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The Fry In Situ Combustion Test-l?ield Operations

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MhRAWON OIL CO,
G. A, CLARK
FtNDLAV, OHIO
R, G. JONES TULSA, OKIA.
W. 1, KINNEY , TERRE HAUTE.. IND,
R: E. SCHILSON 117TLETON, COLO, , ,
.
MEMBERS AIME
H. SURKALO 7ERRE HAUTE, lt4D, ,
JUNIOR MEMSER AIME
1 R. S. WILSON TERRE jiAUTE, IND.

ABSTRACT years. As the dissolved-gas energy was dissipated, early

This paper, ~escribe~ the field operations at the Fry in
situ combustion project in Crawford County, III. Field op-
eratlcms may be divided into three phasespreliminary
cngineerhig siudies of 1960 arid 196t, igtdtlon, and, finally,
operation of the test.
The ~ ry combustion project was a pilot test of cocur-
retu % situ co)nbus(ion on a 3.3-acre inverted five-spot.
In the summer of 1960, air injection tests were conducted
using old wells in the area and a new air inject[on well
drilled especially for the (cst, In the sunoiter of 1961,
jour new oil wells were drilled on a 3,3-acre pattern for
the pilot [est. A 11old wel[s in the near vicinity of the pilot
\est were abandoned to preclude any possibility of gas
escaping to adjacent fornl.ations.
A compressor plant was al.ro insttdled al the t@st site in
1961. Air injection tests and other engineering studies
attempts to retard the decline consisted of vacuum, air,
and gas represstiring, and recently, most of the nrea has
been subjected_to water flooding. .:
Following early air repressuring., th~ Fry waterflood
unit was formed and water flooding i:.itiated in July, 1952. :
In the area in which the Fry combustion test was c9n-
ducted, a peripheral water flood of a 160-acre area was ..
developed as shown in Fig. 1, Between 1956 and 1960,
it became apparent that the water flood was unsuccessful.
in looking for a suitable site for an in situ combustion te%t,
the Marathon Oil Co, selected the Fry tinit as possessing
those features most dcsirttble for such a research project.
Field operations associated with the Fry combustion test
began in the spring of 1960.

y-ere made; At the conclusion of these tests, ignition was

a;compli.vhed with a 40 k w electrical igniter,
~ Operation of the Fry cmnbustion test was We di&r-

ent from the usualoilfield operation with the excepdon O!

the idgh rate of .ai[ injection. No dificulty was found, with

the openhole completion. There were no unusual corrosion

or ettllil,qion problems until bottom-hole tetilperatures ex-
-.
;5
ceeded 150F. Four cores were drilled into the burned-out
portion of the reservoir with no mechanical diflicnhies.

INTRODUCTION
A cocurrent or conventional in situ combustion test was
conducted on the Fry unit of the Marathon Oil Co., in
Crawford County, Ill.
Besides testing combustion in the Fry type of reservoir, .
the test was intended to evaluate various operating proce-
dures. This paper presents a discussion of the Fry conl-
bustion test field operations, The geology of the reservoir
and the test performance are discussed irr other papers. i

HISTORY OF THE FRY UNIT

The Fry unit consists of 1I leases totaling 337 acres in Zce 4W Wo

o
an area in which oil was origirmlly discovered in 1906. SCALE- FT
Production fromthis reservoir, as from all Robinson sand [
reservoirs iii the are%=was very high duiing the first-few N - , OILWELL ~ oB5ERvAT,0~
WELL .:-
J1/. .4 WATER INJECTIONWELL

+
ASANDONEP OIL WELL @
,
DRY HOLE 5 AIR INJECTION WELL
Orkhud manuscript received in SOdety of Petroleum Enfrineers ottlcc +

I JUIY 20, 19S4. Revised manuscript Feceived Feb. 1, 19S6. Paper rmaented
at SPSI S9th Annual Fall ?@ettng held in Houston, Oct. 11-14, 1!)64.
1RMerence9 given at end of nnuer.
1
f%, IMAP OF FRY AREA SiiOWUYGI.,OCATIOS OF TEST.

