* ..

WATER INJECTION

Oil Recovery by Imbibition Water Flooding in the

Austin and Buds Formations
C. T. HESTER HUMBLE OIL & REFINING CO.
J. W. WALKER CORPUS CHRISTI, TEX.
G. H. SAWVER PIEASANTON, T.SX.
MEMBERS AlME

Abstract tion, and naturally cccurring fractures, all of which lead

In Texas along the Ba!cones fault trend, which
extend.r from Eagle Pass to Tzdco, tnany oil fields pro-
duce from the Austin chalk and Buds limestone. These
carbonate formations of Cretaceous age vary in charac-
ter from tight to impermeable, with and without fractures,
and with vatying amounts of shale inclusion. Comple-
tions in tftese formations tnay potential at high rates
where naturally occurring or itzduced fractures are present;
but primary oii recovery is invariably low because of the
low pern;eabi[i[y of the mytrix.
During the last four yeatw, field trials of imbibition
water flooding have been conducted in several wellsin the
Darst Creek and Salt Flat fields using wells cotnpleted in
the Austin chalk ~d Buda limestones at depths of fronl
2,200 to 2,500 ft. Except jor the initial and one subsequent
trial, the wells havenot noticeably responded to theimbibi-
tion process. The causes of failure have not beets deter-
mined, but are probably due to (1] insu#icient expuisive
energy to transmit the released oii to the wellbore after
\tsater has been imbibed, (2) uncontrolled water entry into
zonesof vesy high water saturatio~, and(3) wellbore dam-
age in the zone of interest tiu~ to soiids contained in tile
water.
Introduction
Numerous oil fields produce from the Austin chalk tuzd
Buds limestones%,along the extensive Balcones fault trend
which extends from Eagle Pass to Taico, Tex. Most of
the wells in these fields currently produce at near uneco-
nomical rates. This low average productivity is caused
primarily by the low permeability of the matrix of the Aus-
tin chalk and Buda lime, The result is a prevalence of
dissolved-gas-drive mechanisms and reduced reservoir
pressures. Ultimate primary oil recoveries are abnormally
low in terms of oil originally in place, and for a long
time operators have considered ways of imprswin&+recov-
cries. However, tfie only widespread technique employed
to low conformance, For this reason, using capillary
pressure to absorb water and release oil from the tight
mztrices has been investigated, Field trials hzzve been
conducted in the Salt Flat and Darst Creek fields.
Reservoir and Fioid Cbsraeteristics
The Austin chalk and Buds limestones, which are nor-
mally very tight, occur a[ong the Baicones fault trend at
depths from 2,000 to 8,000 ft. They have oil-saturated
poroshies ranging from 8 to 30 per cent, with naturai
fractures sometimes occurring near fault planes. The re-
mainder of this discussion will be limited to the Austin
and Buds formations found in the Salt Fiat and Darst
Creek fields, located near Luling, Tex.
The Austin chalk occurs at a depth of approximately
2.200 ft and is usually about 180 ft thick, The formation
is interspersed with $ylolites, with streaks of shale, and .
with many dense impermeable streaks of limestone, so
the net effective thickness is only about 90 ft. As shown
in Tahie 1 and Fig. 1, the porosity of this effective sec-
tion varies from 8 to 30 per cent and averages 12 per cent.
For the most part, this porosity is in the form of inter-
granular pores, with only n minor contribution made by
vugs and fractures.
Matrix permeabilities for the Austin chaik range from
0.01 to 15 md and average approximately 0.12 in the
net effective pay. These low permeabilities indicated by
measurements are substantiated by well performance.
With the exception of a few so-caIled crevice wells,
Austin-chalk completions produce little if any oil until
the wells are stimulated. The iow absolute permeabilites
are further reduced by build-up of gas or water saturations
TABLE I--sEsERv0IR AND FLUID CHARACTERlSTIC4-AUSTIN AND BUDA
FORMATIONS, SALT FLAT AND DARST CREEK FIELDS
Formations
.- ._.._--L. . -
Awtln - Bwdm
Averose effective my thkkne$$, ft 90 ;!
.-

