Interference Testing to Characterize the Injection Behaviour of a 20-Acre Pattern in the Court Field
Authors: Estrada C.A. , Leung L. , Majcher M.B. , Johnson B. 
Published: March 2010

In the Court Field, the middle Bakken Sand Pool has been operated as a heavy oil waterflood for over 15 years. However, unrecovered oil volumes in the pool remain attractive for improved recovery schemes.

Recently, the Court Middle Bakken Reservoir model was updated to evaluate the potential for downspacing and waterflood optimization of the reservoir. The potential for 20-acre downspacing for both infill drilling and additional water injection was identified by this study.

As part of the additional development program, an injector producer well pair was drilled to create a new injection pattern with reduced inter-well spacing. Reservoir pressures, water saturation and effective permeability to water in the pattern were determined by RFT and log data. Pattern characterization was complemented by an interference test, including all the wells in the pattern. Analytical and numerical tools were used in the test design. The most comprehensive results were obtained by local grid refinement of the pattern area in the full field simulation model. Unavoidable interference with a neighboring pattern during the test was predicted. In order to account for this effect, it was decided to run the test with the new injector active intermittently.

The complete test design and analysis of the results are described. In addition, a comparison of pressure measurements by downhole gauge and acoustic well sounder are presented.

Introduction

The Court Field, located in west central Saskatchewan, produces 17 ºAPI heavy crude from the Middle Bakken Formation, using vertical wells and a waterflood recovery scheme. The Court Bakken Sand was discovered in November 1981. The Court Bakken Sand Voluntary Unit No. 1 was formed in 1988 and waterflood commenced with only 2% of OOIP produced. There are 39 producing oil wells and 21 water injection wells currently in operation within the main pool. The current recovery factor is approximately 20%, with some wells producing up to 30m3/d oil.

Recently, Majcher et al.(1) presented a geological and engineering overview of the reservoir.

The Middle Bakken Formation was deposited as NE-SW trending sand ridges. The pool has undergone significant collapse of the Torquay Formation with the subsequent creation of extensive post-depositional sinkholes within the Bakken. This structural deformation interrupts the lateral continuity of the sand ridge and its characterization is the most challenging to further field development and effective waterflood management. Another important Bakken heterogeneity is the change in well log signature that represents the variation in facies at the ridge edges(2). This facies distribution within the Middle Bakken correlates with the waterflood response. Majcher et al.(1) identified the potential for infill drilling of producers and injectors near the edges of the pool.

An injector-producer pair was recently drilled in Section 36-033-28W3M on 20-acre spacing. An interference test with four wells was conducted to investigate how the heterogeneities described above affect the waterflood performance of the newly configured pattern.