EOR/IOR

Improving Sweep Efficiency at the Mature Koluel Kaike

and Piedra Clavada Waterflooding Projects, Argentina

Most of the mature waterflood projects

in the San Jorge basin in Argentina
have been affected by poor displace-
ment and sweep efficiencies, both lim-
iting recovery. A reactive-particulate
system was tested to improve volumet-
ric sweep efficiency. The main purpose
of this field trial was to demonstrate
the ability of the system to improve oil
recovery by diversion of injected water
into the poorly swept zones around the
thief zone or streaks.

Introduction
The Koluel Kaike and Piedra Clavada
fields are at the southern flank of the
San Jorge Gulf basin, in the province
of Santa Cruz, Argentina. These fields
were discovered in the early 1960s and
were produced under primary deple-
tion until the mid-1980s. Thereafter,
a massive waterflood was initiated to
increase the relatively poor primary
recovery. The project has 220 injec-
tors, with an average injection rate of
1,600 BWPD per injector, affecting
500 producing wells. A total of 1.9 bil-
lion bbl of water has been injected,
resulting in incremental recovery esti-
mated at 75 million bbl of oil, through
December 2006.
This article, written by Technology Editor
Dennis Denney, contains highlights
of paper SPE 107923, “New Attempt
in Improving Sweep Efficiency at the
Mature Koluel Kaike and Piedra Clavada
Waterflooding Projects of the S. Jorge
Basin in Argentina,” by Pablo Adrian
Paez Yañez, SPE, and Jorge Luis
Mustoni, SPE, Pan American Energy;
Maximo F. Relling, SPE, and Kin-
Tai Chang, SPE, Nalco; and Paul
Hopkinson and Harry Frampton,
SPE, BP, prepared for the 2007 SPE
Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum
Engineering Conference, Buenos Aires,
15–18 April.
Fig. 1—SEM photograph of a dried film of unreacted particles of the
sweep-control reagent.
However, this mature waterflood, as
with many other projects in the San Jorge
basin, has experienced limited recovery.
Poor displacement and sweep efficiency
are characteristic of these reservoirs. The
Koluel Kaike reservoir has an average
of 15 stacked layers, which are braided
channel deposits, each 16 ft thick.
Each channel is a differentiated flow
unit, with individual gas/oil/water con-
tacts, along a 3,000-ft column between
3,500 and 6,500 ft deep. Each channel is
700 to 2,300 ft wide, and they generally
are not aligned vertically. In any given
well, there is a series of separate layers
for injection or production (flow prop-
erties have a high degree of anisotropy).
For both fields, more than 400 flow
units can be differentiated.
Statistical estimation of the petrophys-
ical properties indicates an average 22%
porosity and 50- to 100-md permeability
for the matrix rocks. The mineralogy is
complex and is derived from volcanic
compounds and a wide range of clays
and cementing materials. This varia-
tion causes moderate complications in
saturation determination from logs and/
or causes formation-damage problems.
There also is a wide range, and random
variations, in the salinity of the relatively
fresh formation water.
The reservoir fluid is undersaturated
at initial conditions. The primary recov-
ery mechanism is a combination of fluid
and rock expansion. Oil gravity ranges
from 19 to 23°API, viscosity from 5 to
150 cp at reservoir conditions (150°F),
and gas/oil ratio from 30 to 100 scf/bbl.
Reservoir energy is limited, and
production requires artificial lift. The
productive layers are commingled in
the wellbore, and the pump intake is
set below the bottom productive per-

For a limited time, the full-length paper is available free to SPE members at www.spe.org/jpt. The paper has not been peer reviewed.

JPT • JANUARY 2008 47

 months after injection startup, and the
magnitude also is highly variable.
The lack of per-layer reservoir data
precludes deterministic calculation or
a sophisticated numerical-simulation
model. Values of certain parameters
such as oil in place, recovery factors,
and sweep efficiencies should be con-
sidered as gross references and not as
deterministic results.

