Primary oil recovery mechanisms

 Hydrocarbon reservoirs are unique; each reservoir presents its

own geometric form, geological rock properties, fluid
characteristics, and primary driving mechanism.
 There are five important drive mechanisms: Solution gas drive;
Gas cap drive; Water drive; Gravity drainage; Combination or
mixed drive.
 One type usually dominates, but drive types can occur in
combination. Depending on the drive mechanism, characteristic
recovery efficiencies can be expected for a given reservoir.
 Primary recovery is oil recovery by natural drive mechanisms,
solution gas, water influx, gas cap drive, or gravity drainage.
 Secondary recovery refers to techniques, such as gas or water
injection, whose purpose, in part, is to maintain reservoir
pressure

 Primary recovery from oil reservoirs is influenced by reservoir

rock properties, fluid properties, and geological heterogeneities;
so that on a worldwide basis, the most common primary oil
recovery factors range from 20% and 40%, with an average
around 34%, while the remainder of hydrocabon is left behind in
the reservoir.
 During primary recovery the natural energy of the reservoir is
used to transport hydrocarbons towards and out of the
production wells. There are several different energy sources,
and each gives rise to a drive mechanism.
 The earliest possible determination of the drive mechanism is a
primary goal in the early life of the reservoir, as its knowledge
can greatly improve the management and recovery of reserves
from the reservoir in its middle and later life.
Water drive mechanism.
 Some reservoirs have communication with a water zone
(aquifer) underneath. When reservoir pressure drops due to
production, the compressed water in an aquifer expands into a
reservoir and it helps pressure maintenance. This mechanism is
called “water drive”.
 Water drive mechanism will be effective if an aquifer contacting
reservoir is very large because water compressibility is very
low. For example, an anticline structure with extensive water
 zone (aquifer) will have the most advantage from the use of a
water drive mechanism, reservoirs can produce oil over 50%
recover factors in many case.

Bottom water Drive Edge water Drive

 A strong water drive provides very good pressure support from

the aquifer with minimal pressure drop at the wellbore. The
aquifer water expands slightly, displacing the oil or gas from the
reservoir toward the borehole as pressure drops around the
borehole.
 This mechanism exists only where the aquifer is of equal or
better quality than the reservoir and has a much larger volume
than the reservoir (about 10 times) or is in communication with
surface recharge.
 A strong water drive is more effective in oil reservoirs than in
gas reservoirs. On a semi-log plot of production decline, the
curve tends to be flat.
 In fields where the aquifer is smaller and/or has lower quality,
there is limited expansion of water into the reservoir as oil or
gas is withdrawn. This is a partial water drive.
Typical decline curves for a wellbore draining a reservoir system with
a strong water drive (A) and a partial water drive (B).

 A partial water drive results where an aquifer has poorer quality

in terms of pore geometry or has limited volume.
 When the water support diminishes, the hydrocarbon
production rate drops more rapidly than in a reservoir with a
strong water drive and recovery is reduced.
 Its production decline curve trends more concave upward on a
semi-log plot than a decline curve for a strong water drive.

Gas cap drive mechanism

 In hydrocarbon reservoirs with gas cap, the gas cap expansion
applies a force to the oil column after production and reduction
of reservoir pressure. This pressure is the main production
mechanism which is called drive by gas cap.
 In an oil system, this expansion slows the rate of fluid pressure
drop in the reservoir and supports hydrocarbon production.
Pressure drops in proportion to the volume of hydrocarbon
removed from the reservoir and the quality of the reservoir.
  During production from this kind of reservoirs, reservoir
pressure and oil production reduce with constant rate but the
ratio of gas to oil (GOR) increases. This mechanism with
recovery factor about 25% to 50%, in sand reservoirs has a
weaker role than water drive mechanism.

