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Water Floods
Water Floods
::?:D"f,.
A.
LEIGHTON
JUNIOR MEMBERS AlME
ABSTRACT
This paper presents a computer method to obtain the
shape factors and equal cell volumes of the channels for
any well spacing pattern from a potentiometric model.
By using this program the authors have processed the
data for the seven-spot, direct line-drive and the staggered
line-drive patterns. The data for the fiw-spot pattern had
been previously processed by a noncomputer method and
are included for completeness. The shape factors and
volumes for the channels are presented in tables for those
who want to use them to process data using their own
permeability relationships and viscosities of their reservoir
oils. The authors have used the data and sets of representative permeability curves to process sample calculationr of waterflood performances. The comparison of the
calculated resutts shows that the influence of well spacing
is small.
The permeabilities of the reservoir rock to oil and water
had a greater influence on oil recovery for a given porevolume throughput of water than the well spacing pattern. The more water-wet the reservoir rock, the better
the possibility of permeabilities which are conducive to
good recovery.
The viscosity of the reservoir oil also influences the recovery more than the well spacing pattern. The reduction
in the percentage recovery of oil with increase in viscosity
of the reservoir oils is small when oil viscosities are in the
range of 0.1 to 3. Above this range the reductions in recoveries are extensive. Sample comparisons of the time
required for different patterns to recover the oil are presented. Results of an example calculation are given to
show the effect of the permeability profile on recovery.
INTRODUCTION
The effect of well spacing pattern on the recovery of
oil when flooding with either gas or water has been studied
by many investigators. Muskat et al.' presented an analysis
using conductivity, sweep efficiency and unit mobility
to the time of breakthrough. Dyes et al.' used experimental techniques (X-ray shadowgraphs) and different
mobility ratios. They presented quantitatively the relationship between mobility and sweep efficiency at and after
breakthrough. Hauber" presented a method to predict
waterflood performance for arbitrary well spacing patterns
and mobility ratios. Craig et al.,' using techniques similar
to Dyes et al. to determine sweep efficiency for a fivespot pattern, added the use of relative permeability curves
at breakthrough and thereafter. Douglas et a l . h s e d rela-
bkmh 80
%-
U S. BUREAU OF MINES
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF.
"3
DESCRIPTION OF METHOD
VOLUM,ES AND SHAPE FACTORS
+ b,+,- Y.T
which is equivalent to adding a number of small hypotenuses to obtain the length of a curve line. This is illustrated in Fig. 2.
The cumulative sums of volumes of the cells were in-
Equipotentiol
dexed by the computer and. in the same manner, the cuniulative sums of the shape factors. Using these cumulative~,the Lagrange equation was used to calculate the
shape factors for cells of equal volume. For the examples
presented in this paper, the total volume of a channel was
divided by 40, resulting in 40 cells of equal volume.
The execution of the program (see flow diagram, Fig.
13) on a high-speed digital computer for a well spacing
pattern, including the listing on the magnetic tape of 40
shape factors for each channel and the volumes of channels, took half a minute.
The program was tested on the areas of several sectors
of annuli (the approximate shape of a cell) and on the
length of the chords of a circle. The results, using about
10 divisions per section with three (left, middle and right)
sections to a cell, duplicated the areas and lengths obtained by analytical equations to four significant figures.
FLOOD PREDICTIONS
The waterflood predictions were made by the method
presented by Higgins and Leighton.".' The method assumes no crossflow between channels. The oil and water
saturations change throughout the entire pattern as the
water flood progresses, as required by the relative permeabilities and fluid mechanics relating thereto. That is,
wherever there is a pressure gradient there is flow, and
these gradients exist throughout the entire pattern as
shown by the potentiometric pattern. The method checks
the performances of a laboratory five-spot pattern using
oils of different viscosities.
The two-phase (water and oil) method instead of the
three-phase'' (oil, gas and water) method was used in
this report to make the forecast predictions. If the threephase method had been used, a series of different original
gas saturations would normally be included. Even then,
with the same starting gas saturations, the results would
be of the same relative order of magnitude as that for
just water and oil.
I~nes
PATTERN FLOOL)S
FACTORS AND CHANNEL VOLUMES FOR DIRECT LINE-DRIVE AND FIVE-S.POT PATTERNS
Volume
1
-
71 8
2
-
883
TABLE lo-SHAPE
611
No.
