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Abstract
This paper describes the experiences and results after more than 10 years of waterflooding the fractured Ekofisk chalk
formations from a reservoir engineering and reservoir management perspective. Water injection was initiated at Ekofisk in
1987 following two successful pilot projects. The waterflood was implemented in a series of stages, and currently 800,000
BWPD is being injected into the entire vertical column of the reservoir using 38 injectors in a staggered line drive pattern. A
total of 2 billion barrels of water has been injected in the first 10 years of waterflood operations. Field average water
production is currently below 80,000 BWPD. Oil rate responses, GOR declines and low water production rates indicate a
very efficient oil displacement process is occurring. Examples of waterflood performance in terms of areal and vertical
sweep efficiency, production responses and displacement efficiency will be reviewed together with overall reservoir
management aspects including seabed subsidence and reservoir compaction. q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights
reserved.
0920-4105r00r$ - see front matter q 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 9 2 0 - 4 1 0 5 Ž 0 0 . 0 0 0 1 6 - 4
12 H. Hermansen et al.r Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 26 (2000) 11–18
tial and high variability demonstrated by the labora- initial assumptions were incorrect. The measured
tory results. A successful pilot injection project from seabed subsidence of approximately 10 ft in 1984
1985 to 1987 concluded that the Lower Ekofisk initiated rock mechanics studies to allow prediction
Formation responded as favorably as the Tor Forma- of future seabed subsidence. These studies concluded
tion. Based on these results it was decided to also that the steel platforms and the concrete storage tank
inject water into the Lower Ekofisk Formation and needed protection in severe weather. In 1986, it was
expand the Tor Formation waterflood field wide decided to jack up the steel platforms and build a
ŽHallenbeck et al., 1989.. This project involved concrete protective barrier around the tank.
drilling of 11 additional injectors, commingling se- A decision was made in 1994 to gradually phase
lected injectors and modification to the two 15-slot out existing facilities and install a new wellhead
production platforms, 2r4 and 2r4 C, to allow platform with 50 slots and new process and trans-
drilling of 16 additional production wells to develop portation facilities to provide for a long-term cost-ef-
an estimated 192 MMBOE. The drilling of additional fective strategy that maximizes ultimate recovery.
producers was initiated in early 1990. Drilling from the new wellhead platform, 2r4 X,
Further extension and optimization of the water- commenced in October 1996. The new process and
flood demonstrated a need for a higher injection transportation facilities were installed August 1998.
capacity. This work justified the increase in water The current oil recovery estimate from Ekofisk
injection capacity from 375,000 BWPD to 500,000 field is 38% of the original oil in place. The increase
BWPD on 2r4 K and provided gas lift facilities on in recovery from the initial estimate of 18% is due
two production facilities. primarily to the extensive waterflooding, implemen-
Evaluation of waterflooding the upper two thirds tation of an effective well monitoring and stimula-
of the Ekofisk Formation ŽUpper Ekofisk Formation. tion techniques, compaction drive, aggressive infill
was initiated in 1990. Upper Ekofisk Formation lab- drilling, the Ekofisk redevelopment and extended
oratory data indicated less water wettability than field life, and overall field optimization.
both the Lower Ekofisk and Tor Formations. A water
injection test was initiated in 1990. Residual oil
saturations were measured in a sidetrack of this well 3. Water injection performance
after 6 months of injection. Results from this pilot
showed that recoveries were again better than labora- Currently, 800,000 BWPD is being injected into
tory measured values and they approached the values the entire vertical column of the reservoir using 38
observed in the Lower Ekofisk and Tor formations. injectors in a staggered line drive pattern. A total of
A major field study was then conducted in 1992 2 billion barrels of water has been injected in the
which concluded that the most optimum develop- first 10 years of waterflood operations. The Tor
ment scenario would be to initiate a waterflood in Formation is the most mature waterflood with a total
the Upper Ekofisk Formation as soon as possible by of 1.1 billion barrels being injected followed by
adding perforations to all existing injectors. Due to Lower Ekofisk Formation, 0.5 billion barrels, and
the timing issues a converted drilling rig was brought Upper Ekofisk Formation, 0.4 billion barrels. Field
in to the Ekofisk Complex and hooked up to the 2r4 average water production approaches 80,000 BWPD,
K platform supplying an additional 320,000 BWPD Fig. 3, which indicates a very efficient oil displace-
for injection. An estimated 105 MMBOE is expected ment and limited water breakthrough even after 10
to be recovered. years of waterflood operations. Fig. 4 shows the
The potential for compaction of high porosity, dramatic increase in historical oil production rate
overpressured chalk was recognized before the de- from a low of 70,000 BOPD in 1987 to the current
velopment of the Ekofisk Field. Initial development production level of 290,000 BOPD, which has re-
work, however, assumed that the reservoir com- sulted from the waterflood.