Solution gas drive

 When reservoir pressure reaches a bubble point, oil becomes

saturated and free gas will present in a reservoir. The
expansion of gas is a main energy to produce reservoir fluid for
the solution gas drive.
 At the beginning, the produced gas oil ratio will be slightly
decline because free gas in a reservoir cannot move until it
goes over the critical gas saturation. Then gas will begin to flow
into a well.
 In some cases, where vertical permeability is high, gas may
migrate up and become a secondary gas cap, which helps oil
production. Typical recovery factor from the solution gas drive
reservoir is about 5 – 30%.
 Solution gas Drive mechanism

Gravity drainage:
 Gravity Drainage is the fourth drive force that might be
considered for drive mechanism where the density differences
between oil and gas and water result in their natural
segregation in the reservoir. This process can be used as a
drive mechanism, but is relatively weak, and in practice is only
used in combination with other drive mechanisms.
 However, it is extremely efficient over long periods and can give
rise to extremely high recoveries. Consequently, it is often used
in addition to the other drive mechanisms.

Production by gravity drainage

  At the same time, the current mainstream is development of
tight rocks (shale) by horizontal wells and extensive hydraulic
fracturing, where gravity drainage plays a significant role.

Combination drive mechanism

 In practice a reservoir usually incorporates at least two main

drive mechanisms. Therefore, Combination or Mixed Drive can
be accounted as the fifth type of Drives.
 The most common combination of drives is solved gas drive
(with or without gas free cap) with a weak water drive.
 When the free gas cap is combined with active water drive,
combination drive has more efficiency. Producing through
theses mechanisms has been applied well in internal areas of
northern America, Northern sea, Northern Africa and Indonesia

Combination drive

 The reservoir pressure and GOR trends for each of the main
(first) three drive mechanisms is shown.
 Note particularly that water drive maintains has the reservoir
pressure much higher than the gas drives, and has a uniformly
low GOR.
 Analysis of production decline curve shape can provide a
good indication of the dominant drive mechanism.
 Compares typical production decline curves for the
different drive mechanisms described above for a reservoir
with approximately the same pore volume. It assumes all
other factors are normalized.
Secondary recovery
 Once the natural reservoir energy has been depleted and the
well oil production rates decline during primary recovery, it is
necessary to provide additional energy to the reservoir fluid
system to boost or maintain the production level through the
application of secondary production methods based on fluid
injection.
 Secondary hydrocarbon recovery (oil and/or gas) involves the
introduction of artificial energy into the reservoir via one
wellbore and production of oil and/or gas from another wellbore.
 Usually secondary recovery include the immiscible processes of
waterflooding and gas injection or gas-water combination
floods, known as water alternating gas injection (WAG), where
batches of water and gas are injected sequentially.
 Simultaneous injection of water and gas (SWAG) is also
practiced, however the most common fluid injected is water
because of its availability, low cost, and high specific gravity
which facilitates injection.
 The optimization of primary oil recovery is generally
approached through the implementation of secondary recovery
processes at early stages of the primary production phase
before reservoir energy has been depleted.
 This production strategy of combining primary and secondary
oil recovery processes commonly renders higher oil recovery if
compared to the oil production that would be obtained through
the single action of the natural driving mechanisms during
primary oil recovery.

Waterflood process
 Waterflooding is implemented by injecting water into a set of
wells while producing from the surrounding wells. Waterflooding
projects are generally implemented to accomplish any of the
following objectives or a combination of them:
- Reservoir pressure maintenance
- Dispose of brine water and/or produced formation water
- As a water drive to displace oil from the injector wells to the
producer wells
  Over the years, waterflooding has been the most widely
used secondary recovery method worldwide. Some of the
reasons for the general acceptance of waterflooding are as
follows. Water is an efficient agent for displacing oil of light
to medium gravity, water is relatively easy to inject into oil-
bearing formations, water is generally available and
inexpensive, and waterflooding involves relatively lower
capital investment and operating costs that leads to
favorable economics.
 Waterflooding is generally implemented by following
various types of well flooding arrangements such as
pattern flooding, peripheral flooding, and crestal flooding,
among others.
 Pattern flooding is used in reservoirs having a small dip
(not flat-lying reservoirs) and a large surface area.

