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Waterflooding and Simulation

Contents
Abstract............................................................................................................... 3
1.0

Introduction............................................................................................... 4

2.0

Part A.......................................................................................................... 5

2.1

Reservoir simulation..................................................................................5

2.2

Principle of waterflooding..........................................................................6

2.3

Waterflood candidates..............................................................................7

2.4

Optimum waterflooding............................................................................ 9

2.5

Selection of waterflood pattern...............................................................10

2.5.1

Irregular injection patterns...............................................................10

2.5.2

Peripheral injection patterns.............................................................10

2.5.3

Regular injection patterns.................................................................11

2.5.4

Crestal and basal injection patterns..................................................12

2.6

Estimation of the overall waterflood recovery efficiency........................13

2.6.1

The oil in place at the start of the project.........................................13

2.6.2

Displacement sweep efficiency, ED...................................................13

2.6.3

Areal sweep efficiency, EA.................................................................14

2.6.4

Vertical sweep efficiency, EV.............................................................15

2.7

Case study (Robertson Field)...................................................................16

2.8

Discussion............................................................................................... 17

3.0

Part B:....................................................................................................... 18

3.1

Simulation............................................................................................... 18

3.1.1

Initial case......................................................................................... 19

3.1.2

First Strategy (Inverted nine-spot pattern).......................................20

3.1.3

Second strategy (Five-spot pattern)..................................................21

3.2

Result...................................................................................................... 22

3.3

Discussion............................................................................................... 24

4.0

Conclusion................................................................................................ 25

5.0

Reference................................................................................................. 26

Abstract
The main aim of this report is to conduct a research in waterflooding process and
to implement the fundamentals of waterflooding process in reservoir simulation.
Waterflooding is perhaps the most common technique used so far as a secondary
recovery mechanism because of the availability of the water, the low cost of
water compared with other fluids and the water can be injected into the reservoir
formation easily. The principle of waterflooding is briefly defined as the injection
of water into the reservoir formation to displace the oil and therefore maximize
the oil production and increase the recovery factor.
In Part A, a brief introduction of reservoir simulation is present with the steps
involved in simulation. The principle of waterflooding and the factors which make
the reservoir a successful candidate for waterflooding project will be discussed in
Part A. The critical point for a successful waterflooding project is determining the
optimum time to start. Thus, there are several aspects must be considered to
decide the optimum time. These aspects are also discussed briefly in the part.
Furthermore, the method of estimating the waterflooding recovery factor is
described in detail with the expressions used. At the end of this part, a case
study of Robertson filed is considered to examine and discuss the success of
waterflooding in the field.
In Part B, a simulation is performed by using Petrel E&P to model a reservoir and
apply different development strategies in order to predict and analyze the
performance of the reservoir under waterflooding process. Two strategies have
been established based on the well arrangement used in the case study in Part A.
In the first strategy, an inverted nine-spot pattern is used, whereas a five-spot
pattern is used for the second strategy. Both strategies result a successful
waterflooding, however, the second strategy is more efficient because of the
higher oil production and thus more profitability.

1.0

Introduction

Reserve of an oil field is defined as the quantities of the hydrocarbons in a


reservoir which are commercially recoverable from known accumulations and a
given date by various techniques. The extractable amount of hydrocarbon is
dominated by a recovery factor which depends on many variables such as the
reservoir properties, fluids properties, reservoir drive mechanisms, etc. The
reservoir drive mechanism refers to the natural energy of the reservoir that
moves the oil to the wellbore without using any additional supplements. The
natural drive mechanisms like the gas cap drive and water drive are known as
the primary oil recovery. In most cases, only 5 to 30 % of the original oil in place
(OOIP) can be recovered by the primary oil recovery. The insufficient recovered
oil in this mechanism led to different practices to support the neutral energy of
the reservoir by injecting immiscible gas or water into the reservoir formation
which is known as the secondary oil recovery. Up to 30 % additional recovery of
the OOIP can be recovered by using the secondary oil recovery technique. In
some certain reservoirs, a tertiary oil recovery (enhanced oil recovery, EOR) is
required to recover the residual oil left behind in the reservoir after inefficient
primary and secondary recovery methods. The use of the EOR methods is usually
limited due to economic considerations. The oil recovery classifications are
shown in Fig. 1.
In this report, the waterflooding process as a secondary oil recovery is
highlighted. The cost of waterflooding process is relatively low in comparison
with other oil recovery methods. The process often involves converting some
production wells into injection wells to increase the contacted zone between the
oil and injected water. Furthermore, reservoir simulation may also be involved in
waterflooding process to predict the fluid behaviour in the reservoir and,
therefore, optimizing the process and maximizing the recovered oil from
waterflooding project. More detail of the process is discussed in the subsequent
section and linked with simulation studies to better understanding.

Figure 1: The categories of the oil recovery mechanisms (SBC, 2015).

