SOCIETYOF PETROLEUMENGINEERSOF AIME

6200 North CentralExpressway :~~~ sPE 4977

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THIS IS A PREPRINT---’SUBJECTTO CORRECTION;

Recovery Optimization Through Infi I I Dri I I ing

Concepts, Analysis, and Field Results

By

Vance J. Driscoll,Member SPE-AIME,Amoco ProductionCo.

@Copyright 1974
American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers, Inc.

This paper was preparedfor the @th Annual Fall Meetingof the Societyof Petroleum
Engineersof AIME, to be held in Houston,Texas,Oct. 6-9, 1974. Permissionto copy is
restrictedto an abstractof not more than 300 words. Illustrationsmay nat be copied.
The abstractshouldccmtainconspicuousacknowledgment of where and by whom the paper is
presented. Publicationelsewhereafter publicationin the JOURNALOF PETROLEUMTECllNOLOGY
or the SOCIETYOF PETROLEUMENGINEERSJOURNAL is usuallygrantedupon requestto the Edit9r
of the appr~priatejournalprovidedagreementto give proper creditis made.

Discussionof this paper is invited. Three copiesof any discussionshcmldbe sent t~

. of PetroleumEn~ineersoffice. Such discussionsmay be ~resentedat the above
the Societsf
meetingand, with the paper, may be consideredfor publicationin one of the two SPE magazines.

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION

This paper gives theoreticalconceptsand There is probablyno place more then

some supportingmathematicalmodel and field
performancedata which demonstratefactorsthat
can be involvedin recoveryincreasesby infill
drilling. Many of these factorsrelateto
variousreservoirheterogeneities and are
quantitatively more iz@ortantin fluid injection
projects. Recoveryincreaseby infilldrilling
of low-permeability waterfloodprojectscan be
due to as many as nine differentfactorswith
varyingdegreesof technicaldifficultyto
specificallyquantitize. However,based on
performanceand certaintheoreticalknowledge
and concepts,reasonablefactorsinvolving
judgmentcmbe developedasto percentof
originaloil-in-placerecoveryincrease.
i increasein over-alirecovery,
Attractiveconventionalgrowth economics
based on increasedultimatewaterfloodrecovery
ara indicatedfor areas of low-permeability,
slowlydepletingreservoirswith relatively
large amountsof oil in place. This is in
additionto substantial. increasesin current
rates of productionand presentworth. ‘&pi-
caXly,an increaseon the order of 4 percentof
the original.oil in place will be gainedby
infilldriKLingfrom 40- to 20-acrespacing.
However,this can varyby a factorof two or
more dependingupon the specificsituation.
Referencesand illustrationsat end of paper.
I ,
reservoirengineeringwhere a spiritof Hegelian
dialecticismapplies. That is, there is ?’truth~’
and “error.” However,in the truth there still
exists some error. Consequently,with time a
new truth evolvesthat is purged of some
previousimperfections.In the 1940’s,Uren31
Muskat,2and predecessorcompaniesof Exxon,
among others,publishedthinkingand results
properlydecryingmisapplications of Cutler’s
rule. This had been a previousempirical
obsenation which indicatedthat primary
recoveryin denselydrilledportionsof fields
was greaterand proportionalto the squareroot
of well density. It was generallyshown that
this was due to migrationfrom less densely
drilledareas of the same fields ratherthan an
The tendencysince about the 1950’shas
been to considerincreasedrecoveryby infill
drillingas negligibleor only to considerit
where some one factorin a particularreservoir
had a dramaticeffectupon recovery. This has
been partly due to past limitationson ability
to realisticallydescribeand simulateactual
reservoirheterogeneityand displacement.The
adventof numericalsimulationand various
improvementsin quantitativereservoirdescrip-
tion and informationevaluationtechniquesover
 RECOVERYOPTIMIZATIONTHROUGHINFILLDRILLING
7 CONCEPTS.ANALYSIS.AND
---.-—. --, .-. --——--- , ... . FIELD RESULTS WE 4977

the past 20 years,while still subjectto practicalfield applicationsover and above the
limitations,currentlypermit a more quentita- factorscited is the presenceof adverseareal
tive evaluationof these factors. For fluid heterogeneity.While this canbe due to aniso-
injectionprojects,the added aspecteof point tropicpermeability,poor flood performance
injection,resa~uration,and greater distance often appearsto be due to naturalor induced
of fluid traveldue to divisioninto injection vertical.(highangle) fractures.
and withdrawalpoints,inherentlytends to
magnifythe quantitativeeffectsof well Fig. 1 schematicallyillustratesthe
spacing,arrangements,lateraldiscontinuities, effectsof an east-westtype fractureorienta-
etc., on recovezy. tion on resultingwaterfloodperformance. This
is for an 80-acrefive-spotwaterfloodwhere
The purposeof this paper is to set forth interveningproducingwells are on an eaet-
more explicitlythese factorsand their quan- west line to injectionwells. In many of our
titativeeffectsin the petroleumliterature. West Texaswaterfloodprojectsinjectedfluids
Due to the broadnessof scope,it will be pos- often have a preferentialdirectionof move=
sibleonly to highlightthese factors. A ment due to directional. areal permeabilityor
detailedevaluationof each one could well be pre-existingor inducedfractures. As indicated #
the subjectof one or more papers in themselves visually,injectionwater has preferentially
●

