US3903966A - Tertiary recovery operation - Google Patents
Tertiary recovery operation Download PDFInfo
- Publication number
- US3903966A US3903966A US407113A US40711373A US3903966A US 3903966 A US3903966 A US 3903966A US 407113 A US407113 A US 407113A US 40711373 A US40711373 A US 40711373A US 3903966 A US3903966 A US 3903966A
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- wells
- original
- production wells
- injection
- production
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- 238000011084 recovery Methods 0.000 title claims abstract description 21
- 238000002347 injection Methods 0.000 claims abstract description 42
- 239000007924 injection Substances 0.000 claims abstract description 42
- 230000015572 biosynthetic process Effects 0.000 claims abstract description 21
- 239000003208 petroleum Substances 0.000 claims description 12
- XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N water Substances O XLYOFNOQVPJJNP-UHFFFAOYSA-N 0.000 claims description 12
- 238000000034 method Methods 0.000 claims description 10
- 230000000149 penetrating effect Effects 0.000 claims description 2
- 229930195733 hydrocarbon Natural products 0.000 abstract description 11
- 239000004215 Carbon black (E152) Substances 0.000 abstract description 7
- 150000002430 hydrocarbons Chemical class 0.000 abstract description 6
- 238000005755 formation reaction Methods 0.000 description 17
- 239000012530 fluid Substances 0.000 description 11
- 125000001183 hydrocarbyl group Chemical group 0.000 description 5
- 230000004075 alteration Effects 0.000 description 1
- 239000003795 chemical substances by application Substances 0.000 description 1
- 150000001875 compounds Chemical class 0.000 description 1
- 238000005553 drilling Methods 0.000 description 1
- 230000002349 favourable effect Effects 0.000 description 1
- -1 oil Chemical class 0.000 description 1
- 238000004391 petroleum recovery Methods 0.000 description 1
- 238000005086 pumping Methods 0.000 description 1
- 239000007787 solid Substances 0.000 description 1
Images
Classifications
-
- E—FIXED CONSTRUCTIONS
- E21—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; MINING
- E21B—EARTH OR ROCK DRILLING; OBTAINING OIL, GAS, WATER, SOLUBLE OR MELTABLE MATERIALS OR A SLURRY OF MINERALS FROM WELLS
- E21B43/00—Methods or apparatus for obtaining oil, gas, water, soluble or meltable materials or a slurry of minerals from wells
- E21B43/30—Specific pattern of wells, e.g. optimising the spacing of wells
Definitions
- secondary recovery programs are now an essential part of the overall planning for exploitation of oil and gas-condensate reservoirs in subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formations.
- this involves injecting an extraneous fluid, such as water or gas or other displacing compounds, into the reservoir zones to drive formation fluids including hydrocarbons toward production wells by the process commonly referred to as flooding.”
- this flooding is accomplished by injecting though wells drilled in a pattern, e.g. the direct and alternating line drive and the more commonly used 5-spot pattern.
- a three well group of a series in a direct line drive is arranged in line so that the intermediate well is completed for injection and the remaining two wells are completed for production.
- Flooding is initiated at the intermediate well by injection ofa driving fluid, such as water, thercinto and proceeds until breakthrough of the flood front occurs at the production wells, at which time, injection via the intermediate well to maintain flooding may be suspended or terminated.
- one or more additional production wells aligned with each other and located offset between the original injection wells and the original production wells are drilled into the formation and then the latter wells are converted to tertiary injection wells and driving fluid is injected via these converted wells to drive formation fluids toward the additional production wells, the original injection wells being shut in. In this manner, the formation areas where high oil saturation has been determined to be can be exploited for more complete recovery, this region being unswept by the secondary recovery operation, generally.
- FIG. 1 discloses the symbols used in the remaining figures of the drawings
- FIG. 2 illustrates the breakthrough of the secondary phase of a recovery procedure of a direct line drive
- FIG. 3 discloses the termination of the tertiary phase of a direct line drive recovery procedure
- FIG. 4 discloses the differences in water cuts during production past breakthrough of a direct line drive and an enhanced direct line drive.
- the objects of the invention are achieved by the use of additional or infill production wells located offset between the original injection and production wells where high oil saturation is usually located at breakthrough at the conclusion of secondary recovery procedures, the original production wells being converted to injection wells, the original injection wells being shut in.
- FIG. I a solid circle indicates a production well, a crossed open circle a shut in well, an open circle with a first quadrant arrow indicates an original injection well, and an open circle with a fourth quadrant arrow, a converted injection well.
