The interwell tracer test method for early water flooding diagnostics and risk mitigation during infill drilling

UDK: 622.276.43.004.58

DOI: 10.24887/0028-2448-2025-7-36-39

Key words: tracer tests, filtration flows, early water flooding, infill drilling, production well water cut

Authors: A.G. Kamyshnikov (TatNIPIneft, RF, Almetyevsk); А.N. Beregovoy (TatNIPIneft, RF, Almetyevsk); А.Т. Zaripov (TatNIPIneft, RF, Almetyevsk); I.R. Mukhliev (TATNEFT PJSC, RF, Almetyevsk); А.R. Khannanov (TATNEFT PJSC, RF, Almetyevsk)

The interwell tracer test method is a direct tool for studying the filtration flows from the injectors and for determining reservoir properties of the interwell space. It reliably identifies zones of low flow coefficient and determines the presence of the injected water breakthrough. Meanwhile, the early water flooding will be registered within a relatively short observation period, which does not require long-term monitoring of the tracer output to capture its main part. The presence of highly active zones of early water flooding has a negative impact on oil field development and is an essential criterion for allocating of additional drilling points. The applicability of the tracer method during infill drilling is a vital option as drilling of new wells is resource-intensive and the risks of discrepancies between predicted and actual measurements will decrease economic efficiency and may cause all incurred expenses to become irretrievable losses. Thus, searching for and utilizing tools to preemptively explore the area for additional drilling in order to mitigate risks and uncertainties is a key issue which will help to increase the success of bringing new wells into production. This paper presents a new approach to application of tracer tests for filtration zone investigation aimed to address aforementioned issue. It provides practical examples and conditions of the method’s usage, its output results and the criteria for interpretation. The results of the studies could be used to solve problems of infill drilling and reduce the risk of new producers being flooded with injected water.

References

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