2.0
2.1

Part A
Reservoir simulation

Basically, the term simulation means the representation of dynamic processes by


either a physical or theoretical model. In petroleum engineering, modelling the
fluid flow in porous media is significant and therefore reservoir simulation must
be preformed. Reservoir simulation refers to the use of means that provides a
numerical model of the petrophysical and geological characteristics of a reservoir
in order to predict and analyze the reservoir fluid performance under different
conditions. The reservoir simulation modeling usually consists of three parts in
its basic form:
1. A geological model: it is a mathematical description of the reservoir and
its petrophysical and geological characteristics to form a volumetric grid
which describes the porous rock formation.
2. A flow model: it is a mathematical model which describes the fluid flow in
a porous media. This is typically given as a set of equations of the
conservation of mass and volume together.
3. A well model: it describes the flow in and out of the reservoir fluids and
computes the production and injection rates for a given bottom hole
pressure, or the opposite.
The major purpose of reservoir simulation is to predict the reservoir fluids
behaviour over time and optimize the development plans to maximize the oil
recovery. This obviously will assist in taking the investment and operational
decisions. Although the reservoir simulation is an invaluable tool, the need of
simulation studies depends greatly on some factors such as the geological
setting, the field maturity, and the production environment (offshore or onshore).

There are several reservoir simulators designed to model the flow in reservoir
system. These simulators are computer programs that solve fluid flow problems
using mathematical techniques based on three fundamental equations 1) Darcys
law, 2) material balance equation, and 3) conservation of mass equations. A
typical simulator flow chart is shown in Fig.2.

2.2

Figure 2: A typical simulator flow chart (Fanchi and John, 2005).


Principle of waterflooding

The injection of water into the reservoir to displace the oil and therefore increase
the production is called waterflooding, as illustrated in Fig. 3. This process is
perhaps one of the most common methods used as secondary oil recovery.
Historically, waterflooding was recognized accidentally in more than 100 years
ago when shallow water entered an oil well, and consequently the oil production
from that well was diminished, whereas the production from the surrounding
wells was increased. The widespread waterflooding began in the early 1950s
and grew steadily until now to become the dominant fluid injection technique.
In fact, the principle of waterflooding is the same as the pressure maintenance
principle. In both cases, the oil is displaced by the injected water but the only
difference is that the waterflooding results a significant increase in the oil
production while the pressure maintenance might not. In the typical pressure
maintenance process, the water is injected into the aquifer to either maintain or
increase the reservoir pressure at or near the bubble point pressure or to
augment the water drive by retarding the natural decline in the existing reservoir
pressure.

Figure 3: Illustration of waterflooding process.


There are different reasons in which the waterflooding has become the most
widely and successfully method ever used in the world as an oil recovery
mechanism. These primary reasons are:
1. The ease availability of the water particularly in offshore fields.
2. The low cost of water compared with other fluids.
3. The water can be injected into the reservoir formation easily.
4. The efficient and effective displacement of the oil by the water.
2.3
Waterflood candidates
Various factors make an oil reservoir a successful candidate for waterflooding.
Thomas, Mahoney, and Winter (1989) generalize these factors by considering the
following reservoir characteristics:

Reservoir geometry

The geometry of the reservoir plays an important role in the behaviour of the
waterflooding. The reservoirs geometry will directly impact on the location of
the wells and also the number of platforms in case of an offshore filed, and,
therefore, will essentially govern the oil recovery by the water injection practices.
The previous performance of the reservoir and good analysis of the reservoirs
geometry are necessary not only to define the strength of natural water drive,
but also to know the need of an additional supplement of the natural energy by
injection. The water injection is considered unnecessary if the natural water
derive classified as an active mechanism.

Fluid properties

The physical fluid characteristics of a given reservoir have an important effect on


whether the reservoir is required a further development or not by the water
injection. The oil viscosity is considered as the principal fluid characteristic which
affects on the percentage of success of the waterflooding process.
The most important variable to be considered is actually the mobility ratio, M,
that defines as the mobility of the displacing fluid to the mobility of the displaced
fluid i.e. the effective permeability to the viscosity of the displacing and
displaced fluids, the mobility ratio M can be expressed as follows;

So, for waterflooding;

The above expression of the mobility ratio has been standardized by the Society
of Petroleum Engineering (SPE) since 1957 (James and William, 1999). A good
waterflooding has a favourable mobility ratio equals to or is less than 1. This
means the oil will flow better than the water and the water will displace the oil
easily. Conversely, if the mobility ratio is greater than 1 (unfavourable mobility
ratio), then the water will flow better than the oil and the displacement
effectiveness of oil by water will decrease. In this case (extremely viscous oil),
the water will leave behind much of the by-passed oil. Generally, a range from
0.02 to 2.0 of the mobility ratio was encountered during the waterflooding
(Forrest, 1975).

