Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
90
_--_--=======1
Seven-Spot Network
.-; Staggered lme Dnve __ ....
Ii
,-
80
70
Uniform and hom~us media
/ Direct lme Dnve
0' dlslonc~ between odJoct'nl
Input wells
------ ---------J
60
d' distance between the lme
of mjectlon wells and the
Ime of producing wells
40
line Dnve - Square Pollern
Fig. I-Effect of well spacing on injectivity.' Fi,g. 3-Effect of well spacing ratio on sweep efficiency.'
5.2
" "' __ Staggered Dnve with 100
"" Q Filed at 660Ft
"
" ~ 80
r
"
15
Direct Onve with <3
.0 2 .0 3
d Fi)(ed at 660 Ft
~ 60
~-Q---1 f
r . "-
w
w
;0
40 q! .0 2
d "'
36 L DIRECT
~
,;
20 .0'
Direct Dnvewlth/
Q Fixed at 660 Ft. NINE SPOT
3.2
Dyes, Caudle and Erickson presented the results of o 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00
an extensive study showing the effect of mobility ratio on INJECTION RATIO -ql/q2
the swept area and fractional water cut for the five-spot,
Fig. 5-Effect of unequal injection rates on sweep
direct, line-drive square pattern and the staggered line- efficiency of five-spot pattern.
drive patterns: In performing the work there was no gas
saturation and there was 100 per cent liquid fill-up when
the water was first injected. me ability in the east-west direction differs from that in
the north-south direction, the sweep efficiency may vary
Fig. 6 shows a comparison of the swept area for the from near zero to 72 per cent for the five-spot pattern.
five-spot and direct, line-drive square patterns: The abscis- This is shown in Fig. 7. The sweep efficiencies are restric-
sa shows the mobility of the fluids in the unswept region ted to the orientations shown, as a 45 rotation could
divided by the mobility in the waterflooded region. At result in a near-zero sweep for the line-drive and 100
breakthrough, the five-spot is definitely superior to the line- per cent sweep for the five-spot pattern.
drive. After injecting 2.0 pore volumes of water, the swept
areas were substantially the same for mobility ratios of
0.4 and greater.* Actual WaterOood Results
Total area of tracts, 1000 acreSi total number of wells, 400; total pressure differential, 1,000 fb; sand thickness, 40 fti sand permeability, 0.01 darey; sand porosity,
, 10 per cent; effective oil-water viscosity, 10 cpo
Rate
of Time
Fluid to Total
Input- Input- Input Reach Water-free
No. No. Input Output or Output Flood Oil
Input Output Spacing Spacing Output Wells Efficiency Prod.
Wells Wells (ltl _(_It_I__ (B/DI (yrsl (per centl (10 bbll
Staggered line-drive, d/o
Direct Line-drive, d =0
1.50 200
200
200
200
270
330
426
330
3776
4094
~.
11.8
ao:o-
57.0
~
1.77
five-spot 200 200 467 330 4305 14.3 72.3 2.25
Seven-spot 267 133 355 355 3765 16.7 74.0 2.30
DECEMBER, 1960 13
N'ine-Spot-Five-Spot Patterns the oil saturation was slightly higher initally), the nine-
A two-stage modified nine-spot injection program was spot performance was slightly superior to the performance
studied by Smith and Nobles using an electrical network: of the five-spot. However, the differences at water-oil
In their two-stage technique, the streamlines and isopoten- ratios greater than 50:1 were found to be very small.
tials were constant for a single stage; but, ~n the second Similar-type studies were made with other operating
stage of the injection program, a separate field of stream- schedules for the nine-spot pattern and for various oil-
lines and isopotentials existed. By use of a two-stage nine- water viscosity ratios; but, in general, it was found that
spot displacement method, Smith and Nobles found that there was very little effect of scheduling technique on the
a sweep efficiency of 90 per cent could be obtained. This oil recovery (i.e., the five-spot performance was very
high sweep efficiency resulted when in the initial stage the similar to that of the nine-spot, practically independent of
center well was an injection well and in the final stage the method in which the nine-spot was operated). This was
a side well was the sole injection well. not true in the early oil recoveries where the nine-spot
From a review of the literature, it is apparent that the pattern was superior to the five-spot, but for high water-
sweep efficiency of the nine-spot pattern may range from oil ratios there appeared to be very little difference in the
near 45 per cent to 90 per cent depending on the produc- recovery.
ing-injection scheduling techniques. In view of the possible
limited application of steady-state results to depleted water Sweep Efficiencies
floods, it appeared desirable that actual laboratory flood- In performing the laboratory waterflooding tests, it was
ing programs be conducted in porous media to evaluate found that the sweep efficiency or swept area when water
several nine-spot injection-producing schedules to supple- broke through depended on the initial oil, water and gas
ment the theoretical work and provide additional infor- saturation: If the initial oil saturation remained constant
mation on the relative efficiency of the five-spot compared and only the quantity of connate water and free-gas satu-
with the nine-spot pattern in a transient displacement pro- ration varied, it was found that the sweep efficiency in-
gram. creased as the connate water decreased.
