Water Shut-Off with Polymer in the Alvheim Field

Abstract

Abstract The Alvheim field, offshore Norway, has subsea wells with long horizontal branches completed with sand screens. After 10 years of production, water production starts to constrain the oil production. Mechanical water shut-off is impossible in these wells, hence other methods are of interest. In a well workover in 2013, two high-viscous polymer pills were bull-headed and squeezed into the reservoir. The well productivity was reduced with around 50% while the water-cut dropped and pointed to potentially 3 mmstb of extra oil recovery. A research study was initiated with the objectives to understand the changed well performance and if polymer bull-heading can be a future method to reduce water production and enhance oil production. An experimental laboratory program started with filtration tests of polymer solutions based on the polymer used in the well operation. Core flood experiments were performed by injecting polymer into two parallel mounted cores, then back producing these individually with either water or oil. Several combinations of parallel cores were tested with polymer injection: high vs. low permeability, high oil saturation vs. low oil saturation, outcrop sandstone vs. Alvheim core, as well as two different polymer versions. The polymer recipe as used in the well operation showed to plug standard filters with filter size larger than the reservoir pore sizes but did not plug the cores. The polymer recipe as used in the well gave a better disproportionate permeability reduction (DPR) than the alternative polymer variant with similar viscosity. A theoretical model for the shear rate in the porous media matched the experimental measured data excellent. The core results show a stable permeability reduction factor of 100-450 for water, while only a factor 2-10 and decreasing with time for oil. The achieved DPR ratio of 45-80 is better than the trend from earlier published results. The DPR as measured in the laboratory was next integrated in the reservoir model as part of the history match of the treated well. The Alvheim field has several reservoir zones separated with thin shales, and this reservoir zonation seems key for this EOR method to work. The laboratory work, the reservoir studies and the field experience all point to a possible robust and simple EOR method for Alvheim and similar oil fields. The polymer seems to act as a "magic filter", allowing oil to pass while not water. Future work includes more research and maturing a new polymer pilot on Alvheim.