Application of Specially Designed Polymers in High Water Cut Wells- A Holistic Well-Intervention Technology Applied in Umm Gudair Field, Kuwait

Abstract Excessive water production from hydrocarbon reservoirs is a serious issue faced by the industry, particularly for mature fields. Higher water cut adversely affects the economics of the producing wells, thus it is undesirable. Disposal and reinjection of ever-increasing volumes of produced water poses additional liability. A significant challenge faced in the mature Umm Gudair field is assuring hydrocarbon flow through high water-prone intervals. In recent times, field development strategies have begun to prioritize new well intervention technology because of the advantages of minimized water cut, higher production rates, and improved overall reserve recovery (hydrocarbon in place). This paper discusses the field implementation of a downhole chemical methodology, "first of its kind" designed and applied, that has created a positive impact in overall productivity. To solve these challenges, the treatment was highly modified as fit-for-purpose to address the unique challenges of electric submersible pump (ESP)-driven well operations, formation technical difficulties, high-stakes economics, and high-water potential from these formations. A unique Organically Crosslinked Polymer (OCP) system with a tail-in Rigid Setting Material (RSM) system was implemented as a porosity-fill sealant in a high-water-cut well to selectively reduce water production. A pre-flush was pumped ahead of the treatment to remove deposits that could have prevented the polymer from effective gelation. The treatment was then overdisplaced with brine. The OCP system is injected into the formation as a low viscosity solution using the spot and hesitation squeeze method via bullheading. It activates at a predicted time to form a 3-D rigid hydrogel to completely shut off matrix permeability, fractures, fissures, and channels, thus creating an artificial barrier seal in the reservoir. The tail-in near wellbore RSM system rapidly develops a high compressive strength to avoid any formation loss before setting. This holistic approach helps to create a robust sealant for blocking the unwanted water-producing zone, impeding water flow, and facilitating increased hydrocarbon flow. A direct comparison of the application of this system with conventional cement squeeze treatments is presented to illustrate the advantage of having a deep matrix penetration for a more efficient water shutoff in this field. A direct result of the implemented treatment is that the post-operation well test and production data showed a high-sustained production at lower rate with significantly reduced watercut, confirming this technology is one of successful chemical water shut off techniques this field. This paper summarizes the candidate selection, design processes, challenges encountered, and production response, and can be considered a best practice for addressing high water production challenges in similar conditions in other fields.

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Polymer Application in High-Water-Cut Wells Enhances Productivity in a Mature Field

Journal of Petroleum Technology ◽

10.2118/0921-0060-jpt ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 73 (09) ◽

pp. 60-61

Author(s):

Chris Carpenter

Keyword(s):

Trinidad And Tobago ◽

Production Rate ◽

Produced Water ◽

Oil Production ◽

High Water ◽

Water Production ◽

Oil Viscosity ◽

High Stakes ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 200957, “Application of Specially Designed Polymers in High-Water-Cut Wells: A Holistic Well-Intervention Technology Applied in Umm Gudair Field, Kuwait,” by Ali Abdullah Al-Azmi, SPE, Thanyan Ahmed Al-Yaqout, and Dalal Yousef Al-Jutaili, Kuwait Oil Company, et al., prepared for the 2020 SPE Trinidad and Tobago Section Energy Resources Conference, originally scheduled to be held in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 29 June–1 July. The paper has not been peer reviewed. A significant challenge faced in the mature Umm Gudair (UG) field is assurance of hydrocarbon flow through highly water-prone intervals. The complete paper discusses the field implementation of a downhole chemical methodology that has positively affected overall productivity. The treatment was highly modified to address the challenges of electrical-submersible-pump (ESP)-driven well operations, technical difficulties posed by the formation, high-stakes economics, and high water potential from these formations. Field Background and Challenge The UG field is one of the major oil fields in Kuwait (Fig. 1). The Minagish oolite (MO) reservoir is the main oil producer, contributing more than 95% of current production in the UG field. However, water cut has been increasing (approximately 65% at the time of writing). The increasing water cut in the reservoir is posing a major challenge to maintaining the oil-production rate because of the higher mobility of water compared with that of oil. The natural water aquifer support in the reservoir that underlies the oil column extends across the reservoir and is rising continuously. This has led to a decline in the oil-production rate and has prevented oil-producing zones from contributing effectively. The reservoir experiences water-coning phenomena, especially in high-permeability zones. Oil viscosity ranges from 2 to 8 cp, and hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide levels are 1.5 and 4%, respectively. During recent years, water production has increased rapidly in wells because of highly conductive, thick, clean carbonate formations with low structural dip as well as some stratified formations. Field production may be constrained by the capacity of the surface facilities; therefore, increased water production has different effects on field operations. The average cost of handling produced water is estimated to be between $5 billion and $10 billion in the US and approximately $40 billion globally. These volumes often are so large that even incremental modifications can have major financial effects. For example, the lift-ing cost of one barrel of oil doubles when water cut reaches 50%, increases fivefold at 80% water cut, and increases twenty-fold at 95% water cut.

