Improving Profile Control by Deriving Pore-Throat Size and Volume of Thief Zones from the Variation and Derivative of Water Cut

Abstract

Abstract After long-time water injection, thief zones (TZ) tend to form and reduce the effectiveness of water flooding in mature oil fields. Several profile control techniques have been developed to resolve this problem. The effect of profile control depends on quantitative calculation of pore-throat size and volume of the thief zones which determines the most critical treatment factors such as the injection particle size and slug volume. Tracer tests or ‘PI’ index were normally used to identify thief zones. However, tracer tests are time-consuming and high-cost, especially for offshore fields; ‘PI’ index only reveals a relatively higher permeability area but not necessarily indicate presence of thief zones. This paper presents a new method to identify TZ as well as pore-throat sizes and volumes calculation by using the variation and derivative of water cut. The procedures are as following: Two theoretical models of injection and production were established to simulate water flooding development by stream tube method. The first model is a standard model and includes only normal reservoirs. The second model is a comparison model with presence of both high permeability zones and normal permeability zones. The water cut of two models was compared to distinguish the key points and curve features of TZ models. The key points and derivative curve were used to identify the existence of TZ. The ratio of high permeability zones to normal permeability zones as well as the absolute permeability, width and height of TZ were figured out using the peak values and their arrival times on the derivative curve of water cut. Calculate pore-throat radius and porosity of TZ using the absolute permeability in step 3 based on mercury injection capillary pressure (MICP) and then the pore volume of the TZ was determined. In a word, the fluctuation of the water cut curve and the multi-peak values of the water cut derivative curve are due to the fact that the injected water first reaches the production well along the high permeability layer of TZ, and then reaches the production well along the normal reservoir. Furthermore, larger pore volume of TZ will have more influence on water cut value and a larger water cut will be seen when the second peak value occurs on water cut derivative curve. This workflow had been applied to QHD32-6 oilfield for the profile control treatment design of over 10 well-groups were planned and achieved commendable results: the maximum water cut reduction reached 8% and the oil production noticeable increased by 300bbls per day with an output ratio over 5:1.