moved in an east-westdirectionresultingin I

CONCEPTS early water breakthroughat the existingpro-

ducingwells. Considerableoil is therefore
The nine factorsto be presentedhere as l!trappedtlin the area betweenthe watered-out
having an effecton recovery increaseby infill producersat economiclimits of production.
drillingare (1) taking advantageof areal Infilldrillingbetweenthe existingwells on a
heterogeneityby givingfavorableflooding path diagonalor-perpendicular to the direction
orientation(turn5-spOts45°, etc.)P (2) of ”preferential.+ater movementwill resultin
minimizationof lateral-typepay discontinui-
ties, (3) recoveryof “wedgeedge” oil, (4)
additiond,o%frecovery. I
improvedareal sweep (minimizingpoor geometry whi~~ attributableto highlydirectional
effectscausedby the originalwell arrangement ard_d~6rmeabilityby Hutchinson,f+ an early cas(
and/orinitialinjection-production we% selec- of f~oodtngperformanceof this type was re-
tion), (5) better confinement of iIIjf3CtiOII portedby Huntersin 1956 for the North Burbank
fluids to pay zones, (6) better controlof Unit in Ql&homa. Reportedfracturingof the
injectionprofileswhere zones exist that are formationat a pressuregradientof 0.265 psi./fi
not generallyin directverticalcommunication plus the highlydirectionalnature of water
(7) increasedconductivity(rates)and reduced breakthrough indicatesvertical-typefracturing
per well economiclimits, (8) reducedoil in light of currentknowledge. Similartype
shrinkageand improveddisplacementefficiency” occurrenceson eithera limitedor broad scale
by acceleratinginjectionand effectively in a nudoerof Amoco Weet Texaswaterflood havt
waterfloodingat a lesser stage of primary led to a generalpolicy of controllinginjectiol
depletion,and (9) possibleadverseeffectsof to below formationpartingpressures.
prior injectionimbalance.
Bbdel resultsfrom variousAmoco studiestt
This paper discusseslow permeability be citedwere conductedwith a two-dimensional,
reservoirsin West Texas, However,most of three-phasemultilayr “blackoil” mathematical
these conceptsapply equallyas well in higher reservoirsimulator. % A five-layermodelwith
permeabilityreservoirs. In addition,other 11 x 11 grid blocksper layer,with interconnect”
factorssuch as gravityand trappedgas satura - tion only at wellbores,was employedto repre-
tion canbe involvedin higherpermeability sent a 40-acresymmetricalelementof an 80-acr(
reservoirs. five-spot. Cornerblocks had one-fourththe
area and edge.blocksone-halfthe area of other
ANALYSIS blocks. All waterfloodmodel resultsto be
discussedare for low-mobilitywaterflood.
FavorableFloodingOrientation Fieldswere in variousstagesof primarydeple-
tion rengingfrom intermediateto advancedwith
The need for inclusionof layering,areal gas saturationson the order?of 9 to 1$ percent
sweep efficiency,and mobilityratio effects at start of flooding. Approximatelylogarithm
in determiningwaterfloodperformancehas been permeabilitydistributionwas employedwith a
we13.recognizedfor a number of years. These permeabilitydistributionfactor (K#Kti)
and relativepermeability,saturation,end rangingfrom 20 to 53. This is roughlyequiva-
fluid propertydata are generallyemployedin lent to a log-normalpermeabilityv iati.on
some mannerin all.currentwaterfloodpredic- factor as used by Dykstra-Parsons91?6 of about
tion calculations.One factor that can make a 0.63 to 0.75.
large differencein waterfloodrecoveryin
— .
?2
= 1.05’7
F+711
VANCE
.--. .-— J.
Figs. 2 end 3 show some model sensitivity
analysisresultsobtainedduring our 1970
Anton-IrishClearforkUnit Study. This is a
5,900-ftClearforkfield locatedin Lab, Hale,
and HockleyCountiesof West Texas. An 80-acre
five-spotpatternin Anton-IrishClearfork
resultsin mst producersbeing on a due east-
west line to injectors. Practicallyall wells
in this unit were given large volume,high rate
fracturestimulationtreatmentsat one time or
mother. From well.performance,it is not
slwayspossibleto distinguishbetweenthe
effectsof directionalpermeabilityor natural
and/orinducedfracturin, particularlywhere
the fracturingmaybe 108 to 20° off of a direct
line with the producingwell. These particular
model runs were made to give a quantitative
“feel”as to the effect on well and field per-
formanceof moderatedirectionalpermeabilityor
a set of inducedfractures.
To simulatea fracture,modelblocks one-
tenth the width of the distancebetweenwell.
rows had their east-westconductanceincreased
to 11 times their normal.value on a line
betweeninjectorsand producers. This in effect
doubledthe east-westto the north-southnon-
ductance,with this extra 100 percentconduc-
tsnce being confinedto a narrow set of blocks.
This would be somewhatanalogousto operating
an injectionwell so that amountof injection
was approachingtwice the formationparting
pressurerate.
AS shownon Fig. 2, recoveryto a 95 per-
cent watercutwas reducedfrom 35.3 to 25.8
percent,or some 9.5 percentof the original.
oil-in-placeover the 80-acreverticallystrati-
fied, but areallyhomogeneous,permeability
case. With a 2.25:1uniformlyhigher east-west
over north-southdirectional. permeabilityorien -
tation,recoveryof the originaloil in place
was indicatedto be reducedby 1.4 percentfrom
35.3 to 33.9 to the same 95 percentwatercut.
Geometricmean permeabilitywas the same as the
homogeneouscase.
Infilldrilling,which turnedthe orienta-
tion so that floodingtended to proceedat an
angle to any moderateuniformdirectionalper-
meability,resultedin essentiallythe same 36.0
percentultimaterecoveryfor a homogeneousor a
2.25:1 east-westto north-southpermeability
orientation.For the infill.five-spot,recovery
was not only accelerated,but also was increased
from 35.3 to 36.0 percentof the originaloil-
in-placeto the same watercut. This is pri-
marilyattributedto effectively‘~catching” the
flood at a lesser stage of primsrydepletion
resulttigin less shrinkageand slightlybetter
displacetintsnd sweep efficiencies.Actually,
due to (1) lower geometricresistancewith q
closerpatternend (2) the fact that over-all
unit operatingcost would not be fully doubled
- . DIUSCOLL
—..——— — ~
/
with infilldevelopment,additionalrecovery
over the 0,7 percentof original.
oil in place
shownhere to a commonwatercutshouldbe
obtainable. However,effectsof floodingat a
lesser stage of primaw depletionand the
effectsof increasedgeometriccon&~ctanceand
loweredBOPD per well economiclimitswill be
quantitatively discussedelsewhere.
Fig. 3 shows oil and water producingrates
vs time for the 8C&acrefive-spotwith and
withoutthe 11:1 east-westfracture. While
certainwell performance,formationpacker?
and boreholetelcviewerdata indicatethat some
limitedeast-westtype fracturingexistsat
Anton Irish Clearfork,the finitefractureruns
actuallyseem to resemblequite closelycertain
performancethat has been observedin the
FullertonClearforkUnit of AndrewsCounty,West
Texas.
In the FullertonUnit the basic patternis
a repeatingthree-to-onedirect line drive.
This consistsof three north-southproducing
rows betweennorth-southrows of injectors. In
an east-westdirectionthe three intervening
producersare on a directline with offsetting
injectors. Characteristically, limitedoil
responsehas been obtainedwith prematurewater
breakthroughand high watercutsat the pro-
ducingwells. On the other hand, high oil rates
and lower watercutsgenerallyhave been obtained
on certaininitialinfillwells drilledoff the
east-westline betweeninjectors.
MinimizeLateral-Typ
e Pay Discontinuities
A factorusuallyignoredin.a quantitative
seneeuntil the last few years has been the
effectof lateral-typepay discontinuities on
calculatedrecoverywith differentdepletion
mechanisms. With 40-acredevelopment,typic-
ally, oil must move upto 660ft (745ft
radially)to reach a wellbore. Additionally,
providinga small lense had been penetratedby”
at least one well, it shouldbe fairlywell
depletedunder primaryoperations. On the othez
hand, with conversioneven to the most densely
spacedwaterfloodpatternof ~t 80-acrefive-
spotwith the same nunber of wells, average
traveldistanceof injectedfluids from an
injectorto a producerwould become in excessof
1,320 #t and waterfloodrecoverywould be obtair
able only if penetratedby both a production
and injectionwell. Poor sweep efficiencyalso
will be obtainedfrom smalllenses only
, moderatelygreaterthan”wellspacing.
In supportof a capacityallowablerequest
to the Texas RailroadCommission,Shell Oil Co.
as unit operatorof the DenverUnit Wasson
(Sanluxlres) field, presenteddatal~in March.
1972 to show that infi~ drillingwould result
in an increasein ultimaterecoveryfrom this
 RECOVERYOPTIJiWdlIONTHROUGHINFILL DRILLING
anm ‘mTwrl-l wGVSTTTWa CDV. I.CYYY
CONCEPTS,ANALYSIt wv rusuu JWGWUMJ W*J4 +’7[[