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New Gel Aggregates To Improve Sweep Efficiency During Waterflooding

SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering ◽

10.2118/129960-pa ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 14 (01) ◽

pp. 120-128 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

Guanglun Lei ◽

Lingling Li ◽

Hisham A. Nasr-El-Din

Keyword(s):

Low Cost ◽

Oil Production ◽

High Water ◽

Resistance Factor ◽

Water Production ◽

Sweep Efficiency ◽

Low Viscosity ◽

Productivity Decline ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut

Summary A common problem for oil production is excessive water production, which can lead to rapid productivity decline and significant increases in operating costs. The result is often a premature shut-in of wells because production has become uneconomical. In water injectors, the injection profiles are uneven and, as a result, large amounts of oil are left behind the water front. Many chemical systems have been used to control water production and improve recovery from reservoirs with high water cut. Inorganic gels have low viscosity and can be pumped using typical field mixing and injection equipment. Polymer or crosslinked gels, especially polyacrylamide-based systems, are mainly used because of their relatively low cost and their supposed selectivity. In this paper, microspheres (5–30 μm) were synthesized using acrylamide monomers crosslinked with an organic crosslinker. They can be suspended in water and can be pumped in sandstone formations. They can plug some of the pore throats and, thus, force injected water to change its direction and increase the sweep efficiency. A high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) rheometer was used to measure G (elastic modulus) and G" (viscous modulus) of these aggregates. Experimental results indicate that these microspheres are stable in solutions with 20,000 ppm NaCl at 175°F. They can expand up to five times their original size in deionized water and show good elasticity. The results of sandpack tests show that the microspheres can flow through cores with permeability greater than 500 md and can increase the resistance factor by eight to 25 times and the residual resistance factor by nine times. The addition of microspheres to polymer solutions increased the resistance factor beyond that obtained with the polymer solution alone. Field data using microspheres showed significant improvements in the injection profile and enhancements in oil production.

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Application of Fine Water Plugging Technology With Coiled Tubing in High Water Cut Wells

Volume 8: Polar and Arctic Sciences and Technology; Petroleum Technology ◽

10.1115/omae2018-78342 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Jie Wang ◽

Fujian Zhou ◽

Lufeng Zhang ◽

Fan Fan ◽

Hong Yang

Keyword(s):