A study was made to simulate and compare the flooding If the connate water was maintained constant and the
efficiencies in the five-spot and the nine-spot pattern.! In initial oil and free-gas saturations varied, it was found
one particular method of operation, the center well was the that the sweep efficiency increased as the initial oil satu-
injection well and Well No.2 was produced until water ration decreased. These results appear proper inasmuch
breakthrough; then, the well was shut in and the No. 2 as radial flow is maintained for a greater period of time for
well used was a sole injection well. Results of this par- lower initial liquid saturations; and, during radial displace-
ticular case are shown in Fig. 9. This particular flood ment, the sweep efficiency is independent of the flooding
was conducted for the case in which the oil-water viscosity well pattern.
ratio was 1.6, the initial connate-water saturation ranged
from 8 to 10 per cent and the initial oil saturation ranged Discussion
from 35 to 63 per cent, as shown on the figure. The cumu-
lative oil produced in terms of per cent pore volume is At the present time very little information has been
shown as the ordinate. presented in the literature on the quantitative effects of
The abscissa shows the water injection in terms of per reservoir heterogeneities, gravitational phenomena, capillary
cent pore volume of the pattern. The solid lines on the
curve show the performance for the nine-spot curve pat- 80
tern. The dashed lines on the curve show the performance
or oil recovery for the five-spot pattern. In reviewing this
figure, it will be noted that, for initial oil saturations rang- 70
ing from 35 to near 50 per cent, there was very little
difference in the cumulative oil produced whether the nine- >-
u
spot or the five-spot pattern was used; however, for the z 60
w
case in which there was greater fill-up initially (i.e., where ~
lJ..
lJ..
W 50
1oor-------------~----------------~----------_,
Il.
2.0 Pore Volumes W
Water ~ /. W
90 J/\/ ~ 40
."'
.. 70
I-
II <kNEII
I
~ I k I
II: 60
L--o-_w
"'
~
50
40~~------~----~~--------~----~~------_;40
o 3.5
0.1 0.4
MOBILITY IN UNSWEPT
65 ~
8 30
o
UJ / "o;5
<> I
1530 / '"-'a. 20
______~" 35.0~
o
a: / o Sw:"IO.O't
Q. w
/ >
...J
6
I
I
~
S 10
... 20
2: I Oil Saturatioy "
::>
~ I (% P.V.l "
:5 ! ? - - Direct Line Drive
3S0
~IO
<> - - - Five Spot
Fig. 9-Comparison of nine-spot and five-spot
performances.
280
2. Muskat M.: "The Theory of Nine-Spot Flooding Networks",
Prod. Monthly (March, 1948) 12, 14.
Fig. 8--Comparison between five-spot and
direct-line-drive square performances. 3. Smith, H. W. and Nobles, M. A.: "Two Stage Modified Nine-
Spot Flooding Procedure", Prod. Monthly (Dec., 1958) 33.
4. Muskat, M.: Physical Priniciples of Oil Production, McGraw-
effects, wettability, interfacial properties, etc., on oil re- Hill Book Co., Inc., N. Y. (1949).
covered by water flooding. In actual laboratory water 5. Dyes, A. B., Caudle, B. H. and Brickson, R. A.: "Oil Produc-
flooding in stratified sands, it has been found that the esti- tion After Breakthrough-as Influenced by Mobility Ratio",
mation of the water rate in layered systems using recom- Trans., AIME (1954) 201, 8l.
mended techniques may range from 10 to 3,000 per cent 6. Talash, A. W., Pruitt, G. T. and Crawford, Paul B.: "Labora-
of the actually observed flooding rates. It is readily ap- tory Performance of Five-Spot Floods", Report No. AM 59-17,
parent that considerable work is yet to be done before TPRC (Oct. 24, 1959) unpublished.
the detailed results to be expected in flooding actual reser- 7. Muskat, M.: Flow of Homogeneous Fluids, McGraw-Hill Book
voirs can be predicted with a reasonable degree of confi- Co., Inc., N. Y. (1937).
dence in many cases. 8. Muskat, M. and Wyckoff, R. D.: "A Theretical Anaylsis of
Water-Flooding Networks", Trans., AIME (1933) 107, 62.
References
1. Cotman, N. T., Still, G. R. and Crawford, Paul B.: "Labora
***
EDITOR'S NOTE: A PICTURE AND BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
tory Comparison of Oil Recovery in FiveSpot and NineSpot OF PAUL B. CRAWFORD WERE PUBLISHED IN THE OCT, 1960
Waterflood Patterns", Report No. AM 5921, TPRC (Jan. 4,
1960) unpublished. ISSUE OF JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY.
DECEMBER, 196<1 IS