unit. Shell concludedthat ultimaterecoveiy dippingof the variousporous zones and the
from the unit couldbe increaeedby the infill- presenceof oil-wateror gas-oilcontacts, 2
drillingprogramsin three differentways. the uneven lateralextentof pay zones,or [1 3
Thesewere (1) a more Uniforminjectionpattern[ simplyinadequateedge development. Thus,
2 better controlof injection profiles,and additionaldrillingis requiredto recoverthis
3 closer spacingin this heterogeneousreser-
[1 wedge-edgeoil. Fig. 5 is a schematiccross-
voir. sectionof San Andres porous zones that dip
below the oil-watercontactin the eastern
While recove~ increaseswere attributable portionof sn Amoco-operated unit in the Wasson
to severaldifferentfactors such as improved Field. As indicatedon the schematiccross-
injectionprofilesand more uniformpatterns? section,only Wells 116, 128, and 150 existed
it also was estimatedthat some 18 millionbbl prior to the infill-drilling program. Outlined
of incrementalrecoverywould be obtainedfrom on the figure is the amountof wedge-edgeoil
a designated8t200-acrepre-1973drillingarea that would not have been recoveredif Wells 227
as a resultof minimizinglateral-typepay and 242 had not been drilled. It has been esti-
discontinuities.Schematiccross-sectionsare mated that drillingadditionalwells in this
includedin a recentSocietyof Petroleum unit for this type oil will result in an addi-
Engineerspaper,12while a sampledetailed ~1 tionalrecoveryofabout 5.5 mill.ionbblat a
cross-sectionis given in hearingtestimony. totsl investmentcost of $1.24 million. This i:
In essence,a detailedstudyby Shell geologist[ one of severalexamplesthat could be cited of
indicatedthat the pay sectionwas broken into how additionaldrillingcan be used in situa-
a number of verticallyseparatepay zones. It tions of this type to recover additional
was furtherconcludedthat these zoneswere not reserves.
uniformal.ly continuousin a lateral.
direction
and that portionseitherdied out or became ImprovedAreal Sweep
ineffectiveas net pay as a functionof horizon (MinimizePoor GeometryEffects)
tal distance.
Even without areal anisotropy,additional
Fig. 4 showspercent continuouspay as a wells can be used to minimizepoor geometry
functionof distancefor the Wasson (SanAndres effectscausedby the originalwell arrangement
field as arrivedat by Shel.1.11Differencesin and/orinitialinjection-production well selec-
laterallycontinuouspay of some &percent are tion. In apreviously publishedAmoco paper14
indicatedbetween20- and 40-acrespacing. On it was shown that infilldrillingtwo wells
the average,90 percentwas indicatedto be betweenthe existingthree producersin a West
continuousat a distanceof 933 ft end $6 per- Texas Slaughterfield ~lchickenwiret’ pattern
cent continuousat a distanceof 1,320ft. As would typicallyresult in an increasein
may be noted at distancesslightlyin excessof recoveryof on the order of 3.6 percentof the
1 mile, the percentcontinuouspay decreasedto originaloil in place. Fig. 6 conceptually
50 percen~. showsthe improvedareal sweep indicatedby
drillingthe two infillwells plus additional
Since therewere some 930 millionbbl of productionwells betweenthe injectorson the
originaloil in place in the initialinfill are long diagonalsof this pattern.
of this unit, an lEbnillion-bbl increasewould 11
representa recoveryincreasedue to this facto Shell, in testimony before the Railroad
of on the order of 2 percentof the original Commission,estimatedthat some 14,000,000bbl
oil in place. Certain studiesin anotherWest of additionalrecovery,or some l+ percentof
Texas San Andres reservoirand a West Texas the oil in place, shouldbe obtainablethrough
Clearforkreservoirindicatethe Wasson results improvedareal.sweep in the initialWasson
are realistic. Denver Unit infill-drilling area. This was by
infillingto a more uniformnine spot-type
SLnce there usuallyis substantialcon- pattern. In other situationsit can be shown
tinuity,pressureinterferencetestingnormally that infilldrillingsnd conversionof a five-
will have insufficientresolutionto prove or spot flood to an infill nine-spot will resdt
disprovelitited1 teral.pay discontinuities. in increasesin areal sweep efficiencysincenel
Kunkel and BagleyL3 presentpressureand other producerswill tend to be in Wrappedftoil
data in a 1965 articleon the Means Queen Sand areas.
waterfloodof AndrewsCounty,West Texas,which
tend to supportsome gross lateralpay dis- ConfineInflection Fluids to PaY Zones
continuitiesin this reservoir..
Anotherproblemthat can sometimesbe fulX
Recovery of “Wedge-Edge*’
Oil overcomeonly by infilldrillingis the one of
confininginjectionfluids to the pay zone. Fi;
Situationsexist in a numberof fields ? is a sketchthat illustratesa problemwhich
where !rwedge-edge~’
“oiloccursdue to (1) the has occurredin severalof our West Texas .
SPE l!b977
— .. . . VANCE J. DIUSCOIL 5

