stiles
• Prinsip
– Linier (horizontal) bedding
– Laju alir injeksi berbanding lurus dengan permeability
– Setelah breakthrough, laju produksi minyak-air
merupakan fungsi dari perbandingan mobility air dan
minyak tersebut di dalam reservoir
• Paramter yang berpengaruh
– Permeability batuan
– Perbandingan mobility minyak-air
– Formation volume faktor (FVF) dari minyak pada
kondisi injeksi
Metoda Stiles
Metoda Stiles
 Metoda Dykstra-Parsons
• Prinsip
– Dikembangkan dari eksperimen laboratorium
– Test dilakukan pada multi-layered reservoir
dan tidak ada cross-flow
– Oil recovery merupakan fungsi dari mobility
ratio dan distribusi permeability
 Metoda Dykstra-Parsons

• Permeability distributions didefiniskan:

 Metoda Dykstra-Parsons
• Log-normal permeability distribution
 Metoda Dykstra-Parsons
• Dengan mengadop persamaan aliran linier dari Darcy untuk fluida
incompressible dapat diturunkan persamaan yang disebut coverage
atau conformance efficiency dan WOR (FWO):
Metoda Dykstra-Parsons
 Metoda Dykstra-Parsons

• After Craig
 Metoda Dykstra-Parsons

• After Craig
Fractional Flow
 Mobility Ratio (M)
• Mobility suatu fluida adalah perbandingan atau
ratio permeabilitas efektif terhadap
viskositasnya.

• Mobility ratio didefinisikan sebagai perbandingan

mobility fluida yang mendorong atau mendesak
(D) terhadap fluida yang didorong atau didesak
(d).
Mobility Ratio Curve - Example
 Fractional Flow
• Fractional flow adalah perbandingan
produksi suatu fluida terhadap total fluida
yang diproduksikan.
 Fractional Flow
• Dengan memasukkan persamaan Darcy dan
mengabaikan efek gravity dan capillary
pressure, persamaannya menjadi:

• Dimana A adalah luas area,

• Pl adalah tekanan untuk phasa l

• Dengan mengabaikan efek cap. pressure

PW = PO
 Fractional Flow

• Persamaan di atas dapat dituliskan sebagai:

• Dimana symbol lamda adalah perbandingan mobility (mobility ratio)

Fractional Flow W/ Gravity & Pc
• Persamaan di atas dapat dituliskan sebagai:
Fractional Flow W/ Gravity & Pc
• Persamaan akhir dapat dituliskan:
Bukley-Leverett (Frontal
Displacement)
 Buckley-Leverett (1942)
• Metoda yang paling termudah dan terbanyak digunakan
dalam perhitungan fluid displacement untuk kondisi
immiscible (tidak bercampur).

• Assumsi dari pendekatan metoda ini adalah:

– Aliran dalam media horizontal
– Air merupakan fasa yang diinjeksikan ke dalam fasa minyak di
dalam reservoir
– Minyak dan air dalam kondisi immiscible (tidak bercampur)
– Minyak dan air mengikuti sistem fluida imcompressible
– Pengaruh gravity dan capillary pressure diabaikan
Buckley-Leverett (1942)
Frontal Displacement
Welge’s Method
Plot Metoda Welge
Frontal Displacement
Plot Metoda Welge
Metoda Welge
Mobility Vs. Breakthrough Time
Metoda Welge
Sw Vs. Ko/Kw
Wettability Vs. Oil Recovery
Viscosity Vs. Oil Recovery
 Latihan soal
• Suatu reservoir dg data sbb :
– Permeabilitas air = 100 md
– Viskositas air = 1 cp
– Permeabilitas minyak = 240 md
– Viskositas minyak = 1.2 cp
• Hitung :
1. Mobility ratio
2. Berapa water cutnya (Fw )