Reservoir depth

The depth of the reservoir is an important factor on either a secondary or tertiary


oil recovery process and it may affect both the economic and technical sides of
the project. In the economic aspect, the operating costs and investment
increases as the reservoir depth increases. This generally results an increase in
the drilling and lifting operation costs. In the technical aspect, the reservoir
depth should be deep enough so that the injection pressure would be less than
the fracture pressure of the reservoir. Otherwise, a poor waterflooding process
would be occurred as a consequence of the high water injection rates. In a
typical waterflood process, a critical pressure of approximately 1 psi/ft of depth
must not be exceeded so no fractures will be induced in the reservoir. As a result,

a gradient pressure of 0.75 psi/ft of depth would be normally sufficient to provide


efficient waterflood (Ahmed, 2006).

Fluid saturations and rock properties

The petrophysical rock properties such as porosity, average permeability and


fluid saturations, have a direct influence on the success of the waterflooding
process. Insufficient oil saturation and porosity in a reservoir will result a
noneffective waterflooding process and, thus, would not be economically justified
because of the produced oil will not be enough to offset the operating costs and
investment. The average permeability of the reservoir must be high enough to
allow sufficient water injection without fracturing the reservoir.

Reservoir uniformity and pay continuity

The reservoir uniformity considers as a main physical criterion for successful


waterflooding. The existence of faults, reservoir structure and permeability
trends affect the location of new injection wells where a good communication
must be introduced between the production and injection wells. In some
reservoirs which are significantly heterogeneous, a serious channelling exists,
and therefore a lot of reservoir oil will by-passed and the waterflooding might be
considered useless and unprofitable. Also, the pay continuity plays an important
role for a successful waterflooding.

Primary reservoir driving mechanism

The primary oil recovery mechanism should be considered carefully for any
potential waterflooding process. Gas cap and water derive reservoirs are not
normally considered to be appropriate candidates for waterflooding. However,
water injection may be introduced for both cases in order to maintain the
pressure. A reservoir dominated by solution gas drive mechanism is usually
considered the best candidate for successful waterflooding due to low primary
recovery exists in the reservoir.

2.4

Optimum waterflooding

The critical point for a successful waterflooding project is determining the


optimum time to start. The optimum time is actually determining on the basis of
the reservoir pressure. Ahmed (2006) summarized the most important procedure
which has to be considered and calculated to determine the optimum time for
waterflooding, as follows;

Prospect oil recovery.


Production rates of fluids.
Financial investment of the project.
The quality and availability of the required water to be injected.
Costs involved in drilling new wells for injection or converting existing
wells from producer to injector.
Costs involved in pumping equipment and water treatment.
Costs involved in operation and maintenance of the water facilities.

These points should be examined and calculated for many times to determine
the net income for each case when the waterflooding is required. The best case
which meets the desirable objectives and maximizes the profit is selected.
Additionally, Cole (1969) suggested technical and economic factors which also
must be considered to determine the optimum time (or pressure) to start
waterflooding. These factors are listed below;

Reservoir oil viscosity

As mentioned earlier, the oil viscosity is the principle fluid characteristic that
affects on the degree of success of waterflooding project. The water injection
process is usually initiated when the reservoir pressure closes to its bubble point
pressure where the oil viscosity becomes at its minimum value at this pressure.
Therefore, the oil mobility increases as the oil viscosity decreases, resulting
mobility ratio around 1 and better sweeping efficiency.

Free gas saturation and productivity of producing wells

In case of water injection, it is preferred that the reservoir has initial gas
saturation up to 10 % and this occurs only at a pressure which is below the
bubble point pressure. Conversely, a higher pressure is desirable to increase the
productivity of producing wells and which, therefore, extends the flowing time of
the wells, shortens the projects overall life, and decreases the operating costs.

Cost of injection equipment

The cost is related directly to the reservoir pressure where at higher pressure the
cost increases. On the other hand, the cost of injection equipment is relatively
less at low reservoir pressure.

Overall life of the reservoir and the effect of delaying investment

As the operating expenses are a very important part of the total costs, the water
injection should start as early as possible. On the other hand, a delayed
investment in the facilities of water injection may be desirable because of the
effect of time on the value of money.
2.5