1-
1.
MARG1[, 14)63

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PRE-IGNITION OPERATIONS
Pre-ignition operations at the Fry combustion project
were designed to determine the reseryoir characteristics
from engineering tests and to obtain corm for geological
study,
In the summer of 1950, the preliminary selection of sr
test site was made and an ~ir injection well, L, B, Wampler
No. AI-1, was drilled especially for air injection tests.
Conipletion of this injection well was acco~plished with
cementing a string of 8%-in, casing at 880 ft. with the
bottom 30-ft joint being stainless steei, This well was later
cietuted out with cabie toois. and eventually shot with one
quart of ]iqu]d nitroglycerine from 885 to 934 f!, the gross
sand intervai occurring from 880 to 936 ft.
A preliminary air-injection test was conducted in i 960
to determine the ahiii}y of the reservoir to accept air and
the areal distribution of the produced gases, These data
were used for a preliminary design of the compressor
piant,
The resuitk .of the air-injection test demonstrated that
the areai distribution of air was not uniform in all direc-
tions, but at the same time, there ~ere no highiy pernle-
ahle streaks evident, The gas production rate compared to
the air injection rrrte indicated the reieryoir was confined,
and that most of the injected air in an In situ combustion
test couid be accounted for.
: Oil production measurements were made during the test
on the four wells nearest the air injection .weil. Combined
oii production for these fmlr weils increased ftom 5 to
30,1 B/D by the end of the test, and water production
increased from 42,1 to 91 B/D, The combined gas-oii ratio
for these wells was 9,7oo scf/bbi, and the air-oii, ratio was
i 4,300 scf/bbi, The two welis to the southwest and north-
west, L, B. Warnpler No. 5 and L. B. Warnplei No. 12,
respect iveiy, showed considerable stimulation by the air
drive. Littie oii stimuiatirm was noted to the northeast and
southeast, hut water production increased considqrabiy in
these two directions.
Utiiizing data from the J960 field test and from labora-
ttiry siudies; the tlnai engineering studies were completed
in the spring of. 1961, As a result of these studies, five
new weiis were drilied on a 3.3-,acre pattern. These were
oii, weiis, L, B. Wampler No. 14; L, B. Wampier No. 15,
Emma Fry a/c 1 No. 15, Emma Fry a/c I No. 16, and
Okiervation Weli L. B, Wampier O-1, Concurrently, old
wcils in the vicinity of the project were abandoned, In addi-
tion, five old weiis previously abandoned were iocrited
and re-abandoned. These abandonment steps were under-
taken to en~ure no loss of gases to formations above the
Robinson sand.
Du@tg the rest of the summer of 1961, surface and
production well fiumping equipment was instailed, and
tests were run to evaluate further the restirvoir condi-
..
TASLE 1-AIR INJECTION TEST, 196t
Air
Back Pressure
1:~~
. Behavior, Alr
Rate
Infection Wel I
I niectl;:~i:)eoure
- .
255,000
499,000
1,020,000
Ili$tribufim of Effluent Goses al __
Produckn
,..
Well Lamtlm --
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12
*
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tions prior to ignition, It was determined from bottom-hole
pressure measurements on oii welis within the 160-acre
peripheral waterflood area that fhe project site had not
been penetrated by the injected water.
During Aug., 1961, after the installation of. the com-
pressor, an air injection test was run to determine the dis-
tribution of the injected air, At this time, the old oii wells
had been abandoned and the new pattern oii weiis had
1,
been completed. The results of this test are presented in
Table 1. Shown are the short-term air injection test at
rates of 255,000, 499,000 and 1,020,000 scf/D, as well as
the areai distribution of the produced gases,
The injection rate of 1,020,000 scf/D was. continued
for five weeks. During this time, the ,nir injection pressure
