Numerical Simulation Analysis of the Water Injection with Fracture Propagation Pressure Process

Abstract. This work presents a simulation analysis of the water Injection with Fracture Propagation Pressure process – IFPP using reservoir simulation with the purpose of analyzing the influence of some reservoir and modeling characteristics on its technical and economic performance. Water injection performance is a function of the oil and reservoir properties as well as fluid-flow characteristics and, in processes of Water Injection with Fracture Propagation Pressure (IFPP), their effects on the reservoir model performance and the waterflooding sweep efficiency become critical. Hence, the quantification of these effects is important for the injection project dimensioning and determination of the feasibility and usefulness of the injection process to be implemented. A methodology is proposed that considers the simulation of IFPP scenarios in which the injectivity loss is represented by an analytical decline equation and the fracture is represented using a virtual horizontal well and transmissibility modifiers. Then, the effects of the fracture representation method, well spacing, fracture-healing pressure and formation damage at the fracture surface are analyzed usin