SPE ~3 47 l'
Waterflood Surveillance
Techniques-A Reservoir
Management Approach
G.C. Thakur, SPE, Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
Introduction
Billions of barrels of additional reserves
have been generated through waterflooding.
one of the most important methods of im-
proving recovery from oil reservoirs. With
the uncertainty of the economic applicabil-
ity of EOR techniques as a result of oil-price
instability. optimization of waterflooding has
become more significant than ever.
The reservoir management aspects of
waterflooding are not restricted to an initial
engineering and geological report. economic
justification. and project approval by man-
agement. Rather. these ongoing activities
span the time before the start of waterflood
to the time when the secondary recovery
either is uneconomic or is changed to an en-
hanced recovery.
A reservoir management approach to
waterflood surveillance considers a system
"The reservoir consisting of reservoir characterization.
management aspects fluids and their behavior in the reservoir.
of waterflooding ... creation and operation of wells. and surface
processing of the fluids. These are interrelat-
span the tim~ before ed parts of a unified system. The function
the start of waterflood of reservoir management in waterflood sur-
veillance is to provide facts. information.
to the time when the and knowledge necessary to control opera-
secondary recovery tions and to obtain the maximum possible
either Is uneconomic economic recovery from a reservoir.
Initial production forecasts may not al-
or Is changed to an ways agree with actual performance. Differ-
enhanced recovery." ences may arise from field wide averaging
of data in the prediction model. inadequate
geological description. and well-completion
problems. Thus. attempts should be made
to resolve the differences and controlled sur-
veillance should be carried out to improve
field performance.
Guidelines for waterflood management
should include information on (1) reservoir
characterization. (2) estimation of pay areas
containing recoverable oil, (3) analysis of
pattern performance. (4) data gathering. (5)
well testing and reservoir pressure moni-
toring. and (6) well information data
base. 1-4
Today. sufficient performance history is
available that surveillance techniques can be
documented in detail. This paper highlights
waterflooding in light of practical reservoir
Copyright 1991 Society of Petroleum Engineers
1180
management practices. Case studies that il-
lustrate the best surveillance practices are
referenced.
Re.ervolr Management
Reservoir management can be defmed as the
judicious use of various techniques to max-
imize benefits or economic recovery from
a reservoir. 5 •6 Fig. 1 describes the interac-
tion required among the various functions.
The reservoir management approach to
waterflood surveillance must use a coupled
system consisting of wells. surface facilities.
and the reservoir. All must be considered
in a balanced way to maximize economic oil
recovery. Also, a team effort involving pe0-
ple from various functional areas is manda-
tory for development and implementation of
a successful reservoir management program.
Key Factor. In
Waterflood Surveillance
Talash 7 and Talash and Strange 8 described
the key monitoring points in the traditional
waterflood cycle (Fig. 2). In the past, at-
tention was focused mainly on reservoir per-
formance. Howeyer, with the application of
the reservoir management approach. it has
become industry practice to include wells.
facilities. water system. and operating con-
ditions in surveillance programs.
It is important to consider the following
items in the design and implementation of
a comprehensive waterflood surveillance
program (Table 1).
1. Accurate and detailed reservoir de-
scription.
2. Reservoir performance and ways to es-
timate sweep efficiency and oil recovery at
various stages of depletion.
3. Injection/production wells and their
rates. pressures. and fluid proflles.
4. Water quality and treating.
5. Maintenance and performance of fa-
cilities.
6. Monthly comparison of actual and the-
oretical performance to monitor waterflood
behavior and effectiveness.
7. Reservoir management information
system and performance control (accurate
per-well performance data).
8. Diagnosis of existing/potential prob-
lems and their solutions.
October 1991 • JPT

