Integrated Waterflooding
Course overview
Waterflood is the most widely deployed incremental recovery process in the oil industry. Although it is now firmly established that the process can add significant incremental volumes to field recovery, the process is very rarely optimised. Historically, waterflood has been seen as primarily the domain of the reservoir engineer but, given that problems can become manifest across virtually all disciplines, a fully optimised development needs the successful input of all of those disciplines. This course has therefore been developed to train staff on all aspects of waterflood. It therefore facilitates a fully integrated approach to field optimisation.
Learning objectives
Section learnings (see Course outline below) are cemented through the use of exercises. In addition there is a field case history to further highlight topics discussed during the course. This looks at a real field at 4 stages of its lifecycle. Following an initial depletion period, the following phases are addressed:
- Pilot
- Implementation
- Remediation
- Optimisation (inc infill)
In teams, course participants will identify problems associated with the waterflood implementation and develop remediation plans.
Course outline
Flood Design
- Pattern selection and well spacing
- Analytical performance prediction
- Injectivity
- Pilots
Wells
- Horizontal vs vertical wells
- Completion types
- Smart wells
- Profile control (water shut-off)
Surveillance
- Importance of surveillance to waterflood operations
- General surveillance plans and requirements
Dehydration
- Equipment options
- Influence on water quality
Water Treatment
- Oil removal
- Solids removal
- Oxygen removal
- Biocide programmes
- Process optimisation
- Innovative designs
Operations
- Metering
- Availability
- Throughput
- Water quality
Introduction
- Factors of importance to waterflooding
- The history of waterflood development in the industry
- Drive mechanisms
- Waterflood timing
- Displacement models
- Volumetric analysis
- Voidage replacement
Basic Principles
- Fluid and rock properties
- Compressibility
- Permeability
- Wettability
Water Source and Chemistry
- Available water sources
- Water properties
- Clay swelling
- Scaling
- Reservoir souring
- Low salinity flooding
Geology
- Impact of reservoir architectures
- Aquifers
- Clastic depositional environments
- Carbonate depositional environments
- Turbidites
- Influence of geology on waterflooding effectiveness
Recovery Processes
- Displacement theory
- Fractional flow
Matrix/Fractured Injection
- Designing for matrix injection
- Modelling fractured injection
- Water quality impacts
- Surveillance
- Flood and sweep impacts
- Containment
