Areal Sweepout Behavior in a Nine-Spot Injection Pattern
Authors: Kimbler O.K. , Caudle B.H. 
Published: December 2007

The results of studies of areal sweepout behavior in nine-spot injection patterns are presented in this paper. The ratio of the production rates of the two types of producing wells in a nine-spot pattern is considered in its erect on breakthrough. A model study was used to develop a method to predict the production histories of both side and corner wells and to develop the production history of the pattern or the field.

Introduction

The importance of areal sweepout behavior in injection operations has been recognized for a number of years. We now know that the fraction of a reservoir which will be reached by an injected fluid is a function of the geometric arrangement of the production and injection wells and of the mobility ratio of the fluids. Of these two, the mobility ratio (which is a measure of the relative ease with which the oil and the injected fluid can move through the reservoir) appears to have the greatest effect on recovery. The effect of mobility ratio on production history has been reported for most of the dispersed injection patterns (i. e., five-spot, staggered and straight-line drives). There has been very little published on the nine-spot injection pattern. This may be because the two types of producing wells in the nine-spot pattern can-and sometimes should -be produced at different rates. This adds a second variable (the first being mobility ratio) to be covered in a study of the nine-spot flooding network. Muskat' has reported the sweep pattern efficiency at breakthrough for a mobility ratio of one at various ratios of producing rates for the two types of wells. For these conditions he found maximum oil production at breakthrough to occur when the corner well (the producing well farthest from the injection well) is produced 10.7 times as fast as the side well. Other investigators have studied a few of the many possible operating conditions possible with this injection pattern. This paper presents the results of studies which are strictly applicable to a nine-spot injection pattern surrounded by other nine-spots in a homogeneous reservoir and which has no flowable gas present (no oil bank is formed). Although the full ranges of the variables mentioned above have not been covered, the results reported here should allow reasonable estimates of field operations to be made.

EXPERIMENTAL

The well spacing geometry of the nine-spot pattern is shown in Fig. 1. Here we see that each injection well is surrounded by eight production wells arranged in a square. Four of these producing wells are located at the corners of the square; the other four are in the midpoints of the four sides. These two types of producing wells are called "corner wells" and "side wells" respectively. It is the ratio of the producing rates of these two types of wells that affects the breakthrough recovery, as calculated by Muskat. This ratio is defined as the total producing rate of a corner well divided by the total producing rate of a side well. The model used in this study represented one-eighth of a nine-spot pattern, as shown in Fig. 1. It contained the equivalent of one-fourth of a side well, one-eighth of a corner well, and one-eighth of an injection well.

JPT

P. 199ˆ