Chapter 2

Factors to Be Considered for Water

Flooding
 Outline
• Time to start a water flood
• Oil Saturation Calculation at the start of
Waterflooding
• Factors to Consider
– Reservoir Factors
– Operational Factors
• Factors controlling water flooding recovery
 Time to Start A Water flooding
• The time to start a water injection process
depends on the prevailing drive mechanisms
• It is preferable to start as early as possible before
the reservoir goes below its bubble point
• Great volumes of water will be required below
the bubble point. A large percentage of this water
will be used up to displace the gas rather than the
oil.
 Example 1--Effect of Water Injection Below Bubble
Point Pressure

• It is planned to initiate a water injection scheme in a reservoir

in order to maintain reservoir pressure at a level of 2700 psia
(Pb=3330 psia). If the current producing gas oil ratio (Rp) of the
field is 3000 SCF/STB, what will be the initial water injection
rate required to produce 10,000 STB/D of oil. Contrast this with
the water injection required to maintain the pressure at 3330
psia. Given:
– At 2700 psia, Bo=1.2022 RVB/STB, Rs=401 SCF/STB,
Bg=0.00107 RVB/SCF
– At 3330 psia, Bo=1.2511 RVB/STB, Rs=510 SCF/STB,
Bg=0.00087 RVB/SCF
How to Calculate Oil Saturation at the start of Water
Flooding (Sox)

 N p  Bo 
Sox  1   1  S wc 
 N  Boi 
Where,
N= Original oil-in-place, STB
Np=primary oil production between initial and current reservoir pressure, STB
Bo= oil formation factor at prevailing pressure, RB/STB
Swc= Water saturation
Example 2---Calculate Oil Saturation at the start
of water flood
• A reservoir is a candidate for water flooding.
The primary oil recovery from initial pressure
to current pressure Np/N is 12%. The connate
water saturation is 36%, and the oil formation
volumetric factors at the initial (bubble-point)
pressure and at current pressure are 1.35 and
1.05 RVB/STB, respectively. Estimate the initial
oil saturation and the oil saturation at the
current pressure (start of the water flood).
 Reservoir Factors to Consider
• Reservoir Pore Volume
• Reservoir Geometry
• Fluid Properties
• Lithology and Rock Properties
• Reservoir Depth
• Reservoir uniformity and pay continuity
• Injectivity
• Primary reservoir driving mechanisms
– Formation Wettability
– Capillary pressure
– Displacement efficiency
– Areal Sweep efficiency
– Vertical Sweep Efficiency
 Reservoir Geometry
• The areal geometry of the reservoir will influence the location
of wells and, if offshore, will influence the location and
number of platforms required.
• The reservoir’s geometry will essentially dictate the methods
by which a reservoir can be produced through water-injection
practices.
• An analysis of reservoir geometry and past reservoir
performance is often important when defining the presence
and strength of a natural water drive and, thus, when defining
the need to supplement the natural injection.
 Fluid properties
• The physical properties of the reservoir fluids have
pronounced effects on the suitability of a given reservoir for
further development by waterflooding.
• The viscosity of the crude oil is considered the most important
fluid property that affects the degree of success of a
waterflooding project.
• The oil viscosity has the important effect of determining the
mobility ratio that, in turn, controls the sweep efficiency.
• Formation water compositions
 Reservoir Depth
• Reservoir depth has an important influence on both the technical and
economic aspects of a secondary or tertiary recovery project.
• Maximum injection pressure will increase with depth. A shallow reservoir
imposes a restraint on the injection pressure that can be used, because
this must be less than fracture pressure.
– There is a critical pressure (approximately 1 psi/ft of depth) that, if exceeded, permits
the injecting water to expand openings along fractures or to create fractures. This
results in the channeling of the injected water or the bypassing of large portions of the
reservoir matrix.
– An operational pressure gradient of 0.75 psi/ft of depth normally is allowed to provide a
sufficient margin of safety to prevent pressure parting.