9. Economic surveillance.
10. Teamwork.
Sometimes a waterflood surveillance pro-
gram is unsuccessful if teamwork does not
exist among the engineers, geologists, and
field operations personnel. Effective water-
flood management requires a multidiscipli-
nary team approach. It is important that all
disciplines (Fig. 1) be involved, and each
must understand the requirements, needs,
and rationale of other functional groups.
Table 2 gives a process to improve success
in implementing a reservoir management
program.
Reservoir Characterization and Perform-
ance Monitoring. 9-12
1. Physical characteristics of the reser-
voir. Reservoir characteristics must be de-
fined: permeability, porosity, thickness,
areal and vertical variations, areal and ver-
tical distributions of oil saturation, gas/oil
and oil/water contacts, anisotropy (orient-
ed fracture system or directional permeabil-
ity),13 in-situ stress, 14 reservoir continuity,
vertical flow conductivity, and portion of
pay containing the bulk of recoverable
oil. 15,16 To manage a waterflood accurate-
ly, detailed knowledge of the reservoir ar-
chitecture also is necessary.17 Figs. 3 and
4 show some examples of geological charac-
terization, involving changing geological
concepts and zonation. Bradley et al. 18 dis-
cussed similar ideas in their integrated ap-
proach to refining reservoir description
through monitoring fluid movements in the
Prudhoe Bay reservoir.
2. Primary performance. Wells indicating
relatively high cumulative production may
indicate high permeability and porosity,
higher pay-zone thickness, or another pay
zone. On the other hand, wells indicating
relatively low cumulative production may
indicate poor mechanical condition, well-
bore skin damage, or isolated pay intervals.
3. Production curves. Percent oil cut in
produced stream (log scale) vs. cumulative
recovery during secondary performance
may result in an estimate of future recovery
or may indicate improvement in the water-
flood performance as a result of more uni-
form injection profile. Fig. 5 illustrates the
performance curve of a typical successful
JPT • October 1991
waterflood, and Fig. 6 illustrates various ex-
amples of waterfloods. Lo et al. 19 discuss
results supporting the application of a plot
of log (WOR) vs. cumulative oil for water-
flood analysis.
4. GOR. Decreasing GOR's indicate that
fluid fill-up is being achieved. Increasing
GOR's indicate that voidage is not replaced
by injection.
5. Floodfront map. This pictorial display
shows the location of various flood fronts.
The maps, often called bubble maps, allow
visual differentiation between areas of the
reservoirs that have and have not been swept
by injected water. 20 Before fill-up, Eqs. 1
and 2 can be applied to estimate the outer
radius of the banked oil and the water-bank
radius.
r =(5.615i cwE)'h, ........... (1)
ob 7rcPhSg
where rob = outer radius of the banked oil,
ft; icw=cumulative water injected, bbl;
Sg = gas saturation at start of injection, frac-
tion; E=layer injection efficiency (fraction
of water volume that enters the layer where
effective waterflood is taking place); and
h=thickness, ft.
rwb=rob ( _ g
S )~ , . . . . . . . . . . (2)
Swbt-Siw
where rwb=water bank radius, ft; ~bt=
average water saturation behind front, frac-
tion; and Siw = connate water saturation,
fraction.
If zones are correlative from well to well
and if limited vertical communications ex-
ist, then the bubble map can be drawn for
each zone. The bubble map can be used to
identify areas that are not flooded and areas
with infill drilling opportunities.
Cone 21 used a simple numerical model-
ing approach to prepare isobaric and water
front maps that identified areas of high gas
and water saturation.
6. X plot. 22,23 Because extrapolation of
past performance on the graph of water cut
vs. cumulative oil is often complicated, a
method was devised to plot recovery factor
vs. X that yielded a straight line. X was de-
fined as
sPEDistinguished
Author SERIES
X=ln( ~-1)-~'
fw fw
............ (3)
where f w = fractional water cut.
This method is more general than the con-
ventional plot of water cut vs. cumulative
oil and yields better results when the water
cut exceeds 0.75.
7. Hall 24 plot. This technique, used to
analyze injection-well data, is based on a
plot of cumulative pressure vs. cumulative
injection. It can provide a wealth of infor-
mation regarding the characteristics of an
injection well, as shown in Fig. 7.
Early in the life of an injection well, the
water-zone radius will increase with time,
causing the slope to concave upward, as
shown by Segment ab in Fig. 7. After fill-
up, Line bA indicates stable or normal in-
jection. An increasing slope that is concave
upward generally indicates a positive skin
or poor water quality (Line D). Similar
slopes may occur if a well treatment is de-
signed to improve effective volumetric
sweep. In this case, however, the slope will
first increase and then stay constant. Line
B indicates a decreasing slope, indicating
negative skin or injection above parting pres-
sure. The injection under the latter condi-
tion can be verified by running step-rate
tests. A very low slope value, as shown by
Line bC, is an indication of possible chan-
neling or out-of-zone injection.
8. Controlled waterflood. 25-27 Maximum
profit and recovery would be realized if all
wells reached the flood-out point simulta-
neously. This means producing the largest
oil volumes from the wells draining the larg-
est PV's. This scenario will result in mini-
mum life with minimum operating expense
while realizing maximum oil recovery. Note
that, if there is a large variation in PV's, this
task is difficult because each well is allocated
a production/injection rate on the basis of
PV fractions.
9. Pattern balancing. 28 ,29 Minimizing
oil migration across pattern boundaries im-
proves the capture of the mobilized oil and
reduces the volume of recycled water. Pat-
tern balancing generally increases sweep ef-
ficiency. In addition, realignment of flood
patterns in conjunction with pattern balanc-
ing provides more opportunity to increase
1181