Fig. 2—SEM photograph of a swollen-particle network dried from deion- tomhole pressure. Typical production
ized water showing extensive interparticle-network formation.
Well Completion
On average, each well intercepts six
zones, ranging from 4 to 12 layers, that
test oil; some of these require hydrau-
lic-facture stimulation. Of the 500 pro-
ducers, 56% are beam pumped, 42%
are produced by use of an electrical
submersible pump, and the remaining
are produced by use of a progressing-
cavity pump. Lifting optimization is
accomplished by trying to maximize
the drawdown by minimizing the bot-
for a well under primary depletion is
30 BOPD with 30% water cut, while
for a secondary producer, the average
production is 20 BOPD with 97.5%
water cut.

Reactive-Particulate System
The reactive-particulate system was
proposed on the basis of simulation
studies that showed deep flow diver-
sion could achieve effective-sweep
improvement in reservoirs having thief
zones in full or partial contact with
less-swept zones. Field trials in Alaska
showed promising results.

Mechanism—Pore Scale. The par-

Fig. 3—SEM photograph of swollen-particle aggregates at higher salinity.
foration to maximize the drawdown.
This configuration, with small annular
space, precludes production logging
and determining the production rate on
a zone-by-zone basis. This limitation
prevents determining individual-layer
recovery factors.
Even though relative permeabil-
ity and oil-viscosity data are scarce,
at least on a zone-by-zone basis, it is
inferred that a very unfavorable water/
oil mobility ratio (2 to 30) exists. This
unfavorable mobility ratio resulted in
early water breakthrough at producing
wells. It is very unusual to encoun-
ter evidence of oil-bank formation.
A typical producer response to the
waterflood is a simultaneous increase
in the oil and water production with
the water/oil ratio established rapidly
at approximately 10. Response time
at the waterflood producers is highly
variable. A typical production increase
at the affected producers begins 3 to 6
ticulate system comprises submicron
polymer-based particles having cross-
links that break under the influence
of heat. Unreacted particles are shown
in the scanning-electron-microscope
(SEM) photograph of a dried film
of product in Fig. 1. As the cross-
link-breakage reaction proceeds, the
particles are able to imbibe water and
swell such that they increase in size
and then associate. The swollen associ-
ated particles can block pore throats
in matrix rock as shown in Fig. 2. In
this sample, particles were allowed
to react with deionized water, then
the resultant mixture was dried and
images were obtained. The fairly open
network of 70 to 100 μm approximate-
ly represents the probable maximum
size obtainable. Under higher-salin-
ity conditions, smaller though more
structurally compact 10- to 30-μm