increased, reflecting the ~.onfined nature of the reservoir
due to geologic boundaries and the effect of the peripheral
water flood. .
IGNiTION
Ignition of the Robinson sand was accomplished by
a 40 kw electrical. igniter instaiicd at the nir !njection
weil, as shown in Fig, 2, The 1()-ft active eiemcnt was
iocated between 880 iitd X90 ft. Ignition operations
began on Oct. o, 1961, by injecting air at a rate of I(#),000
scf/ D. On Oct. 9, 1961, the electrical igniter wus dnergized
tit 10 per cent loud. The he~t output of this unit was reg-
uiated by an on-off controller which controlled the frac-
tion of time the heater was on each minute. During igni-
tion, the on-time was increased from 10 to 90 per cent
of continuous operation, The progress of ignition was fol-
iowed by temperature surveys of the air injection weii ttnd
analysis of gas sarnpies from the observation weil, L, B,
Wamplcr. No. O-1, 100 ft west of the air injection wcii.
Initial ignition occurred at 4 a.m. Ott, 13, 1961, as indi-
cated by a temperature survey. At that time, 2,571 kw-
hours of electrical energy had been introduced into the
reservoir (8.77 X 10 Btu).
Fig. 3 shows th}ee temperature profiics tukcn during ,
ignition. Ignition was confirmed four days Iatcr on Oct. 17,
when a marked increme in carbon dioxide content wa,,
noted in the gas samples taken at the observation wei], L. B.
Wampler No. O-i. Even though ignition had been con-.
firmed, operation of the igniter was continued until Oct.
F!Lmr
$zis 1.
.
, 1;;
!74
Wells
.
Per cent of Go; Pratfu&d
40.7
28.2
11.6
4.2
5.9
8.0
2,4
JO I! RAAL OF PET~OI.EUM TECI{XOLOGY
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19. ~ottd energy rclcascd was 22.5 ~ 10 Mu. Temperature spot pat k?rn, {he ~wigina}observation WCII,and the project
data indicated that, eventually, i the entire sand face was husk battery.
ignited, the deepest portion after the igniter was turned THE COhlPRESSORPLANT
off (Fig. 3). The compressor plant incorporated a high-speed 500 hp
packaged unit with. a three-stage compressor and a diesel:
OPERATION engine driver, The maximum discharge pressure rating for ~
Once ignition was assured, tmention turned to the opera- this assembly wa~ 340 psia.
tion of the combustion pilot. Fig. 4 shows a layout of the WELL CONPLETIONS ~~ ;
pilot site at the time of ignition including the compressor Allof the new wells ccmpleted in the Fry projecr were ,
plant, the five ngw wells which constituted the inverted five- drilled and cored with rotary tools, Eventually, four oil
wells and four observation wells were drilled and com-
pleted withi,n the confines of the 3.3-acre project, -1
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070 -
1
The ojl producers (Fig. ~5) were completed witkt ii ;:
string Of T-in. OD ~asing set on top of the Robinson
880 sand With a 30-ft shqe joint in each string consisting of ,
$ 6%-in. OD, Type 304, stain!ess steel, The oil wells were
al[ tailed in with cabje teds, shot with nhroglycerirre, turd
s 890 completed with dual tubing strings, a 2-in. pumping string.
r- -1
a and ~ V+-in. thermowell string. All tubular goods exposed
I , to the Robinson sand were stainless steel.
~ 900 ,
I Various methods of well completion were utilized in
, the observation wells, as shown by Fig, 6,, :
z-
I& 910 Within the first two months after ignition, the tempera-
I&l ture in the Robinson sand at L. B, Warnpler No, O-1,
;0 khcated 100 ft west of No, AI-1, begtm:to rise rapidly. By
Dec. 24, 1961, the temperature had climbed to over
2,000F. The extremely high temperature was the result
930 of an oil fire in the open hole, Later, the fire was exting-
uished by injecting water, but the heat had damaged the
down-hole tubing and therrnowell, rendering the well use-
94 0 less as an observation well. Subsequently, a second obser-
0 200 400 600 800 000 vation well, L. B, Wampler No, O-2, wiis drilled in Jan..
, .... ~ TEMP., F 1962.
],ffol)u(:~l~N wf~fJ,$j

