Pressure Maintenance

Dr. Keka Ojha

Professor
Department of Petroleum Engineering
IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
What is Pressure Maintenance???

• The injection of fluid into a reservoir to maintain

the reservoir pressure and energy as near initial
conditions as possible.

• Pressure in the reservoir is generally maintained

by an active water drive, water injection, gas
injection, or a combination of the foregoing.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Pressure maintenance by External fluid
injection

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Importance of Pressure Maintenance
• During production, reservoir pressure gradually
decreases for all three types of primary drive
mechanisms, i.e.
a) water drive
b) solution gas or depletion drive and
c) gas cap drive.

• The decline in pressure adversely affects the oil

production particularly when the reservoir
pressure decreases below the saturation pressure.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Effects of pressure decline
• Reduces the driving force, i.e. force which pushes
oil from reservoir drainage boundary to wellbore.
• Solution gas is evolved out of oil.
• This gas bubbles occupy more space of reservoir
rocks, resulting in increase in gas saturation.
• Mobility of gas is much higher than that of oil.
• As the gas liberates from oil, due to depletion, the
oil viscosity increases thus making it less mobile.
Continue…
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
• Due to gravity difference, the part of
segregated gas migrates to the crestal area of
reservoir and forms a secondary gas cap.
• Due to formation of secondary gas cap, many
wells at crestal area become high GOR wells,
thereby rendering these oil wells non-
contributing.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Techniques
Water injection:
• Water is injected into an oil producing reservoir to
supplement the natural energy that is indigenous to the
reservoir.
• improve the oil-producing characteristics of the field before
economically productive limits are reached.

Gas Injection (miscible or immiscible):

• Produced gas (mostly) is injected into the formation,
through gas injection wells.
• This builds up the formation pressure high enough to force
oil and gas to the surface through oil producing wells. The
gas produced is recaptured and re-injected.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Schematic diagram of Pressure Maintenance
by water injection
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Types of Injection Well locations

• Central line flooding and Peripheral

flooding :- In this, the injectors are grouped
together.

• Pattern Flooding:- In this, the injectors are

distributed amongst the production wells.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Central line flooding and Peripheral
flooding

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Pattern Flooding

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Pressure maintenance by water
injection

The pressure in the reservoir is maintained by injection of water

because of unique characteristics of water as given below:
• Water is the cheapest fluid.
• It is available in abundance.
• It is having good displacing characteristics.
• It coexists with crude oil in the reservoir, therefore highly
compatible with the formation.
• Most reservoir rocks are water-wet.
• When viscosity of oil is low, the mobility ratio is close to unity
resulting higher sweep efficiency
• Less treatment is required to make it compatible with formations.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
NATURAL WATER DRIVE

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Why to water flood
• Primary oil recovery : production of hydrocarbons under the
natural driving mechanisms present in the reservoir without
supplementary help from injected fluids such as gas or
water.
• Natural driving mechanism is a relatively inefficient process
and results in a low overall oil recovery.
• The lack of sufficient natural drive in most reservoirs has
led to the practice of supplementing the natural reservoir
energy by introducing some form of artificial drive, the
most basic method being the injection of gas or water.
• Secondary oil recovery refers to the additional recovery that
results from the conventional methods of water injection
and immiscible gas injection.
• Water flooding is perhaps the most common method of
secondary recovery.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Important factors in Pressure
Maintenance by water injection
• Reservoir geometry
• Lithology
• Reservoir depth
• Porosity
• Permeability (magnitude and degree of variation)
• Reservoir uniformity and pay continuity
• Magnitude and distribution of fluid saturations
• Fluid properties and relative permeability
relationship
• Optimal time to water flood
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Reservoir Geometry
• The areal geometry of the reservoir will influence the
location of wells and, if offshore, will influence the
location and number of platforms required.
• It dictates the methods by which a reservoir can be
produced through water-injection practices.
• An analysis of reservoir geometry and past reservoir
performance is often important when defining the
presence and strength of a natural water drive and, thus,
when defining the need to supplement the natural
injection.
• If a water-drive reservoir is classified as an active water
drive, injection may be unnecessary.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Fluid Properties

