Efficiency of horizontal and vertical well patterns on the performance of micellar-polymer flooding

Abstract

"There is increasing interest in micellar-polymer flooding because of the need to increase oil production from depleted and waterflooded reservoirs. Using horizontal wells for injection and production in a micellar-polymer flood process, higher sweep efficiency is expected compared with the use of conventional patterns by vertical wells. This paper presents an analysis of how the overall performance of a micellar-polymer flood process is influenced by the well pattern using horizontal injector and producer in different configurations. Results from the study have demonstrated that significant amount of oil can be recovered additionally and injectivity was remarkably improved by utilizing a combination of horizontal wells. The improvement of injectivity through a horizontal injection well was higher when it was combined with horizontal producer parallel to the injector. ? 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V. Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of International Materials Science Society.