SPE 81545

Water Flood Conformance in a Highly Faulted Carbonate Reservoir

David Shiflett, SPE, Occidental of Oman Inc; Vishnu Simlote, SPE, Oxy Permian, Houston; Scott Burns, Occidental
Petroleum of Qatar Ltd; Tommy Thompson, SPE, Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Ltd

Copyright 2003, Society of Petroleum Engineers Inc.

Geology
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE 13th Middle east Oil Show & Conference
to be held in Bahrain 5-8 April 2003.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE Program Committee following review of At Id El Shargi the Lower Cretaceous (Aptian)
information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper, as
presented, have not been reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to Shuaiba Formation is predominately very fine
correction by the author(s). The material, as presented, does not necessarily reflect any
position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its officers, or members. Papers presented at grained limestone with minor amounts of shaley to
SPE meetings are subject to publication review by Editorial Committees of the Society of
Petroleum Engineers. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper argillaceous interbeds. It is capped by the Nahr Umr
for commercial purposes without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is
prohibited. Permission to reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 shale which serves as the trap for Shuaiba oil. The
words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous
acknowledgment of where and by whom the paper was presented. Write Librarian, SPE, P.O.
Hawar shale and the Kharaib limestone underlie the
Box 833836, Richardson, TX 75083-3836, U.S.A., fax 01-972-952-9435.
Shuaiba and complete the lower Cretaceous
reservoir system at Id El Shargi.
Abstract:
The Shuaiba was deposited in a low energy,
ISND Shuaiba is a lower Cretacious carbonate environment, below wave base. The porosity is
reservoir off shore of Qatar. (Figure 1) It is a low typically high (25-30%), but permeability is quite
permeability, high porosity wackestone-packstone low (1-5 md ). Consistent cyclic lithologic units
with vertical permeability barriers. Aquifer water cross the structure. The cycles are divided into
drive is weak and reservoir pressure is slightly major and minor subdivisions and mapped.
above bubble point. Primary recovery is low.
Waterflooding is required for increased recovery. There are four major divisions of the Shuaiba. They
Two systems of faults/fractures at oblique angles to are the Shuaiba A, Shuaiba B, Shuaiba C, and
one another cross the reservoir and divide it into a Shuaiba D. These are distinct reservoirs isolated
system of semi autonomous reservoir blocks. One one from another by shale barriers except where
system of fractures is conductive to fluids. The faults and fractures provide conduits for fluid flow.
other system of fractures constitutes a set of no flow
boundaries. The reservoir compartments are The Shuaiba A zone is about 86 feet thick on
mapped with a seismically driven fault model built average. The texture is dominantly Orbitilina
by integrating fracture image data and drilling, lost wackestones and packstones. The uppermost 10-30
circulation experience. The predictive and feet of the A member is a coarse grained reservoir
explanatory model of fracture orientation and section. It consists of packstones and local
behavior is consistent with the regional stress grainstones. The intermediate 40-60 feet of the A
evaluation. An injection plan is designed to member is a wackestone packstone. The basal
repressure the reservoir compartments and optimize member of the Shuaiba A is an easily mapped 10 ft
EOR reserves. The strategy is to place a vertical thick, tight impermeable interval.
point injector at an optimal point in each reservoir
block and access multiple reservoir blocks with The Shuaiba B zone averages 80 feet thick. It is a
horizontal producing wells. Cost effective vertical regressive sequence of interbedded thin shales and
point injection is achieved by employing a single thick carbonates. Vertical permeablitiy is less well
horizontal injection well with multiple vertical developed in the Shuaiba B.
injection laterals
2 SPE 81545
The Shuaiba C average thickness is 90 feet. The C
zone is the deepest water facies The C interval is
comprised of thin wackestone layers interbedded
with thick tight clayey intervals. There is no
vertical communication except through fracturing.
The basal Shuaiba D member is an average of 55
feet thick. Within the Shuaiba D are layers of
argilaceous wackestones and packstones with a tight
cement layer at the top.
Signifigant faulting and fracturing are present in the
ND Shuaiba. The faulting/fracturing are defined as
two trends or sets across the structure. (Figure 2)
The fault/fracture sets are approximately at right
angles to each other. One set trending in a NW-SE
orientation and the other in a NE-SW orientation.
They were generated at different times in response
to changing tectonic stresses.
Historically production and well test data from
Shuaiba vertical wells indicated that nearly all
production up to 1995 came from faults cutting the
Shuaiba at or very near the well bore. Pressure data
from horizontal wells also confirms the conductive
nature of many Shuaiba faults.
The nature of the faulting/fracturing has been
defined with log data, seismic data,
production/injection data and drilling experience.
The NW-SE fault set has throw associated with the
faults. This fault set is easily identified with
traditional seismic interpretation and with resistivity
logs. The NE-SW oriented faults/fractures have
little or no throw and are hard to define with
traditional seismic methods. They do show up as
high conductivity spikes on resistivity logs and as
lost circulation zones when drilling. Recently they
have been defined and classified from image logs.
There is a wide range of scale for the NE-SW
oriented conductive features. High conductivity
flow paths are created when fractures are present as
large-scale features. Small fractures create a
permeability anisotropy in the reservoir. that affects
the way fluids move through the reservoir. Changes
in lithology control the size, frequency and
occurrence of the small fractures. Large fractures
are propogated across the reservoir, without regard
for lithologic variation.
Through seismic interpretation and image logs
