TABLE OF CONTENTS The purpose of this chapter is to document best practices involving integrated waterflood asset management for onshore and offshore fields. Several case studies outlining the benefits of working as cross-functional teams are discussed in this chapter:
Elk Basin Madison
Denver Unit
Means San Andres Unit
Jay/LEC Fields
Ninian Field
The Elk Basin Madison reservoir provides an example of reservoir's description as an iterative process, and illustrates the importance of obtaining extensive reservoir data during field development so that reservoir geology can be defined as soon as possible and incorporated into waterflooding plans.
During the Elk Madison waterflood, a revised reservoir description was used to help interpret the observed production data. In the initial water injection program, water breakthrough was rapid in the interior wells and caused scaling problems, which resulted in production rate declines. In combination with these initial results, a revised description was utilized to alter the water injection program and to drill new producing wells in underdeveloped areas. Figure 7-1 shows the performance history of the Elk Basin Madison resulting from this analysis. This results in an increase in ultimate recoverable reserves of 62 million barrels, or 8% OOIP.
The Madison reservoir in the Elk Basin Anticline is shown in Figures 12-1 and 12-2. Performance data in the field shows a small pressure decline, indicating a strong water drive. The reservoir was considered homogeneous with a high level of connectivity between the lower and upper areas. As a result, the entire section was...
