Analysis of low salinity waterflooding in bastrykskoye field

Abstract

Low salinity waterflooding is presently one of the most promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods. Wettability alteration and residual oil decrease are the most important EOR mechanisms of low salinity waterflooding. However, the mobility control EOR due to fines migration, induced by low salinity water, and the consequent flux diversion is also an important feature of the smart waterflooding. We analyze the limited available field data from 10 years of low salinity water injection in Bastrykskoye field. The mathematical model for fines-assisted waterflooding is used for history matching resulting in good agreement between the field and modeling data. The model is used to compare recovery factor for two scenarios of low salinity water injection and formation (normal) water injection. Low incremental recovery and low decrease in the amount of produced water during the development of Bastrykskoye field is explained by the production of significant amount of the reservoir water before the commencement of low salinity water injection.