3
-
585
4
-
508
462
1
-
706
2
-
3
-
4
-
782
91 8
750
FACTORS AND CHANNEL VOLUMES FOR STAGGERED LINE-DRIVE AND SEVEN-SPOT PATTERNS
Staggered Line-Drive Channel Number
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Valame
1078
either p t t e r n or viscosity. because as the viscosity increases and the recovery decreases, the difference in recoveries between patterns differs little from that of linear
flow. However, the recovery vs time is widely different,
especially for a linear model. Linear flow was calculated
using the same shape factor for all cells.
The data in Figs. 3. 4 and 5 pertain to oils having a
viscosity of 5 , 20 and 40 cp, respectively. The data show
that the viscosity of the reservoir oil influences recover)
far more than well spacing patterns, as the differences in
recovery when the 3.0 displaceable volumes of water have
been injected is much greater due to the differences in
viscosities than to the well spacing patterns.
The data in Fig. 3 show what Dyes et al.' have mentioned as a result of their work; that is, if the viscosity is
LINEAR
1.0
2 .O
3.0
OISPLACEABLE VOLUMES WATER
4.0
INJECTED ,Id
50
1.0
2.0
30
4.0
DISPLACEABLE VOLUMES WATER INJECTED ,Id
5.0
FIG.3-OIL RECOVERY
vs CUMULATIVE
INJECTION
USING
5-CP011.
A N D DIFFERENT
W-ELLSPACING
PATTERNS
(SINGLE
LAYER,
k,,m/k,,,m = 0.2/0.1).
LINEAR
I
I
O 0
1.0
2.0
3.0
DISPLACEABLE VOLUMES WATER
4.0
INJECTED ,Id
5.0
DISPLACEABLE VOLUMES WATER
INJECTED ,Id
SEPTEMBER, 1964
is a function of the radius of the well, the distance between wdls, the well pattern, effective permeabilities, and
the viscosity of the oil and water. When planning the distance between wells, normally a uniform radius is used
for all wells.
For a simple comparison of the effect of well patterns
on the time to inject a given volume of water, equal areas
of the elements of a pattern were used, the distance between wells was a function of the equal area requirement,
and the diameter of the well, effective permeabilities, the
viscosity of the oil and water, and the input and output
pressures were held constant. With these restraints, only
the effect of pattern elements on time is compared.
The data in Figs. 8 and 9 show that the order in increasing time required to inject pore volumes of water is
the direct line-drive, the staggered line-drive, the five-spot
and, finally, the seven-spot. In Figs. 8 and 9, the viscosity
of the oil is 5 and 20 cp, respectively.
Fig. 10 shows the relationship of equal elements in a
pattern to the rest of the area that will be flooded. An
examination of the pattern configurations in the figure
shows that, while the element under consideration is being
flooded, mirror-image elements and elements on the other
r
2
--
SINGLE LAYER
/
1.0
20
3.0
DISPLACEABLE VOLUMES WATER
4.0
5.0
INJECTED ,Id
r
/
--
"
PRCWCTION WELLS
/
'\
/
I
2
TIME, yrom
'NIECIIOH WELLS
r----, .
, ,
TABLE 2-HYPOTHETICAL
EXAMPLE OF SPACING OF A 576-ACRE FIELD USING EQUAL WELL AND PATTERN DENSITIES, AND ASSUMING TIME TO FLOOD A N
ELEMENT IS I N RATIO OF AREA OF ELEMENT TO THAT OF THE MODEL
(11
Paltern
I21
No.
Wells
Acre
131
Acres/Wel I .
Col 1 +
Col 2
141
Wells/
Pattern
(5)
(6)
No. Patterns
Cal 2 +
Col 4
(71
Acres/Pallern
CaI 1 +
Col 5
(8)
Elements
per
Pattern
Acres/
Element
Col 6 i
Col 7
-
(91
Time/
6-acre
Element,
(trom
Fig. 8 )
(101
Time
According
to S ~ c i n g
lCol 9 X
Col 8 ) i 6 . 0
576
48
12
576
576
576
48
48
48
12
12
12
2
2
3
576
48
12
24
24
24
16
Equal Pattern Density
24
1 .A5
1.85
4
8
12
6
3
3
2.00
3.33
4.54
2.00
1.67
2.27
24
1.85
1.85
576
576
576
24
24
24
36
- FLUID FLOW
-
MODELS by CAUDLE el
01
A .O
20
WATER CUT, I.
4 0
60
30
100
NOSE I O V I N C E , 0slr.nl
LYTIC
SEPTEMBER, 1 9 6 4