48 JPT • JANUARY 2008

aggregates were obtained, as shown
in Fig. 3.
The degree to which drying effects
contributed to the aggregate size in
these experiments is not known.
However, permeability reductions of up
to approximately 1.5 darcies seen in the
laboratory and in field tests of porous
media strongly support the formation of
relatively large aggregates in solution.
Field Treatments
There are three phases of a treatment.
Injection. The submicron particles are
mixed into the injection water with
a surfactant to disperse efficiently as
single particles. This process is sub-
stantially easier for these particles than
for the related linear water-soluble-
emulsion polymers because the par-
ticulates are crosslinked internally and
do not swell or thicken the water as
do water-soluble-emulsion polymers
during mixing. The particles, dispersed
in the injection water, travel down
the well and follow the water into the
rock matrix. The resistance to flow
is minimal.
Propagation. Once in the matrix rock,
particles follow the flow of the water. It
appears unnecessary to know in detail
how this flow occurs. The existence
of thief-zone behavior indicates that a
sweep problem exists, and the particles
move in and with the water.
Popping. The injection water is often,
though not always, cooler than the
reservoir temperature, which results
in the formation of a thermal front
in the reservoir. Different grades of
the particulate system have different
reaction rates corresponding to given
temperatures. Therefore, a product that
reacts relatively slowly at injection tem-
perature will react faster at reservoir
temperature. Treatments for isother-
mal targets with temperatures below
approximately 200°F usually can be
designed, but the use of a temperature
difference in a field is preferred.
When the particles are heated, inter-
nal crosslinks break and polymer par-
ticles swell. Then, the particles are
capable of interaction and can block
pore throats.
Candidate-Screening Criteria
Many factors must be considered when
ranking candidates for sweep improve-
ment. The following points must be con-
JPT • JANUARY 2008
sidered for potential sweep-improve-
ment treatments with this system.
• Available moveable-oil reserves
• Poor recovery results from limited
energy of the primary-recovery mecha-
nism, poor displacement efficiency by
secondary process, or poor volumetric-
sweep efficiency caused by reservoir
anisotropies (thief zones or channels)
• Moderate-to-low vertical-/horizontal-
permeability ratio
• Relatively low injection-water tem-
perature, enabling treatment to reach
the thermal front in the reservoir
• Reservoir temperature
• Injection-water salinity
• Rock lithology and matrix perme-
ability
• Well-pattern geometry and spacing
• Injectivity
• Ability to measure incremental oil
• Surface-facilities availability
Field Case
Initial screening indicated that Pattern
EV-142 would be suitable for treat-
ment. The layer representing the
majority of the original oil in place is
Layer 152, although other layers were
perforated in Injection Well EV-142.
The recovery factor was 17% vs. the
expected 30%. There was evidence of
an adverse mobility ratio and evidence
that the center of the channel sand in
Layer 152 had been well swept, but
the edges had not. The aim of the
treatment was to divert water out of
the main channel to recover unswept
oil. The existence of unswept oil also
was inferred from the incremental-oil
response when production wells were
converted to injectors.
Isolation of Layer 152 in EV-142.
The sliding sleeves accessing the other
perforated zones in the well were
closed before the treatment. The layers
that were closed in for the duration
of the treatment were reopened a few
days after conclusion of the treatment,
thus allowing a comparison with the
pretreatment production history.
Tracer Tests. The water-response
times from the crossplot study did not
suggest contact times less than 30 days.
However, it was decided that a chemi-
cal-tracer test be conducted. This test
needed only to detect breakthrough
times in the 30- to 60-day time peri-
od because this period would require
adjustment of the particulate-product
choice and/or injection scheme. There
was no reported tracer response during
the 105-day monitoring.
Polymer Selection. The location of the
thermal front within the reservoir was
not known or simulated; however, on
the basis of previous experience, it was
expected to be approximately halfway
between the injection and first produc-
ing wells. To avoid the possibility of
particles being produced, it was con-
sidered critical that the reaction time
be shorter than the remaining transit
time through the fastest connection
between the wells. The medium reac-
tion-rate grade was selected on the
basis of water-injection temperature of
120°F, reservoir temperature of 160°F,
injection-water salinity and pH, and
the estimated minimum water-transit
time from the injection well to the
nearest production wells. A “popping
time” at reservoir temperature was
estimated at 40 days.
Concentration. The 50- to 300-md
permeability range of the layer sug-
gested particle concentration should be
3,000 ppm active, with the concentrate
supplied as a 30% dispersion of particles
in light mineral oil. This concentration
allowed dispersion and dilution of the
particle slug during the propagation
phase of the treatment. It was expected
that upon reaching the thermal front,
the particle concentration would range
from 2,000 to 2,500 ppm active.
Conclusions
Treatment of two waterflood projects
in the San Jorge basin in late 2006
and early 2007 with a particulate sys-
tem to improve sweep efficiency was
evaluated and found applicable and of
potential benefit. The means of target
selection and treatment design were
refined to cope with limited reser-
voir and zonal-production informa-
tion. This pilot test showed that the
particulate sweep-improvement agent
could be mixed and injected effec-
tively in the oil fields of the San Jorge
basin. The needed injection equipment
was simple, and because of the cross-
linked nature of the particles injected,
the chemical-injection points could be
closer together, with less intervening
mixing than previously anticipated.
The particles, mixed into the water,
injected easily into sandstone matrix
with permeability between 50 and
300 md, which is lower than that pre-
viously field tested. JPT
49