waterflood. Primarilydue to heavy stimulation techniquesthat have been employedin another

in the past to obtain maximumfluid producing unit in the same field to obtainimproved
rates,variouswells, when convertedto injec- injection-wellconformancein existingwel&
tion,were found to be losingwater in signifi- bores.
cent quantitiesbelow the total depth of the
well.. Due to permeabilityvariations,.acom-
pletelyideal injectionprofileis unattainable
There is a certaintendencyfor vertical exceptby mechanicalseparationend selective
fracturesto be confinedwithin a porcus zone, injection. This impliesan absenceof natural
particularlyif pay zone pressuresare low. fractures,good cementjobs, and light selective
However,high-ratelarge-volumefracturetreat- stimlations. With on the order of 30 to 40 ft
mentshave been found to sometimesresultin of separationbeing requiredto eliminatemost
fracturesthat penetratedense zones to under- “behind-the-pipe” communication, this is often
lying or overlyingporouswater-bearingzones. not feasiblewithoutn“onperforation of some
Selectiveplugging,squeezecementing, or other veridically separatedthin pay zones plus
remedialtechniquesare often only partially mechanicallyseparated~lrestricted rate~!flood-
successfulin eliminatingthis problem. Fur- ing of some of the naturallymore permeable
ther,with high angle fracturingthere is no intervalss
certaintyexceptby prolongedobservanceof
offsetwell performance,repeatedpressure Anotherapproachthat has been employed
pulse testing,etc., that apparentelimination in the same field has been a modifiedopen-hole
in the wellborehas redly resultedin effective program. Pipe is set at the top of the pay,
eliminationof communicationto an underlying the well drilledthroughthe lower permeability
or oveilyingwater-bearingzone. first porosity,and given a stagedfracture
treatment. The rwin pay is then drilledand
Certainperformancedata gives quite given a low-pressurestagedacid stimulation
conclusiveevidencethat etiensivefracturing below a packer. As opposedto olderwel.lswith
to underlyingwater zones in both injectionand casing set high, this has eliminatedmost prob-
producingwells has occurredin one of Amoco’s lems with water loss above the pay sectionand/
majorWest Texas floods. In anotherflood, or out the bottom of the hole. More effective
isolatedoccurrencesof this type were initi- stimulationof the lower permeabilityupper
ally detectedby major pressureresponsesat zones also tends to result in more uniform
wells two rows away from injectionwells in a injectionprofiles.
directionperpendicularto the known fracture
orientation. Interveningwe31s had low pres- A key improvementin waterfloodingopera-
sures in the pay zone since filluphad not yet tions is believedto be to insurethat all pay
“occurred.While variousmeasurescan be taken is taking water. In additionto techniques
with existingwellbores,infilldrillingusually mentionedby others,the acid interfacetech-
providesfor more effectivealleviationof these nique has been used to successfullyestablish
problems. injectionin porous sectionsnot previously
takingwater or productionfrom porous sections,
BetterControlof InjectionProfiles not previouslygivingup producingfluids.
While the optimummeans of accomplishingprofil(
Where variouspay zones existnot in improvementmaybe subjectto debate,there is
directverticalcommunication,it would ideally no questionthat improvinginjectionand pro-
be desirableto inject into each zone in ducing well profilesand confinementof injec-
accordancewith its porosityfeet or, more tion to and productionfrom pay zones should
precisely,its displaceable oil saturation. lead to increasedwaterfloodrecovery.
This would result in the highestamountof oil
recoveryfor a given amountof water production● IncreasedConductivity(Rate)and
This is schematicallyillustratedin a highly ReducedWell BOPD LimitsBy InfillDrilling
simplifiedmannerby Fig. 8. Based on i
model study results,Shell has estimated1? that Anotherconceptualreasonfor increased
enother14 millionbbl, or l~percent of the recoverywith closer spacingis that the resis-
originaloil in place, could be recoveredfor tance to flow is somewhatreduced. Typically,
the initial.Mill drill.area of the Wasson this will increaseper-wellinjectivityor
DenverUnit by increasingthe’vertical. confor- productivityby some 12~ percent. The above
mance from the upper pay by one-halfof that ntier is based on an averagegeometriccondi-
betweenexistingprofilesand that obtainable tion ratio of 2.5 on 40-acrespacing,givingan
with uniforminjection. They also discuss effectivewellboreradiusfor flow purposesof
variouscompletiontechniquesmost effectively about 33.8 ft as OppOSd to a nominal0.32 ft
employableon new wells and show resultsindi- (7-7/8-ti. wellbore).
eatingimproved refileson new injectionwells ●

Anotheroperator5? has discussedvarious For geometricconductancepurposes,the

 —

&O-acrefive-spotresistancei’sveiy closely MontgomeryUnit area, there is a total spreadof

