First Commercial Success for a New Waterflood Sweep Improvement Treatment

Danielle Ohms¹, Jennifer McLeod¹, Katrina Yancey¹, Craig J. Graff¹, Harry Frampton², K. T. Chang³, Jim C. Morgan⁴, and Stephen Cheung^5
1BP Alaska, 900 E. Benson Blvd, Anchorage, AK 99508
²BP EPTG
³Nalco
⁴Jimtech
⁵Chevron

World wide recovery factors of conventional oil reserves are expected to average about 30 percent, so methods of improving oil recovery from existing reservoirs are of great importance. Water flooding makes a positive contribution to recovery but when thief zones and permeable channels reduce the efficiency it can be difficult to correct. The most common solution is to sidetrack wells, though the cost of the incremental oil produced can be relatively high.

A novel, heat activated treatment to divert injected water deep in thief zones has stimulated production of bypassed oil in BP’s Milne Point field. In this commercial trial treatment 150,000 pounds of particle emulsion was dosed into 86,000 barrels of the injected water. Formation of a block was detected on schedule 9 months later and this has resulted in over 60,000 barrels of incremental oil production to date at a cost comparable with traditional well work and less than sidetracking.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90076©2008 AAPG Pacific Section, Bakersfield, California