Selection of waterflood pattern

10

The selection of waterflood pattern is one of the most important steps when
designing a waterflooding project. The major goal is to choose the appropriate
pattern which provides a maximum contact of the injection fluid with the target
oil. The choice must be consistent and related with the existing well pattern, the
reservoir geometry and geology, and the objective of waterflooding. The
economics of the waterflooding project can dictate the selection of the flooding
pattern by either converting existing producer wells into injectors or drilling infill
injection wells. This will lead to eliminate some patterns from consideration
automatically.
In general, a proper waterflood pattern for a reservoir should meet the following
criteria:
1. Provide the desired oil production rate.
2. Provide necessary water injection rate to yield the desired oil production
rate.
3. Maximize oil recovery.
4. Take advantage of reservoir characteristics such as faults, fractures,
permeability trends, etc.
5. Adjust with existing well pattern and require less infill wells.
Basically, there are four common types of the well arrangements being used as
waterflood patterns:
2.5.1 Irregular injection patterns
Some fields were developed using irregular patterns due to the use of slant hole
drilling technique and/or the surface or subsurface topology. This results nonuniform location of the production or injection wells. Other factors such as the
faults, variation in porosity and permeability trends may yield irregular patterns.
2.5.2 Peripheral injection patterns
The peripheral flooding patterns utilise all or a part of reservoir external
boundary as locations of the injection wells, see Fig. 4. It usually refers as a line
flood, if a single line of wells located either along one side or down the middle of
the field. This type of flooding patterns has several advantages such as 1) it
yields a maximum oil recovery with fewer injection wells, and, thus, less initial
investment, 2) it results less water production and delays the water
breakthrough, and 3) it can be used with dipping reservoir and reservoir with
permeability variations. The main disadvantage of peripheral flooding patterns
happens when the reservoir has high gas saturation since it will take a long time
until the reservoir gas space is filled up with the injected water. Consequently, a
delay in a significant oil recovery response will occur and a considerable water
injection expense is required.

11

Figure 4: Illustration of two common cases in which peripheral


2.5.3 Regular injection patterns
flooding patterns are used.
Many fields were developed by using a regular injection pattern due to the fact
that most of the oil leases divided into squares with different ownership. The
most common regular patterns of the production and injection well
arrangements, as shown in Fig. 5, are:

Figure 5: The geometry of the most common regular injection patterns.

Direct line drive

In this flooding pattern, the lines of production and injection wells are directly
offset each other. Two important variables is characterized this pattern: 1) d =
which is the distance between adjacent lines of the producers and injectors, and
2) a = which is the distance between adjacent wells in the same line. In the
direct line drive pattern, the ratio of producers to injectors is unity.

12

Staggered line drive

This pattern is actually a modified direct line drive pattern, where the wells are in
lines but not directly oppased to each other any more. Accordingly, the lines of
porduction and injection wells in staggered line drive are moved in which the
wells in alternate lines are dispalced by a distance of a/2.

Five-spot

The five-spot pattern is a special case of the staggered line drive pattern in
which the d/a ratio is constant, and equals 0.5. This pattern is the most
commonly flooding pattern used in most areas since its conductivity is high
where the shortest flow path is a straight line between the producer and injector.
In the five-spot pattern, any four injector wells form a square with a producer
well and thus the ratio of producers to injectors is unity.

Seven-spot

This pattern has two injector wells per a producer well and its merit that the
injectivity is low. This pattern can be considered as a staggered line drive but
with a d/a ratio of 0.866. The inverted seven-spot pattern has only one injector
well per a pattern and is occasionally used. The inverted seven-spot also refers
as four-spot pattern where both are identical.

Nine-spot

This pattern can be developed from a five-spot pattern but with extra injector
wells to be drilled at the middle of each side of the square. This pattern can be
very useful if a high injection rate is required due to the low permeability. The
major advantage of nine-spot pattern is its flexibility. The inverted nine-spot
pattern is usually utilised more than the normal nine-spot pattern, especially
when the fluid injectivity is high.
2.5.4 Crestal and basal injection patterns
In the crestal pattern, the injector wells are located at the top of the structure
and it is most likely used with gas injections project. In the basal pattern, the
injector wells are located at the bottom of the structure and it is usually used
with water injection projects with extra benefits can be gained from gravity
segregation. Fig. 6 shows an example of both patterns.

13

Figure 6: Crestal and basal injection patterns used with dipping reservoirs.
2.6
recovery efficiency

Estimation

of

the

overall

waterflood

The overall recovery efficiency (factor) due to waterflooding project or any fluid
displacement process can be determined at any time of the project from the
following expression;

The generalized expression used to predict the cumulative oil produced (oil
displaced by water injection) in waterflooding project is given by the following
equations:

Therefore, the oil recovery factor can be estimated only if the following factors
are known:
2.6.1 The oil in place at the start of the project
Reliable predications of the waterflooding performance or accurate
interpretations of historical waterflooding behaviour can only be known if a good
estimation of the reservoir oil in place at the start of waterflooding project is
available. The oil in place at the start of waterflooding is given by:

14

2.6.2 Displacement sweep efficiency, ED


It is defined as the fraction of oil in place that will be displaced by water and has
been recovered from the swept zone at any particular time. The displacement
sweep efficiency will usually increase at different stages of the waterflooding
process and can be expressed as follows;

2.6.3 Areal sweep efficiency, EA


The areal sweep efficiency represents the fraction of the reservoir area (or the
total flood pattern) which has been contacted by the injected water at a given
time during a flood. The areal sweep efficiency increases gradually with the start
of water injection until the breakthrough happens, which after it continues to
increase slowly. It depends primarily on the following factors:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

The relative flow properties of water and oil (mobility ratio).