so far has been acid treatment or a very large fracture Avetasa pamdtr, per cent
POrOdZy range, per cent S.ii .1fo:2
using sand for a propping agent, Conventional water Average. pffrmaablllty, .md 0.12
Perm~bHlty tunse, md 0.01 J;o .Ozi;o
. floixling has not been considered ftxisible beeause of the Connote water content, per cent
highly varying permeability, discontinuities in the forma- C4ravltY of oil, API 36
.
V[$codty of en, cp I!%

Original SHP, p$l TTs
OrI lnaf manusorspt received in ZSoeiety of Petroleum En hers of- Safurotk.n pr4tftwe, twt 40s *
zlce 8 1A. 14, 1964. Revised mmwcrlz)t of SPE 960 receiv e# June 11. Parmotlan volume factor, Rec. bbl/STS z.046 *
1966. Paper presented nt SPE Annual Fall Meeting held In Houston.
Ott, 11-14, 1964. Pre$wro and wbwrfuce oil mmple wmvokble far Sudo

919
AlJO[IST, 1963

. .
. . .. ..
. -. .. -. ,.
 0.

around the welfs. Gas.oil and water-oil relative permea-
bility data are shown in Figs. 2 and 3, respectively.
Capillary-pressure data have been run on several Austin
and Buda mres, and a sample of these data is shown
in Fig. 4. Based upon these and other capillary-pressure
data, it has been calculated that the average connate
water saturation in the Austin chalk in the Darst Creek
ttnd Salt Flat fields is approximately 40 per cent.
The Buda limestone is a 60- to 70-ft section which
. underlies the Austin chalk and is separated from it by a
section of Eagleford shale about 15 to 2.0 ft thick, The
Buda normally has about a 30-ft effective thickness and
has characteristics somewhat similar to the Austin chalk.
However, the Buds has fewer inclusions of shale and
stylolites than the Austin and is generally more uniform.
The Buds, limestone has an average porosity of 12 per
cent, an average permeability of 0.08 md, and average
connate water saturation of 40 per cent.
Onfy a few wells have been completed in the Buds
limestone alone in the Salt Flat and Darst Creek fields,
and the productivities of these completions are comparable
to those made in the Austin chalk. Many of the wells
are, completed in both the Buda and Austin together, as
permitted by. the Texas Railroad Commission after show-
ing that both formations werk required to provide an
economic producer.
G&MMA SAY SONIC POROSITY % PERMEABILITY
An Austin or Buds completion in the 13arst Creek or
Salt Flat field has relatively high capacity after fracturing.
However, M shown by histories of several typicaf wells,
the wells immediately drop in capability, and after only a
few years are producing at 5 to 10 BOPD. Average oil
production to the economic limit of an Austin or Buda
well is approximately 20,000 bbl. Considering that these
wells are producing from relatively thick gross or net-
effective pay sections, it is readily apparent why operators
in these fields have been so interested in developing m@h-
ods for obtaining additional oil recoveries. As of 1960,
there had been no attempt to enhance oil recovery in
the fields by conventional water flooding, mainly be.
cause reasonable conformance efficiencies are unlikely.
Waterfiooding by the imbibition process is interesting be-
cause of two conditions: (1) after fracturing new com-
pletions using very large volumes of fresh water as a
sand carrier, the wells came in at high potentials and sel-
dom produced more than a small portion of the water
used to fracture; and (2) observations made in the Spra-
berry field of West Texas indicated that imbibition in a
fractured-matrix reservoir was the major contributor to ad-
ditional oil production under a waterflood operation.
Theory of Imbibition Process
Just as. a blotter will soak up ink and release air, au
oil-saturated sand will soak up water and release oil. This
, MO imbibition phenomenon has been emphasized during re-

