A Pilot Carbon Dioxide Test, Hall-Gurney Field, Kansas

Abstract

Summary A pilot carbon dioxide (CO2) -miscible flood was initiated in the Lansing-Kansas City C formation in the Hall-Gurney Field, Russell County, Kansas. The reservoir zone is an oomoldic limestone located at a depth of approximately 2,900 ft. The pilot consisted of one CO2 injection well and three production wells. Continuous CO2 injection began in December 2003 and continued through June 2005, at which point 16.19 million lbm of CO2 had been injected into the pilot area. Injection was converted to water in June 2005 to reduce operating costs to a break-even level with the expectation that sufficient CO2 was injected to displace the oil bank to the production wells by water injection. By March 2010, 8,736 bbl of oil had been produced from the pilot. Production from wells to the northwest of the pilot region indicated that oil displaced by CO2 injection was produced from five wells outside of the pilot area, to the northwest. Approximately 19,166 bbl of incremental oil was estimated to have been produced from these wells as of March 2010. There was evidence of a directional permeability trend toward the northwest through the pilot region. The majority of the injected CO2 remained in the pilot region, which was maintained at or above the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP). Although the four-well pilot was uneconomical, the estimated oil recovery attributed to the CO2 flood is 27,902 bbl, which is equivalent to a gross CO2 usage of 4.8 Mcf/bbl.