Planning and predicting waterflood results in heavy oil

This SPE paper presents research and modeling predictions for waterfloods in viscous, heavy oil environments.

While we often associate heavy oil recovery with thermal or chemical EOR processes, the use of water flooding as secondary recovery  method prior to or combined with other EOR processes may be a viable and cost effective approach.  SPE  97671, High-Mobility-Ratio Waterflood Performance Prediction: Challenges and New Insights, presents the results of a study to better understand and predict high-mobility-ratio waterflooding (HMRWF). The paper sites several successful HMRWF projects with economic oil recovery prior to high water cut. The paper goes on to describe a mechanistic study using fine-scale simulations that indicated viscous fingering dominates high-viscosity-ratio floods, and mobile water can significantly reduce recovery as can reservoir heterogeneity. If you are considering a heavy oil waterflood project, this reference might be worth reviewing as part of your planning phase.

Kambiz.