proportion~ to two times In (526s5/33~8)as 3.8 percentin ultimaterecovery. This is
opposedto twice the In (744*5/33~8)for ~ 8~ between 10 BOPD economiclimitsfor the 85-acre
acre five-spot. Consequently,the geometric five-spotand 9 BOPD for the 1#.5-acrefive-
conductanceratio of sn Go-acrefive-spotover spot. Ultimaterecoverieswere 35.5 and 39.3
a l@-acrefive-spotfor the same 33.S ft percentof the originaloil in place, respec-
effectivewellboreis approximatelyin she ratio tively.
of 6.182/5.@6 = 1.125. Thus with doubled
density,injectionand producingrates after On the other hand, for high formation
fillup are on the order of ~times the 80-acre capacitywells on a five-spotpattern,economic
flood rate for the same stage of depletion,same limits maybe controlledby the mechanical. lift
pressuredifferentials,etc. capaci~yof the producingwells and the part of
the spreaddue to increasedconductivityas
A 33.8-fteffectivewellboresize also is opposd to reducedaverageper-welloperating
equivalentto a symmetricalverticalfracture cost will be eliminated. For West Texas con-
of infiniteconductivityand of height equal to ditions,it appearsthat there oftenwill.be
the pay sectionand etiendingabout 67.6 ft in somethingon the order of a 1 to 2 percent
both directionsfrom the wellborefor an over- increasein recoveryof the originaloil in
all lengthof about 135 ft as opposedto a place due to increasedconductivity(permissible
nominalwellborediameter. Injection-well pres- rates) and lower per-welloperatingcosts at
sure fallofftestingindicatesthis is a fairly economiclimits.
representative value.
ReducedShrinkageand Imwoved
A furtherfactor for West Texas floods is Displacementby AcceleratedFloodinq
that these are low-mobilityratio floodsof an
intermediateto oil-wetcharacter. Injectivity Minor increasesin ultimaterecoverywill
declinesuntil sometimeafter initialwater occur whe.1less primarydepletionhas occurred
breakthroughand then increasesas residualoil prior to repressuringby acceleratedwater in-
saturationsare graduallyfurtherreduced. jection. Due to less shrinkage,less stocktank
Thus, total systemmobilitytends to increase oil is left behind for a given residualoil
in the later stagesof depletion. Consequently , saturation. In addition,due to slightlylower
for any given pattern spacing,producinga well oil viscositywhere more gas is retainedor put
to a higherwatercutalso resultsin some addi- back into solution,there are also minor improve
tionalincreasein total systeminjectivityand ments in mobilityratio and thus displacement,
total fluid producingrates due to improved vertical,and areal sweep efficiency. The West
mobility. Texas Grayburg,San Andres,Clearfork,and Yates
formationsin questionare relativelylow
Fig. 9 showsthe resultsof a systematic shrinkagecrudes. However,some typicalcalcu-
investigationof these factorsfrom our lationsfor the Levelland(SanAndres)Unit
Levelland(SanAndres)Unit, HockleyCounty, indicatedon the order of en additionalO.~
Texas,Feb. 1970 Model Study. A value of percentof original. oil in placewould be re-
formationflow capacityof 320 mi-ft is high for coveredfor each 100 psi higherpressureat
the LevellandUnit. However,for this value an which floodingoccurredin the intermediate
equivalent10 BOPD per producingwell economic primarydepletionrange. Typically,there
limit on the 42.5-acreinfill.five-spotgave might be 50 psi less depletionby initially
49.2 percenttitimaterecoveryas.opposedto going to an infillfive-spotprior to fillup.
48.4 percentultimaterecoveryon the 85-acre This would amount to about a 0.2 percentin-
five-spotpattezvh This is a recoverydiffer- creasein recoveryof the originaloil in place,
ence of some 0.8 percentof the originaloil in
place. Correspondingwatercutswere 98 percent Amount of Prior InjectionIr&lence
and 97.5 percent. However,a ~re reasonable
econoticlimit for the infilldrill case could In consideringinfill. drilling,the possibl
be 9 BOPD or 98.2 percentwatercut ($0 percent adversefactor of amountof prior injection
increasein total unit operatingcost). This balancemust be considered. In some cases,for
would resultin a recove~ of 49.4 percentor a en infill. nine-spotpattern,for example$it can
total spreadof 1.0 percentof the.original. oil be shown that a certainamountof prior injectio
in place in ultimaterecovery. inhtl.antecan sometimesresultin increased
areal sweep. In othersthere is no questiontha
At lower formationcapacity(lessthan32 o there will be a tendencyfor poorer areal sweep.
md-ft),ultimatewaterfloodrecoveryto an While we have made no generalizedstudy of the
economiclimit under both patternsdecreases. effectsof injectioninbalance,resultsin
However,the spreadbetweenthe two cases coa- severalspecificmmiel studiesindicatethat its
tinuesto increase. For.53.3 mi-ft?whichwould effect ontitimate recovexyis less than would
be typic@ of the NorthernLevel.lmdUnit -~ ixnwillybeanticipated.
m!LQ77
-T,, ,
VAN(M! cT.I)RTSCOIZ
..- ..- . . -.----—

In a recentmodelingstudyof a San Andres individual-well performancecurves showinglow

reservoir,complexmodelingelementswere
employedto includethe effectsOf substantial
injectionitialance. One of these modeling
elementsis shownby Fig. 10, alongwith the
optimumconversionand infillprogramarrived
at. As shown,a northernseven-welltier ele-
ment was involvedwith six potential20-acre
infilllocations. Wells immediatelynorth of
the centerlinehad water cuts of 70 to 80 per-
cent even thoughperpendicularto indicated
limiteddirectionalpermeability. Over-all,the
model includedeffectsof prolongedcenterand
substantialedge ‘injectionwith somewhatlater
intensified16&acre invertednine-spotwater-
floodingin interveningareas.
watercutsat infilllocationsor other factors
tendingto supportrecoveryincreases,it was
thoughtthat it would be more effectiveto show
some over-allresultsbefore and after infill
drilling. For this approachto have validity,
it is necessaryfor a major amountof water-
flood productionto have occurredunder one
patternfollowedby a significantperformance
period after infilldrilling. Obscuring
effectsof many progressivechangesin water-
flood patternthroughouta floodfslife would
have to be avoided. This significantlylimits
the nuniberof examplesobtainablefor a quan-
titativeanalysisfrom a decline-curveperform-
ence approach.

