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Topi c Out l i ne Topi c Out l i ne
Introduction and definition
Why we need water injection
What to consider in waterflooding
Important rock-fluid characteristics in displacement
process
Displacement theory: Buckley-Leverett
C l l ti f il W l A l i Calculation of oil recovery: Welge Analysis
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I nt r oduc t i on
Drive mechanisms are means of providing energy to
displace hydrocarbonfromreservoirs
There are drive mechanisms that involve the immiscible
displacement of oil
Immiscible displacementmeans that there is no mixing
of injected and displaced phases at the pore level
(through mass transfer of components) (through mass transfer of components).
Natural water drive gives highest recovery factor
therefore water drive by injection is the most common
method of secondary recovery.
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Def i ni t i on
Waterflooding Waterflooding ( (www www. .slb slb. .com com))
A method of secondary recovery in which water is injected into y y j
the reservoir formation to displace residual oil. The water from
injection wells physically sweeps the displaced oil to adjacent
production wells.
Water Water injection injection ( (www www. .wikipedia wikipedia..com com) )
A method used in oil production is where water is injected
b k i t th i ll t i d back into the reservoir usually to increase pressure and
thereby stimulate production. This method is used to increase
oil recovery from an existing reservoir.
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Water is injected for two reasons:
1 F t f th i ( l
Cont .
1. For pressure support of the reservoir (also
known as voidage replacement)
water injection
2. To sweep or displace the oil from the reservoir,
and push it towards an oil production well.
waterflooding
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Why We Need Wat er I nj ec t i on
Zone isolation Zone isolation
In some cases, an active reservoir-aquifer systems may
have faulting structure within the reservoir structure, which
causes some hydrocarbon zones to be isolated fromaquifer
pressure support
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Cont .
Permeability Permeability
In producing fields that has moderate to high permeabilities,
maintaining the high productivity is important. This is done
throughpressure maintenance using water injection
Undersaturated Undersaturated reservoir reservoir
If a reservoir is above its bubble point (undersaturated), then if
there is no pressure support from an aquifer, the reservoir there is no pressure support from an aquifer, the reservoir
pressure will decline rapidly
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Which one you should use for this Which one you should use for this
case? case?
Water injection or water flooding Water injection or water flooding
What t o c onsi der i n w at er f l oodi ng
To determine the suitability of a candidate reservoir
for waterflooding, these reservoir characteristics must
be considered:
Reservoir geometry
Fluid properties
Reservoir depth
Lith l d k ti Lithology and rock properties
Fluid saturations
Reservoir uniformity and pay continuity
Primary reservoir driving mechanisms
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Cont .
Reservoir geometry
The areal geometry of reservoir influence the location and
number of wells/platforms p
Lithology and rock properties
Clay content presence of clay mineral may or may not
block pores during waterflood
Thin, low perm reservoir water injection pressure may
exceed fracture pressure
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Fluid properties
In microscopic level, relatively low oil viscosity is preferable
for waterflood i.e. water viscosity higher than oil viscosity
Cont .
y g y
Water cannot move faster than oil, so water displaces oil in
piston-like manner
If relatively high oil viscosity (low water viscosity), water
moves faster than oil, causing water to fingers through the
oil
This is undesirable
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Cont .
Reservoir depth
Influence both technical and economical aspect of waterflood
Maximuminjection pressure increases with depth Maximuminjection pressure increases with depth
Therefore if very deep wells, costs of lifting oil is very high so
reduce ultimate recovery factor i.e. it is not feasible to inject
water
On the other hand, shallow reservoir has limit on injection
pressure i.e. it must be less than formationfracture pressure
Fluid saturations
High oil saturationprovides sufficient supply of recoverable oil
Oil mobility is high hence give higher recoveryefficiency
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Primary drive mechanisms
Water drive
Good candidate because of natural ongoing water influx
Cont .
Good candidate because of natural ongoing water influx
Solution gas-drive
Also considered good candidate because the primary
recovery will usually be low and therefore potential exists
for additional recovery by water injection
G i Gas-capreservoir
Not normally a good candidate because primary recovery
may already be efficient without water injection
But some cases may need water injection if the effective
gas-cap drive is not functioning
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I mpor t ant Roc k -f l ui d Char ac t er i st i c s
i n Di spl ac ement Pr oc ess
Four important characteristics of reservoir rock-fluid
systemwhich controls the efficiency of waterflooding system which controls the efficiency of waterflooding
Wettability Wettability
Capillary pressure Capillary pressure
R l ti bilit R l ti bilit Relative permeability Relative permeability
Mobility ratio Mobility ratio
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#1 Wet t abi l i t y
Tendency of one fluid to adhere to a solid surface in the
presence of other immiscible fluids
Water displacingoil in water-wet reservoir - Imbibition
Imbibition flow process in which the saturation of the wetting
phase (water) increases and the non-wetting phase saturation
decreases.
Mobilityof wetting phase increases
Water displacingoil in oil-wet reservoir - Drainage
Drainage - flow process in which the saturation of the non-
wettingphase increases
Mobilityof non-wettingfluid phase increases
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SOLID (ROCK)
WATER
OIL

SOLID (ROCK)
WATER
OIL

< 90
> 90
WATER

Oil
Air
WATER
G
( )
SOLID (ROCK)
GRAIN
F
R
E
E

W
A
T
E
R
OIL
FREE WATER
GRAIN
GRAIN
BOUND WATER
OIL
RIM
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# 2 Capi l l ar y Pr essur e
The pressure difference between non-wetting phase
and wetting phase caused by interfacial tension and
d f h t i i ibl fl id i curved surface when two immiscible fluids are in
contact with each other
P
c
=P
nw
- P
w
Capillary pressure is a function of surface Capillary pressure is a function of surface
tension/IFT, pore size/geometry and wettability
Pc is a functionof interfacial tension(if liquid-liquid system)
Pc is a functionof surface tension(if gas-liquidsystem)
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# 3 Rel at i ve per meabi l i t y
Relative permeabilityto fluid =Effective permeabilityof the fluid
Absolute permeabilityof the rock
At connate Sw and residual So, the end point
relative permeabilities are denoted as k
ro
and k
rw
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# 4 Mobi l i t y Rat i o
Mobility, k/, is defined as permeability of a porous
material to a given phase divided by the viscosity material to a given phase divided by the viscosity
of that phase
Mobility ratio, M, is defined as mobility of the
displacing phase divided by the mobility of the
displaced phase.
Mobility Ratio =Water mobility = kw/w
Oil mobility ko/o
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Source: http://baervan.nmt.edu/research_groups/reservoir_sweep_improvement/pages/clean_up/mobility.html
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Si gni f i c anc e of t he r oc k -f l ui d
c har ac t er i st i c s
The analysis of waterflooding displacement must use
the appropriate capillary pressure curves and relative pp p p y p
permeabilities data measured under water-wet or oil-
wet imbibition or drainage conditions
Must understand the interconnection between these
characteristics in order to understand and analyse the
displacement process p p
Oil moves easier in water-wet rock, thus recovery
from waterflooding for water-wet reservoir is
greater
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