)?
Waler .Soluretion. Perc*nl

W. ITypical log and core rlutn from AustiII and lhdn

Fig. 3-Oil.wntrr rehktiw permrnbility.
fornnktiow.

llsmd

oagaft +,
4-6s 0. 1 Q05 0,$

7
[0

T__
LQ
,
d \ \
\ t, %-
\
I \ \
\ \\ \\
\\ \ \\
\\ \ \\
\\\ --
\\\
\\ .\ \
\ %:Z ._ -
\\ -- ----
,. -z- AUSTIN CHALK -- =--
6U0& LIME

[-,
00 20 40 e @D 1(
. v20tlino Liquid SOIWWOII, P#rcGnf

Fig. %Gas.oil rohrtive persuetzbiilty. Fig. -Gpillnry pressure datn.

,.
920 JOIIRN.41. OF PETROLEUM TECUNOLOCY

. . . . . . . . . . .
-. -. . .-
 .

cent years with the discovery and operation of immense bibition alone couid be used as an effective secondary re-
fractured-matrix oil reserves in the Middle East imd West covery mechanism.
Texas. Graham and Richardson have mathematically de-
scribed the condhion where water is imbibed in one Field Trials
direction and oil is simultaneously moved in the opposite
direction-a stale of linear countercurrent imbibition. Humbies initial field trial of the imbibition process for
Their equations assume flow in accordance with Darcys additional recovery of aii was made in the Ssdt Flat field
law and utilize capillary-pressure relations, Leveretts func- on Well 16 of the Moses and i3aggett B lease. As
tion, and the continuity equation to express imbibition shown in Fig, 7, thk well was centraily located in a smail
rate in terms of rock and fluid properties and water sat- lease, and was completely surrounded by other weiis com-
uration. Graham and Richardson have made the fol[ow- pleted in the same producing formations. Moses and Bag-
ing comments:
1. The oil-production rate varies directly with the square
root of permeability, all other factors remaining unaltered. ,,
2. The oil-production rate varies directly with the oil- i
water interracial tension. I
3. The oii-production rate is dependent upon some func-
. tion of the contact angle, In general, the smaller the con-
tact ang[e, the greater is the imbibition rate.
4. The rate of imbibition is a function of the viscosity
of both the oil and the water. For a given water-oil ratio,
the rate of water imbibition is inversely proportional
to the viscosity.
5, The rate of imbibition is a complicated function of
the relative+permeability and capillary-pressure charac-
teristics of the porous medium.
Through experimentations with small cores, they also z J, ,. ~w
mum
found that the initial rate of imbibition is independent TIME .

of core length, but that introduction of a gas phase into Fig. 5.hnbibition data.
an oil-water system reduced the imbibition rate.
Laboratory data on the effeciivencsx of water imbibition
in reducing oil saturations in the. Austin and Buda forma-
tions are shown in Table 2. The tests were made using
evacuated 1-in, diameter by 4- to 5-cm long cores resatur-
ated to the initial values with kerosene. There was a wide
range in the final water saturation reached after water im-
bibition. In some cases this was apparently due to insuffi-
cient time for water to imbibe; in other cases the presence
of a vug probably contributed to the difference. The rate
of water imbibition into these small cores is shown as typ-
icrd plots of water saturation vs time in Figs. 5 and 6.
For most of the cores S. increased up to near the final
Sw as a logarithmic relation with time.
Applying theoretical concepts to numerically calculate
the imbibition rate we might expect to occur through in-
jecting water into the oil zone of an Austin or Buda reser-
voir was inappropriate because of the isdluence of many
unknown rock and fluid properties. Numerous welis pro- Fig. 6Imbibition duta.
ducing at very low oii rates were available in the Salt Fiat
and Ddrst Creek fields for tests to determine if water in-
sReferences given nt end of Pnswr.