paction would not result in seabed subsidence. Sur- Before initiating a waterflood in the highly frac-
face observations made in 1984 after significant tured chalk formations of the Ekofisk Field, a num-
reservoir pressure depletion demonstrated that the ber of uncertainties needed to be addressed. These
14 H. Hermansen et al.r Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 26 (2000) 11–18
Fig. 5. 2r4-C06 oil and water production rates before and after
sidetrack in 1995. Fig. 7. 2r4-B03 tritiated water response in weeks after injection.
A tracer slug was injected into well K-04 to efficiency and to provide an injection strategy to
evaluate anisotropy directions in the northeastern maximize recovery. Wells drilled into known flooded
area of the field. As can be seen from Fig. 6, the sections have normally shown excellent vertical
tracer arrived at well C-23 5 weeks after injection at sweep ŽFig. 8.. However, in well B-24C in 1994
a high concentration. Well B-03 is located on the ŽFig. 9., a flooded interval was encountered in the
extension of a fault mapped between K-04 and C-23 middle of an apparently uniform section indicating a
approximately the same distance from the injector, vertical permeability barrier not previously observed
but in the opposite direction of C-23. The tracer
arrived at B-03, however, more than 55 weeks after
injection and at a much lower concentration ŽFig. 7..
These two examples demonstrate the importance
of detailed fault and fracture mapping and a thor-
ough understanding of major stress orientations to
determine important permeability anisotropies. The
first example also highlights the occurrence of high
permeability areas along and within a few hundred
feet of major fracture and faults planes. Continued
efforts in improving capabilities in mapping and
identifying these major features is absolutely critical
to future successful infill drilling at Ekofisk to im-
prove waterflood sweep efficiency.
The vertical distribution of fractures and fracture
intensities are critical to model the vertical sweep
Fig. 6. 2r4-C23 tritiated water response in weeks after injection. Fig. 8. 2r4-B18B waterflooded section.
16 H. Hermansen et al.r Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 26 (2000) 11–18
porosity chalk sample. These tests show that the of well locations using the full field Ekofisk 3D
chalk strength decreases with increasing water satu- reservoir simulation model calibrated to 25 years of
ration until a fully water weakened state is reached at field performance has realized in excess of 200
a water saturation of approximately 25%. Incorpora- MMBOE of additional reserves.
tion of this data into the Ekofisk full field reservoir
model in replacement of previous data ŽJohnson and
Rhett, 1986., which was only stress dependent, has
resulted in a much improved match of observed
compaction from the start of the major water injec- 6. Future development opportunities
tion in 1989 to present time ŽFig. 12.. Bowl volumes
displayed on this plot are subsidence values. Values In 1994 a study was initiated to look at additional
of 1.1 times the subsidence bowl volumes are also enhanced recovery potential from Ekofisk. Two
displayed to illustrate the expected range, 1.0–1.1, of schemes were identified for further evaluation: wa-
compaction to subsidence volumes. ter-alternating gas, WAG, and surfactant injection.
Extensive laboratory tests have been performed and
mechanistic and full field simulations have been
5. Ekofisk field redevelopment made to evaluate these processes.
A WAG pilot was initiated in June 1996 to test
As part of the Ekofisk field redevelopment a new gas injection in well W06, which had been injecting
wellhead platform, 2r4 X was installed September water since 1991 with a total of 44 million barrels.