Fig. i-Reservoir management approach.
oil recovery. Simple reservoir modeling
work can be of great help. For example,
Thomas and Drisco1l 30 concluded that in
the Slaughter field significant amounts of oil
would be trapped in a poorly swept area if
no changes were made in the producer/injec-
tor configuration.
10. Produced-water analysis. 31-33 injec-
ted-water breakthrough can be detected by
monitoring the chloride content of the pro-
duced water if there is a significant differ-
ence in the salinities.
11. Injection profile surveys. Periodic sur-
veys of injection-well fluid-entry profiles
can detect formation plugging, injection out
of the target zone, thief zones, and under-
injected zones. Allocation of injection
volumes with data obtained from the pro-
file surveys allows tracking of waterflood
histories of each zone.
Wells. 34,35
1. Problem areas. Formation plugging,
injection out of the target zone, and non-
uniform injection profile caused by stratifi-
cation are all problem areas. They cause
major problems in waterflood operations and
low vertical sweep efficiency. Thin, high-
permeability layers serve as highly conduc-
tive streaks for the injected water.
2. Well completion. Condition of the
casing and/or cement bond plays an impor-
tant role in waterflood surveillance. Because
of poor cement, water flow can occur be-
hind the casing. Also, openhole injectors and
producers, and fractured wells with large
1182
volume treatments are not generally desir-
able. The latter condition may sometimes
have a significant negative effect on sweep
efficiency. Note that these conditions do not
preclude a successful waterflood but require
more concentrated efforts in surveillance.
3. Injection well testing. These tests are
conducted to optimize waterflood perform-
ance by maximizing pressure differential,
minimizing skin damage, ensuring proper
distribution of water, and monitoring the ex-
tent of fracturing. 36
4. Quality of producers. Poor producers
make poor injectors.
5. Converting producers. Producers are
converted and high gas producers are shut
in to accelerate fill-up time.
6. Backpressure. If the producing wells
are not pumped off, a backpressure is ap-
plied to cause crossflow. As a result, the
low-pressure zones may not produce.
7. Changing injection profiles. 37 This
can be done with selective injection equip-
ment, selective perforating, low pressure
squeeze cementing, acidizing, and thief zone
blockage through polymer treatments. 38-41
8. Regular well cleanouts.
9. Completion and workover techniques
(wellbore cleanout, completion and work-
over fluids, perforating and perforation
cleaning, packers 40 ).
10. Tubing selection and corrosion
coatings.
11. Scale removal and inhibition.
12. Specific recommendations for injec-
tion/production well, water-source well, and
wellheads.
13. Flow regulation (surface and down-
hole regulation, single/dual-string injection).
14. Profile control (polymer, cementing,
chemical, microbial).
Facilities/Operations. The literature on
waterflood surveillance is generally aimed
at reservoir performance. Overall project
success, however, is often critically affected
by daily field operations. While reservoir
engineers and geologists playa very impor-
tant role in reservoir performance and water-
flood optimization, facilities/operations staff
are concerned with daily management of
field operations, information collection, and
diagnosis of potential or existing problems
(mechanical, electrical, or chemical). 42
Surface equipment considerations should
include surface gathering and storage sys-
tem, injection pumps, water distribution sys-
tems, metering, water treatment and fIltering
system, oil/water separation, corrosion and
scale, plant and equipment sizing, handling
of separated waste products.
Water.Quality Malntenance 43 ,44
If water quality is not maintained, higher in-
jection pressures are required to sustain
desired injection rates. Also, corrosion prob-
lems increase with time when lower-quality
water is used. It is important to protect the
injection system against corrosion to
preserve its physical integrity and to prevent
the generation of corrosion products.
Ideally, the water quality should be such
that the reservoir does not plug and injec-
tivity is not lost during the life of the flood.
However, cost considerations often prohibit
the use of such high-quality water. The ex-
pense of obtaining and preserving good-
quality water must be balanced against the
loss of income incurred as a result of de-
creased oil recovery and increased workover
and remedial operations requirements. 45
Questions are often asked about the de-
termination of acceptable water quality.
Tighter formations require better-quality
water. Sometimes poor-qUality water can be
injected above parting pressures, but injec-
tion through fractures could reduce sweep
efficiency.
Although it is impossible to predict quan-
titatively the minimum water quality re-
quired for injection water into a given
formation, some authors 46 have attempted
to define injection water-quality require-
ments from on-site testing. Table 3 and Fig.
8 describe other considerations regarding
water systems.
It is interesting to note that incompatible
barium and sulfate waters were injected into
the Baylor County Waterflood Unit No.
1. 47 Produced and makeup waters were not
mixed; instead, they were injected through
two separate systems and into separate
wells. Roebuck and Crain 47 reported that
no problems were encountered through mix-
ing and precipitation in the reservoir, nor
were any problems in the producing system
experienced.
October 1991 • JPT
 Hydrocarbon Transport] Water Treatment ~--- Water Wells '