• The costs of lifting oil from very deep wells will limit the maximum
economic water–oil ratios that can be tolerated, thereby reducing the
ultimate recovery factor and increasing the total project operating costs.
 Lithology and Rock Properties

– Porosity
– Permeability
– Wettability
– Capillary pressure
– Relative permeability
– Clay content
– Net thickness
 Fluid Saturations
• In determining the suitability of a reservoir for water
flooding, a high oil saturation that provides a
sufficient supply of recoverable oil is the primary
criterion for successful flooding operations.
• Note that higher oil saturation at the beginning of
flood operations increases the oil mobility that, in
turn, gives higher recovery efficiency.
 Reservoir Uniformity and Pay Continuity
• Substantial reservoir uniformity is one of the major physical
criterions for successful water flooding.
• The lower depletion pressure that may exist in the highly
permeable zones will also aggravate the water-channeling tendency
due to the high-permeability variations.
• Areal continuity of the pay zone is also a prerequisite for a
successful waterflooding project. Isolated lenses may be effectively
depleted by a single well completion, but a flood mechanism
requires that both the injector and producer be present in the lens.
• Breaks in pay continuity and reservoir anisotropy caused by
depositional conditions, fractures, or faulting need to be identified
and described before determining the proper well spanning and the
suitable flood pattern orientation.
•
 Primary Reservoir Driving Mechanisms

• Rock and liquid expansion

• Solution gas drive
• Gas cap drive
• Water drive
• Gravity drainage drive
• Combination drive
Typical Oil Recovery for Different Driving Mechanisms

Driving Mechanism Oil Recovery Range, %

Rock and liquid expansion 3–7
Solution gap 5–30
Gas cap 20–40
Water drive 35–75
Gravity drainage <80
Combination drive 30–60

These calculation is approximate, and therefore, oil recovery may fall outside these ranges.
 Water-drive Reservoirs
• Water-drive reservoirs that are classified as strong
water-drive reservoirs are not usually considered to be
good candidates for water flooding. However, in some
instances a natural water drive could be supplemented
by water injection in order to:
– Support a higher withdrawal rate
– Better distribute the water volume to different areas of the
field to achieve more uniform areal coverage
– Better balance voidage and influx volumes.
 Gas-cap Reservoirs
• Not normally good waterflood prospects because the primary
mechanism may be quite efficient without water injection. In these
cases, gas injection may be considered in order to help maintain
pressure.
• Smaller gas-cap drives may be considered as waterflood prospects,
but the existence of the gas cap will require greater care to prevent
migration of displaced oil into the gas cap.
• If a gas cap is repressured with water, a substantial volume may be
required for this purpose, thereby lengthening the project life and
requiring a higher volume of water.
• If the vertical communication between the gas cap and the oil zone
is considered poor due to low vertical permeability, a waterflood
may be appropriate in this case.
 Solution gas-drive mechanisms
• Generally are considered the best candidates for waterfloods.
Because the primary recovery will usually be low, the
potential exists for substantial additional recovery by water
injection.
• The typical range of water-drive recovery is approximately
double that of solution gas drive. As a general guideline,
waterfloods in solution gas-drive reservoirs frequently will
recover an additional amount of oil equal to primary recovery.
Volumetric under-saturated oil reservoirs

• Depend on rock and liquid expansion as the main

driving mechanism. In most cases, this mechanism
will not recover more than about 5% of the original
oil in place.
• These reservoirs will offer an opportunity for greatly
increasing recoverable reserves if other conditions
are favorable.
 Operational Factors to Consider
• Primary Well Completions
• Primary Production history
• Existing primary production equipment
• Formation sensitivity
• Reservoir drive mechanisms
• Water sources and properties
Factors Controlling Waterflooding Recovery

• Oil-in-place at the start of waterflooding

• Areal Sweep Efficiency
• Vertical Sweep Efficiency
• Displacement Efficiency
 Summary of Chapter 2
• Factors to consider water flooding project
– Reservoir Factors
– Operational Factors
• Factors controlling waterflooding recovery
• Calculation
– Time to start a water flood
– Oil Saturation Calculation at the start of
Waterflood
Single Phase Properties
 Porosity

Porosity is defined as the pore volume per unit volume of the rock formation

PoreVolume

TotalVolume

• Porosity is expressed in % or porosity units (PU).