Geometry of common regular pattern floods

 Economic factors are the main criteria for the selection of a
specific pattern geometry; these factors include the cost of
drilling new wells, the cost of switching existing wells to a
different type (i.e., a producer to an injector), and the loss
of revenue from the production when making a switch from
a producer to an injector.
 For instance, the direct-line-drive and staggered-line-drive
patterns are frequently used because they require the
lowest investment. However, if the reservoir characteristics
yield lower injection rates than those desired, the operator
should consider using either a seven- or a nine-spot
pattern where there are more injection wells per pattern
than producing wells.
 In the regular patterns shown in Fig., the producer wells
are always located in the center of the pattern, surrounded
by the injector wells; while the opposite is true for the
inverted pattern floods, where the injectors are drilled in the
middle of the pattern, and producers are at the corners.
 Optimization of oil recovery during the life of a waterflood
project is approached by changing over time the
injector/producer pattern and well spacing. Thus, based on
simulation studies and economic analyses, producers are
converted to injectors, infill wells are drilled, and a relatively
dense well spacing is implemented at certain stages of
recovery.
 However, the implementation of any pattern flood
modification is conditioned to the expected increase in oil
recovery and whether the incremental oil justifies the
capital expenditure and operating costs.
 Next Figure shows an example in which a waterflood
operation was initiated using an inverted 9-spot pattern that
was gradually transformed to a regular 5-spot pattern at
later stages of waterflooding through well conversion and
infill drilling.
Modifications of the injector/producer pattern and well spacing over
the life of a waterflooding project to optimize the recovery of oil: (a)
Early stage and (b) Late stage.

 In peripheral flooding, the injection wells are positioned

around the periphery of a reservoir.
 Two cases of peripheral floods involving reservoirs with
underlying aquifers are shown.
Well Configuration for peripherial waterflooding of reservoirs with
underlying aquifers: (a) Anticlinal reservoir and (b) Monoclinal
reservoir.

 In the anticlinal reservoir (a), the injector wells are placed in

such a manner that the injected water either enters the
aquifer or is near the aquifer-reservoir interface displacing
oil towards the producer wells located at the upper part of
the reservoir, thus in this case the geometrical well
configuration is similar to a ring of injectors surrounding the
producers.
 For the monoclinal (dipping or not flat lying) reservoir
illustrated in (b), the injector wells are placed down dip to
take advantage of gravity segregation, thus the injected
water either enters the aquifer or enters near the aquifer-
reservoir interface. In this situation, the well configuration
renders the grouping of all the injector wells on the
structurally lower side of the reservoir.
  In reservoirs having sharp structural features, the water
injection wells can be located at the crest of the structure to
efficiently displace oil located at the top of the reservoir; this
is known as crestal injection.
 In any case, injection well configuration and well spacing
depend on several factors that include rock and fluid
characteristics, reservoir heterogeneities, optimum injection
pressure, time frame for recovery, and economics.
 Under favorable fluid and rock properties, current
technology, and economics, waterflooding oil recovery
ranges from 10% to 30% of the original oil in place (OOIP).
Gas injection
 Immiscible gas (one that will not mix with oil) is injected to
maintain formation pressure, to slow the rate of decline of
natural reservoir drives, and sometimes to enhance gravity
drainage.
 Immiscible gas is commonly injected in alternating steps
with water to improve recovery.
 Immiscible gases include natural gas produced with the oil,
nitrogen, or flue gas. Immiscible gas injected into the well
behaves in a manner similar to that in a gas-cap drive: the
gas expands to force additional quantities of oil to the
surface. Gas injection requires the use of compressors to
raise the pressure of the gas so that it will enter the
formation pores.
 Immiscible gas injection projects on average render lower
oil recovery if compared to waterflooding projects, however
in some situations the only practicable secondary recovery
process is immiscible gas injection.
 Those situations include very low permeability oil
formations (i.e. shale), reservoir rock containing swelling
clays, and thin formations in which the primary driving
mechanism is solution-gas drive, among others).
 The table summarizes the oil recovery efficiencies from
primary and secondary recovery processes obtained from
production data from several reservoirs in the United
States.
Oil Recovery Efficiencies as % of OOIP from Primary and Secondary
Recovery (Adapted from Lyons & Plisga, 2005).