Oil Displacement Processes

Frontal advance theory

Displacement efficiency
Areal and vertical sweep efficiencies
Waterflood processes
Factors that affect oil displacement
-- Mobility ratio
-- Gravitational forces
-- Capillary forces
First introduced by Buckley and Leverett
Related to advancement of displacement front when a
given fluid displaces oil in a reservoir rock
Requires relative permeability and viscosity data







Water fractional flow f
w
=q
w
/ (q
o
+q
w
)
Front velocity v
f
= x/t = [(q
o
+ q
w
) / A](f
w
/S
w
)
Frontal Advance Theory
x
dx
q
o
+ q
w
Water Oil
Displacement front
A
Saturation distribution










Water cut
Water cut in reservoir = f
w

Producing water cut = f
w
/ [f
w
+ (1/B
o
)(1 - f
w
)]
Frontal Advance Theory
S
w
0
Distance

L
f
w
= q
w
/ (q
o
+ q
w
)
q
w
= k
rw
k A (dP/dx) /
w
and q
o
= k
ro
k A (dP/dx) /

o

hence; f
w
= M / (M + 1)
where M =
w
/
o

w
= k
rw
/
w
and
o
= k
ro
/
o


Fractional Flow Curves
f
w
0
S
w
1
0
1 - S
or
S
wc
1
At Breakthrough

Water Saturation Behind Front
f
w
0
S
w
1
0
1 - S
or
S
wc
1
f
w
bt
S
w
bt
Slope = 1/t
D
S
wi
After Breakthrough

Water Saturation Behind Front
1
f
w
0
S
w
0
1 - S
or
S
wc
1
Reservoir
water cut

S
w
bf
Slope = 1/t
D
Injection volume

Slope of tangent = 1 / t
D
= V
p
E
v
/ V
inj
where V
p
= pore volume
E
v
= volumetric sweep efficiency

Displacement efficiency

Oil saturation behind front S
o
= 1 S
w
bf

Displacement efficiency E
d
= 1 (S
o
B
oi
/ S
oi
B
o
)

Ultimate displacement efficiency E
d
ult
= 1 (S
or
B
oi
/ S
oi
B
o
)
Displacement Analysis
Given data:
Oil viscosity 4 cp Water viscosity 0.7 cp
B
oi
1.12 RB/STB Reservoir volume 36 MMB
B
o
behind front 1.16 RB/STB Porosity 24%
S
wi
28% E
v
70%






Required:
Ultimate displacement efficiency
Water cut, recovery factor and injected volume at breakthrough
Recovery factor after injection of 7MMB water
Displacement Analysis Example
S
w
0.25 0.30 0.35 0.40 0.45 0.50 0.55 0.60 0.65 0.70
k
rw
0 0.015 0.040 0.065 0.095 0.125 0.170 0.220 0.260 0.310
k
ro
0.68 0.55 0.46 0.34 0.26 0.17 0.11 0.06 0.03 0