• The physical properties of the reservoir fluids have

pronounced effects on the suitability of a given
reservoir for further development by water-
flooding.
• The viscosity of the crude oil is considered the
most important fluid property that affects the
degree of success of a water-flooding project.
• The oil viscosity has the important effect of
determining the mobility ratio that, in turn,
controls the sweep efficiency.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Reservoir Depth
• Reservoir depth has an important influence on both the technical and
economic aspects of a secondary or tertiary recovery project.
• Maximum injection pressure will increase with depth. The costs of
lifting oil from very deep wells will limit the maximum economic
water–oil ratios that can be tolerated, thereby reducing the ultimate
recovery factor and increasing the total project operating costs.
• On the other hand, a shallow reservoir imposes a restraint on the
injection pressure that can be used, because this must be less than
fracture pressure.
• In waterflood operations, there is a critical pressure (approximately
1 psi/ft of depth) that, if exceeded, permits the injecting water to
expand openings along fractures or to create fractures.
• This results in the channeling of the injected water or the bypassing
of large portions of the reservoir matrix.
• Consequently, an operational pressure gradient of 0.75 psi/ft of
depth normally is allowed to provide a sufficient margin of safety to
prevent pressure parting.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Lithology and Rock Properties
Lithology has a profound influence on the efficiency
of water injection in a particular reservoir.
Reservoir lithology and rock properties that affect
flood ability and success are:
• Porosity
• Permeability
• Clay content
• Net thickness

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Porosity, permeability &
clay content
• Tight reservoir or thin pay zone may face the limitation
from injection pressure. As injection pressure is
proportional to injection rate but inversely related to the
formation permeability & thickness, the high injection
pressure may lead to fracture.

• In some complex reservoir systems, only a small portion of

the total porosity, such as fracture porosity, will have
sufficient permeability to be effective in water-injection
operations. In these cases, a water-injection program will
have only a minor impact on the matrix porosity, which
might be crystalline, granular, or vugular in nature.

• The clay minerals present in some sands may clog the pores
by swelling and deflocculating when
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleumwaterflooding is used
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Impact of saturation on water
flood
• The first & foremost screening criteria for
water flood is to check its economics. Oil
saturation must be sufficient enough to recover
the economics involved in it.
• In addition, higher oil saturation at the
beginning of flood operations increases the oil
mobility that, in turn, gives higher recovery
efficiency.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Reservoir Uniformity and Pay
Continuity
• Substantial reservoir uniformity is one of the major physical criteria for
successful waterflooding.
• High permeability contrast may lead to channeling of water and its early
breakthrough
– lower depletion pressure that may exist in the highly permeable zones will also
aggravate the water-channeling tendency due to the high permeability
variations.
– these thief zones will contain less residual oil than the other layers, and their
flooding will lead to relatively lower oil recoveries than other layers.
• Areal continuity of the pay zone is also a prerequisite for a successful
waterflooding project.
– Isolated lenses may be effectively depleted by a single well completion, but a
flood mechanism requires that both the injector and producer be present in the
lens.
– Breaks in pay continuity and reservoir anisotropy caused by depositional
conditions, fractures, or faulting need to be identified and described before
determining the proper well spanning and the suitable flood pattern orientation.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 OPTIMUM TIME TO WATERFLOOD
The most common procedure for determining the optimum time to
start water flooding is to calculate:
• Anticipated oil recovery
• Fluid production rates
• Monetary investment
• Availability and quality of the water supply
• Costs of water treatment and pumping equipment
• Costs of maintenance and operation of the water installation
facilities
• Costs of drilling new injection wells or converting existing
production wells into injectors

These calculations should be performed for several assumed times and the net income
for each case determined. The scenario that maximizes the profit and perhaps meets the
operator’s desirable goal is selected.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Drive Mechanism & water flood
• Solution gas drive: the best candidates for water-
floods
• Gas cap drive -normally not good waterflood prospects because the
primary mechanism may be quite efficient without water. However, oil with small
gas cap may be considered for water flood with good care to prevent water
migration to gas zone

• Water drive
– Active water drive- Not a candidate reservoir for water
flood
• Gravity drainage drive: It self gives high recovery
• Combination drive: May need depending on the
activity of the drives Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Factors important to determine water flooding
pressure/Time
• Reservoir oil viscosity: Lower the viscosity better is the sweep and hence more recovery. Oil viscosity
is minimum at its bubble point
• Free gas saturation: For Effective oil recovery, free gas saturation to be kept as minimum as possible,
preferably below its critical saturation.
• Cost of injection equipment: This is related to reservoir pressure, and at higher pressures,
the cost of injection equipment increases (deeper the reservoir, greater is the injection
pressure)
• Productivity of producing wells :. High productivity is always desirable.
• Effect of delaying investment on the time value of money: A delayed investment in
injection facilities is desirable from this standpoint.
• Overall life of the reservoir: Because of operating expenses are an important part of total
costs, the fluid injection process should be started as early as possible. A high reservoir
pressure is desirable to increase the productivity of producing wells, which prolongs the
flowing period of the wells, decreases lifting costs, and may shorten the overall life of the
project
You may observe that some of above factors act in opposition to others. Thus, optimization of
various factors is required to determine the actual pressure at which water flooding should be
started in order to develop the most favorable overall economics.
High remaining oil saturation playsProf.
theKeka
most important role here- in terms of money, and ease of
Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
production due to flowability (high relEngineering,
perm). IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
The most common procedure for determining the optimum
TO WATERFLOOD
time to start waterflooding from: or not??
– Expected oil recovery

