SPE-192465-MS

ESP Water Injector Well with Injection Pressure Available for Real-Time
Monitoring Recovered 30% of Production in Low Producer Wells: Case
Study

Diego Cueva and Dorian Jaramillo, Enap Sipec; Jorge Luis Villalobos, David Amores, and Alejandro Sotomayor,
Schlumberger

Copyright 2018, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Middle East Artificial Lift Conference and Exhibition held in Manama, Bahrain, 28-29 November 2018.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
In Ecuador, the fields are getting more challenging in terms of reservoir depletion. Inchi field is an example
of such a field in which the production is normally obtained using electric submersible pumps (ESP), with a
fast production decline. The wells start with production rates of 1,000 BOPD, and immediately production
and pump intake pressure begin to decrease, thus requiring a secondary recovery technique such as water
injection. However, the water to inject at required pressure is not always available, andspecial facilities are
required to execute this operation, which increasescapital expenditures (CAPEX). Using a new approach
that used the advantages of ESP sensors and operational flexibility, a production well was selected and
converted to an injection well thus avoiding the high investments in surface facilities and making the
secondary recovery a feasible option for low-producing wells.
The Inchi A8 well on the Inchi A pad, was converted toa production injection well due to lack of
available water in the field and production facilities. The paper includes an analysis of the completion design,
ESP design, sensor installation modification for real-time injection pressure monitoring, ESP performance,
injection stimulation, and results with the performance analysis for production recovery of nearby wells. The
experience shared in this paper will let the reader understand the challenges for installation of a production
injection well driven by the specific needs for and the advantages of injection pressure monitoring.
After the installation of the production injection completion, the decrease in production and reservoir
pressure stopped, the production in the field increased up to 166 BFPD in the Inchi 01 and Inchi A5 wells,
the flowing bottomhole pressure has increased inan average of 100 psi in the wells Inchi 01 and Inchi A5,
and in the well Inchi B6 the flowing bottomhole pressure is steady now closed to 600 psi (before was
constantly decreasing). The injection pressure monitoring has been useful especially during the injection
pressure tests performed by a testing unit, which allows to check the actual injection index of the reservoir.
The savings associated with the installation of the production injection well include eliminating the need
for additional surface facilities, a pipeline to bring water from the main station, and the construction of the
water treatment plant in the location.
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This paper presents a design guideline for future production injection well applications, the benefits to in
having a real-time injection pressure monitoring, and the way to usea conventional ESP discharge pressure
to monitor the injection pressure and its performance.

Well and Field Introduction

The Inchi field (Fig. 1) was discovered in January 2014 with drilling of the exploratory well Inchi 01. The
existence of commercial oil was proved in the U reservoir and the T reservoir. In March 2014, the production
in the field began from the Lower T reservoir (785 BPPD, BSW 9%, 2110 psia BHP). 8 development wells
have been drilled with 3 PAD's (A, B and C).
The accumulated real production (August 2018) is 2,711,002 bbl(2,072,302 bbl from the Lower T
sreservoir and 638,700 bbl from the Lower U reservoir). The main production mechanism of the Lower T
reservoir and Lower U reservoir is gas in solution; there is no evidence of the existence of an important
aquifer.
The water production in the field is low, 761 BWPD as of June 2017. There are no production facilities
to transport water from the main station (located in Paraisofield) to Inchi field.
The Inchi Field production is 3010 BFPD and 2249 BOPD, the average BSW in the field is 25%.

Figure 1—Inchi field location.

Reservoir and Fluid Characteristics

The Inchi field covers an area of 6,500 hectares, with an oil sand thickness between 30 and 70 ft. The Lower
T sandstone unit depth is between 9,900 ft TVD and 9,950 ft true vertical depth (TVD). The production
mechanism is a depletion pool with a finite partial aquifer and an oil-water transition zone in the east
direction. The initial reservoir pressure (March 2014) was approximately 2,800 psi at 9,900 ft TVD and the
Hollin reservoir produced very good water optimum for re injection. Table 1 shows the main characteristics
for reservoirs of study.
SPE-192465-MS 3

Currently,100% of the wells in the field are artificially lifted using electrical submersible pumps (ESPs) to
achieve the potential production rates. The first ESPs were installed at the beginning of 2014, and currently,
the field has eight running ESPs installed in 9 5/8-in. casing at an average depth of 9,800 ft measured depth
(MD). Production flowrate ranges from 300 bbl/D to 700 bbl/D.

Table 1—Reservoir characteristics

Fig. 2 is a plot of the historical pressure in the Lower T reservoir.

