WATERFLOODING

Key Points

Most oil reservoirs are subjected to waterflooding to maintain reservoir pressure

and recover additional amounts of oil.
Generally 15-30% of original oil in place can be recovered by waterflood.
The waterflooding process consists of injecting water into a set of wells that
provide energy to the reservoir in the form of high pressure. This maintains
reservoir pressure and displaces oil from the injector to the producer.
The life of a waterflood project, reflecting the rate at which oil is recovered,
depends upon

the number of injector wells,

water injection rate and well injectivity,
distance between injectors and producers, and
reservoir quality.

Reservoir performance under waterflood is greatly influenced by the

heterogeneity of the formation.
For a successful waterflood project, continuous monitoring of the waterflood
operation followed by corrective action, if necessary, is imperative.

Example of A Successful Waterflood Production Response

The shaded region shows the substantial amount of oil recovered by this
waterflood

Typical Rise of Watercut In Waterflood Oil Wells

Rise of watercut in oil wells in a reservoir under waterflood. When the economic
limit is reached, the well is abandoned or the waterflood strategy is modified

Examples of Waterflood Pattern Configurations

Line Drives (a), (b) and Peripheral Drive

Five Spot Patterns

Five Spot Patterns: (a) Regular; (b) Inverted

More Pattern Variations

(a) Regular and (b) Irregular Nine-Spot Patterns

(c) Regular Seven-Spot Patterns

Conversion of Pattern At Later Stages In Waterflood

Mobility Ratio
Where
M mobility ratio
kr relative permeability

viscosity
=mobility k /
k permeability
o, w subscripts denoting oil and water respectively

The relative permeabilities are based on two different and separate regions in the
reservoir during waterflood.
The relative permeability to water is obtained from the zone swept by water, while
the relative permeability to oil is based on an unswept region, which is located ahead
of the displacement front.
During waterflooding, oil and water saturations change with time and distance from
the wells, as the injected water displaces the oil toward the producer.
Changes in fluid saturations are controlled by relative permeability characteristics
along with other fluid and rock properties, including wettability.
Following secondary recovery by waterflood, an enhanced oil recovery process such
as carbon dioxide flooding can be used to recover more oil.

Waterflood Challenges In (a) Stratified Reservoir and in

(b) Rock having Permeability Anisotropy

In a stratified formation, presence of a high permeability layer, also

referred to as a thief zone, may lead to premature water breakthrough.
In a reservoir with a directional permeability trend, injected water may
break through in certain wells bypassing large volumes of oil in other
locations.

Waterflood Recovery Efficiency

Only a portion of porous medium is swept by injected water due to the

tortuosity of porous channels, miniscule pore throat opening, and various
heterogeneities present in rock.
Not all the oil is displaced that is contacted by water. Displacement
efficiency is influenced by the rock and fluid properties and the volume of
water injected.
The principal factors that determine the sweep efficiencies include the
waterflood pattern, various reservoir heterogeneities, oil-water mobility
ratio, and injected water volume.

Areal Sweep Efficiency Under Ideal Conditions

Note that areal sweep efficiency at breakthrough in a staggered- line drive

case is higher than the direct-line drive given the reservoir conditions are
the same. Areal sweep efficiency at breakthrough in a nine-spot drive case
is higher than all of the other cases, as more injectors are used to drive oil
toward the producer.