Application of Horizontal Wells to Improve Injectivity During Polymer Flood Processes

This numerical study was undertaken to investigate and compare the performances of polymer flood processes through horizontal or vertical wells. To achieve the objective, the author performed an extensive numerical simulation for 3 different well configurations under polymer flood followed by waterflood. The potential for a horizontal well application was assessed through different scenarios in combinations of injection and production wells and reservoir geometry. Other parameters included the length and spacing of horizontal injectors and horizontal or vertical producers. For different parameters of the system, performances were compared in terms of cumulative recovery and water-oil ratio at the production well and pressure drop or injectivity at the injection well. Results demonstrate that additional oil can be recovered and injectivity was significantly improved by utilizing a combination of horizontal wells when the same volume of fluid is injected into the reservoir. The improvement of injectivity through a horizontal injection well was higher when it was combined with a horizontal producer. Parameters such as reservoir thickness, well spacing, and well length are also shown to impact the predicted injectivity. Improvement in injectivity is obtained for thicker and larger reservoirs and longer horizontal wells.This work was supported by the Energy Efficiency and Resources of the Korea Institute of Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (KETEP) grant funded by the Korea government Ministry of Knowledge Economy