obtained in horizontal wells (Figure 3) there is a
better understanding of faults and fractures in ISND
Shuaiba. The geophysical mapping has defined the
orientation and areal extent of the NW-SE trending
faults and to a lesser degree the NE-SW trending
faults. The open hole image logs have pinpointed
the location and confirmed the strike and dip of the
faults at the point of well bore penetration. The
image logs also give an indication of whether the
fractures are open or closed.
Image analysis reveals that NW-SE faults are
closed. No lost circulation has occurred with the
penetration of these faults. These fault features act
as permeability barriers.
A good record of the superconductive features in
the North Dome has been obtained from the
horizontal drilling to date. This and new 3D
seismic interpretations have given us a good model
of where the conductive features are expected.
The intensity of faulting and fracturing varies across
the field. Current mapping indicates that the NE-
SW conductive features have a higher concentration
along the greatest flexure (hinge line) on top of the
structure. Areas away from this flexure may have a
lower concentration of conductive features.
The two sets of orthogonal faults have different
impacts on fluid flow. The NW-SE trending faults
act as permeability barriers. The open NE-SW
striking faults can be very conductive over long
distances. The matrix set produced by the
superposition of these fault/fracture sets on the
ISND Shuaiba effectively divides the reservoir into
a series of large compartments. The no flow
boundaries of the NW-SE fault set prevent fluid and
pressure transmission across fault planes. The NE-
SW conductive fractures are also barriers to fluid
and pressure transmission as they are sinks for any
excess fluid and pressure
Ring Well Development:
The ISND Shuaiba reservoirs have been developed
with concentric rings of horizontal wells paralleling
structural trends (Figure 4). Multiple laterals are
required to provide take points in the Shuaiba layers
SPE 81545
that would not otherwise communicate (Figure 5).
Enhanced recovery and pressure support is by
means of water injection. Concentric rings of
horizontal water injectors are placed intermediate
between producers. The waterflood is an important
part of the overall development stratagy. The
preferred orientation of the conductive fracture
network and the variable orientation of horizontal
production wells create some injector well,
producer well connections. As the field
development is well established, water injection
connectivity to fractures is an important
consideration.
Alternative Water Injection Method
To avoid injection into conductive fractures, point
injection is preferred over continuous horizontal
injection. Injection points are positioned centrally in
fault bounded reservoir blocks, between take points.
The point injection will result in a fairly complete
sweep of the block at time of breakthrough. Take
points are the horizontal producing wells, and
conductive fractures that connect with horizontal
producing wells. The placement of injecition points
has to accommodate the existing infrastructure of
wells and it has to be cost effective.
The sprinkler injector is a way of establishing
multiple injection points in strategic mid reservoir
block locations off of a central injection feed
gallery. By doing this only one surface well head
facility is required for the multiple injection points.
Also expensive injection feed water lines are
eliminated. There are three design requirements for
the feed gallery. First that it does not intersect any
conductive fractures that will provide
communication with the producing wells. Second,
that it not collide with any existing wells. Third,
that it not inject along its course, but only through
the assigned injection points.
The horizontal injection well feed gallery is
orientated parallel to the principle strike of the
conductive fractures. Drilling horizontal injection
well galleries at this orientation presents multiple
anti collision situations with existing wells. The
anticollision problem is avoided by directing the
injection well to traverse under the existing
producing wells in a geologically distinct interval.
3
For the Shauiba this can be achieved by drilling the
injector in the Shuaiba C. It can then assume any
orientation necessary to avoid conductive faults and
stay at midpoint between the super conductive
features.
The Shuaiba C is primarily a shaly interval and has
limited permeability. The horizontal injection
gallery drilled in the Shuaiba C will not allow water
to flood the reservoir at an inappropriate point. It
would be counterproductive to the flood to have a
horizontal injector putting water into the reservoir at
the point where an injector and producer cross each
other. At this point the well separation may be as
close as 120’. Such spacing without a permeability
barrier would lead to premature water break through
To inject water at optimally defined points in the
reservoir blocks, laterals are drilled off of the feed
gallery up into permeable reservoir rock. The
injection points are drilled up through sub
horizontal penetrations of the Shuaiba A and B
interval. The subhorizontal penetrations have more
exposure than vertical penetrations achieving higher
injectivity for the interval. Being subhorizontal, the
length is less than conventional horizontal injectors,
minimizing the probability of encountering
unmapped super conductive features. The injectors
are planned to intersect the entire Shuaiba A and B
section. Combining the approach to injection points
through the Shuaiba C with subhorizontal
penetrations to the target Shuaiba A and B intervals
generates a well profile with a main feed gallery
and injection risers (Figure 6). Hence the name
sprinkler wells
Depending on their location in the ring well
development the injector wells can be in an oblique
orientation to producing wells. Each injector will
then provide pressure support to only a section of
the exposed reservoir in each producing lateral. But
each sprinkler injector will provide the limited
injection support to up to four producing wells
(Figure 7). As many as four sprinkler type injectors
will be required to provide total support for four
producing wells. The adoption of the sprinkler well
injection strategy is a commitment for multiple
injection wells to provide pressure support to
multiple producing wells.
4 SPE 81545