Al R RATE = 150,000 to 900,000 scf/~ t3peration of producing wells wos very satisfactory dur-
10-12-61, 4;00 p.m.
Igniter on
b--.----o 10-13-61; 4:00 an 1-
N---,-x 10-22-61, [0:00 p.m. Igniter off
FJC,3TmPmATmE PROIVLESN AIR .ISJ KTIOX WFM.
I)unINc ICXITION$ -

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1. k. WAMPLER

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EMMA FRY. O/C 1

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l-we lN9ERr PUMP

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Sho ,wm? i
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CAW9 SCAT-J ;,. Snoe 401NT
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O -D!wd Tmk V,, O-PUMP

O- Cmio Tank
cm,,,, ..p-cmp ,
01190. Catch B.wn pi!
Hcale{ o @3

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TANK BATTERY
. LU CINDA SMIIH s/c 2

FIS. 4-LOCA IOrJOF SURFACE f@rrPNFNT AND ?JFxJ.5. l%: 5-TYPICAL PRODUCING
WRLL INSTALLATION.
.!
MA RCST, 196S

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ing the project. Corrosion tm~ emulsion problems had been
anticipated but never developed, except in the terminal
stage of operation when the wellbore temperature in-
creased above 150F. Liquids and gases were collected in
separate gathering lines and transported to the project
tank battery. At the tank battery, provisions were, made
at the headers for isolating production from an individual
well for test purposes.
Only when the combustion front approached a produc-
tion well did conditions change from routine production
operati~ns, As the wellbore temperature increased due to
the approach of the combustion front, the gas and fluid
production rates increased also, The approach of the com-
bustion front was telegraphed many weeks in advance by
changes in the character of the produced water. we water
became yellow in color, the pH dropped to 4,2 and the
chloride ion content decreased.
When the we!lbore.tempemtures approached 150F, both
emulsion and corrosion problems became quite sxwere.
As an example, the normal treatment for emulsion re-
quired about 1 quart of chemical/100 bbl of crude in
conjunction with a heater treater. The emulsion produced
at thehigher reservoir temperatures required about 60
quarts of chemicall 100 bbl of crude. Thus, chemical costs
became u major factor in setting the economic limit of
ope~ations. In the case of oorrcsdon, no unusuaf difllculties
were experienced until the well was produced at the higher
wellbore temperatures with the 1OW-PHwater. In one case,
astainless-steel pump required complete replacement of all
major paI cs after only 10 days operation.
The first well to be invaded by the combustion front
wus the west pattern well, L. B. Wampler No: 1+~-This-
weil was produced until the emulsion and corrosion diffi-
culties dictated suspensions of operations. The next two
wells approached by the front were the north and east pat-
tern wells, Fry 15 and Fry 16, respectively, When ernul-
sion. difficulties became severe at these wells, the tubing
was raised about 240 f( and production con[inued with
[he fluid-column hack-pressure on the reservoir.
1;.
~ - THERMOCOUPLE
RJw#4, fj~ .=
FROMWATER ~~;
LINE
I > at $
. . - .- .. . . . . . ..
.3/4 v THERMOWELL
.:
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> 5-!/S O 0 CASING
~~ :
? 1
L. B. WA MPIEi No. 0.1
FIc. &-OBSSXWATION WELLS,
a46
The back pressuring apparently permitted fluid entry
into the wellbore from portions of the reservoir not imme-
diately ht front of the combustion zone, and resulttxl in
reducing the emulsion and corrosion difllculties, In fact,
the pH and chloride ion content of the produced water
increased, indicating the recovery of water from areas
away from the combustion front. Production from both
of these wells was finally terminated when the gas-oil
ratios became excessive; .,
EXPERIMENTAL MEASUREMENTS
Since the Fry combustion project was a research project,
a c~nsiderable amount of data were taken to follow the
progress of the test. 4
A continuous record of air injection ~as made by an
orifice flow meter in the air injection line, The gas pro- .
duction rates of all wells producing gas were monitored
throughout the test. Those wells ,connected to the project
tank battery were monitored with twg orifice flow meters
installed at the tank battery, In the case of those wells not
connected to the Fry project tank battery but which pro-
duced gases as a result of the test, gds flow rhtes were ~
monitored periodically by a portable orifice flow meter.
To facilitate monitoring the progress of combustion, gas
analyses were made periodically of all produced gas
streams by both Ors@ and mass spectrographic equipment,
The results of thesetwo methods were then used to deter-
mine the composition of tbe gas for ctwbcm dioxide, oxy-
gen, carbon monoxide, nitrogen and hydrocarbon gas
content.
Oil and water production rates for individual wells were
determined periodically by diverting the production from
the well in question into the test tank at the project. tank
batlery. Water and oil sam~les were collected periodically
from the producing wells and these were analyzed to deter-
nline changes in characteristics as the front approached,
Since. gas analyses indicated th: presence of hydrocar-
hons irr the gas stream throughout the test, tests were run
to determine the quality of these hydrocarbons and if they
were recoverable. Using cold traps and activated charcoal
traps, it was found that most of these. hydrocarbons were
LEAR WIRE
highly volatile and little would cpndense fit temperatures
above 15F~ The indicated hydrocarbon loss to the tmrlos-
7HERM0COUPLE
LEAO WIRE
pher~ was 6 to 8 B/D,
I .
In &dditiorr to the above techniques, the progress of the
combustion front was monitored by temperature surveyi
; ,of the pattern producing wells and observation wells, Once
K
the combustion zone passed an observation well. which was
1
!:
coinpleted with tubing or casing cemented through the
formation, it was pbssible to monitor progress of conlbus-
~~ ~ ,@ oocA~,mG
tion, with neutron logs in conjunction with temperature
Sllrvcys.
,,
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HAZARDS
Potential hazards do exist with the in situ combustion
process. Toxic gases, explosive gases, and high-pressure air
,syslems are potential dangers; how,~{er, awsrreness of these
problems can eliminate accidents.. .rhe presence of toxic
gases was not a hazwd as long m proper venting to the
atmos~here
. . was assured. and at no time was an extiosive
miXtureof hVdro&rbons and oxygen bresi?nt at a~y: of the
l, B: WAMPLER No.04
producing w~lls. A periodic che~~ wti~smade for &e pres-
and
ence of explosive mixtures throughout the life of the
EMMA FRY A/Cl No, O+
project,
~onwLETIoN ~ETAIL. To minimize explosion hazards in the air injection sys-