TABLE 2LABORATORY AND IMBIBITION DATA-AUSTIN AND SUDA,

DARST CREEK AND SALT FLAT FI EIDS
011
Soduration<
%
After
tiler
AncdYIIs Desth lmbi-
.-Formation aratar, ond Wel I N.mbur (ftl Inltial bftlen

.
AUSTIN CHALK
Humble, 1, G. Denmwt A 46 A 2,346 7.52 24.7 69.0 57.0
46 S 2,346 0.87 67.4 56.2
&1 C 2,351 0.66 XJ 71.9 g.;
61 D 2,376 0.71 27.7
61 E 2,300 0.77 7s:2 36.S 29:7
61 F 2,352 0.70 27.0 72.3 41.2
. Humble, Sue Donmen C.. 12 # ~:;; . 0.14 16.9 69. t 47.7
68.1 46.8
2:34S ~ :?: 54.3 AO.4
/- # 2,355 19.9 So,o
L 2,265 0:36 1?.5 62.4 %:
M 2,370 0.11 19.7 74,6 67.4
SUDA lIME
N.wk, Clm Malone N 2,4n 0,14 5s.0 U.4
6 P 2,490 0,28 - 71.0 50.7 Fig. ?$nkhd Imbibition test oma; Salt Flat field. -

AUGUST, 196S 981

... . . . . . .
get B 16 was initially completed March 12, 1931, with
casing set at 2,190 ft and the well completed in an open
hole extending from the casing seat to 2,56S ft. This
open-hole section included all the Austin and Buda pene-
trated. The well was stimulated initially with 5,000 gal
of hydrochoioric acid, [t produced on potential test at
the rate of 25.4 BOPD with no water. .It was subse-
quently fractured on Oct. 11,1956 with 20,000 lb of sand
piaced with iease crude. The producing rate rapidly de-
clined and by 1960 the well was producing at only 3
BOPD, The cumulative oil production to the time of the
imbibition trial was 18,890 bbl.
The procedure of the imbibition test on this weil was
to inject a voiume of water. approximately equal to the
cumulative oii production, iet the water stand in the for-
mation for a considerable period of time, and then pro-
duce the oil reieased through imbibition. Water produced
from the Edwards limestone. which underlies the Buds,
was used for injection into this weli, This water contains
approximately 25,000 ppm total dissolved salts as com-
pdred to approximately 33,000 ppm dissolved salts in
the Buds-formation water. The difference lies principally
in the sodium choride concentration. The Edwards water
also contains approximately 300 to 400 ppm hydrogen
sulfide, as compared to less than 100 ppm in the Buds or
Austin waters.
The water for this field triai was pumped directly from
an open pit. It was metered and injected into the well
without any filtering or treatnlent. The first injection cycle
began on June 23, 1960, and the injection pressure in-
creased initially from zero up to 500 psi in only nine
days, The 500-psi pressure Icvel was considered the max-
imum permissible to avoid fracturing or extending otd
fractures. A maximum daiiy injection rate of 900
BWPD was obtained early in the injection period; however,
this rate rapidly decreased, and at the end of the injec-
tion period was in the range of 200 B/D, This first in-
jection cycle is shown in Fig. 8. Because of water break-
through into Luling Oil and Gas Co.% J. R. Tiiler 12 on
the adjoining lease (see Fig. 7), water injection was termi-
nated on Juiy 28, 1960. A total of 15,330 bbl of water
had been injected,.,at this time. The well was shut in 41
days, until Sept. 8. After return to production, the well
produced only water for a week, foiiowing which it grad-
ually increased in oii production and decreased in
water production as shown in, Fig, 9. During the subse-
quent three-year period, Moses and Baggett B 16 pro-
duced 9,530 bbl of oil and the producing capacity of
the weli had declined to 4.8 B/D, The total volume of
6001
-.
10 20 30
Ju?e 1960 3P Juty 1960
Fig. 8-Waw injection data, Moses and Baggett B 16,
Ssdt Fiat field,
water produced from the well after return to production
was ,4,740 bbl, Because of this relatively small amount
of water re-produced, it was believed that a second imbib-
ition cycle might obtain further additional oil recovery,
A second injection phase was completed on June 18, 1964.
The well was returned to production on July 18, 1964,
and the producing history subsequent to this tire: *w be
noted from ~lg, 9, As of March 1, 1965, only 100. 1!1of
oil had been produced with, 4,100 bbl of water, It is
probable that an extended soaking time would have been
required to make this second attempt successful. Such
extended shut-in periods are, of course, not economically
feasible; thus, the attempt was made using the one-month
standing period.
Humbles second field triai of an imbibition water flood
was made in the Darst Creek field in Sue Denman C
5. This well was completed on Nov. 4, 1960, and, as
shown in Fig, 10, deciined rapidly in productive capacity.
As mentioned before, the rapid decline in productive ca-
pacity is typical of Austin-Buds wells, Whereas Moses
and Baggett B 16 was completed by open-hole in both
the Austin and Buda formations, Sue Denman C 5
was completed through casing perforations in the Buds
only. Upon completion, the well was stimulated using 40,
000 lb of sand in a water carrier, The production level
prior to performing the imbibition test was 5,4 BOPD,
Water injection was begun on May 17, 1962, and, after
injecting 15,237 bbl, the well was shut in on Sept. 1,
1962. The well was returned to production on Ott, 29,
1962, and immediately responded with an increase in daily
oil production reaching a maximum of 42,5 bbi on
Jan, 7, 1963. Oil production declined gradually, but in
Feb., 1965, the production rate was stili at the 18 bbi
level. Oil and water production subsequent to the water
Fig. 9Woduetion data, Moses and Baggett B 16.
FiI#. 10-Production date Demnsm C 5, Datwt
Creek held.
JOURNAL OF PETROLEUM TECFINOLOGY
 m .