Figure 2—Lower T reservoir pressure.

The Hollin reservoir water properties were analyzed in the Table 2.

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Table 2—Hollin Reservoir water properties for Inchi A8

Production Constraints
The reservoir in Inchi field is formed by an anticline trap structure, as described in Fig. 3. The natural gas,
being lightest, occupies the top of the trap and is underlain by the oil and then the water. When production
of anoil well starts, the oil layer decreases and the gas expands. Therefore, the borehole pressure decreases
continuously and, as a result, the production decreases.
This is the mechanism behind the rapid reservoir depletion in the Inchi field. Because of this depletion,
the implementation of a secondary recovery technique is needed to improve the recovery factor.

Figure 3—Reservoir schematic.

Waterflooding is a frequently used technique to increase oil recovery after primary depletion. However,
it requires considerable hardware either downhole or at the surface to implement this secondary recovery
method, as shown in Fig. 4. Sipra, I., Azkawi, A., Ibrahim, B. et al (2009) also explained different trials
and different ESP completion for a water injection project and it considered the cost involed in this type
of secondary recovery.
SPE-192465-MS 5

Figure 4—Typical waterflooding application (Source: United Oil and Gas)

The main challenge for the secondary recovery technique in the Inchi A pad is the lack of available water
for injection in the location. The nearby wells have a low BSW (20% average). The water production of
Inchi field was 650 BWPD, which is not enough for a secondary recovery technique. The evaluation of
secondary recovery also raised the economic challenge because water would have to be brought from the
main station.

Completion Design
Mechacnical diagram for the wells in the Inchi field are traditionally composed by 9 5/8 47 lbs/ft casing, 9
5/8" casing is perforated @ 9900 ft MD. Completed with an Electrical Submergible Pump setted @ 9830
ft MD.
After an analysis of the available reservoirs in the field, it was determined that the Hollin reservoir was
good to produce water for re injection, the water properties are shown in the Table 2.
The infinite aquifer of Hollin Reservoir was opened to produce water in the following intervals:
10716 ft MD − 10736 ft MD (20 ft)
10755 ft MD − 10770 ft MD (15 ft)
The target for secondary recovery were the wells located in the Inchi field, since they have high
permeability zones, hence they can cause early water breakthrough and trapping of by passed oil,
additionally theses wells have the lowest water cuts and potentials of the area.
It was confirmed that by producing the water from Hollin Reservoir and inject it to T Reservoir the wells
in the Inchi Field are going to be affected directly by the effect of water flooding.
To produce water from Hollin reservoir a packer was planned tobe installed above perforations to isolate
this reservoir. Then, a 3 ½-in. tubing would be installed from the packer to a pig tail at approximately 5,600
ft MD. The ESP equipment would be installed in a 7-in. capsule to produce the water to surface. This water
would pass a flow meter, and then the water would be injected directly into the 9 5/8-in.casing (Fig. 3). This
casing would be filled with water, and when the injection pressure was higher than the T reservoir pressure
(2,100 psi) the water injection would begin:
(1)
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The wellhead was modified for this kind of completion because the water should be re injected into the
annulus (Figs. 5 and 6). The water produced by the pump would arrive to the wellhead and pass the master
valve then the wing valve. Water production would be measured at the flow meter, the water would pass a
casing flow valve, and then it would be injected into the 9 5/8-in. casing.

Figure 5—Wellhead diagram.

Figure 6—Wellhead of Inchi A8.

SPE-192465-MS 7

ESP Equipment Design: An Alternative Concept

For the ESP equipment design the design criteria summarized in Table 3 were considered.

Table 3—ESP equipment design criteria.

To meet the design criteria required, the following ESP equipment was selected (Fig. 7):

• A pump to produce 2,600 BFPD was selected. It has are commended operating range (ROR) of
1,600 BFPD to 3,200 BFPD, so for the flowrate requested, this pump fits the requirement.
• The intake for water was selected because there is no need for a gas separation device.

• Protectors with six chambers were selected because this configuration provides an excellent fluid
separation and motor protection.
• A 413 HP motor was selected because of the ESP system power requirement.

Figure 7—Completion and well diagram.

8 SPE-192465-MS

ESP Modification for Injection Pressure Monitoring

Usually, the downhole sensor is designed to measure the pump intake pressure and the discharge pressure
with a capillary connected to the discharge pressure sub (this is located above the pump). For this application,
the discharge pressure capillary was connected to the POD (ESP Capsule) hanger through a NPT port in
order to measure the injection pressure outside the capsule (Fig. 8).

