Practical Issues With Field Injection Well Gel Treatments

Abstract

Abstract Polymer gel treatments are effective in reducing high water production, resulting in improved oil recovery. The gels function by moving into highly permeable, water saturated zones and severely reducing permeability to water in those zones, so that oil can be produced from tighter rock. The gels can be applied to injection wells or producing wells. They are effective at shutting off water or gas in oil wells. This paper focuses on field applications of injection well gel treatments to shut off water in oil producing intervals. Strategies for sizing treatments in injection wells are discussed, and field case history examples are provided to illustrate concepts. Guidelines for predicting timing and magnitude of production side response are provided, along with economics and risk factors. A plot of normalized incremental oil response against gel volume injected is introduced as a new means of estimating expected oil response for heterogeneous sandstone reservoirs with crossflow, based on actual field performance of several injection well gel treatments.