What are the best ways to evaluate a flooding treatment for oil and gas wells?

Flooding treatments are a common technique to enhance oil and gas recovery from reservoirs. They involve injecting a fluid, such as water, gas, or chemicals, into the well to displace the hydrocarbons and increase the pressure. However, flooding treatments can also cause unwanted effects, such as formation damage, water breakthrough, or reduced injectivity. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the performance and efficiency of a flooding treatment before, during, and after its application. In this article, you will learn about some of the best ways to evaluate a flooding treatment for oil and gas wells.

1 Define the objectives

Before you start a flooding treatment, you need to define the objectives and expectations of the project. What are the main goals and indicators of success? How will you measure them? How will you compare them with the baseline conditions and the alternative scenarios? You should also consider the technical, economic, and environmental aspects of the flooding treatment, such as the injection rate, the recovery factor, the cost-benefit analysis, and the potential risks and impacts. Having a clear and realistic set of objectives will help you design and implement a flooding treatment that meets your needs and expectations.

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Blair Lowe

CEO at CMG ENGINEERING SERVICES CORPORATION
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The short answer is that if the depth is reasonable, phase II ESA sampling and analysis potentially before and after treatment. As for flooding, there are some eco-friendly detergents that can be used to clean the soil in-situ during the Phase III remediation.

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2 Choose the appropriate methods

Different methods exist for evaluating a flooding treatment, depending on the type of fluid, the reservoir characteristics, and the available data. Material balance analysis utilizes the mass conservation principle to estimate the original oil or gas in place, the recovery factor, and the water or gas saturation changes due to the flooding treatment. It requires data on reservoir pressure, production and injection rates, and fluid properties. Reservoir simulation uses numerical models to represent the reservoir behavior and fluid flow under different scenarios of flooding treatment. It requires data on reservoir geometry, rock and fluid properties, initial and boundary conditions, and injection and production schedules. Well testing uses pressure and rate data from one or more wells to evaluate reservoir properties and flooding treatment effects. It requires data on well configuration, injection and production history, and pressure and rate measurements. Through these methods, you can gain detailed information on performance and efficiency of a flooding treatment, as well as sensitivity and uncertainty analysis, permeability, skin factor, injectivity index, reservoir pressure, and water or gas breakthrough.

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Rahul Kumar

PhD: Petroleum Engineering | Drilling and Completion fluids R&D, testing | EOR ; MBA | Data Analytics | Financial Forecasting | DCF modeling | Reporting | Variance analysis.
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A simple approach could be adopted to choose an appropriate flooding method: 1. Involve multiple stakeholders and review the reservoir properties such as permeability, porosity, heterogeneity, etc. Also assess the fluid in place that will help determine the target oil to be recovered. 2. Use the available screening tools to determine the aptness of reservoir to waterflood, gas flood or EOR. Example: Waterflood is more suitable for a relatively high viscosity of oil in place, whereas gas injection could work for lower oil viscosity. A low permeability/tight reservoir is unsuitable for polymer flood, it can benefit from gas injection or foam injection process. Reservoir having a strong aquifer drive might not need any waterflood.

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3 Analyze the results

After you apply a flooding treatment, it's important to analyze the results and compare them with the objectives and baseline conditions. You should also evaluate the impact of the flooding treatment on the reservoir performance and well productivity. Some questions you may want to ask are: how much oil or gas did you recover due to the flooding treatment and how does it compare with the expected recovery factor and alternative scenarios? Additionally, examine how the flooding treatment affected the reservoir pressure, water or gas saturation, sweep efficiency, well injectivity, skin factor, and water or gas breakthrough. Compare these results with material balance analysis, reservoir simulation results, well testing results, cost-benefit analysis, and potential risks and impacts.

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Rahul Kumar

PhD: Petroleum Engineering | Drilling and Completion fluids R&D, testing | EOR ; MBA | Data Analytics | Financial Forecasting | DCF modeling | Reporting | Variance analysis.
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I would recommend thorough lab studies to determine the effectiveness of flooding process followed by simulations, with history matched lab results, to analyze mechanisms and upscale lab results. Lab and simulation studies will also help in assessing whether the treatment is able to produce the desired results. EOR methods such as polymer flood, surfactant and gas floods can be optimized during these steps. Upscaled results from simulations could also be used in economic evaluations to investigate viability of selected flooding process. Next step is to design a pilot applying the flooding treatment, results subsequently investigated by comparing against simulations. In case of strong results full field implementation can be commenced.

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4 Adjust the strategy

Based on the results analysis, you may need to adjust the strategy of the flooding treatment to optimize the performance and efficiency. You may need to change the injection rate, the injection pattern, the injection fluid, or the well completion. You may also need to apply additional techniques, such as hydraulic fracturing, acidizing, or surfactant injection, to improve the reservoir permeability, reduce the formation damage, or increase the oil or gas mobility. You should also monitor the flooding treatment continuously and update the data and the methods as needed.

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Rahul Kumar

PhD: Petroleum Engineering | Drilling and Completion fluids R&D, testing | EOR ; MBA | Data Analytics | Financial Forecasting | DCF modeling | Reporting | Variance analysis.
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Adjusting the strategy is important as there are uncertainties during design phase. There could be more heterogeneities than the original data suggested. Injection fluid composition might change while traversing through the reservoir potentially making it less effective. Waterflood may not be yielding the desired results due to which chemical treatment/injection is necessitated.

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5 Learn from the experience

Finally, you should learn from the experience of the flooding treatment and document the lessons learned and the best practices. You should also share the knowledge and the feedback with your team and your stakeholders. This will help you improve your skills and your decision-making for future projects. You should also keep track of the long-term effects and benefits of the flooding treatment and evaluate its sustainability and profitability.

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6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?

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Merlin Lukose, P.Eng.

Reservoir Engineer @ Cenovus I Reservoir Engineering I Asset Development I Integrated System Modeling I Data Analytics
(edited)
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Incorporating accurate reporting and real time data collection for baseline and post treatment analysis is critical. Water cut sampling and continuous pressure monitoring capabilities on injector wells helps with identifying changes in flood patterns leading to quick decision-making and adjustments. Water cut sampling on producing wells helps us understand producer injector linkages, efficiency of the flood treatment and helps targets wells for further optimization. Pressure monitoring addresses water channeling and high wellhead pressure states aiding in maintaining the efficiency and safety of the flooding process.

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What are the best ways to evaluate a flooding treatment for oil and gas wells?

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1 Define the objectives

2 Choose the appropriate methods

3 Analyze the results

4 Adjust the strategy

5 Learn from the experience

6 Here’s what else to consider

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