23/5

PAPER FOR SPE FALL MEETING - ANALYSISOF WATER

INJECTIONWELLS USING THE HALL TECHNIQUEAND
PRESSUREFALL-OFFDATA - PRENTICE (CENTRALGLORIETA)
UNIT - TERRY AND YOAKUM COUNTIES,TEXAS

Q
Michael DeMarco
April 25, 1968

. .

..-.

..

..
?.

ABSTRACT
This paper presentsa review of injectionwell performance
in the Prentice (CentralGlorieta)Unit, Yoakum and Terry
Counties,Texas. The method utilizedis the Hall Technique
in conjunctionwith surface recordedpressure fall-offdata.
The Hall Techniqueis a simplifiedmethod for rapid
evaluationof injectionwell performance. Such problemsas
well plugging,low formationpermeabilityto water, and
pressureparting can readily be ascertained.
This approachhas been utilizedin the Tenneco-operated
Prentice (CentralGlorieta)Unit to improve injectionwell
capacity. Examplesare includedin the paper. Also included.

is an exampleof an indicationof water channelingto an

offset well. This offset is completedin a lower zone than
Che main GlorietaT-1 zone.

INTRODUCTION
The Prentice (CentralGlorieta)Unit, PrenticeField, Terry
aIKi

Yoakum Counties,Texas is located100 miles north of Odessa.

The PrenticeField is situatedon the southeasternflank of the

NorthwesternShelf Area (Fig. 1). The CentralGlorietaUnit

was formed in August, 1966 and water injectionbegan in nine

wells duringMarch, 1967. The Midwest Oil CorporationTract 15
encercd the Unit in February,1967 and Well No. 53 was placed on
injectionduring August, 1967.
Figure 2 is an isopachousmap of the main Glorietapay, T-1
zone and Figure 3 is a plot of Unit production.
DISCUSSIONOF HALL TECHNIQUE
The Hall Techniquefor analyzingwater injectionwells first
appeared in the literaturein 1963.1

This techniqueis a graphical

approach for evaluatingchanges in injectionwell capacities. In

general,injectionwell capacitiesare difficultto evaluatebecause
of a simultaneousvariationof injectionrates and pressures.
Usually to evaluatepossiblepluggingor injectionimprovement,it is
necessaryto know reservoirpressure,water viscosity,and water

density. In order to avoid these problems,Hall showed that the

slope of the summationof wellheadpressuresmultipliedby time
.
versus cumulativewater volume injected &WHP X t vs. cum. water
injection- plotted on co-ordinatepaper), is proportionalto well

When cumulativewater injectionis plottedon the abscissavs.

ZWHP X t on Che ordinateand a decreasein slope is noted, some form
of improvementin well-borecapacityis indicated(i.e.,pressure
parting,hydraulicfracturing,acidizing,etc.). Conversely,an
increasein slope will indicatesome form of well-boredamage,
usually plugging.
One other importantassumptionof Halls techniqueis that
reservoirpressureand producingwell fluid level remain constant.
Thus, during fill-upwhen the reservoirpressureis changing,the
slope of the plot will change in a concaveupward direction. If
the producingwell fluid level is increased$the slope of the Hall
Plot will change indicatingapparentdamage or if the fluid level
drops the slope will change also thus indicatingimprovement.
APPLICATIONOF HALL TECHNIQUE
Early in the injectionhistioryof the Prentice (Central
Glorieta)Unit, it was apparentthat the southwesternend was
becomingout of balance. Where injectionrates in Well Nos. 1,
4, 6, 20, and 51 were above 1000 BWPD at 1100 psig, the injectivity
in Well No. 34 was approximately380 BWPD at 1150 psig. A similar
unbalanceoccurredin Well Nos. 43, 49, and 50. Table I is a list
of the data used to make a Hall Plot for Well Nos. 34 and 1. Figs.
4 and 5 are injectivitycurves for both wells and Figs. 6 and 7 are
Hall Plots from the data in Table I.
AnalyzingFig. 6 it can be noted that the Hall Plot of Well
No. 34 was-very szeep during the first50$000 BW injectedas

comparedwith the textbook-likeexampleof Well No. 1

(Fig.

7).

The latter curve shows a gradual concaveupward curve. The

other threewells irithe southwesternportion of the Unit had
Hall Plots similar to Well No. 34 whereas the better injectors
were very similar to Well No. 1. Formationpluggingwas
discountedsince all of the injectedwater in the Unit area came
from fresh water Ogallalasands, One would expect to see
pluggingin all the wells if this were a problem.
It was decided that low injectivityrates in the southwestern
portionof the Prentice (CentralGlorieta)Unit probablywas due
to reduced ~h.