"Effective waterflood
Production Facilities I - - - j... [Disposal Wells j Injection Facilities
management requires a
multidisciplinary team
approach. "

riP~r~od:t;:u~ctikio;;;n"\iWV.e;;jjll;s1----1 Reservoir .....I----tl~ln~je~ct~io~n!..w~e:!!:lIs~1

Fig. 2-Waterflood cycle.

Monitoring Facilities. jection), but they also apply to waterflood

Reservoir.
• Pressure (portable test equipment, fluid-
level testing; repeat formation, buildup/fall-
off, and step-rate tests; fieldwide pressure
surveys to determine pressure gradient for
use on balancing injection/production rates).
• Rate (oil, water, gas, water-cut, GOR,
well testing-production/injection allocation).
• Pattern balancing (voidage control,
areal/vertical sweep efficiency using strearn-
tube models).
• Waterflood pattern realignment.
• Observation/monitoring wells.
• Reservoir sweep and bypassed oil.
• Fracture communications.
• Thief zones and channels.
• PV injected.
• Gravity underriding and fingering/coning.
Wells.
• Productionlinjection logging (openhole/
cased hole, temperature/spinner/tracer).
• Injected water in target zone.
• Hall 24 plots (well plugging/stimulation).
• Tracer (single well/interwell).
• Tagging fill.
• Cement integrity.
• Downhole equipment.
• Surface equipment.
• Wellbore fractures.
• Formation damage/perforation plugging.
• Pumped-off condition.
• Corrosion/scale-inhibition residuals.
• Production/injection.
• Monitoring equipment and maintenance.
Water System.
• Presence of corrosive dissolved gases
(C0 2 , H 2S, 02); minerals; bacterial growth;
dissolved solids; suspended solids, concen-
tration and composition; ion analysis; pH.
• Corrosivity (corrosion coupons and cor-
rosion rate monitoring), oil content (dis-
persed or emulsified oil in water), and iron
sulfide.
• On-site or laboratory analysis.
• Data gathering at the wateNource well,
water-injection wells, and several points in
the injection system.
Case Histories
Means San Andres Unit. Stiles 48 docu-
mented a comprehensive surveillance pro-
gram used at the Means San Andres Unit.
A detailed surveillance program was devel-
oped and implemented in 1975. It included
monitoring production (oil, gas, and water)
and water injection, controlling injection
pressures with step-rate tests, pattern balanc-
ing with computer balance program, running
injection profiles to ensure optimum distri-
bution, selecting specific production pro-
files, and choosing fluid levels to ensure
pumpoff of producing wells.
The following were implemented during
tertiary recovery (water-alternating-gas in-
surveillance.
• Areal flood balancing (optimizing the
arrival of flood fronts at producers) per-
formed by annual pressure-falloff tests in
each injector and computer balancing
programs.
• Production/injection monitoring.
• Data acquisition and monitoring.
• Pattern performance monitoring to max-
imize oil recovery and flood efficiency by
evaluating and optimizing the performance
of each pattern.
• Optimization (it must be dynamic and
sensitive to changes in performance, tech-
nology, and economics).
• Vertical conformance monitoring to op-
timize vertical sweep efficiency while
minimizing out-of-zone injection. Several
cross sections were constructed for each pat-
tern to ensure completions in all the flood-
able pay. Annual profiles were run on all
injection wells. For each profile, casing or
packer leaks were identified, out-of-zone in-
jection was identified, and zonal injection
from profile was compared with porosity-
feet profiles.
The main objective of an injection survey
is to provide a means of monitoring the in-
jection water so that efforts can be made to
ensure that injection rates conform with
zonal porosity-thickness. These efforts have
paid substantial dividends in increased ver-
tical sweep and ultimate recovery.