Produced Water ◽

Water Layer ◽

High Water ◽

Gas Production ◽

Cement Slurry ◽

Coiled Tubing ◽

Slurry System ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut ◽

Water Gas

Water logging problem in late production reservoir with abundant edge-bottom water and water-gas layer stagger is one of the main factors that lead to production wells stop flow. For the water plugging problem during gas well production, the common operation is coiled tubing through casing. So, coiled tubing technology without moving production string is explored. X oilfield is located in Sichuan basin of China southwest and belongs to the origin of gas pipeline from Sichuan to China east. Its main gas producing area is carbonatite full of edge water and controlled by structural and lithology. The relationship between water and gas is complex and water-gas system is independent of different blocks and different layers. Because the main gas producing layer is close to the water layer, lots of gas producing wells stop spray for high water cut. At the meantime, the difficulty and risk of water plugging increases for its high depth of main gas producing layer and high temperature at the well bottom. To solve the problem above, cement slurry system with the characteristics of high temperature and sulfur resistant and channeling preventing is developed. At the same time, the cement slurry system has low friction and high liquidity and is easy to flow through the coiled tubing. Besides, cement slurry pollution is reduced and the success rate of gas well produced water plugging is improved by the combination of coiled tubing and cementing process and the construction technology optimization, software simulation and laboratory evaluation is carried out. The key step is that log analysis of water and gas distribution is done first. Then, tubing-expansion bridge plug is placed under the water layer and the cement slurry is sent to the desired location. At last, coiled tubing is put down after cement solidification and gas production is recovered. The measurement of coiled tubing and cement slurry system is positive for water plugging in gas wells with high depth and temperature. The oilfield test results show that daily gas production is improved largely and liquid production is reduced by 90% of 4 wells with high water cut through water plugging. Besides, operation cost is reduced and the pollution problem caused by produced water is also solved, which can provide certain significance for the same type wells need water plugging operation.

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New Technologies to Improve the Performance of High Water Cut Wells Equipped With ESP

10.31224/osf.io/wujcp ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Sudad H Al-Obaidi ◽

Smirnov VI ◽

Khalaf FH

Keyword(s):

New Technologies ◽

Produced Water ◽

Low Cost ◽

High Water ◽

Oil Wells ◽

Simultaneous Injection ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut

The article deals with theoretical and practical issues of improving the efficiency of operation of high-water cut oil wells by developing and applying double-acting pumping systems based on electric submersible pumps. This combination is providing down-hole gravitational separation of oil and produced water, lifting low-water-cut oil to the surface with simultaneous injection of most of the separated water into the absorbing formation without lifting to the surface. Moreover, it is providing low-cost regulation of the ratio of the volumes of the lifted product and the injected water, as well as monitoring the quality of the injected water with the required frequency.

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Produced Water Reinjection in Mature Field With High Water Cut

10.2118/108050-ms ◽

2007 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

William Navarro

Keyword(s):

Produced Water ◽

High Water ◽

Mature Field ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut

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Thief zone identification and classification in unconsolidated sandstone reservoirs: A field case study

Journal of Petroleum Exploration and Production Technology ◽

10.1007/s13202-021-01239-6 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Anzhu Xu ◽

Fachao Shan ◽

Xiao Yang ◽

Jiaqi Li ◽

Chenggang Wang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Comprehensive Evaluation ◽

Water Injection ◽

Fuzzy Comprehensive Evaluation ◽

High Water ◽

Field Development ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut ◽

Bypassed Oil

AbstractChanneling between injectors and producers leads to bypassed oil left in the reservoir, which is one of most common reasons that wells in mature oil fields experience high water cut after long-term waterflooding. Identification and evaluation of the higher permeable channels (thief zones) are the key to effectively plug these thief zones and improve the conformance of water flood. This study applies three different methods to identify and evaluate the thief zones of a water injection project in North Buzazi Oilfield, a thick-bedded unconsolidated sandstone heavy oil reservoir in Manghestau, Kazakhstan. The thief zones, which evolve as a result of formation erosion and sand production, are identified and classified with respect to four different levels of significance using fuzzy comprehensive evaluation, production/injection profile method and pressure index (PI) methods. Good consistency is observed among the identification results using these methods. Finally, we present two ways to quantitatively evaluate the characteristics of the thief zones using water–oil-ratio as the input, which can be readily applied for future field development design.

