Uncovering Waterflood Potential within the Low Permeability Midale

To increase oil recovery, the client needed to understand the feasibility of implementing a waterflood.

Project Highlights

  • Involved a low permeability reservoir with multi-stage hydraulically fractured horizontal wells
  • Needed to understand the potential for waterflooding
  • Generated a reservoir simulation model to investigate waterflooding and well-spacing scenarios
  • Revealed importance of timing of injector conversions and well spacing
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Challenges:

The client wanted to determine the feasibility of implementing a waterflood to increase oil recovery in the field

The producing formation of interest is the Mississippian-aged Midale Beds of the Charles Formation within the Madison Group

The carbonate reservoir contains light oil under natural depletion

The zone is currently being developed with multi-stage hydraulically fractured horizontal wells

Solutions:

Sproule ERCE conducted a geological evaluation to develop reservoir maps and parameters for a selected client-operated section of the field

Engineers constructed a detailed reservoir simulation model with local grid refinement to model the hydraulic fractures, and matched history to available performance data

Forecasts showed the benefits of waterflooding, the timing of injector conversions and the effects of different well spacing

Values:

Sproule ERCE determined primary and waterflood recovery factor profiles through performance forecasting with the model

The study results helped the client understand waterflood response times and the impact of denser well spacing

The results underscored the importance of timing the conversion of a well to the success of a waterflood