Figure 8—POD (ESP Capsule) hanger diagram.

The advantages of this modification are the following:

• It enables real-time injection pressure monitoring.

• It helps in monitoring the injection rate during injection pressure tests performed by a testing unit.

• It helpsin monitoring the injection rate during injection stimulation with variable speed drive (VSD)
frequency modification.
• It makes it possible to check wells affected by the injection pressure.

ESP Performance Evaluation

To evaluate the ESP performance, a simulation with the current injection conditions is prepared weekly.
In the simulation, is possible to increase frequency up to 66.5 Hz (Table 4). The ESP equipment is working
in good mechanical and electrical conditions.
SPE-192465-MS 9

Table 4—ESP equipment operation simulation.

Where:
PIP: Pump Intake Pressure
PDP: Pump Discharge Pressure
WC: Water Cut
PI: Productivity Index
Ps: Static Pressure
KVA: Aparent power
The pump performance curve (Fig. 9) shows the ESP equipment is working inside recommended
operation range.

Figure 9—Actual pump curve.

The downhole parameters since the ESP equipment startup are shown in the Fig. 10. The current, pump
intake pressure, discharge pressure, motor temperature, and intake temperature havebeen steady all the time.
10 SPE-192465-MS

Figure 10—Downhole parameters since ESP startup (20 July 2017).

In Fig. 11, the historic injection rate is shown since the start of ESP operations. The injection rate has
continuously improved, either because of injection stimulation or by VSD frequency increments.

Figure 11—Injection rate since ESP startup (20 July 2017).

Results
The Inchi 01 well used to work with pump intake pressure of 520 psi, and the production was 550 BFPD.
Now, the pump intake pressure is 626 psi, and the production is 716 BFPD. In Fig. 12, the effect of the
secondary recovery can be seen in the incremental pump intake pressure and incremental production.
SPE-192465-MS 11

Figure 12—Intake pressure and daily production behavior with secondary recovery for Inchi 01.

The Inchi A5 well previous injection used to work with pump intake pressure of 935 psi, and the
production was 318 BFPD. Now, the pump intake pressure is 986 psi, and the production is 602 BFPD. In
Fig. 13, the effect of the secondary recovery can be seen in the incremental production.

Figure 13—Intake pressure and daily production behavior with secondary recovery for Inchi 05.
12 SPE-192465-MS

In well Inchi B6 well, the result is seen in the steady production and the steady pump intake pressure.
In Fig. 14, the decrease in production and the decrease in pump intake pressure can be seen since the ESP
Inchi B6 started. After the secondary recovery technique was applied, the change to steady conditions is
clearly noticeable.

Figure 14—Intake pressure and early production behavior with secondary recovery for Inchi B6.

Conclusions
• The water properties of the Hollin reservoir were well suited for production injection because this
water does not need a chemical treatment prior to injection in the well. The water obtained from
the Hollin reservoir has 1,000 ppm salinity. According to Sadeed et al. (2018), the injection of low-
salinity water improves the oil recovery in a waterflooding application. As a recommendation, the
properties of the water should be analyzed weekly during re injection operation.
• The incremental trend of pump intake pressure and production shown in wells Inchi 01 and Inchi
A5 prove the good operation of the injection production well in the Inchi A pad. In the Inchi 01
well, the production was increased by almost 30%, and in the Inchi A5 well, the production was
increased by 47%.
• In the Inchi B6 well, the injection enabled having steady pump intake pressure and production.
The reason that no incremental trend is seen in this well is because it is farther from the Inchi A8
well than the Inchi 01 and Inchi A5 wells.
SPE-192465-MS 13

• It has been proved that is possible to have secondary recovery in a location that has a lack of
available water and surface facilities limitations.
• The ESP modification to monitor the injection pressure outside the capsule has proved to be helpful
in continuously monitoring the injection rate during injection stimulation or normal operation.
By having the parameter monitored in real time by the surveillance center, it was possible to
take immediate decisions and control the injection pressure as it was needed. Additionally, all
the operational changes, such as increasing or reducing speed, could be done remotely and the
immediate response of the system could be evaluated.
• The good performance shown by the production injection well will allow the drilling of new
production injection wells and the implementation of new production injection wells.

Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Enap Sipec and Schlumberger for the opportunity to present these results.

References
Sipra, I., Azkawi, A., Ibrahim, B. et al. 2009. Dump Water Flooding Trials in Petroleum Development - Oman. Presented
at the Middle East Artificial Lift Forum, Paper MEALF 4768855