Commercial application of steamflooding in an oil field comprised of multiple thin-sand reservoirs
Steamfloods conducted in thin reservoirs generally provide marginal economics because of relatively high field development costs per barrel of oil-in-place and excessive heat losses from the productive zone. Techniques are being employed which include the utilization of induced horizontal fractures to circumvent these detriments attributed to thin zones, as well as the problems of steam distribution and confinement inherent in any steamflood. This paper documents the successful application of steamflooding in the multiple thin-sand reservoirs of the Loco Unit, Stephens County, Oklahoma. These reservoirs occur at depths from 50 ft (15 m) to 1,200 ft (366 m), and range in thickness up to 40 ft (12 m). Porosities of the productive zones vary from 20 percent to over 30 percent, and permeabilities range from 100 md to over 4,000 md. Oil gravities of the various zones range from 16 degrees to 24 degrees API. Reservoirs that occur at depths above approximately 700 ft (213 m) had little or no natural reservoir energy and generally contain viscous oils, ranging up to 10,000 cp. Consequently, there was no primary production from these reservoirs and potential for waterflooding was marginal. Steamflooding has been the only recovery process successfully applied to these zones, except for one isolated instance. Reservoirs of depths greater than 700 ft (213 m) normally contain lower viscosity oils. Six of these zones were produced by solution gas drive and were later successfully waterflooded. To date two of these six zones have been tested and have proven to support commercial steamflooding operations, after 23 years of waterflooding.
- Research Organization:
- Conoco Inc.
- OSTI ID:
- 6142527
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8409104-
- Journal Information:
- Soc. Pet. Eng. AIME, Pap.; (United States), Vol. SPE13035; Conference: 59. annual Society of Petroleum Engineers of AIME technical conference, Houston, TX, USA, 16 Sep 1984
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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