The location of production and injection wells (waterflood pattern).
Pressure distribution between the production and injection wells.
Directional permeability.
Total volume injected.

The progression of waterflooding process according to areal sweep view is


illustrated in Fig. 7. At Time 1, the injection is initiated and a water bank is
formed. At this time the flow is characterized by a radial flow system and the
reservoir normally doesnt respond to the waterflooding. Only a rapid reservoir
response will occur if no gas exists at the start of waterflooding. The displacing
water and displaced oil are moved to fill up the gas space and a complete fill-up

15

is occurred at the end of Time 2. During this time, the flow system is not strictly
radial and is relatively complex. Approximately, at the mid-life of the
waterflooding (Time 3), the oil production rate will be essentially the same as the
water injection rate. This is due to the fact that no free gas remaining in the flood
pattern. The edge of water bank will eventually reach the producer well and the
time of breakthrough is approached. At Time 4, a rapid rise in the water
production is occurred with a significant decrease in oil flow rate.

2.6.4 Vertical
V
Figuresweep
7: The efficiency,
progression Eof
waterflooding process with five-spot
pattern.
The vertical sweep efficiency is defined as the fraction of a pay zone in vertical
plane that is contacted by water. The vertical sweep efficiency sometimes refers
to the invasion sweep efficiency and it depends basically on the mobility ratio,
the degree of the permeability stratification existed in the reservoir, and the
cumulative water injected. As a result of the non-uniform permeability, the
injected water will tend to move irregularly through the reservoir and, therefore,
it is often unable to contact the entire vertical section of the reservoir. The
permeability variation of the reservoir is perhaps one of the greatest
uncertainties which can be encountered in designing a waterflooding project.
Consequently, the permeability variation is considered as the most significant
factor affecting the vertical sweep efficiency. Moreover, the mobility ratio is also
important to estimate the vertical sweep efficiency; a decrease in the mobility
ratio will improve the vertical sweep efficiency.
An estimate of the vertical sweep efficiency can be calculated by two traditional
methods; 1) Stiles method and 2) Dykstra Parsons method. Both methods are
assumed that the reservoir is consisted of an idealized layered system which is
based on the permeability ordering. Other assumptions are also considered in
the two methods such as no cross-flow between the layers, linear flow,
immiscible displacement and piston-like displacement. These methods can be

16

found in waterflood textbooks and they are too lengthy to be presented in detail
here (see references 2 and 4).
The progression of waterflooding process with vertical cross-section of a reservoir
is illustrated in Fig. 8. In this example, the reservoir is composed of 8 layers with
different permeabilities. At early time of waterflooding process, the injected
water displaces the oil in high permeable layers increasingly. On the other hand,
some residual oil has been left behind in the reservoir layers with low
permeability. Finally, a high water-oil ratio (WOR) is noticed after the water
breakthrough time.

Figure 8: The progression of waterflooding process in vertical plane of a reservoir with


2.7
Case study (Robertson Field)
permeability
variation.
In the purpose of better understating of waterflooding process, a case study of
waterflood field has been examined. The selected field is Robertson Clearfork
Unit (RCU). The field is located geologically in Gaines County, west Texas on the
north-eastern part of the Central Basin Platform. The production began in the
early 1950s with an initial well development of 40 acre. The waterflooding began
in 1971 with six injectors and progressed throughout the unit. In spite of the
economically success, the results were less than predicted (Barbe and
Schnoebeien, 1987).
The reservoir is a shallow shelf carbonate (Permian Leonard age) and typically
heterogeneous, both vertically and laterally. The physical properties of the
reservoir are shown in Table 1. The primary oil recovery was dependent entirely
on the solution gas derive. The recovery factor from this mechanism was

17

estimated 8 % of the OOIP. This relatively low primary recovery was the major
reason to initiate waterflooding process for the field.
Table 1: The physical properties of the Robertson field reservoir (George and
Stiles, 1978).
Reservoi
r
properti
es

Area (acres)
x depth (ft)

Porosit
y
(%)

Permeabili
ty
(md)

Saturation
pressure
(psi)

Oil viscosity
(cp)

value

4,800 x 5500

6.3

0,65

1640

1.2

Waterflooding strategy of Robertson filed


The well arrangement of the field was initially developed with 40 acres per
producer well. Since the waterflooding began, some wells were converted into
injectors, thus creating five-spot waterflood pattern. The first stage of infill wells
was by drilling one additional well on each 40 acre, therefore developing the fivespot pattern to the inverted nine-spot pattern i.e. one injection well per three
production wells. This pattern is still in operation up to date as shown in Fig. 9.
The oil recovery factor of waterflooding was estimated to be 18 % of the OOIP.
The data used to estimate the waterflood recovery factor is shown in Table 2.
Table 2: The reservoir parameters for Robertson field at the start of
waterflooding process (Barbe and Schnoebeien, 1987).
parame
ter

Gross
thickness
(ft)

Mobili
ty
ratio

Gas
saturati
on

Water
viscosity
(cp)

Initial
oil
saturat
ion

Residual
oil
saturation

value

1400

0.96

0,65

0.6

0.708

0.34

2.8

Discussion
Figure 9: The evolution of waterflooding patterns in Robertson field.