TABLE 1-WATERFLOOD SURVEILLANCE

Reservoir Wells Facilities Water System

Pressure Perforations Production/injection Water quality
Rates Production/injection togging Monitoring equipment Presence of corrosive dissolved gases,
Volumes Injected water in target zone minerals, bacterial growth, dissolved
solids, and suspended solids
Cuts Tracer
Ion analysis
Fluid samples Tagging fill
pH
Hall 24 plots Cement integrity
Corrosivity
Fluid drift Downhole equipment
Oil content
Pattern balancing Wellbore fractures
Iron sulfide
Pattern realignment Formation damage
On-slte or laboratory analysis
Perforation plugging
Data gathering on source and injection
Pumped-off condition wells and injection system

JPT • October 1991 1183


TABLE 2-HOW TO IMPROVE
SUCCESS IN IMPLEMENTING A
RESERVOIR MANAGEMENT PROGRAM
1. A plan of action, involving all functions
2. Flexible plan - their effect on waterflood response.
3. Management support
4. Commitment of field personnel
5. Periodic review meetings, involving
all team members (interdisciplinary
cooperation in teaching each other's
functional objectives)
South Hobbs Unit. Production at the South
Hobbs Unit increased almost 100% within
a year. 49 The reason for boosted perform-
ance was an aggressive program of well sur-
veillance, general record keeping, and
remedial action. Five operational efforts had
positive effects on production.
1. Lift capacity of a number of wells was
increased so that a pumped-off condition
could be maintained.
2. Operating pressures in the satellite bat-
tery separators were reduced, thereby reduc-
ing backpressure through the flowlines back
to the well.
3. Adverse effects of scale accumulation
were decreased by remedial and preventive
measures.
4. Injection pressures just under the
parting pressure were maintained.
5. Tracer surveys were run to ensure that
fluid is entering into the proper zones in the
right amounts.
West Yellow Creek Field. Gordon and
Owen 50 described the importance of a
thorough, well-organized reservoir surveil-
lance for the West Yellow Creek field. This
effort involved many activities, including
pressure-falloff tests, a computerized flood
balancing program, and a produced-water
sampling program.
Ventura Field. Schneider 51 described the
role of geological factors on the design and
surveillance of waterfloods in the structur-
ally complex reservoirs in the Ventura field,
CA. Geologic factors strongly influenced the
profiles of injection wells and the responses
of producing wells. The waterflood was
OLD GEOLOGIC CONCEPT
CONTINUOUS PAY
Fig. 3-Geologlc concepts.
1184
monitored to determine the dependence of
injectivity and productivity on geologic fac-
tors. The continuing geologic surveillance
proved to be quite useful in determining the
cause of injection anomalies and predicting
Jay/Little Escambia Creek Field. The ap-
plication of reservoir management tech-
niques was key to the success of this
waterflood. 52-54 Surveillance information
and reservoir description data provided new
insights into water movement and zonal
depletion. Operating decisions based on
these data proved to be highly profitable.
Surveillance was used for both the verti-
cal and horizontal conformances. Cased-
hole logging, pressure-buildup and produc-
tion tests, and permeability data from core
analysis were used for the vertical conform-
ance surveillance; radioactive tracers, reser-
voir pressure data, and interference tests
were used for the areal surveillance.
To achieve vertical conformance, injec-
tion wells were acid-fracture-treated in
multiple stages to create connecting vertical
fracture systems. Temperature surveys,
noise logs, and flowmeters were used for
the vertical conformance surveillance. The
entire section in the producing wells was
opened without acid fracturing to maintain
the flexibility of future water production.
Flowmeter/gradiomanometer surveys,
pressure buildups along with core analysis
data, noise logs, and gamma ray logs were
used for monitoring. In addition, pulsed-
neutron-capture logs tracked edgewater en-
croachment.
Radioactive tracer data provided a means
of determining the source of water break-
through, which was later confirmed by the
interference test performed between the
producer and the suspect injection well. On
the basis of these results, injection rates were
adjusted to minimize trapped oil behind the
water fronts.
Wasson Denver Unit. Ghauri 55 ,56 and
Ghauri et al. 57 described several innova-
tive techniques to increase this unit's pro-
duction rates and reserves, including novel
geological concepts (Fig. 3), major modifi-
CURRENT GEOLOGIC CONCEPT
NON-CONTINUOUS PAY ':::::::::::1 PAY
cations in flood design, infill drilling, and
careful surveillance. The waterflood surveil-
lance incorporated such common techniques
as computer-generated analyses of produc-
tion/injection data, water-bank radii or bub-
ble maps, pressure contour maps, artificial-
lift monitoring, and specific items like care-
ful monitoring of the relationship between
reservoir withdrawals and the water-injec-
tion rate. The latter was monitored on both
a unit and individual battery basis.
Based upon an energy balance of injec-
tion and withdrawals,
Bwiw=Boqo +Bg (R-R s)% +Bwqw,
................. (4)
where Bw=water FVF, RB/STB; i,.,=water
injection rate, STBID; Bo=oil FVF, RB/
STB; qo = oil production rate, STB/D;
Bg =gas FVF, RB/scf; R=producing
GOR, scf/STB; Rs = solution GOR,
scf/STB; and qw=water production rate,
STBID.
Or,
Bw(iw-qw)
qo= ............. (5)
Bo +Bg (R-Rs)
With 800-psi PVT data and injection and
production rates of 416,000 and 70,000
STB/D water, the oil rate for producing
GOR's of700 and 750 scf/STB are 148,000
and 138,000 STBID, respectively (Bo=
1.213 RB/STB, Bg=0.003125 RB/scf, and
Rs=339 scf/STB). The above rate model
was history matched with actual perform-
ance in individual battery areas and then
used to investigate the effects of changes in
operating policy.
A significant effort was also made to im-
prove the vertical sweep efficiency in both
existing and new water-injection wells.
Cemented liners were installed in openhole
producers that were converted to injection,
and the zones to be flooded were selectively
perforated. All new producers and injectors
were cased through the zones of interest and
selectively perforated rather than completed
openhole, which had been practiced before.
Treating pressures during acid stimulation
jobs were kept under formation fracturing
pressures to maintain zonal isolation, and in-
October 1991 • JPT
jection rates below fracturing pressure were
maintained.
TANSILL
Survelliance-A Look Ahead G.W.O. "" 1087
In the years ahead, more attention will be TOP/YATES
given to surveillance. Three areas will play
an increasing role. A SAND