Due to prolongedcenterlineinjection,it It is recognizedthat a decline-curve

did not appearfeasibleto convertthe first analysisis not rigorousnor is It the normally
offsettingrow of wells and infilla five-spot preferredmethodto analyzewaterfl~~dperfor~
producer. Leavingthis first offsettingrow ante. However,its use was dictatedb> the
of wells on productionand infilldrilling limitationson basic data availableon fhmds
betweenit end the neti row also was not indi- meetingrequirementsof a major waterflood
cated to be the optimumcase as this tendedto performanceperiod before and after infill
createa trapped-oilarea betweenexistingand drilling. In spite of the limitationson the
new producers. Runs also were made eliminating methodof analysis,there appearsto be no
this secondinfillwell entirely. The best questionthat recoveryincreaseshave occurred
case, as shownby Fig. 10, was an infillfive- in the two examplesto be cited in view of the
spot for the four northernlocationsand an well establisheddeclinesbefore and after.
additionalwell nearly on line with existing infilldrilling.
Row 6 producers.
InfillWaterfloodA
Allowanceswere includedfor lateraldis-
continuityeffectsas well as areal sweep effi- ‘ Fig. 11 presentsdecline-curveperformance
ciencyand normal vertical-typestratification. indicatingultimatewaterfloodrecoverybefore
Appropriateminor differencesin economiclimits and after a large-scaleinfilldrillingpro-
were accountedfor. Over-allrecoveryincrease , gram for a large non-Amoco-interest West Texas
indicatedfor the optimuminfillflood pattern? lease. Productionis from a 2,6oo ft to 3,200
was about 2.2 percentof the oil in place. In- ft Yates Sand-QueenSsnd sectiondiscoveredin
creasesin excessof 3 percentof the original 1929, The over-allgross sectionconsistsof
oil in place were indicatedby patternchanges sand and shaley sand alternatingwith dense
and infilldrillingin anothermajor area of dolomite. As of Dec. 31, 1955, the tract had
the field. some 410 wells with a cumulativeproductionof
25,849,000bbl and a declinecurve indicated
Other BenefitsFrom InfillDrillinq ultimateprimaryof 32,299,000bbl. Producing
mechanismwas by solutiongas drive. The crude
I&t majorwaterfloodfieldswere origin- was consideredto be initiallysaturatedat the
ally drilledin the 1930’s to the 1950’s. COn- 1,400-psigdiscoverypressure. Initialreser-
sequently,there is only limitedcore data and voir oil viscositywas estimatedto be 1.39 CP
less reliable,older radioactiveand electric with stock-tankgravityof the oil being 32° AP
logs of that day availableon most wells for”
quantitativedeterminationof amountand While lo-acrespacingwas permitted,pre-
detaileddistributionof oil in place. dominatedevelopmentdensitywas 40 acres.
Similarly,more reliablenative-staterelative Duringthe period 1955 to 1958, the lease was
permeabilitytests, etc.,have only been obtain- convertedto waterfloodingby infilland some
able via deepen~gs or mill dr~fig. ~US edge drilling. Predominatepatternwas 40-acre
infilldril+inggener~y permits~yw~~urate five-spotwith injectionwells lined up in an
reservoirengineeringanalysis. east-westdirectionand mst producingwells on
result in more effectivefield operationof a 45° diagonal. Totalwell countwas 620 wells
these floods and mwe accurateassessmentof includingsome 330 injectionwells as of Dec.
tertiaryrecoverypossibilities. 31, 1958. The flood peaked at about 24,500
BOPD during 1962 at a total well count of 840
FIEIDRESULTS including350 injectionwells. As of Aug. 31,
1967,productionhad declinedto 11,000BOPD.
.Jlhile
it is possibleto show various
 RECOVERYOPTIMIZATIONTHROUGHINFIXGDRIIXTNG
8 CONCEPTS,ANALYSIS,AND FIE~ RES~TS
While the over-allflood could be charac-
terizedas a 40-acrefive-spotthere was . densityover the westernlower pay qualityarea.
actuallysome lo-acredevelopmentto a 20-acre
five-spotor partialinvertednine-spotpattern
in certainareas. Cumulativerecoveryas of
Aug. 31, 1967,was 80,516,179bblwith sn~di-
cated ultimaterecoveryof IN~358~OO0 bbl based
on the established15.5 percentper year decline
and the econoticlimit as shownby Table 1. An
additional247 infi~ producingwells were
drilledprimarilyover the neti 2-yearperiodi
reducingdensityfor the over-m 15~32~-acre
developedarea from 17.4 to 13.63 aol”esPer
well. Rdio of producersto injectorswas
increasedfrom 1.31 to 1,97. Most of these
wells were infilldrilledbetweenthe injection
we~s on an east-westdirection As a result
of this drilling,the flood reacheda new Pe~
of some 19,OOOB/D~ ~d it is currentlyon ~
establishe~declineof 16.7 percentPer Ye~*
Cumulat~V@productionas of Dec. 31! 1973 was
107.2d7,877bbl, or about 7 millionbbl greater
tlmn the previouslyindicatedultimatewater-
flood recove~. Currentextrapolatedultimate
recoveryis indicatedto be 115 millionbbl.
Currentactivewell count is some 813 wells,
consistingof 512 activeproducersand 301
active injectorsor a producer-to-injection
ratio of about 1.7 to 1.
A reliablepore volumentier for oil in
place was not availableto us; however,
dividingthe decline-curveindicatedultimate
primaryrecoveryof 32.3 millionby a 12-percen t
recoveryfactorwould indicatean initialoil in
place on the order of 269 millionbbl. Dividing
the 14.6 millionbbl of increasedwaterflood
recoveryby this numberindicatesan increased
recoveryof some 5.4 percentof the original
oil in place. A detailedanalysisof reasons
for the increasedrecoveryis not possible.
However,it appearsto be primarilydue to
minimizationof lateralpay discontinuities and
increasedsweepby drillingin potential
trapped-oilareas. Bettermechanicalcompletio n
efficiencies,etc., couldbe involved,but
detailedinformationregardingthese aspectsis
not available.
InfillWaterfloodB
A secondexampleof performance-indicated
increasesin ultimaterecoveryby infilldrill-
ing ie given by Fig. 12. Thi,sis an 800-acre
developedAmoco-operatedtract in a 4,100-ft
West Texas GrayburgField discoveredin 1934.
Pay is scatteredover a gross dolomiticsection
of on the order of 230 ft. Averagepermeability
y Varioustheoreticalconceptshave been
of the net pay rangesfrom 1 to 5 tit The
field was under a solutiongas drive mchanism
with an originaland bubble-pointpressureof