Since the gas solution drive was the primary recovery mechanism in Robertson
filed and only 8 % of OOIP was recovered, the field was highly candidate for
waterflooding process. Although some difficulties had been encountered, the
waterflooding showed a successful recovery and increased the overall recovery
efficiency to 18 %.
The difficulty can be summarized in the reservoir
characteristics. In such carbonate reservoir, a high degree of vertical and areal
18

heterogeneity is present with relatively low permeability and porosity.


Furthermore, the degree of the permeability stratification existing in the reservoir
is significant and, thus, resulting poor sweep efficiency and poor lateral and
vertical continuity of the reservoir flow. The inadequate completions and the
reservoir discontinuities limit the floodable volume of the total reservoir and
therefore influence on the waterflooding performance.
Typically the waterflooding began with five-spot pattern which is the most
commonly used in such condition. To overcome the reservoir poor continuity and
high injectivity, the waterflood five-spot pattern was modified to inverted ninespot pattern by drilling an extra producer at the middle of each side. This
obviously increased the well density (the number of wells in a specified area).
Consequently, the well spacing is decreased and provided more access to the
unswept parts of the reservoir. This waterflood pattern was not adequate to
balance the injectivity with withdraws, so some production wells were converted
to injection wells.
In terms of pressure, the differential pressure between the production well and
injection well has decreased due to reducing the distance between wells. The
mobility ratio during the waterflooding process equals 0.96 which is around the
favourable range (less than 1). This indicates that the water flow was better than
oil and, thus, it displaced oil easily and effectively.

3.0
3.1

Part B:
Simulation

In this part of the report, a simulation of reservoir has been performed by using
Petrel simulator reservoir engineering. Petrel is computer software owned by

19

Schlumberger which provides integrated solutions from exploration to


production. The main goal of using Petrel was to propose two development
strategies using waterflooding. In addition of the two proposed cases, an initial
case has been constructed in Petrel based on a given strategy.
The given strategy includes two production wells (P01 and P02) and two
injection wells (I01 and I02). A simple gird has been made by using three
surfaces (top, middle and base surfaces) with 100 meters of X and Y. So, two
zones have already been created and each zone has 5 layers. The petrophysical
reservoir properties (porosity, permeability and net to gross) were populated by
using petrophysical modelling which has produced a random distribution of the
properties through the model according to a certain seed number. Table 3 shows
the given reservoir properties that have been inputted into Petrel to make a
three dimensions reservoir model. The seed number used is 16158970; therefore
a unique reservoir model has been created associating with that seed number.
Table 3: The reservoir properties used for petrophysical modelling in Petrel.
Property
Porosity
(fraction)
Permeabil
ity (mD)
Net to
Gross
(fraction)

Minimum

Maximum

Mean

Standard
deviation

Distributi
on

0.03

0.45

0.29

0.058

Normal

70

800

300

150

Log Normal

0.05

0.65

0.5

0.134

Normal

Other reservoir properties are listed below:

Gas oil contact = 1500 m


Water oil contact = 2600 m
Bubble point of crude oil = 80 bars
Fracture pressure = 350 bars
Initial pressure = 256 bars#
Reservoir depth = 3000 m
Reservoir temperature = 76.85 oC
Oil gravity = 30 API
Oil density = 875 Kg/m3
Water salinity = 30000 ppm

The original oil in place (OOIP) was calculated 1209 x 10 6 sm3. Other parameters
were also calculated for both zones as shown in Table 4.

Table 4: The calculated parameters for both zones with the total the OOIP from
volume calculation in Petrel.

20

Parameters/zone
Bulk volume (m3)
Net volume (m3)
Pore volume (m3)
Segments
Total STOIIP (sm3)

Zone 1
6389 x 106
3104 x 106
856 x 106
Segment 1

Zone 2
2606 x 106
1210 x 106
353 x 106
Segment 1
1209 x106

3.1.1 Initial case


In the initial case, the fluid model has been made by using a default model for
Black oil and the consolidated sandstone for the rock physic function. After that,
the model has been initialized by using the equilibration method and the wells
also were completed and perforated. The simulation was run from 2015 to 2035
and the result was visualized. In this strategy, the oil production cumulative was
5.6 x 107 sm3 and the recovery factor was calculated according to the following
equation;
Recovery Factor, RF = cumulative oil / original oil in place