- FIG. 2 there is disclosed symbolically a direct line drive in a secondary recovery procedure, wherein the original injection wells are aligned with the production wells, with a d/a of 1.
- these original injection wells may be put on a stand-by basis till completion of additional production wells located offset between the original injection and original production wells.
- the original injection wells are shut in and the original production wells are converted to injection wells during the tertiary phase of the recovcry, and driving fluid is injected into the formation via these converted wells.
- the additional production wells are aligned with each other in rows parallel to the original injection and production wells in the direction of the line drive, and diagonally offset from the original line drive.
- FIG. 4 illustrates the difference in water cuts during production past breakthrough between the direct line drive and the direct line drive as enhanced with the infill production wells, indicating the economy in the use of the latter
- the water cut with the infill production wells falls off to about 33 percent, with a gain in sweep efficiency to 87.9 -rcent, and an injection well to production well ratio of 1:2.
- tertiary recovery processes can be improved by drilling additional production wells in regions of high oil saturation and potentiometric model studies are useful to determine the optimum locations of these new wells.
- ratio of tertiary injection to production wells ratio is an important economic factor, as it indicates how many new wells may have to be drilled.
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- Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
- Geology (AREA)
- Mining & Mineral Resources (AREA)
- Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
- Environmental & Geological Engineering (AREA)
- Fluid Mechanics (AREA)
- General Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
- Geochemistry & Mineralogy (AREA)
- Physical Or Chemical Processes And Apparatus (AREA)
Abstract
Following completion of a secondary recovery operation at breakthrough of the driving flood at the production wells in a direct line drive, additional production wells for tertiary recovery are located where the hydrocarbon saturation in the formation is higher, with the new production wells being located offset and usually diagonally between an injection well intermediate a pair of production wells of a series of such and the production wells of an adjoining series of such wells, the original injection wells being shut in and all the original production wells being converted to injection wells.
Description
United States Patent [1 1 Teasdale et al.
[ TERTIARY RECOVERY OPERATION [75] Inventors: Thomas S. Teasdale, Houston, Tex.;
Anthony Francis Altamira, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia [73] Assignee: Texaco Inc., New York, NY,
[22] Filed: Oct. 17, 1973 [21] App]. No.: 407,113
[4 1 Sept. 9, 1975 Primary Examiner-Stephen J, Novosad Attorney, Agent, or Firm-T. H. Whaley; C. G. Ries; Jack H. Park 57 ABSTRACT Following completion of a secondary recovery operation at breakthrough of the driving flood at the production wells in a direct line drive, additional production wells for tertiary recovery are located where the hydrocarbon saturation in the formation is higher, with the new production wells being located offset and usually diagonally between an injection well intermediate a pair of production wells of a series of such and the production wells of an adjoining series of such wells, the original injection wells being shut in and all the original production wells being converted to injection wells.
1 Claim, 4 Drawing Figures [52] U.S. Cl 166/245; 166/263 [51] Int. Cl. E21B 43/20 [58] Field of Search 166/245, 263, 273-275 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,113,616 l2/l963 Den et a1. 166/245 3,167,117 l/1965 Santourian 166/245 3,253,652 5/1966 Connally, .lr. ct al. 166/245 3,386,504 6/1968 Kunctka 166/245 lflfl w JWEEP'80.3Z
fl/Atl'f 1/: aka/ ,3
Thus, secondary recovery programs are now an essential part of the overall planning for exploitation of oil and gas-condensate reservoirs in subterranean hydrocarbon-bearing formations. In general, this involves injecting an extraneous fluid, such as water or gas or other displacing compounds, into the reservoir zones to drive formation fluids including hydrocarbons toward production wells by the process commonly referred to as flooding." Usually, this flooding is accomplished by injecting though wells drilled in a pattern, e.g. the direct and alternating line drive and the more commonly used 5-spot pattern.
When the driving fluid, eg Water, from the injection well reaches the production wells of a direct line drive, the areal sweep efficiency is 57 percent. By continuing production considerably past breakthrough, it is possible to produce more of the remaining unswept portion of the formation, although continued injection will not reduce oil saturation much further.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is an overall object of the present invention to provide an improved recovery procedure involving initially three wells in line as one ofa series in a direct line drive as part of a well pattern arrangement for exploiting a hydrocarbon-bearing formation, by locating additional production wells offset between the original injection and production wells in the selected pattern, the original injection wells being shut in and the original production wells being converted to tertiary injection wells as determined by model studies or field observation.
