Steam Flooding: Treatment And Control Of Injection Fluids

Abstract

Publication Rights Reserved This paper is to be presented at the California Regional Meeting in Los Angeles, Calif., Nov. 5–6, 1964, and is considered the property of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. Permission to publish is hereby restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words, with no illustrations, unless the paper is specifically released to the press by the Editor of the JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECHNOLOGY or SOCIETY OF PETROLEUM ENGINEERS JOURNAL is granted on request, providing proper credit is given that publication and the original presentation of the paper. Discussion of this paper is invited. Three copies of any discussion should be sent to the Society of Petroleum Engineers office. Such discussion may be presented at the above meeting and considered for publication in one of the two SPE magazines with the paper. Abstract With the constant increase in demand for oil products and decrease in domestic reserves, the need to develop secondary methods of oil recovery in existing fields becomes increasingly important. Many depleted or partially depleted fields have been brought back into production by such methods as water flooding, steam or hot water flooding, and in-situ combustion or fire flooding. Though once considered relatively exotic and new in concept, these techniques have accounted for a great increase in oil recovery from fields once considered exhausted. The average recovery expected with cold water flooding is considered to be about 20% of the oil in place after primary production, whereas a recovery of 60% or more can be expected from a well operated steam flood. As with other oil production methods certain problems are involved. Of paramount importance is the proper treatment and control of injection fluids to minimize equipment and formation damage. It is generally true that water in oil recovery areas is not of the best quality and thus when steam or hot water flooding is employed as a secondary method of oil recovery, treatment of the water can be of significant importance. Such treatment must be engineered for each flood so as to assure freedom from scale and corrosion problems in the steam or hot water generators and piping, as well as plugging in the flood. Boilers employed in this type of operation are frequently of high heat exchange design, requiring high quality feedwater. Various approaches of Water treatment are discussed including external as well as internal conditioning.