RF (initial case) = 5.6 x 107 / 1209 x 106 = 4.6 %

It seems that the recovered oil in this strategy is relatively low and this is
because the number and location of the wells used. Therefore, additional two
strategies have been performed to increase the oil recovery factor and maximize
the oil production in the seam period. However, the new strategies were
constructed based on the case study (Robertson field) and the waterflooding
research in the Part A of this report.
As mentioned earlier in Part A, a successful development strategy of any field by
using waterflooding project depends on many factors which must be considered
carefully. The selection of the well pattern is one of the most important steps to
be considered when designing waterflooding. This well arrangement will affect in
someway the amount of injected water that should be in contact with the target
oil in reservoir. Therefore, the reservoir properties, especially the mobility ratio
and permeability, will influence directly the distribution of the injected water and
the efficiency of waterflooding process.
In Robertson field, waterflooding project has started since the recovered oil from
the primary was only 8 % of the OOIP. Five-spot pattern, which is the most
common waterflood pattern, was the first well arrangement for waterflooding in
the field. The oil production increased but also the injectivity increased, so the
pattern was modified to an inverted nine-spot pattern to balance the withdraws
with the injectivity. In the inverted nine-spot pattern, any eight production wells
form a square with an injection well and thus the ratio of producers to injectors is
three.
Back to the simulation, the five-spot and inverted nine-spot patterns were
proposed and implemented as new two development strategies in the reservoir.

21

The results were compared with the initial case and the graphs were plotted as
will be discussed in the subsequent section.
3.1.2 First Strategy (Inverted nine-spot pattern)
The same procedures in the initial case were conducted in Petrel but this time
new injectors and producers were inserted in order to improve the oil recovery
and the waterflooding efficiency. In the first strategy, the well arrangement was
based on the inverted nine-spot pattern. The well location and spacing was
selected according to the net gross and permeability where the new producers
drilled in the most potential oil zone. The injection well pressure was set 290 bars
which is less than the fracture pressure, 350 bars, to insure that it doesnt
exceed the safety margin and then no formation damage will occur. In addition,
the production well pressure was set to be 95 bars which is higher than the
bubble point pressure, 80 bars, in order to have only oil production without gas.
In Fig. 10, the inverted nine-spot waterflood pattern is illustrated. It is clear that
only one injector in the middle surrounding with 8 producers in which 9 wells in
total were used. In comparison with the initial case, a massive increase in oil
production rate was noticed and thus higher oil cumulative. This is due to
increasing the producer wells where each three form a square with the injector.

Figure 10: The first strategy with inverted nine-spot waterflood pattern.
In this strategy the oil production cumulative was calculated 9.0 x 10 7 sm3. So
the oil recovery factor was estimated as follows;

22

RF (first strategy) = 9.0 x 107 / 1209 x 106 = 7.5 %

There is an increase around 3 % in the oil recovery from the initial case.
However, the water production was also increased and therefore more water
handling facilities should be taken in consideration.
3.1.3 Second strategy (Five-spot pattern)
In the second strategy, the five-spot waterflood pattern was selected for the well
arrangement. In this pattern, the ratio of producer to injector is unity. The pattern
is formed by some modification in the inverted nine-spot pattern where some
wells were converted from production wells to injection wells. The reservoir
model with the wells location is shown in Fig. 11. As a result of using this
pattern, a considerable increase in the oil production occurred where the
cumulative oil production was 1.1 x 108 sm3. In comparison with the initial case
and the first strategy, the second strategy is the highest oil production
cumulative in the period of 20 years. Furthermore, the water production rate is
too high from the beginning of the waterflooding project. The oil recovery factor
was estimated as follow;

RF (second strategy) = 1.1 x 108 / 1209 x 106 = 9.1 %

Figure 11: The second strategy with five-spot waterflood pattern


In all cases, after the well location was selected, the well completion (casing) and
perforations of the target interval were performed automatically by Well
completion design in Petrel. An example of the well completion is shown in Fig
12.

23

3.2
Result
Figure 12: An example of the well
completion and perforation for injector and

Figure 13: The oil production cumulative for each strategy.


Fig. 13 shows the graphs of the oil production cumulative for each case in the
period from 2015 to 2035. In this period of the time, the oil production
cumulative of the second strategy is the highest production. This is due to the
well arrangement and spacing where the ratio of producer to injector equals 1.
This pattern is highly conductive where the shortest flow path is a straight line
between the producer and injector. This leads to an effective displacement of the
oil by the water and results good sweep efficiency. In this case, the second
strategy is preferred over the other two strategies.

24

Figure 14: The oil production rate for each strategy.


Fig. 14 Shows that the oil production rates reached their peak for all cases at the
beginning of the production where the highest rate was approximately 53,000
sm3/day in the first strategy. After that all rates have decreased and levelled off
at constant rates because of the pressure decreased with the time. Even
although the oil rate of the first strategy was higher than the oil rate of the
second strategy in certain time, the rate of second strategy is preferred.

Figure 15: The watercut for all cases.