A three well group of a series in a direct line drive is arranged in line so that the intermediate well is completed for injection and the remaining two wells are completed for production. Flooding is initiated at the intermediate well by injection ofa driving fluid, such as water, thercinto and proceeds until breakthrough of the flood front occurs at the production wells, at which time, injection via the intermediate well to maintain flooding may be suspended or terminated. Then, one or more additional production wells aligned with each other and located offset between the original injection wells and the original production wells are drilled into the formation and then the latter wells are converted to tertiary injection wells and driving fluid is injected via these converted wells to drive formation fluids toward the additional production wells, the original injection wells being shut in. In this manner, the formation areas where high oil saturation has been determined to be can be exploited for more complete recovery, this region being unswept by the secondary recovery operation, generally.
Other objects, advantages and features of this invention will become apparent from a consideration of the specification with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 discloses the symbols used in the remaining figures of the drawings;
FIG. 2 illustrates the breakthrough of the secondary phase of a recovery procedure of a direct line drive;
FIG. 3 discloses the termination of the tertiary phase of a direct line drive recovery procedure; and
FIG. 4 discloses the differences in water cuts during production past breakthrough of a direct line drive and an enhanced direct line drive.
The objects of the invention are achieved by the use of additional or infill production wells located offset between the original injection and production wells where high oil saturation is usually located at breakthrough at the conclusion of secondary recovery procedures, the original production wells being converted to injection wells, the original injection wells being shut in.
The specification and the figures of the drawings schematically disclose and illustrate the practice and the advantages of the invention, examples of which have been observed in potentiometric model studies which simulate secondary and tertiary recovery operations. The model studies indicate a sweepout obtained in an ideal reservoir, although the recovery from an actual sweepout of a particular field may be greater or less, depending on field parameters.
Throughout the figures of the drawings, the same symbols will be maintained as disclosed in FIG. I, viz. a solid circle indicates a production well, a crossed open circle a shut in well, an open circle with a first quadrant arrow indicates an original injection well, and an open circle with a fourth quadrant arrow, a converted injection well.
Referring to FIG. 2, there is disclosed symbolically a direct line drive in a secondary recovery procedure, wherein the original injection wells are aligned with the production wells, with a d/a of 1. Upon breakthrough of the driving fluid at the production wells with a sweep efficiency of 57 percent, these original injection wells may be put on a stand-by basis till completion of additional production wells located offset between the original injection and original production wells.
Referring to FIG. 3, the original injection wells are shut in and the original production wells are converted to injection wells during the tertiary phase of the recovcry, and driving fluid is injected into the formation via these converted wells. The additional production wells are aligned with each other in rows parallel to the original injection and production wells in the direction of the line drive, and diagonally offset from the original line drive.
FIG. 4 illustrates the difference in water cuts during production past breakthrough between the direct line drive and the direct line drive as enhanced with the infill production wells, indicating the economy in the use of the latter As shown, the water cut with the infill production wells falls off to about 33 percent, with a gain in sweep efficiency to 87.9 -rcent, and an injection well to production well ratio of 1:2.
Thus, there has been shown and described the manner by which a tertiary recovery operation may be initiated with favorable economic results following the conclusion of a secondary recovery operation after breakthrough of driving fluid at the production wells. Tertiary recovery processes can be improved by drilling additional production wells in regions of high oil saturation and potentiometric model studies are useful to determine the optimum locations of these new wells. Also, the ratio of tertiary injection to production wells ratio) is an important economic factor, as it indicates how many new wells may have to be drilled.
As will be apparent to those skilled in the art in the light of the accompanying disclosure, other changes and alterations are possible in the practice of this invention without departing from the spirit or scope thereof.
We claim:
1. In a method of recovering petroleum from a subterranean petroleum containing formation penetrated by at least two groups of three wells each, each group comprising two original production wells and an original aligned injection well therebetween, the groups being arranged in a direct line drive pattern, the petroleum recovery method being of the type wherein water is injected into the original injection wells to displace petroleum toward the adjacent original production wells from which petroleum is recovered until the injected water breaks through at the original production wells, wherein the improvement for recovering additional petroleum from the formation comprises:
a. penetrating the formation with at least two additional production wells, each well located between an original injection well of one group of wells and an adjacent original production well of an adjacent group of wells;
b shutting in the original injection wells;
c. converting the original production wells to new injection wells; and
d. injecting water into the new injection wells and recovering petroleum from the new production wells.
