Surfactant-enhanced alkaline flooding field project. Annual report
The Tucker sand from Hepler field, Crawford County, Kansas, was characterized using routine and advanced analytical methods. The characterization is part of a chemical flooding pilot test to be conducted in the field, which is classified as a DOE Class I (fluvial-dominated delta) reservoir. Routine and advanced methods of characterization were compared. Traditional wireline logs indicate that the reservoir is vertically compartmentalized on the foot scale. Routine core analysis, X-ray computed tomography (CT), minipermeameter measurement, and petrographic analysis indicate that compartmentalization and lamination extend to the microscale. An idealized model of how the reservoir is probably structured (complex layering with small compartments) is presented. There was good agreement among the several methods used for characterization, and advanced characterization methods adequately explained the coreflood and tracer tests conducted with short core plugs. Tracer and chemical flooding tests were conducted in short core plugs while monitoring with CT to establish flow patterns and to monitor oil saturations in different zones of the core plugs. Channeling of injected fluids occurred in laboratory experiments because, on core plug scale, permeability streaks extended the full length of the core plugs. A graphic example of how channeling in field core plugs can affect oil recovery during chemical injection is presented. The small scale of compartmentalization indicated by plugs of the Tucker sand may actually help improve sweep between wells. The success of field-scale waterflooding and the fluid flow patterns observed in highly heterogeneous outcrop samples are reasons to expect that reservoir flow patterns are different from those observed with short core plugs, and better sweep efficiency may be obtained in the field than has been observed in laboratory floods conducted with short core plugs.
- Research Organization:
- National Inst. for Petroleum and Energy Research, Bartlesville, OK (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FC22-83FE60149
- OSTI ID:
- 10115264
- Report Number(s):
- NIPER-714; ON: DE94000111; TRN: 94:001242
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: Dec 1993
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
CAUSTIC FLOODING
BENCH-SCALE EXPERIMENTS
KANSAS
OIL FIELDS
SITE CHARACTERIZATION
PROGRESS REPORT
RESOURCE ASSESSMENT
OIL SATURATION
TRACER TECHNIQUES
STRUCTURAL MODELS
SURFACTANTS
SAND
ENHANCED RECOVERY
WELL LOGGING
PETROGRAPHY
DRILL CORES
COMPUTERIZED TOMOGRAPHY
020300
020200
DRILLING AND PRODUCTION
RESERVES, GEOLOGY, AND EXPLORATION