1,740psi. Initialcrude viscositywas 1.5 CP. abilitybeing subjectedto waterflooding,most
The lease was initiallydevelopedwith
SPE L977
20-acredensityon its east edge and ,!@-acre
An infill.20-acredoublefive-spotpilot was
initiatedin the best part of this lease in
early 1956”byinfill+irilling two producerson
10-acredensity. The lease was in an advanced
stage of primaw depletionat this time, with
a recoveryof about 12 percentof the original
oil in place. Due to the infill,the pilot
injectionwells were lined up eaet-westand
north-southwith the infillproducersat a 45°
angle. Based on satisfactorypilot performance,
the lease was convertedto a full-scalefive-
spot flood by convertingcertainexistingwells
to injectionin 1959 through1960. This gave an
80-acrefive-spotpatternover most of the lease
Over-alldevelopmentconsistedof 16 injectors
and 15 producers. The full-scalepatternwas
such that most producingwells were on an east-
west line to injectionwells.
The full-scaleflood was characterizedby
early water breakthroughs,poor oil response,
and excessiveinjectionto withdrawalratios.
Subsequentpressureand productioninterference
tests,wellboreteleviewerlogs, etc.,have
indicateda naturaland/or inducedfracture
systemhaving an orientationof 90° to llO”E of
N throughoutthis area. Infilldrillingof 17
wells includingone replacement,primarilyin
1969 through1970 changedthe orientationand
densityfrom an 80-acrefive-spotto a 40-acre
five-spotover the westernportionof the lease.
Total.wells increasedfrom 31 to 47, consisting
of 25 injectorsand 22 producers. Production
increasedfrom about 250 to a peak of over
2,000 BOPD. A nutier of infillwells were
initiallycomple~edessentiallywater free.
Over-alllease water cut droppedfrom 85 to 50
percent. Declinecurve indicatedultimatewater,
flood recoverywas increasedfrom 4,565,800to
7,008,200bbl. This is from 18.6 to 28.5 per-
cent of pore volume-indicatedoriginaloil in
place of 24.6 millionbbl. The 2.&@nillion-bbl
increaseamountsto some 9:9 percentof the
originaloil”-in-place. While variousfactors
are involved,it appearsthat the primaryreason
for an increasedrecoveryof this magnitudeis
providingfloodingacrossthe existingfracture
orientation. In the originalpilot area,which
was drilledto lo-acrespacing,double 20-acre
five-spotphysicalcumulativerecoveryis
approaching31 percentof the originaloil in
place.
SUMMARY
presenteddemonstratingreasonsfor increased
recoverythroughinfilldrilling. While these
were orientedtowardformationsof lower perme-
have generalapplicability.Certainmodel
resultshave been presentedor referencedwhich
,Pl?I,V77
--1-, tr
11A
.-. Nf!F.
”-
.1 ll?2T
. .
C(Y)T.T.
H.u.l.
supportthese concepts. Indicatedrecovery I Pet. EnR. (Sept.1959)Part 11, B19-26.
increasesfrom severalfield case historiesas 5.
supportedby well-established waterflooddecline
curvesbefore and after infilldrillingare pre-
sented. In addition,an extensivestudyby
Shell Oil Co. for the,Wasson(SanAndres)Field- 6.
DenverUniL indicateda recoveryincreasefor
the area infilldrilledof up to 5 percentof
the originaloil in place. This consistedof
I&Percent improved~e~ sweep efficiency,l+
percentimprovedverticalsweep efficiency,and
2-percentimprovedrecoverydue to reduced
lateraldiscontinuityeffects. AnotherAMOCO 7.
study is cited,which withoutbenefitof
improvedareslheterogeneityeffectsand consid-
erableinjectionbalance,indicatesan increasedI 8.
recoveryof about 2.2 percentdue primarilyto
minimizationof lateral.discontinuitiesand
economiclimit effects. 9.
CONCLUSIONS
1. Infilldrillingcan indeed increase
recovery.
2. For low permeabilitywaterflood,
increasingwell densityfrom 40 to 20 acreswill 11.
typicallyresultin a recoveryincreaseon the
order of 4 percentof the originaloil in place. ,
3. Amount of waterfloodrecoveryincrease
will normallyrange from about 2 to 8 percent 12.
of the oil in place;however,highervalues such
as 8 percentwill be obtainedonly where marked
areal heterogeneityeffectsexist that will be
overcomeby the infilldrilling.
REFERENCES
1. Uren, LesterC.: PetroleumProduction
Engineering-Development,McGraw-HillBook 14.
Co., Inc., New York (1946)69-84.
2. Muskat,Morris: PhysicalPrinciplesof Oil
Production,McGraw-HillBook Co., Inc.,
~1949) 94*
3. StandardOil DevelopmentCo. (Exxon): 15.
PetroleumReservoirEfficiencyand Well
SPacti& 3rd Printing(1943)59.
4. Hutchinson,C. A., Jr.: ItReservoir
InhomogeneityAssessmentand Control,~’
”,,”-
Hunter,Z. Z.: “ProgressReportNorth
BurbankUnit Waterflood- January1,
1956,”Drill and Prod. Prac.,API (1956)
262-273.
Steffensen,R. J. and Sheffield,M.:
l~ReservoirSimulationof a CollapsingGas
SaturationRequiringAreal Variationin
Bubble-PointPressure,”paper S~E 4275
presentedat SPE-AIMEThird Symposiumon
NumericalSimulationof ReservoirPerform-
ante, Houston,Jan. 10-12,1973.
Muskat,Morris: PhysicalPrinciplesof
Oil Production McGraw-HillBook Co., Inc.,
New York (19L9\774.
Stahl.,C.Drew: l~Considerationsof
ExponentialPermeabilityDistributions,?!
Prod. Monthly (Jan.196o)l& 9-12.
Dykstra,H. and Parsons,R. L.: ‘tThe
Predictionof Oil Recoveryby Waterflood,t!
SecondaryRecoveryof Oil Productionin the
UnitedStates,2nd cd., API (1950)160-174.
10. Craig,ForrestF., Jr.: The Reservoir
EngineeringAspectsof Waterflooding,
MonographSeries,Societyof Petroleum
Engineersof AIME, Dallas (1971)z, 65-66.
HearingTestimonyRe: “Applicationfor
WaterfloodResponseAllowablefor Wasson
Denver Unit,!!before Texas RailroadCommis-
sion by Shell Oil Co., March 21, 1972,
Docket 8-A-61677.
Ghauri,W. K., Osborne,A, F. and Ma#mson,
W. L.: ~~Changing Conceptsin Carbonate
Waterflooding,West TexasDenver Unit
Project,An IllustrativeExample,f~ J. Pet.
Tech; (June 1974) 595-6C6.
13. Kunkel,S. C. and Bagley,J. W., Jr.:
“ControlledWaterflooding,Means Queen
Reservoir,”J. Pet. Tech. (Dec. 1965) 1385-
1390.
Thomas,J. E. and Driscoll,V. J.: ‘IA
~deling Approachfor OptimizingWaterflood
Performance,SlaughterField ChickenWire
Pattern,” J. Pet. Tech, (July1973) 757-
763.
Downs,S. L.: “InjectionProfileCorrec-
tions - A Review of WorkoverTechniques-
WillardUnitt”paper SPE 465o presentedat
48th Annuel SPE-AIMEFall Meeting,Las
Vegas,Sept. 30-Ott.3, 1973.
 TABLE 1 - PERFORMANCEANALYSISOF ULTIMATE WATERFLOODRECOVERIES BEFORE
AND AFTER INFILLDRILLING- CASESA AND B