Claims (1)
1. IN A METHOD OF RECOVERING PETROLEUM FROM A SUBTERRANEAN PETROLEUM CONTAINING FORMATION PENETRATED BY AT LEAST TWO GROUPS OF THREE WELLS EACH, EACH GROUP C3,PRISING TWO ORIGINAL PRODUCTION WELLS AND AN ORIGINAL ALIGNED INJECTION WELL THEREBETWEEN, THE GROUPS BEING ARRANGED IN A DIRECT LINE DRIVE PATTERN, THE PETRODLEM RECOVERY METHOD BEING OF THE TYPE WHEREIN WATER IS INJECTED INTO THE ORIGINAL INJECTION WELLS TO DISPLACE PETROLEUM TOWARD THE ADJACENT ORIGINAL PRODUCTION WELLS FROM WHICH PETROLEUM IS RECOVERED UNTIL THE INJECTED WATER BREAKS THROUGH AT THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION WELLS, WHEREIN THE IMPROVEMENT FOR RECOVERING ADDITIONAL PETROLEUM FROM THE FORMATION COMPRISES: A. PENETRATING THE FORMATION WITH AT LEAST TWO ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION WELLS, EACH WELL LOCATED BETWEEN AN ORIGINAL INJECTION WELL OF ONE GROUP OF WELLS AND AN ADJACENT ORIGINAL PRODUCTION WELL OF AN ADJACENT GROUP OF WELLS, B. SHUTTING IN THE ORIGINAL INJECTION WELLS, C. CONVERTING THE ORIGINAL PRODUCTION WELLS TO NEW INJECTION WELLS, AND D. INJECTING WATER INTO THE NEW INJECTION WELLS AND RECOVERING PETROLEUM FROM THE NEW PRODUCTION WELLS.
Priority Applications (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US407113A US3903966A (en) | 1973-10-17 | 1973-10-17 | Tertiary recovery operation |
Applications Claiming Priority (1)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US407113A US3903966A (en) | 1973-10-17 | 1973-10-17 | Tertiary recovery operation |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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US3903966A true US3903966A (en) | 1975-09-09 |
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US407113A Expired - Lifetime US3903966A (en) | 1973-10-17 | 1973-10-17 | Tertiary recovery operation |
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Cited By (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4082358A (en) * | 1976-02-02 | 1978-04-04 | United States Steel Corporation | In situ solution mining technique |
US4166503A (en) * | 1978-08-24 | 1979-09-04 | Texaco Inc. | High vertical conformance steam drive oil recovery method |
US4321966A (en) * | 1980-04-17 | 1982-03-30 | Texaco Inc. | High vertical conformance steam drive oil recovery method |
RU2541961C1 (en) * | 2014-01-09 | 2015-02-20 | Закрытое акционерное общество "Тюменский институт нефти и газа" (ТИНГ) | Method for oil mobility improvement due to recovery of formation pressure and gas resolution in oil |
Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3113616A (en) * | 1960-03-09 | 1963-12-10 | Continental Oil Co | Method of uniform secondary recovery |
US3167117A (en) * | 1963-02-08 | 1965-01-26 | Phillips Petroleum Co | Producing oil from an oil-bearing stratum having high directional permeability |
US3253652A (en) * | 1963-06-24 | 1966-05-31 | Socony Mobil Oil Co Inc | Recovery method for petroleum oil |
US3386504A (en) * | 1965-12-29 | 1968-06-04 | Texaco Inc | Recovery of hydrocarbons from underground formations by in situ combustion |
-
1973
- 1973-10-17 US US407113A patent/US3903966A/en not_active Expired - Lifetime
Patent Citations (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US3113616A (en) * | 1960-03-09 | 1963-12-10 | Continental Oil Co | Method of uniform secondary recovery |
US3167117A (en) * | 1963-02-08 | 1965-01-26 | Phillips Petroleum Co | Producing oil from an oil-bearing stratum having high directional permeability |
US3253652A (en) * | 1963-06-24 | 1966-05-31 | Socony Mobil Oil Co Inc | Recovery method for petroleum oil |
US3386504A (en) * | 1965-12-29 | 1968-06-04 | Texaco Inc | Recovery of hydrocarbons from underground formations by in situ combustion |
Cited By (4)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4082358A (en) * | 1976-02-02 | 1978-04-04 | United States Steel Corporation | In situ solution mining technique |
US4166503A (en) * | 1978-08-24 | 1979-09-04 | Texaco Inc. | High vertical conformance steam drive oil recovery method |
US4321966A (en) * | 1980-04-17 | 1982-03-30 | Texaco Inc. | High vertical conformance steam drive oil recovery method |
RU2541961C1 (en) * | 2014-01-09 | 2015-02-20 | Закрытое акционерное общество "Тюменский институт нефти и газа" (ТИНГ) | Method for oil mobility improvement due to recovery of formation pressure and gas resolution in oil |
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