Eni - E&P Division

EniTecnologie
PRODUCED WATER MANAGEMENT

Techniques to minimize water production:

Water shut-off
Thomas Lockhart - Giovanni Burrafato

Water Shut-off Target

The target is bad water:
Produced water that drives oil from the reservoir to the well is
productive-- shutting it off would reduce oil recovery from that
part of the reservoir.
Unproductive water flows through fully-watered out
layers/fractures and does not contribute to oil production.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
shale

6.
7.
8.
9.

Casing leak
Flow behind casing
Bottom water
Depleted layer without crossflow
Fractures connecting well to
water source
Matrix coning
Areal conformance
Gravity segregated layer
Depleted layer with crossflow

Chemical water shut-off technology

Chemical WSO treatments employ fluid polymer

solutions (gelant) which, injected downhole, form a
viscoelastic solid (gel)

Time, temperature

Chemical water shut-off technology

What can gels do?
Plug matrix rock
Penetrate into matrix rock (1-2 m maximum)
Irreversibly shut-off all flow in all areas invaded (may
require selective placement to avoid damage to oil
productivity!)
Plug fissures/fractures
Solids-free, so can easily penetrate through small
openings (eg., to plug fissures in casing cement)
Can penetrate tens of m through natural or man-made
fractures
Once formed, polymer gels are mechanically-resistant to drawdown

Chemical water shut-off technology

What can gels do?
Stop flow behind casing

Chemical water shut-off technology

What can gels do?
Seal-off perforations to increase stand-off from aquifer

Chemical water shut-off technology

What can gels do?
Seal-off perforations for zone abandonment
(only for no crossflow case!)

k1

k1

k
2

k3

k3

K 2 >> K1, K3

K 2 >> K1, K3

Chemical water shut-off technology

What can gels do?
Plug fractures connecting producer to injector

Chemical water shut-off technology

What can gels do?
Plug natural or man-made fractures to aquifer

Chemical water shut-off technology

A closer look at polymer gels
Modern systems have low toxicity, are relatively environmentally friendly,
and are relatively robust:
Systems
(1) Polyacrylamide + chromium acetate crosslinker
Trade names: Maraseal, Marcit (Schlumberger)
(Halliburton has an analogous system based on chromium propionate)
This is the most widely, and best-used system today, and can be
adapted to many applications (high/low T; matrix or fracture treatments
(2) Polyacrylamide + non-toxic amine crosslinker
Trade name: H2Zero (Halliburton)
This new system is suitable for high T use

Chemical water shut-off technology

Other gelants:
(3) Inorganic systems: silicates/aluminates:
Trade names: DGS, Permablock (Schlumberger), Injectrol
(Halliburton)
The gelation rate of these systems is hard to control at high
temperature, and they are very sensitive to brine composition
(salinity and pH). They are also mechanically-brittle and may not
provide long-term resistance to draw-down.

Chemical water shut-off technology

Limitations of polymer gelants
Naturally-fractured formations
Field-wide results in naturally-fractured formations, it is difficult to predict
likelihood of success a priori
Only a careful series of treatments will verify effectiveness

Temperature limitations
Once the gel is in place in the formation, it is possible to achieve long-term
stability to 120C and possibly higher in matrix rock
The difficulty is to achieve adequate control over injection at bottom-hole
temperatures above 60C
An effective strategy, if correctly studied and implemented, is to pre-cool
the wellbore and near-well formation by injection an appropriate amount of
cool water ahead of the gelant

Chemical water shut-off technology

Limitations of polymer gelants
Furthermore, in a layered matrix formation with crossflow
between layers, the gelant will tend to crossover into
adjacent layers

Injection fluid
Watered-out
interval

Chemical water shut-off technology

Limitations of polymer gelants: what they cant fix
Coning in matrix formations

Chemical water shut-off technology

Limitations of polymer gelants: what they cant fix

Layer with
cross-flow

Layer with
cross-flow

k1

k1
k2

k3

k2
k3

K 2 >> K1, K3

K 2 >> K1, K3

Chemical water shut-off technology

Limitations of polymer gelants: what they cant fix
Gravity segregated flow

New chemical WSO technology:

Polymer RPM treatments
RPM treatments
These use polymers which, adsorbed on the reservoir rock, selectively
reduce permeability to water, leaving oil/gas permeability unaltered.
The target is low-cost, bullhead treatments that can be injected into all
open intervals without risk for oil producing layers
Polymer
injection
Gas
Shale
Water

Back
production

New chemical WSO technology:

Polymer RPM treatments
Typical RPM effects after polymer treatment of matrix
rock:
Porous
medium

kinit (md)

Reduction of
kW
kHC

Agostino sand (70C)

26

94%

31% (gas)

Berea sandstone (70C)

50

62

17

(oil)

288

50

(oil)

Agbara (90C)