Deerfield Pilot Test of Recovery by Steam Drive (1967)

VALLEROY, V.V., ESSO PRODUCTION RESEARCH CO., HOUSTON, TEX. WILLMAN, B.T., ARABIAN AMERICAN OIL CO., DHAHRAN, SAUDI ARABIA CAMPBELL, J.B., HUMBLE OIL and REFINING CO., OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLA. POWERS, L.W., KINGSVILLE, TEX., MEMBERS AIME Abstract A steam drive of heavy oil was field tested in a shallow, low oil-saturation formation near Deerfield, Mo. The pilot was conducted in the Warner formation, a sandstone containing an 18 degrees API oil having 1,000-cp viscosity at the 60F original reservoir temperature. The formation was at a depth of 160 ft. Steam was injected into nine input wells arranged in an array of inverted five-spot patterns. In the completely confined center pattern, 14 temperature observation wells were installed to obtain thermal data and observe test progress. Late in the test, slugs of ammonia were injected to trace the flow paths of injected fluids. From the test area about 7,000 bbl of oil were produced. Data were obtained on areal and vertical temperature distribution, steam front advance, reservoir fluid movement and terminal saturations. This field test of a steam drivedemonstrated the feasibility of the method,confirmed that the low residual oil saturations observed in the laboratory are obtained in the steam-swept region in the field andprovided recovery and conformance data for one set of field conditions. Introduction The Deerfield steam drive pilot test located in Vernon County, Mo., was conducted in a shallow sandstone containing 1,000-cp oil. The venture was undertaken cooperatively by the research and production departments of Carter Oil Co., which organizations have since been consolidated into Esso Production Research Co. and Humble Oil and Refining Co., respectively. The production department was interested in steam injection at Deerfield because it appeared to be the most promising method of commercially producing this heavy oil deposit. The research department was interested in applying the new recovery method and in evaluating its performance in the field. At the time the test was begun, the initial oil saturation was not well known. Subsequent air coring and early pilot results confirmed that there was too little oil in place for profitable commercial exploitation by steam. Pilot termination at that time, however, would have been premature for evaluating field performance of the process, and the test was continued to obtain additional data on steam injection as a recovery method. DESCRIPTION OF PILOT TEST The test was located about 10 miles north of the town of Deerfield and only a few miles from the Kansas border. The pilot site was selected as typical of the area. The location represented neither the highest nor the lowest oil saturation region in the acreage under lease in 1954. The steam drive was conducted in the Warner sandstone of Lower Pennsylvanian age. At the test site the top of the Warner occurs at about 160 ft subsurface and the formation is a fine- to medium-grained micaceous sandstone that dips gently to the northwest at the rate of 12 to 15 ft/ mile. A cross-section and permeability profile of the test location are shown in Fig. 1. At the pilot location the average total thickness of the Warner formation is about 43 ft, but the effective thickness for steam drive is 26 ft. Two distinct types of hydrocarbon saturation are apparent. The lower portion of the total sand, averaging about 17 ft thick, contains a very heavy asphaltic material that will not flow under the influence of a steam drive. This bottom interval, referred to as a dead oil residue, was not considered as part of the net sand undergoing steam exploitation. The initial formation and fluid properties of the upper 26 ft in the test area are summarized in Table l, and variation of oil viscosity with temperature is shown in Fig. 2. Imbibition tests on preserved core samples taken at the end of the pilot test showed that the Warner sandstone was then neutral or slightly water-wet. Initially, the reservoir may have been strongly water-wet as indicated by low relative permeability to water during both water injection testing and early steam injection. PRIOR HISTORY Initial production tests of wells at the pilot site produced water with only a faint show of oil. No gas was produced except at Well 7-W in the pilot area and at another well about 1/3 mile northeast of the pilot. Prior to the start of the steam drive, a two-well water injection test and a two-well air injection test were conducted. No oil was produced by either. Water was pumped into Well 1-W in the northeast corner of the pilot area with simultaneous production from Well 1 (Fig. 3). The air-injection test was run at input Well 9-W and its offset, Well 2, in the southwest corner. Air and water injectivities were about the same when corrected for viscosity and pressure differences. JPT P. 956ˆ