– Fluid production rates

– Monetary investment

– Availability and quality of the water supply

– Costs of water treatment and pumping equipment

– Costs of maintenance and operation of the water installation

facilities

– Costs of drilling of new injection wells or converting existing

production wells into injectors
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 EFFECT OF TRAPPED GAS ON WATERFLOOD
RECOVERY
• There are two different theories
– First Theory (Cole (1969) )
In this case, this would dictate that the gas molecules enclose themselves in an oil
“blanket.” This increases the effective size of any oil globules. The amount of
residual oil left in the reservoir would be reduced by the size of the gas bubble
within the oil globule.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 EFFECT OF TRAPPED GAS ON
WATERFLOOD RECOVERY

• Second Theory
as water displaced the oil
from the reservoir rock, the
amount of residual oil left in
the larger pore spaces would
be reduced because of
occupancy of a portion of this
space by gas.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Sources of Water

Produced
water

Aquifer Sources of Seawater

water injected water

River/Lake
water
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Steps required in treatment of water

• Removal of dissolved gases (BOD/COD)

• Sedimentation
• Chemical treatment
• Filtration
• Addition of bactericides and corrosion
inhibitors
• Separation of solids

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Testing of injection water
• Determination of dissolved oxygen, carbon
dioxide and hydrogen sulphide in both injection
and back wash water.
• Determination of pH
• Determination of total and dissolved solids
• Determination of hardness
• Determination of turbidity
• Corrosion tests
• Biological parameters determination
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Estimation of water requirement
• Net water injection is total water injection minus water produced.

• On material balance, the water injection in terms of Np is given as

F = [(Rp- Rs) + Bo] - (N/Np) (Bt - Bti)

F = barrels of net water injection per barrel of oil produced

Rp = cumulative produced GOR
Rs = present solution GOR
Bo = oil formation volume factor
Bt = present two phase formation volume factor
Bti = original two phase formation volume factor
N = original oil in place
Np = cumulative produced oil

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Solution gas-drive mechanisms
• Solution gas-drive mechanisms generally are considered the best
candidates for waterfloods. Because the primary recovery will usually
be low, the potential exists for substantial additional recovery by water
injection. In effect, we hope to create an artificial water-drive
mechanism. The typical range of water-drive recovery is approximately
double that of solution gas drive.

• Waterfloods in solution gas-drive reservoirs frequently will recover

an additional amount of oil equal to primary recovery.

• Heera (for pr maintenance)- well spacing and pattern and location of

injection well depending on the structural location

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Solution gas drive

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Gas-cap reservoirs

• Gas cap reservoir is rate

sensitive (slower the
production rate better the
recovery)
• The gas saturation in oil
zone should be kept to
absolute minimum value
• Gravity segregation provides
better recovery

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Gas-cap reservoirs
• Gas-cap reservoirs are not normally good waterflood prospects
because the primary mechanism may be quite efficient without
water injection. In these cases, gas injection may be considered in
order to maintain pressure.

• Smaller gas-cap drives may be considered as waterflood

prospects, but care should be taken to maintain GOC to prevent
migration of displaced oil into the gas cap.

• If the vertical communication between the gas cap and the oil
zone is considered poor due to low vertical permeability, a
waterflood may be appropriate in this case.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Secondary recovery for gas cap drive

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Water-drive
Water drive reservoirs
•
reservoirs
Water-drive reservoirs that are classified as strong water-drive
reservoirs are not usually considered to be good candidates for
waterflooding because of the natural ongoing water influx.
• Sometimes, gas could be injected to suppress the high water cut
• However, in some instances a natural water drive could be
supplemented by water injection in order to:
– Support a higher withdrawal rate
– Better distribution of the water volume to different areas of the field to
achieve more uniform areal coverage

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Well location for water drive

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Factors to determine the reservoir pressure (or
time) to initiate a secondary recovery project
Reservoir oil viscosity
Water injection should be initiated when the
reservoir pressure reaches its bubble-point
pressure since the oil viscosity reaches its
minimum value at this pressure. The mobility
of the oil will increase with decreasing oil
viscosity, which in turns improves the sweeping
efficiency.
Volume of water to be injected: Less injection
volume
Free gas saturation (immobile or trapped):
Gas injection after water flood could recover extra oil by displacing
it from unswept largerProf.
pores
Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
EFFECT OF TRAPPED GAS ON RECOVERY

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
DEMERITS

The reaction of injected water with

reservoir rock.