Some of the injection wells from the existing ring
development/injection plan have not been suitable
for injection. The wells drilled as injectors are in
direct communication with producers. These
injectors can be reconfigured as producers with
sprinkler point injection between them and the
adjacent producing wells. This would reduce the
spacing between the old producer and the converted
injector/producer to half the former producer,
injector spacing.
The primary risk to the sprinkler injection plan is
with the orientation of the main well bore. An
orientation parallel to the principal horizontal stress
axis may focus injection pressures into a single
plane capable of inducing artificial fractureing.
This fracturing, could create conduits between
injector and producer. Initial injection rates for the
prototype IS-125 well are limited to 2600 PSI. The
injection rates at this pressure are equivalent to rates
for conventional horizontal injectors. An additional
risk is the connectivity of minor fractures in the
Shuaiba C that can short cicuit the flood. This has
occurred in the followup IS-135 well. Mechanical
means of isolating the fractures are being attempted
while preserving the injection points. A third
sprinkler well has been drilled and is being
evaluated.
point between the IS-104 and IS-97 were
established (Figure 9). In drilling the C lateral
between the IS-104 and IS-97 well circulation was
lost. As this was the prototype well the lateral was
abandoned to avoid compromising the test. All of
the Shuaiba exposure is open hole. Injectivity to
date for this well is as good as or better than in
conventional horizontal injectors in the Shuaiba.
No water breakthrough associated with this well has
been identified. A follow up well, the IS-135, did
encounter numerous conductive fractures. Steps
were taken in the drilling and subsequently to
mitigate the communication associated with the
fracturing. This well is still being evaluated. A
third well in the eastern part of the field is under
test. It did not encounter any fractures and is
providing pressure support to two producing wells
that are in direct communication with each other.
We would like to thank the staff and management
of Occidental Petroleum of Qatar Limited and Qatar
Petroleum for the opportunity to develop this
injection concept.

A sector model was created using the NW quarter

of the Shuaiba ISND. The major faults were
included in the model along with producer well
injector well combinations and a point injection
pilot well. Over time the modeling revealed that the
majority of injected water in a ring injector with a
conductive fault was cycling directly into the offset
production well. Very little water was effectively
entering the matrix along the well bore path. The
point injector over the same time interval was
effectively sweeping the matrix.

The IS-125 well was drilled in Sept 2001 and put on

injection in March 2002 (Figure 8). The well enters
the Shuaiba between the IS-126 well, a triple lateral
producer with take points in the Shuaiba A, B, and
D and the IS-104 well, a single lateral producer with
a take point in the Shuaiba A. It was planned for
injection points between the IS-104 and IS-97,
between the IS-97 and IS-87 and downstructure to
the IS-87. All of the injection points except the
SPE 81545 5

Figure 3. Anadrill RAB Image, showing large open

fracture.

Figure 1. Location of IDD El SHARGI and Qatar

Figure 4. Original Ring Producer-Injector

development plan.

Figure 2. Shuaiba Structure with principal faults

6 SPE 81545

Figure 5 Typical horizontal producing well.

X-Sectional View
Figure 8. IS-125, Actual sprinkler well
cross section.
Producers

126 104 97 87

C I1

Figure 6 Point injection plan for 3 injection points

between 4 producing wells.
Areal View Figure 9. Areal view showing producing wells
crossing conductive faults and injection well,
126 104 97 87
dashed line, parallel to conductive faults.
F1
800’

I1 I1 I1

600’
F2

I2 I2 I2

F3

Figure 7. Areal view showing point injection

between producing wells.