Starting a Surveillance Program Early in

BC SAND
the Life of a Reservoir. Sloat 58 discussed
the profound effect of the proper timing of
the implementation of monitoring/volumet- D SAND
ric sweep technology on recovery efficiency. E SAND
An increase from 20 to 45 % was noted.
With this in mind, our goal should be to
maximize volumetric sweep early in the STRAY SANDS
project's life. Trying to squeeze more oil
from marginal projects will, at best, yield J DOLOMITE
marginal to average results. Designing J 1 SAND
waterfloods with dedicated observation/
monitoring wells will allow the reservoir J 2 SAND
team to understand how the waterflood is TOP /SEVEN RIVERS
operating in the reservoir and to take cor-
rective actions if necessary. J 3 SAND

Field Automation and Information

Management System. 59 As Bohannon 60
pointed out, field automation will continue
to play an increasingly important role in 30 20 10%"
waterflood surveillance. Automation,
together with an information management
system, will enhance technical analysis and Fig. 4-Type log for North Ward Estes field.
control. Our skills in controlling future per-
formance will depend on how well we docu-
ment and utilize the past and the present.
PHASE
Because the industry has lost expertise in
the last few years through reductions in the I A I B I C
work force, it is important to build an in- I I I
IINITIAL I
formation management system that incor- IFILL UP I
porates heuristic knowledge into waterflood
...~I I I
surveillance operations. Development and
application of integrated computer software
using artificial intelligence (an expert sys-
~"'u-'
I I
~~1~14.~----~~~--

! I
PRODUCTION
INCLINE PERIOD
•• I
I
'4.~ ________________________-'.
PRODUCTION DECLINE PERIOD

Q TOTAL F~I.D_._._.
tem) will be of great importance in the fu-
ture. In addition, it is easier to transfer
"-
GI
I
.---.---------_.-.
expertise to new professionals if a well-
organized information management system
W
l-
e
a:
I WATER
is available.

Reservoir Management-A Team Ap-

o
z
i=
I SECONDARY OIL
(,)
proach. The reservoir management ::»
approach 5.6 to waterflood surveillance con-
siders a systems approach that includes
reservoir characterization, fluids and their
behavior in the reservoir, creation and op-
Q
o
a:
A.
....
' -' -
----.................. -------------
-.

eration of wells, and surface processing of

o PRIMARY OIL
fluids. Economic recovery from a water-
flood can be maximized by an integrated
group effort. All decisions pertaining to the
waterflood should be made by the team con- ~ ... WATERFLOOD L l F E - - - -..
sidering the entire system, rather than only
one aspect. The team approach to reservoir
I 5...
-(8)_
11... DECLINE (FILL-UP)

management should always be emphasized.