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Diagnosing High Water Production in Kalama Field, Niger Delta

Journal of Engineering Research and Reports ◽

10.9734/jerr/2021/v21i917488 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 18-26

Author(s):

Amieibibama Joseph ◽

Friday James

Keyword(s):

Niger Delta ◽

Oil And Gas ◽

Produced Water ◽

High Water ◽

Gas Production ◽

Water Production ◽

Oil And Gas Production ◽

Excess Water ◽

High Water Cut ◽

The Impact

Produced water is water trapped in underground formations that is brought to the surface along with oil or gas. It is by far the largest volume by-product or waste stream associated with oil and gas production especially in brown fields. Management of produced water present challenges and costs to operations. In this paper, the possible causes, effects and solutions of high water-cut is being investigated in some production oil wells in Niger Delta, using Kalama field as a case study. Diagnostic and performance plots were developed in order to determine the source of water as well as to evaluate the impact of excess water production on oil production and in field economics in general. Results obtained from the diagnostic plots showed the possible sources of water production are channeling behind casing and multi-layered channeling. The recommended remediation is cementation through a workover operation. Also, a concise step to be taken for identifying excess water was also developed in this work to effectively control excess water production in oil producing wells.

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Representative Sector Modeling and Waterflooding Performance in Rumaila Oilfield

Iraqi Journal of Science ◽

10.24996/ijs.2021.62.1.18 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 192-203

Author(s):

Mustafa Kamil Shamkhi ◽

Mohammed Salih Aljawad

Keyword(s):

History Matching ◽

Dynamic Models ◽

Water Injection ◽

High Water ◽

Full Field ◽

Field Development ◽

The North ◽

Pvt Data ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut

Rumaila supergiant oilfield, located in Southern Iraq has a huge footprint and is considered as the second largest oilfield in the world. It contains many productive reservoirs, some known but without produced zones, and significant exploration potential. A fault divides the field into two domes to the north and south. Mishrif reservoir is the main producing reservoir in the North Rumaila oilfield. It has been producing for more than 40 years and is under depletion. However, it was subjected to water injection processes in 2015, which assisted in recovery and pressure support. Thus, requirements of managing flooding strategies and water-cut limitations are necessary in the next stages of the field life. In this paper, sector modeling was applied to a specific portion of the field, rather than full-field modeling, to accelerate history matching strategy and correlate static to dynamic models’ efficiently, with a minimum level of tolerance. The sector was modeled by surrounding with additional grid blocks and two pseudo wells to achieve a good matching with actual available data. PVT data were used for fluid modeling of a well contained in the sector, and two rock functions were inserted to the model to achieve acceptable history matching. Twelve wells were considered in this research, two of them were injectors and the remaining are producers. For future performance, some of these wells were subjected to new completion and workover processes for field development and pressure maintenance. The importance of the development plan is to represent a way for field development without new wells to be drilled. This was conducted by adding perforations to some wells, plugging the high water-cut production zones, changing production and injection rates, and converting the producers to injectors.

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Study on Optimization of Combined Parameters of Subdivision Water Injection Layer Sections in Ultra-high Water Cut Stage

E3S Web of Conferences ◽

10.1051/e3sconf/20185301020 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 53 ◽

pp. 01020

Author(s):

Lin Li

Keyword(s):

Water Injection ◽

Soil Layer ◽

High Water ◽

Development Stage ◽

Economic Benefits ◽

Well Test ◽

High Water Cut Stage ◽

High Water Cut ◽

Water Cut ◽

Combined Parameters

After 50 years of exploitation, Block A has entered the development stage of the ultra-high water cut stage. Although the layer series of development has been subdivided and adjusted, the interlayer interference is still serious, imposing difficulties in development adjustment. Based on dynamic production data and monitoring data analysis, this paper applies multi-disciplinary reservoir description technology and introduces economic evaluation indicators to quantitatively analyze the variation coefficient of permeability within subdivided layer sections, the number of monolayer breakthrough series and sections, the number of small layers within a layer section, and the effect of sandstone thickness on the subdivision and adjustment effect, analyze the influence of well test period and operation costs on the economic benefits, and the optimize combined parameters of subdivision water injection layer sections. After field application, the utilization proportion of sandstone in the soil layer with the subdivided well permeability of less than 0.1 μ m2 increased by 18.3 percentage points, and the average daily oil output per well in the surrounding wells increased by 0.3 t, effectively reducing the decline in output and increase in the water cut, and providing technical support for water flood fine potential tapping in the ultra-high water cut stage.

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