New fire water floods proving their worth to producers

Journal Article · Mon Sep 30 04:00:00 EDT 1968 · Oil Gas J.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5625149

Burke, R G

The combination fire and water flood is looking very good in some field tests involving both heavy and light oil reservoirs. It is claimed to reduce fireflood costs by as much as 30% to 40%, vastly improve flood efficiency, and to be economically feasible in reservoirs which have reached the economic end with other recovery means. There are at least 4 basic types of these combination floods: (1) Water- assisted fireflood--after a firefront moves out, water is pumped downhole simultaneously with air or as alternate slugs. Moving toward the fire, water changes to steam which passes through the front as superheated steam and preheats crude ahead of the fire. (2) Fire-assisted waterflood-- a less common use is to inject water ahead of the front. Combustion gases are driven through the water. Gas- saturated water leaves less residue oil than normal waterflooding. (3) Water-controlled fireflood--fire patterns in some fields are controlled by water injection. Water also is used to cool production wells and control firefront temperatures. (4) Fire-quench waterflood-after enough heat has been generated in the reservoir, air is shut off and water pumped downhole.

• OSTI ID: 5625149
• Journal Information: Oil Gas J.; (United States), Journal Name: Oil Gas J.; (United States) Vol. 66:40; ISSN OIGJA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
ENGINEERING
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FLUID INJECTION
IN-SITU COMBUSTION
IN-SITU PROCESSING
OIL WELLS
OIL YIELDS
OXIDATION
PROCESSING
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ENGINEERING
STIMULATION
THERMAL RECOVERY
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
WATERFLOODING
WELL STIMULATION
WELLS
YIELDS