Water-cut rising mechanism and optimized water injection technology for deepwater turbidite sandstone oilfield: A case study of AKPO Oilfield in Niger Delta Basin, West Africa

Through the analysis of the reservoir connection relationship and the water-cut rising rules after water breakthrough in the highly volatile oil AKPO oilfield, a new model of water-cut rising was established, and the timing and strategy of water injection were put forward. The water-cut rising shapes of producers after water breakthrough can be divided into three types, and their water-cut rising mechanism is mainly controlled by reservoir connectivity. For the producers which directly connect with injectors in the single-phase sand body of the single-phase channel or lobe with good reservoir connectivity, the water-cut rising curve is “sub-convex”. For the producers which connect with injectors through sand bodies developed in multi-phases with good inner sand connectivity but poorer physical property and connectivity at the overlapping parts of sands, the response to water injection is slow and the water-cut rising curve is “sub-concave”. For the producers which connect with injectors through multi-phase sand bodies with reservoir physical properties, connectivity in between the former two and characteristics of both direct connection and overlapping connection, the response to water injection is slightly slower and the water-cut rising curve is “sub-S”. Based on ratio relationship of oil and water relative permeability, a new model of water cut rising was established. Through the fitting analysis of actual production data, the optimal timing and corresponding technology for water injection after water breakthrough were put forward. Composite channel and lobe reservoirs can adopt water injection strategies concentrating on improving the vertical sweep efficiency and areal sweep efficiency respectively. This technology has worked well in the AKPO oilfield and can guide the development of similar oilfields.