1996 and commenced drilling operations October This test was unsuccessful, going from an injection
1996. As of September 1998 a total of 19 new rate of 14 million SCFrday initially to zero in a
producing wells have been drilled from the platform matter of hours. Subsequent analysis of the injection
rig and a jack-up rig cantilevered over the well bay test showed both measured and calculated bottom
area. Currently 45 wells are planned to be drilled hole temperatures of 548F, which are below the
through 2005 to replace production from the existing hydrate formation temperature at reservoir pressure.
2r4 A and 2r4 B wells of which more than 15 will Simulations were then made to calculate detailed
be horizontal producers. Detailed optimization work temperature profiles in the vicinity of the well to
18 H. Hermansen et al.r Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering 26 (2000) 11–18
determine how far away from the well that hydrate- 4. Seabed subsidence and reservoir compaction
forming conditions exist. This region was shown to continues to be a critical parameter in production
be several hundred feet, which is to be expected after strategy evaluations. Continued subsidence and com-
5 years of cold water injection. Various remedial paction after several years of negative reservoir ex-
measures were then evaluated for gas injection with traction volumes may result in a future revision of
heated water and co-injection of water and gas as the the current production strategy.
most likely candidates. 5. Future development opportunities at Ekofisk
The current plans for Ekofisk include continued include WAG and optimum timing of secondary
water injection until year 2012. At that point, water depletion.
injection will cease, the field will be blown down to
the end of the license period in year 2028. Opportu-
nities will exist to optimize the waterflood with the
Acknowledgements
drilling of the 2r4 X producers. Also, a major
recompletionrsidetrack program is being evaluated
for a number of existing water injection wells. This The authors acknowledge permission to publish
ongoing optimization of the Ekofisk waterflood has the above paper from Phillips Petroleum Norway and
the potential for significant improvement in water- Coventurers, including Fina Exploration Norway
flood recoveries. Opportunities also exist for opti- SCA, Norsk Agip, Elf Petroleum Norge, Norsk Hy-
mization of reserves under blowdown, being primar- dro, and Den norsk stats oljeselskap, TOTAL Norge,
ily associated with acceleration of reserves with and Saga Petroleum.
additional production wells and enhanced com-
paction drive due to pressure depletion.
References
7. Conclusions
Hallenbeck, L.D., Sylte, J.E., Ebbs, D.J., Thomas, L.K., 1989.
Implementation of the Ekofisk waterflood. Paper SPE 19838
1. Waterflooding the Ekofisk fractured chalk has presented at the 1989 SPE Annual Technical Conference, San
been a success, contributing to the significant in- Antonio, October 8–11, 1989.
crease in oil production rates experienced from 1987. Johnson; J.P., Rhett, D.W., 1986. Compaction behavior of Ekofisk
2. Experiences from almost 10 years of water- chalk as a function of stress. Paper SPE 15872 presented at the
1986 SPE European Petroleum Conference, London, October
flood operations highlights the importance of de- 20–22, 1986.
tailed reservoir characterization and mapping of fault Sulak, R.M., 1990. Ekofisk field: the first twenty years. SPE
and fracture trends to capture areal and vertical 20773 presented at the 1990 SPE Annual Technical Confer-
heterogeneities to minimize water breakthrough. ence, New Orleans, September 23–26, 1990.
3. A continuation of the detailed geological, geo- Sylte, J.E., Hallenbeck,L.D., Thomas,L.K.1988. Ekofisk forma-
tion pilot waterflood. SPE 18276 presented at the 1988 SPE
physical and engineering studies will be necessary as Annual Technical Conference, Houston, October 2–5, 1988.
additional wells are drilled to further improve the Thomas, L.K., Dixon, T.N., Evans, C.E., Vienot, M.E., 1987.
understanding of permeability anisotropies. Ekofisk waterflood pilot. JPT, February.