Production Enhancement through integrated IOR/EOR technology: An
approach in a mature oilfield in West Siberian Basin, Russia
Nitin Lahkar1, Binayananda Bharali2,
1
Sr. Engineer, BD Department, Oil India Limited, Noida, 201301
2
Dy. General Manager, BD Department, Oil India Limited, Noida, 201301
Corresponding Author’s Email Id:
[email protected]Key Words: IOR EOR, Water flood, Infill drilling
Extended Abstract
The application of multi-pronged strategies of IOR/EOR for production enhancement in mature
oil fields has received significant attention after success stories coming in from various parts
of the globe. In this paper, the authors illustrate example of production enhancement and
management in a declining reservoir of a large producing oil field located in West Siberian
Basin.
The West Siberian Basin of Russia, is a mega hydrocarbon province, both in terms of resource
and area. The field under study is a giant oilfield, located in the eastern part of this basin. There
are multiple stacked reservoirs in the field, out of which the Upper Cretaceous clastic reservoir
is most significant which holds 55% of total recoverable reserves. Hydrocarbon accumulation
is confined by an elongated anticlinal trap with gas cap and bottom water. Average depth of
the reservoir is 1607 metres, has average permeability of 528.5 md, average porosity of 26.4%
and initial reservoir pressure of 156.9 atm. The reservoir is further subdivided to 7 sub-units,
separated with non-continuous shale and thin carbonaceous/coaly beds. Pressure production
data indicate that the reservoir units are interconnected. The field had been developed with
horizontal wells of 1000m drain hole in a square pattern with vertical injector at the centre of
each square.
Commercial oil Production from this reservoir started in the year 2009. Production peaked from
the reservoir in the year 2014-15 at 40,000 tons per day. After 2016, the oil production from
this field started declining fast. A thorough analysis of data revealed that decline from the field
was due to following reasons-
1. Natural Decline of the wells drilled during early phase of development.
2. Presence of high permeability streaks or layers within the reservoir, because of which there
is early breakthrough of injected water to the producer. This is leading to very high growth
of water cut in certain wells and as a result the oil rate reduced due to limited capacity of
ESPs. Further it is leading to ineffective injection and localized reduction in reservoir
pressure.
3. Due to the adopted exploitation by horizontal wells and the producer-injector network
configuration, there are pockets of upswept oil left in the reservoir.
4. During water-flooding operation, artificial fractures developed in some parts of the
reservoir due to high injection pressure. These network of auto-fractures in the reservoir
has further endangered the water flooding process in the reservoir since the injected water
travels through these artificial fractures directly into the producing wells.
Based on above observations, a multi-pronged approach was undertaken to revive the
rapidly declining production. Accordingly, various strategies were implemented:
a) The zones with less productivity and high-water cut was plugged off and the wells were
side-tracked to penetrate zones with un-swept oil or better expected reservoir properties
and lesser water encroachment from aquifer as well as injected water (through auto-
fractures)
b) Pockets of un-swept oil were identified through reservoir simulation and study of the
dynamic model. A number of in-fill wells were drilled to involve these high oil
saturations in the upswept zone into production.
c) Polymer job was done for profile modification, i.e. a suitable polymer with cross linker
was introduced into the zones with very high permeability. As a result, due to the
formation of in-situ binding compounds, the permeability of those zones came down
drastically.
d) Re-perforation was done in higher inclined zones in wells with very high water cut from
primary completion.
e) Installation of high capacity ESP in high water cut wells.
f) In addition to above, water flooding is being continued to maintain near to 100% VRR
as a sound reservoir pressure management strategy.
The above activities conducted in the upper cretaceous reservoir of the field yielded
positive results which helped in stabilisation of production from the reservoir. The decline
of reservoir was reduced to 2% compared to 8% in the previous year.
The figure below reflects the scenario with ample clarity:
Figure 1: Annual Production from Upper Cretaceous Reservoir of the oilfield
Through this paper the authors express how timely intervention like in-fill drilling and
profile modification by polymer injection can drastically reverse the scenario of rapidly
declining production in a mature oil-field.
Acknowledgement: The authors would like to thank their business partner, Rosneft for
their support in publishing this case study. The authors also express their gratitude for the
inspiration and guidance provided by Business Development Department of Oil India
Limited, without which this paper would not have been complete.