Case A Case B

Before Infill
8-31-67 12-31-68
Date 15
Producers 500
380 16
Injectors
Total Wells 880
11,000BOPD 2?) BOPD
Rate 15.8 %/Yr.
Annual Decline Rate 15.5 %lYr.
1,928 BOPD 93 80PD
Economic Limit 3.0 BOPD/TW
2.2 BOPDITW
19,841,821 bbls. 319,000 bbls.
Future 4,246,800 bbls”
Cumulative Prod. 80,516,179 bbls.
100,358,000 bbls. (37.377) 4,565,800 bbls. (18.6%)
Ultimate Waterflood

After Infill
12-31-73 12-31-73
Date 22
Producers 747
380 25
Injectors 47
Total Wells 1,127
6,400 BOPD 680 BOPD
Rate 17.2 %/Yr.
Annual Decline Rate 16.7 %/Yr.
2,480 BOPD 141 BOPD
Economic Limit 3.0 BOPD/Tw
2.2 BOPD/TW
7,892,123 bbls. 1.050.400 bbls.
Future 5;957;800 bbls.
Cumulative Prod. 107,107 877 bbls.
~bbls. (42.7%) 7,008,200 bbls. (28.5%)
Ultimate Waterflood
269,000,000 bbls”? 24,612,000 bbls.
OOIP 2,442,:0; ~bls.
Increased Recovery 14,642,C$l:~bls.
Approx. % OOIP 152,7i10bbls.
Bbls./Infill Well 59,3i0 bbls.
 —
●PRODUCER u OIL BANK
@ INJECTOR m
w
WATER BANK

Fig. I East-west breakthrough 80-acre

5-spot waterflood

—NOTE:AII variations shown are for-

1. Matrix Kh=500md-ft.
2. Matrix 0h=75por. -ft,
3.500 bbls. fluid per day

m I
71 o additional 40 ac. producer
I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 1( t I
5 10 15 2( 25 30 35 40
YEARS ON INJECTION
Fig. 2 - Recovery sensitivity to pattern
orientation with directional permeabi i ity
or finite capacity fractures (AICFU-i970
model study data).

.–
 I I I I I I I I I I

600
—OIL
. — WATER Fik lbl -C:w,----------
=-u’P~ -I

-*,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,UB*
II,*,,***’
.,,,,* AH7&04-:’:’”~ .
400 . “,!tii,...

1
b . Arsally Homogeneous
Finite 1111
E-W Fractures
I I 4 I I I I I I I

234567891011 121314151617181920
YEARS ON INJECTION
Fig. 3 - Rate vs. time - 80-acre 5-spot,
homogeneous and finite fracture cases
(AI CFU-1970 model study data).

20 ACRE SPACING
40 ACRE SPACING
~ //

TttT_r
HORIZONTALDISTANCE(FEETx1000)
Fig. 4 - Pay continuity vs. horizontal
distance - Wasson San Andres field.
 y:ll yL#
116 227 128 150 242

-1400 --1400
\ !!?
L

m WEDGEEDGE OIL
.......... WATER-OILCONTACT‘1630
Fig. 5 - Wedge edge oi I recovery by infi I I
and edge drilling.

WATER SAT URATION

WITHOUT INFILL DF?LG. WITH lNFILL_D~&G.
0 ----”-0
P ~~ Po---~ \
I \
/’ \
\ \
/’ \ \
\ /’ \
/’ \ \
/’
I
/’
1’
~
\
\
\
\
\
\
\
\ i
\ /’
\ \
\ /’ \ /
\ \
\ \
‘b-- —==--4!; b“- ~---i
0 HIGH E?ZZlMEDIUM
Fig. 6 - Improved areal sweep by minimizing
eometry effects - Slaugher field
~~;l’c?enwire pattern. ”

.—
 INJECTOR PRODUCER

VER
FRA

Fig. 7 - Conf ne injection fluids to pay zones.

UNCONTROLLED INJECTION

A7A
LOW
20%
PERM.

HIGH
80%
PERM.

CONTROLLED INJECTION

Low 50%
PERM.

HIGH
50%
PERM.
Fig. 8 - Better control of injection profiles
where vertical Iy separate pay zones exist.
 CURRENT REVISED
PATTERN WiTTERN
00”

‘f&:E% ROW
o ● @l
ME#l:M
. . ●

INDICATED
FRACTURE
ORIENTATION ●
=~/,42.5 AC 5 SPOTlo
[ 8,BOPD (/ o
g 50 ~ -l=!
o 9 BOPD ●
o
> @ @4
az45
●
>
0
___ ..... —-—-
----- - o @ @5
t-+ TRAPPED OIL
~$ AT REGULAR
HIGH W.C. LOCATION
86
35 100
F0t%4AT10N CAPACITY-MD. FT. t-t
- @ (97
Fig. 9 - Ultimate economic waterflood recovery HIGHCUM.
spreads res~lting from increased conductance INJECTION
and lower per wel{ economic limits by infill
drilling in low formation capacity areas. ~1320’+
Fig. 10 - Infill drilling with some high
injection imbalance.
 100,000
- I , r 1 ,

f -“
k’ ““”””””
= 10,000
:
g
a
2
E
1930 SOPD
680 WELLS
2.2 BOPO/WELL
1000

J% 5
$03 ~; ;

‘i! :

Fig. II - infill’ Case A- 2600-ft West Texas

Yates production.