Waterflooding: Performance Predictions and Surveillance

Disciplines: Reservoir

Course Description

This course combines geology, rock and fluid properties, and immiscible displacement theory to develop waterflooding prediction techniques and to aid in the evaluation of actual waterflood performance behavior. Procedures for analyzing oil and water production rates, water injection rates, and recovery efficiency are presented. Impact of primary depletion on waterflood recovery is covered. Selection of waterflood patterns (regular, irregular, peripheral), prediction of sweep efficiency (areal, vertical, and displacement), and an analysis of other variables that control recovery efficiency are discussed in detail.

Topics:

  • Production plots
  • Injection profile testing
  • WOR analysis
  • VRR determination and significance
  • Floodable pore volume versus primary depletion pore volume
  • Characteristics of an analogue flood

Learning Objectives: 

  • Identify and understand the key reservoir and operational factors impacting a water injection project 
  • Understand the principle differences for injecting water as a pressure maintenance fluid versus injection for waterflooding 
  • Learn the benefits of pattern (versus random or peripheral) injection and understand pattern balancing 
  • Understand the benefits and shortcomings of various production plots 
  • Learn many waterflood industry “best practices” 
  • Is this currently or was it originally a good waterflood project? 
  • Can this mature waterflood be improved or should we pull the plug? 

Learning Level

Intermediate

Course Length

5 Days

Why Attend

Add value to a waterflood injection projects by better identifying and understanding the key reservoir and operation factors impacting a project. Participants will leave the session knowing ‘best practices’ in waterflooding and when to move forward with a project by taking real world experiences and applying them in the field.

Who Attends

This course is designed for any production or operations staff, engineer or geologist involved in, or who will soon be involved in, water injection.

CEUs

4.0 (Continuing Education Credits) are awarded for this 5-day course.

Additional Resources

This course has supplemental books located in our SPE Bookstore entitled Waterflooding and The Reservoir Engineering Aspects of Waterflooding, Second Edition. Please check out these valuable resources!

Cancellation Policy

All cancellations must be received no later than 14 days prior to the course start date. Cancellations made after the 14-day window will not be refunded. Refunds will not be given due to no show situations.

Training sessions attached to SPE conferences and workshops follow the cancellation policies stated on the event information page. Please check that page for specific cancellation information.

SPE reserves the right to cancel or re-schedule courses at will. Notification of changes will be made as quickly as possible; please keep this in mind when arranging travel, as SPE is not responsible for any fees charged for cancelling or changing travel arrangements.

We reserve the right to substitute course instructors as necessary.

Instructor

Mike Wiggins is Director of Technology and Training for William M. Cobb & Associates, a Dallas-based international petroleum consulting firm. Prior to his current role, Wiggins was president of an independent oil and gas producer and has served as a Senior Vice President (2006-2010) and President of William M. Cobb & Associates (2011-2013). Wiggins has over
35 years of experience in the petroleum industry and academia. He has industry experience with major and independent E&P companies and has been offering petroleum engineering consulting services to the industry for over 20 years. His technical interests include reservoir management, production operations, well performance, and production optimization.

Prior to joining William M. Cobb & Associates, Wiggins was a professor of petroleum and geological engineering at the University of Oklahoma, serving on the faculty for 15 years. In this role, he taught courses related to reservoir engineering, production operations, and petroleum project evaluation. He has co-authored numerous papers in his areas of expertise and received research funding from various governmental agencies, international and national oil companies. In addition, he has conducted numerous short courses in the areas of reservoir management, reservoir engineering, and petroleum project evaluation.

Wiggins is a Distinguished Member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and has served on the SPE Board of Directors. He has been the Executive Editor for SPE Production and Facilities and has served as a technical editor for SPE since 1991. He has served on numerous program committees for SPE technical meetings and served as the General Chairman for the 2003 SPE Production and Operations Symposium. He is currently the General Chairman for the 2016 SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference.

Wiggins received B.S., M.Eng., and Ph.D. degrees Texas A&M University, all in Petroleum Engineering. He is a registered professional engineer in the States of Texas and Oklahoma.

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