Improvement of water injectivity in the Hobbs (Grayburg-San Andres) field. Final report

Technical Report · Mon Nov 01 04:00:00 EST 1982

OSTI ID:6483658

Martin, F D; Taber, J J

This field trial was a cooperative project with MORANCO of Hobbs, New Mexico. The purpose was to investigate and improve water injectivity into the Grayburg formation at their Rice-Hardin waterflood in Lea County. Our laboratory tests with resrevoir cores indicated that certain chemical treatments had the ability to increase injectivity by slightly more than 20%. These treatments were designed to reduce the oil saturation in a region about 8 to 10 feet out from the injection wellbore. Two of the most promising treatments were selected for the field trial. Rice No. 1 injection well was treated with a surfactant solution, and Hardin No. 3 was treated with an aromatic solvent followed by a surfactant solution. Costs of chemicals were approximately $3000 per well. As a result of these treatments, both wells are taking slightly more water at pressures that are 400 psi less than the before-treatment levels. Since the actual improvement in injectivity is on the order of 30 to 40%, the field treatments apparently worked somewhat better than indicated by the laboratory tests. Based on the encouraging results obtained from the trial, we feel that these concepts can be applied to other waterflood projects and may also have potential in certain enhanced recovery projects where low injectivity is a problem.

• Research Organization: New Mexico Inst. of Mining and Technology, Socorro (USA). New Mexico Petroleum Recovery Research Center
• OSTI ID: 6483658
• Report Number(s): NMERDI-2-69-3303; ON: DE83901314
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

02 PETROLEUM
020300* -- Petroleum-- Drilling & Production
ADDITIVES
ENERGY SOURCES
ENHANCED RECOVERY
FEDERAL REGION VI
FLUID INJECTION
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FRACTURING FLUIDS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
MINERAL RESOURCES
NEW MEXICO
NORTH AMERICA
OIL FIELDS
OIL WELLS
ORGANIC SOLVENTS
PETROLEUM
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
RECOVERY
RESERVOIR ROCK
RESOURCES
SOLVENTS
SURFACTANTS
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WATERFLOODING
WELLS