Abstract
Infill drilling can significantly improve reservoir interwell connectivity in heterogeneous reservoirs, thereby enhances the waterflood recovery. This study defines and investigates the Hydraulic Interwell Connectivity (HIC) concept to characterize and estimate the reservoir connectivity, quantitatively. This approach is an integrated study of reservoir characterization, geostatistics, production performance and reservoir engineering. In this study HIC is quantitatively defined as the ratio of observed fluid flow rate to a maximum possible (ideal) flow rate between any combination of any two wells in the producing unit. The spatial distribution of HIC can be determined for different layers or total net pay of the reservoir. Geostatistics is used to evaluate the horizontal and vertical variation of HIC in the reservoir. The spatial variation of HIC can be used to describe the degree of communication between injectors and producers. This spatial distribution of HIC can also serve as a guide for selecting infill well locations. A West Texas producing unit, JL Johnson "AB", with average reservoir permeability of 0.90 md, is used as an example to illustrate the application of this approach. The waterflood infill drilling recovery is improved by incorporating the HIC in simulation study. It is a practical approach which facilitates and eases the implementation of targeted infill drilling. This approach makes targeted infill drilling more economical over pattern infill drilling by eliminating the drilling of poor injectors and producers. It is found to be a useful concept and procedure to design, implement and optimize infill drilling programs.
Malik, Zaheer Ahmad (1993). An integrated approach to characterize reservoir connectivity to improve waterflood infill drilling recovery. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1993 -THESIS -M251.