•.8...----(11.,---..
30 ... INCLINE PERIOD
Acknowledgments
13... DECLINE PERIOD
I express my appreciation to Chevron • (71)
U.S.A. Inc. for permission to publish this
paper. I thank my colleagues within () ARITHMETIC AVERAGE RECOVERY/PERIOD
Chevron Corp. and the industry who provid-
ed valuable information for this paper. In
particular, I appreciate constructive criti- Fig. 5-Typical successful waterflood performance.

JPT • October 1991 ll85


SLOPE OF TOTAL FLUID CURVE
11141 DEGREElINDlc.TES IN.IECTION
EQUALS WITHDJlAWALL
CZI LESS ntAN 41 DEGREElINDICATU
PILL'" OR FLUID LEAVING 'ATTEIIN.
GI GREATER ntAN.41 DEGREES
INDICATES WlTHDJlAWALS ~ED
INoIECTlON.
CUlLINL
DEVIATION OF OIL AND TOTAL FLUID CURVE
n, DEVlAnON AT LOW CUMULATIVE INDICATES
IAJILY WATERIREAltTHRU.
CZlILDf'E OF OIL CUJIVE INDlc.TES WHAT THE
INCREMENTAL IUPl'LEMENTAL RECOVERY
_GMT. WITH CONnNUED INJECTION.WITH
PRESENT IN.IECTION PRODUCTION
CONFIGUJIAnOllll.
__
--- -- 3''-~
"'" ...
EXAMI'LE FROM A NORTH TEXAS WATERFLODD
ILLUSTRATES EARLY WATER BREAKTHROUGH
AND POOR RECOVERY.
15. Langston, E.P.: "Field Application of Pres-
sure Buildup Tests, Jay-Little Escambia
Creek Fields," paper SPE 6199 presented at
the 1976 SPE Annual Technical Conference
and Exhibition, New Orleans, Oct. 3-6.
16. Love, c.J. and Cox, J.T.: "Lovington (San
Andres) Waterflood-A Case History, " paper
presented at the Southwestern Petroleum
Short Course, Lubbock, TX, 1970.
17. Chierici, G.L.: "ARM (Advanced Reservoir
Management) vs. EOR," paper presented at
the 1989 European Symposium on Improved
Oil Recovery, Budapest, April 25-27.
18. Bradley, M.E., Mayson, H.J., and Wilkins,
K.L.: "An Integrated Approach to Refining
Reservoir Description Through Monitoring
Fluid Movements in the Prudhoe Bay Reser-
voir," paper SPE 15567 presented at the 1986
SPE Annual Technical Conference and Ex-
hibition, New Orleans, Oct. 5-8.
19. Lo, K.K., Warner, H.R. Jr., and Johnson,
J.B.: "A Study of the Post-Breakthrough
Characteristics of Waterfloods," paper SPE
20064 presented at the 1990 SPE California
Regional Meeting, Ventura, April 4-6.
20. Staggs, H.M.: "An Objective Approach to
Analyzing Waterflood Performance," paper
presented at the Southwestern Petroleum
Short Course, Lubbock, TX (1980).
21. Cone, C.: "The Case History of the Univer-
sity Block 9 (Wolfcamp) Field-A Gas-Water
Injection Secondary Recovery Project, " JPT
(Dec. 1970) 1485-91.
22. Ershaghi, I. and Omoregie, 0.: "A Method
for Extrapolation of Cut vs. Recovery
Curves," JPT (Feb. 1978) 203-04.
23. Ershaghi, I. and Abdassah, D.: "A Predic-
tion Technique for Immiscible Processes
Using Field Performance Data," JPT (April
1984) 664-70.
24. Hall, H.N.: "How to Analyze Waterflood in-
jection Well Performance," World Oil (Oct.
1963) 128-30.
25. Kunkel, G.C. and Bagley, J.W.: "Controlled

• 2DO
-------~-----
*III _ _ 1C1OD 12DO MOIl
CUMULAnVE WATERlN.IEc::TUI
MI8LS.
Fig. 6-Cumulatlve Injection vs. cumulative total fluid and cumulative 011.
cisms provided by J.L. Goolsby and R.A.
Norris of Chevron and L.R. Stiles of Exxon
Co. U.S.A.
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1186 October 1991 • JPT

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&u
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TABLE 3-WATER SYSTEM