Pressure fall-offtestswere conductedon all

injectors. The method used is the very

by Morse and Ott.2

simple techniqueoutlined

A surfacepressurerecorderwas equippedwith

a 24 hour- 96 minute quick - change combinationdrive clock. In

most instancesthe wells were on a vacuum within 1000 minutes.
The flexibilityin a 96 minute quick - change chart is in the
ability to obtain fairly accuratepressurereadingsduring the
first 10 minutes of fall-off.
Figures 8 and 9 are presume fall-offplots for Well No. 34,
showing the fall-offbefore fracturingand after fracturing. The
kwh before fracturingwas 112 ml. - ft. After a hydraulic
fractureof 30,000 gals. gell&lwater and 60,000 lbs. sand (using
three stages of rock salt), the kwh was improvedto 940 md. - ft.
Figure 4 shows that the rate was increasedto 1000 BWPDat 1100
psig, and eight months after the treatmentinjectivityremains twice
the rate prior co the treatment. Note that the Hall Plot of Well No.

-.

. ..

..

34

..

...

. ...

(Fig. 6) shows an abrupt change in the slope indicating

capacityimprovement, Similarcurves were plotted for Well Nos.

43, 49, and 50 after thesewellswerehydraulicallyfractured.

There had been some concern that the fracturetreatments,
althoughincreasinginjectivityraces,may have communicated
outside the main T-1 zone. This was a possibilityin Well No.
34 since it was treatedin stages and a temperaturelog was
utilized to calculaterock

salt.volumes. We found that 100%

of the injectedfluid (and first stage treatment)had gone out

the bottom four feet of perforations. Subsequentstages and
temperatureruns indicatednew pay was being treated. Early
inklarch,1968, injectivityprofileswere run on each of the
injectionwells. Figure XO is a profileof Well No. 34 which
shows fairly uniform injectivity. Profiles on the other
fracturedwells also had good injectivitydistributionwith
only small amountsof water

being injectedoutside the main pay

zone. In view of the successwith the other wells in the

southwesternportion of the Unit, it is planned to frac~ureWell
No. 53 since it also has low injectivity.

LOCATINGWATER CHANNELING
One of the uses of the Hall Techniqueis the indicationof
water channelingor formationpressureparting..Figure 11 is a
Hall Plot of Well No. 20.

It

can be noted that the well

performedvery similar to Well No. 1 during the first 90,000 BW

injected. However,between 90,000 and 140,000BW injected,there

was a sharp break in slope to the right (capacityimprovement).

During this same t~me interval,a large water productionincrease

was noted in the offset Clearforkzone well, locazedapproximately
330t southeastof Well No. 20. Subsequenttestingindicatedwater
had swept.fromWell No. 20 to the Glorieta zone of the offset and
then communicatedthrougha small channeldown to the Clearfork

zone. Data from the Hall Plot helped isolate the problemwhich was
immediately,corrected.It also gave confidencethat fill-up
calculationsare reasonableand that

the offset well would have

experiencedresponseif the Glorieta zone were on production.

CONCLUSION
The Hall Techniquefor injectionwell analysisis a simple
tool that can be utilizedby the engineer to evaluatewaterflood.

It requiresthe use of minimum data that is normallyavailable

each month, i.e., weekly pressuresand injectionvolumes. The
data can be set up in such a maaner that clericalor secretarial
help can make the monthly plots and the engineercan review the
data.
Problemssuch as pressureparting or formationplugging
should not be allowed to continueunabated. Utiliza&ionof the
Hall Techniqueand monthly plots will readily point out these
potentialproblemsto the engineer.
By analyzingthe water injectionperformanceof the Prentice
(Centr@Glorieta) Unit early in its

life, it has been possibleto

improve the poor injectionbalance between the northeastand southwest

part of the Unit. This should lead to more rapid fill-upand an
earlierwaterfloodresponsethroughoutthe Unit.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
lheauthor wishes to thank che managementof Tenneco Oil
Company and partnersin the Prentice (CentralGlorieta)Unit
for theix permissionto publish this paper:

References
1. Hall, H. N.: How to AnalyzeWaterfloodInjectionWell
Performance,.
World Oil, October 1963, pp. 128-130.
2. Morse, J. V. and Ott, Frank: FieldApplicationsof
Unsteady- State PressureAnalyses in ReservoirDiagnosis,
Paper SPE 1514 presentedat 41st Annual Fall Meeting,
Dallas (Oct. 2-5, 1966).
~
.

-
,
.
+
.

z.

TABLE I
HAIL PLOT DATA
PRENTICE(CENTRALGLORIETA)UNIT
.
.

.
WHP

1967 March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
Decemberw
1968

January
February
March

April
May

June
. .

40
422
593
920
1040
1040
1150
1113
700
525
563
565 a

WELL NO. 1
~WHP XT
WHP X T

... .
CUM. INJ.

---- ----. WELL NO. 34-------

~WNP XT
WHP WHPXT
-_
-CUM. INJ.

5
422
593
920
1040
1040
1150
1113
700
525

5
427
1020
1940
2980
4020
5170
6283
6983
7508

2,114
29,640
59,796
85,377
117,690
149,607
179,838
210,207
236,279
259,653

1140
967
997
1578
1150
1012
1150
1113
975
1100

147
967
997
1078
1150
1012
1150
1113
975
1100

147
1114
2111
3189
4339
5351
6501
7614
8589
9689

5,359
17.613
.
28,771
40,236
52,321
77,034
104,858
130,165
150,997
172;948

563
555

8071
8636

282,891
304,516

1081
1100

1081
1100

10770
11870

193,749
213,412

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