 Types of Porosities
1. Primary porosity: The porosity is developed during the
deposition of sediment.

2. Secondary porosity: The porosity created after

deposition (dissolution, fracturation …..)
• Fracture porosity: is generated by tectonic fracturing of
the rock
• Vugular porosity: is the pore space consisting of cavities or
vugs,
 Fracture Porosity
 Fracture porosity is a form of secondary porosity generated by
tectonic fracturing of the rock
 Such porosity can develop in any rock, allowing the development
of productive reservoir in rocks such as granites and gneisses

A strongly fractured chalk from an area of only mild deformation. Such fractures are
commonly late diagenetic, and postdate most other diagenetic features in the rock.
 Vug Porosity

 Vugular porosity is the pore space consisting of cavities or vugs

 Vugular porosity can occur in rocks prone to dissolution, such as
limestone, in which case is secondary porosity

Vuggy porosity. Probably solution enlarged. Porosity is black.

 Factor Influencing Porosity
• Depends on packing and pore size distribution
• Depends weakly on grain size
• Determined by sedimentation and diagenesis

Cubic packing (a), rhombohedral (b), cubic packing with two

grain sizes (c), and typical sand with irregular grain shape (d).
 Porosity (cont’)
Classification:
 Total porosity
 Effective porosity
 Helium Porosimeter to Measure Porosity

Principle: Boyle's Law PV  const p1Vcup sample  P2Vcup

Experiment procedures:

•Measure effective porosity: put Core in the cup:

VHP  VGR  Vunc

Vb  VHP
e 
Vb
•Measure total porosity: If put the crushed grains in the cup
VHP  VGR
VGR----Grain Volume, Vb—Bulk volume
Vb  VHP
a 
Vb Vunc----Isolated volume,
VHP—The volume measured by Helium Porosimeter
 Helium Porosimeter to Measure Porosity (Cont)

Reasons to Use Helium

1. Helium can be modeled as an ideal gas for most
pressures and temperatures of interest
2. Helium consists of small molecules which will
penetrate the tiny rock capillaries
3. Helium has a low mass, therefore a high diffusivity,
and can be used to determine porosity of low
permeability rocks
4. Helium is essentially inert and has a low
adsorptivity on most rocks
5. Helium is readily available in compressed form.
 Vacuum Method to Measure Porosity

Most used in the lab for research

 Permeability
• Permeability Determination

qmL
k= Darcy's law
ADP
Velocities in Reservoir Engineering...
• Superficial velocity
u = flow rate / area normal to flow

• Interstitial velocity
v = superficial velocity / porosity
 (Absolute) Permeability...
The Basic Flow Property of a Medium

• Depends on porosity and

– Grain size

– Local heterogeneity (sorting)

– Cement type and amount

• Depends on direction

• Depends on location (heterogeneity)

 Permeability Tensor in a Simulator...

kx 0 0
k 0 ky 0
0 0 kz

kx, ky Lateral permeabilities

kz Vertical permeability
The Tensorial Nature of
Permeability...
 Absolute Permeability Measurement

Method 1: Liquid Injection Method

 Absolute Permeability Measurement (Cont)

Method 2:
gas permeability

Klinkenberg Effect
 Gas Permeability Calculation
p1q1=p2q2=pmqm

2Qgsc m g L  pb pm 
p1  p2
k
 
2
Ap p 2
1
2
2 Qgscpb=qmpm

p1, p2, pm = inlet, outlet, and mean pressures, respectively, atm

q1, q2, qm = inlet, outlet, and mean gas flow rate, respectively, cm3/sec
k = absolute permeability, Darcys
µg = gas viscosity, cp
pb = base pressure, atm
L = length of the core, cm
A = cross-sectional area, cm2
Qgsc = gas flow rate at standard conditions, cm3/sec
Gas Permeability Determination from Experiment Results

 1  kg = measured gas permeability

kg  kL  c   pm = mean pressure
 pm  kL = equivalent liquid permeability, i.e.,
absolute permeability, k
c = slope of the line
Effect of permeability on the magnitude of the Klinkenberg effect.
(After Cole, F., 1969.)