Water source (produced, source well, r-----L.....---...,-- - - - - - - - -

separated) PRESERVE QUALITY BY IT DEPENDS UPON I

Water-quality requirements. Source CONTROLLING CONTAtJlNANT THE LENGTH AND :

water-produced-water compatibility; In- COtJPLEXITY OF THE I
jection water-reservoir/rock interaction GENERATION OR ADDITION
(clay swelling); dispersed oil; corrosion; 1..-.._ _ _ _ =-___-'_ !!::!J~~O~ ~~~tJ _ :
scale; bacteria (sulfate reducing, oxidize
soluble iron in water, produce organic
acids); marine organisms; pH control; cor- HIGH POOR
rosive dissolved gases (CO 2 , H 2 S. 02); QUALITY > - - - - - -___- - - .
total dissolved and suspended solids (lron
content, barium sulfate); corrosion inhi-
bitors (not sufficiently soluble); scale In- r----~-- CAUSES RESERVOIR PLUGGING
hibition; closed vs. open injection
REQUIRES WORK OVERS ,
facilities; and treatment program to en-
sure acceptable water for formation and AND SYSTEtJ REDUCTION OF SWEEP EFFICENCY
to minimize corrosion REPAIRS ,
Other Important conslderations-oillwater
separation; filtration (gathering station,
Jr DECREASED ~ RECOVERY
treatment plant, types of filters, wellhead
filters and strainers); waste treatment;
water-supply wells (solids, corrosion prod- PROCEED INCREASE OPEX LESS INCOME
ucts, bacteria); and surface water (oxy-
gen. bacteria, marine organisms,
suspended inorganic solids).
Fig. a-Water system.

JPT • October 1991 1187


Author
....... c. 'IhIIaIr'
.principal coneullant
reservoir engineer
for Chevron U.S.A.
Inc.ln Midland, de-
velopa and Imple-
m.nt. r...rvolr
management .pro-
,grameandtuper.
vi... reeervoir en-
, glneerlng activities
for1heP.rmlan Buin. For the laet14
years, 'hehae ....pervtaed and directed
.teMrYOIr simulation andEOR actIvItl. .
and<Worked.," chlefeecondarY recovery
'engineer. tteprevtouslyworlced at Am0-
co PrOductlon:CO.!s ReeeerchCenter
and 8clentlflcSoftw......lnt.rcomp,de-
velOPIng reservoir elmulatora and con·
aunlng,;Jte also taught graduate cou,..
In 'petroleum englneerlng.t theU. of
Houatonand the U~of Tex•• at thePe,.
mlanBaaln,and In the MBA program at.
HouSton Baptist U. Thakur w.. <.1980-
82 .meinber oftheEditorlalRevtew Com-
mIttee,a member oHhe 1985, 1987, .nd
1991 Forum:Series commltt.....nd ..
a 1"1~92 Dlstlngulshed ..Lecturer. He
holdsaBS degree In petroleumensl.
nearing from Indian School ofMlnes,MS
end PhD degrees In petroleum and na-
tural gas engineering andan.MA degree
In .· math.m.tlcs. all from 'Pennsylvanla
Stat. 'U., and.n MBA degree from
Houston BapllstU.
1188
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Almost 100% in One Year at South Hobbs
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sign and Surveillance of Waterfloods in the
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presented at the 1972 SPE Annual Meeting,
San Antonio, Oct. 8-11 .
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D.E.: "Innovative Reservoir Management-
Key to Highly Successful Jay/LEC Water-
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Perfonns Successfully," paper SPE 5534
presented at the 1975 SPE Annual Technical
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Oct. 1.
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Unit Project-An Illustrative Example," JPT
(June 1974) 595-606.
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Production Operations," JPT (Aug. 1984)
1239-42.
51 Metric Conversion Factors
bbl x L589 873 E+Ol = m3
ft' x 2.831 685 E-02 = m'
psi x 6.894 757 E+OO = kPa
This paper is SPE 23471. ot8tlngulahed Author Serl.. ar·
ticles are general, descriptive presentations that summar·
ize the state of the art in an area of technology by describ-
ing recent developments for readers who are not specialists
in the topics discussed. Written by individuals recognized
as experts in the area, these articles provide key references
to more definitive work and present specific details only to
illustrate the technology. Purpose: To inform the general
readership of recent advances in vanous areas of petroleum
engineering. A softbound anthology, SPE Distinguished
Author Senes: Dec. 1981-Dec. 1983, is available from SPE's
Book Order Dept
JPT
October 1991 • JPT