tem; a synthetic lubricant with a high flash point was used
in the compressor. once combustion. was under way,
proper precautions were taken when driiiing into the pres-
surized reservoir; that is, surface casing was set and ce-
mented; blow-out preventer equipment was used, driiling
mud quality ,vas carefuiiy controlled, and proper super-
vision was maintained,
CORING THE BURNED-OUT RESERVOIR I was not necessary for the Fry combustion test.
Four welis were cored into the burned-out portion of
the Robinson reservoir during the summer of 1963, No
difficulty was encountered in these drilling and coring OPF
emtions after proper precautions Were taken.
After coring was completed on the L. B. Wample~.A
and B wells (S0 and 145 ft west of L. B. Wampler No.
AI-1,, respectively], the core holes were iogged and the
holes plugged with cement from total depth to the surface.
After coring L. B. Wampler No.O-3 and Em,rna Fry a/c 1
No. O-1, these wells were completed as observation wells
by cementing 4%-in. OD casing through the reservoir.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Data from air injectivityy t~sts are helpful in compres-
sor sizing,
2. Ignition was uchieved without difficulty.
j. Gcneraliy, the combustion process involved only lit-
tle more hazard than normal field operations as long as
-. ,-
.
expiosive and toxic gases were vented to the atmosphere.
4, The approach of the combustion front to a weil was
si@taled by changes in the characteristics of the produced
water.
5. Advance of the combustion front could be followed
by temperature surveys and neutron logs obtained at ob.
servation Wells.
j 6, The use of stainless ~teel for down-hoie equipment
7, NO completdy reliable quantitative determjriation, of j
combustion front temperatures, was accomplished, .
8, Coring and drilling behind the combustion front were
accomplished with very little difilculty.
ACKNOWLtiDtiME.NTS
The authors wish to express iippreciation to the manage-
ment of the Marathon Oil Co. for permission to publish
~~is paper, .Thanks are due to those people in the Produc-
tion Dept. and the Denver Research Center who contri-
buted to the success of this test. Particular recogrtition is
due W. W. Smith, fieid engineer, and V. L. Bush, mechania.
RMIiREN(:lM
i, Ilmrit[, (1, l+, umi .: ..~un, J, T.: -TIw. Fry In Sit41 Goml)us.
tirm ~esi-Rw[,rwi I [ .hrurt(vht i rs~,, Jwrr, Pet. Td, I Mwd)
1%5 ) :+37.
2, (lark, G..&, Jonw, R, (;,, fiinnry, \V. L., SrAilwu, K, ii..
Surkulo, [i, and Wilson, IL S.: T IV Fry [n Shu (Mnlmtiun
Tt,stl>t,rf[)rl]] ult(,,>. /,)//r. Pc(, 7ew )i. ( .lIti,ch. lYb!i I M. ***
:,
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