Corrosion of both Surface and Sub-Surface

mechanical equipment.

Availability of Water.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Pressure Maintenance by Gas
Injection
Gas has also been widely used to maintain the reservoir
pressure because of flowing reasons:

• Gas is readily available in many fields.

• Injected gas is non-reactive with the reservoir rock.
• In addition to displacing characteristics, gas is stored
for future use.
• Gas may be required to be stored as conservation
measure.
• Gas is less efficient displacing fluid when injected in an
oil reservoir of non-wettability of gas to rock surface
and higher viscosity.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Schematic diagram of Pressure Maintenance by
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
gas injection
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Schematic Representation

GAS

OIL

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Types of Gas injection operations

• Dispersed gas injection

• External gas injection

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Dispersed Gas injection operations

• This is frequently referred to as internal or pattern

injection.
• It is adaptable to reservoir having low structural relief
and relatively homogeneous reservoir having low
specific permeability.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Limitations of Dispersed gas injection
operation
• Little or no improvement in recovery efficiency is derived from
structural position or gravity drainage.
• areal sweep efficiencies are generally lower than for external gas-
injection operations.
• gas “lingering” caused by high flow velocities generally tends
to reduce the recovery efficiency over that which could be
expected from external injection.
• higher injection-well density contributes to greater
installation and operating costs

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 External gas injection operations
• It is frequently referred as crestal or gas-cap injection and used in the
structurally higher position of the reservoir. It is employed in reservoir
having significant structural relief and average to high specific
permeability.
• Injection wells are positioned to provide good areal distribution of the
injected gas and to obtain maximum benefit of gravity drainage.
• External injection is generally considered superior to dispersed
type injection, since full advantage can usually be obtained from gravity
drainage benefits. In addition, external injection ordinarily will result
in greater area1sweep and conformance efficiencies than will similar
dispersed injection operations.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Efficiency of oil recovery by gas
displacement
Three efficiency factors are:

1. Unit displacement efficiency is the percentage of oil in place within

a totally swept reservoir-rock volume that is recovered as a result of the
displacement process.
2. Conformance efficiency is the percentage of the total rock or pore
volume within the swept area that is contacted by the displacing fluid.
3. Areal sweep efficiency is the percentage of the total reservoir or pore
volume that is within the swept area, the area
contacted by the displacing fluid.

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 Conformance and areal sweep efficiency
Conformance efficiency
• In the context of oil recovery, conformance efficiency is the ability to control
the flow of fluids within a reservoir, while areal sweep efficiency is the
fraction of the total flood pattern that the displacing fluid contacts:
• In oil recovery, conformance efficiency is the ability to control and optimize
the flow of fluids within a reservoir. This involves ensuring that injected
fluids are distributed evenly throughout the reservoir to maximize oil
recovery.
Areal sweep efficiency
• Areal sweep efficiency is the fraction of the total flood pattern that the
displacing fluid contacts. It is defined as the ratio of the area contacted by the
oil-recovery displacement fluid to the total reservoir area.
• Areal sweep efficiency is dependent on three main factors: Mobility ratio M,
Flood pattern, Cumulative water injected Winj, and Pressure distribution
between injectors and producers.
• Improving conformance and/or sweep efficiency involves improving one or
both of the vertical and areal components of flood sweep efficiency.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Conformance efficiency and areal sweep
efficiency are both related to the flow of fluids
in a reservoir during oil recovery:
•Conformance
•The ability to control and distribute injected
fluids, like water or gas, throughout a reservoir
to displace oil. Conformance efficiency is
improved by reducing the permeability of high-
permeability flow paths in the reservoir.
•Areal sweep efficiency
•The fraction of the total flood pattern that is
contacted by the displacing fluid. It increases
from zero at the start of the flood until
breakthrough, and then increases more
slowly.
Conformance and sweep efficiency are both
components of flood sweep
efficiency. Improving either or both of these
components can increase the amount of oil
that can be recovered from a reservoir.
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
 • Gas is readily available
• Does not react with the formation
• A method to conserve gas

• High cost involved in gas

compression
• Due to high mobility of gas
displacement efficiency is low,
fingering and early breakthrough may
take place
• Change in Relative Permeability
Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum
Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad
Thank You!

Prof. Keka Ojha, Deptt. of Petroleum

Engineering, IIT(ISM), Dhanbad