25

Figure 16: the water production for all cases.


Both graphs in Fig. 15 and Fig. 16 show the water production for all strategies
in 20 years period. The watercut and water production rate reached their
maximum value at 55 % and 10,100 sm 3 respectively by 2035 for the second
strategy. This is too high water production rate in comparison with the initial and
first strategies. This high rate can be interpreted because of the number of
injector wells in the second strategy which is relatively higher than the injector
wells in the other strategies. This high water rate indicates that the breakthrough
time will defiantly occur in the second strategy much quicker than the other
strategies.
According to the water production rates, the first strategy is favourable over the
second strategy. Although the water rate of the initial strategy is relatively less
than the one of first strategy, the huge difference in the oil production of the first
strategy make it the best case. The watercut of the initial and first strategies will
reach 12.5 % and 25 % in 2035 respectively. However, the high water production
wont be a problem as soon as the water handling production facilities is
available.
3.3

Discussion

In this section of the report, a sensitivity analysis for all strategies is considered
in the basis of the number of wells and the difference between the production
and cost. The number of the wells and the oil production cumulative for all
strategies are shown in Table 5.
First, according to the number of the well, it is clear that the initial strategy has
fewer wells than the other strategies. Therefore, the total cost of the wells will be
absolutely less. The cost of drilling well depends on many factors such as the
reservoir geology, the production environment, the depth etc. The average cost
of drilling well according to JAS data (API, 2004) is $3.4 million for an average
depth of 3400 m. This cost includes the drilling operations, completion and any
other involved operating costs. So, the total cost of the wells of the initial
strategy will be 4 x 3.4 = $13.6 million and it will be $30.6 and $34 million for
26

the first and second strategies respectively. Although the number of wells is
reasonable for all strategies, the initial strategy is preferred based on the total
cost of the drilled wells.
Second, the total price of oil production cumulative for 20 years is the second
factor in which the best strategy will be selected. The oil price is changeable with
the time according several factors such as the politics, the supply and demand
tread, oil type etc., but in this estimation a constant price is considered. The oil
price today is $62 per barrel, so the total oil production for the second strategy
will make 62 x 691879162 = $4.3 x 10 10, whereas the oil production cumulative
of the first and the initial strategies will make $3.5 x 10 10 and $2.2 x 1010
respectively.
Therefore, the profit from each strategy will be the oil production cumulative
price - the total cost of the wells. For example, the profit for the second strategy
equals 4.3 x 1010 34 x106 = $4.296 x 1010. This is actually a rough estimation
because many other costs are involved such as the cost of the injected water,
water equipment, operating cost etc. However, it seems that all strategies are
economic and thus all of them can be considered as a development project. As
soon as the second strategy is the highest oil production and the most profitable,
it has been selected to the waterflooding strategy for the field.

4.0

Conclusion
Reservoir simulation refers to the use of means that provides a numerical
model of the petrophysical and geological characteristics of a reservoir in
order to predict and analyze the reservoir fluid performance under
different conditions.
Although the reservoir simulation is an invaluable tool, the need of
simulation studies depends greatly on some factors such as the geological

27

setting, the field maturity, and the production environment (offshore or


onshore).
In most cases, only 5 to 30 % of the original oil in place (OOIP) can be
recovered by the primary oil recovery. The insufficient recovered oil in this
mechanism led to different practices to support the neutral energy of the
reservoir by injecting immiscible gas or water into the reservoir formation
which is known as the secondary oil recovery. Up to 30 % additional
recovery of the OOIP can be recovered by using the secondary oil recovery
technique.
Waterflooding is perhaps one of the most common methods used as
secondary oil recovery, because of the availability of the water, the low
cost of water compared with other fluids and the water can be injected
into the reservoir formation easily.
Various factors make an oil reservoir a successful candidate for
waterflooding such as the reservoir geometry and depth, the mobility ratio
between oil and water and rock properties.
The selection of waterflood pattern is one of the most important steps
when designing a waterflooding project where appropriate pattern
provides a maximum contact of the injection fluid with the target oil in the
reservoir.
Estimation of the overall waterflood recovery factor depends on the
displacement efficiency, the areal efficiency, and the vertical efficiency.
Although the inadequate completions and the reservoir discontinuities in
Robertson filed, waterflooding showed a successful recovery and increased
the overall recovery efficiency.
In simulation, Table 5 summarizes all the considered strategies and the
results obtain.

Table 5: The differences between all strategies and the results obtain.
Parameter/strategy
Number of wells
(Producers +
injectors)
Waterflood pattern
Oil production
cumulative for 20
years (sm3)
Watercut (%)
Recovery factor
(%)

Initial strategy

First strategy

Second
strategy

10

Irregular pattern

Inverted nine-spot

Five-spot

5.6 x 107

9.0 x 107

1.1 x 108

12.5

25

55

4.6

7.5

9.1

28

5.0

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