injection has been 22,240 and 17,950 bbl, respectively,
to March 1, 1965, Based upon the mild success of im-
bibition trials made subsequently elsewhere in the Salt
Flat and Darst Creek fields, and because of the sustained
fluid producing rate of Sue Denman C 5, it can be
concluded that the Buds formation in the area of thh
well has an unsuspected drive mechanism, This is prob-
ably due to water injection in a five-spot pilot being
conducted in the Austin and Buda formations a short
distance downstructure.
With the apparent success of the first two field trials
of imbibition water flooding, the method was expanded to
include six wells centrally located in the Darst Creek field
on the Sallie Wilson, Yates Wilson, Baker and Dowdy
leases. Data pertaining to these field trials are summar-
ized in Table 3. Two of the wells did not respond and
three of the wellswere unsuccessful because of mechan-
ical failures. Ltmited and uneconomical response to im-
hlbition was obtained in Sallie Wilson 3. All of these
wells were completed initially in 1930 and were cemen-
ted with only 100 bags of cement, This amount of cement
will bring a column to cover only about the mid-section of
the Austin; thus, primary cement failures with the injec-
don of water were not considered unusual, Corrosion
failures occurred in the oil-string casing in these wells.
There. were no apparent explaniztions for the failure of
the three other wells to respond. Essentially the same
type of water was injected. under similar rates and pres-
sures as for the two successful experiments previously
described,
Because of the questionable mechanical condition of
the central Darst Creek wells, two additional field trials
were made on the L, G. Denman A lease, using more
recei-dly drilled wells, Data concerning these two imbib-
ition tests are also summarized in Table 3. With the ex-
ception that fresh water was injected into L. G. Denman
A 46-U, similar water volumes and pressure were used
for these two wells as were used for the two successful
tleld trials. However, neither of these wells responded
with increased oil production.
Beginning early in 1964, Humble began imbibition
water flooding on 12 additional wells in the Salt Flat
field, also reported in Table 3. These wells are all Austin
and/ or Buda completions and are located on the J. B,
Tiller, Moses and Baggett B, and T, A, Tiller leases,
Water was introduced into these wells at a slower rate
than in previous triais, and an attempt was made to ZW-
duce contamination by using wellhead water filters on the
J. B. Tiller lease. In other ways all these trials were sim-
ilar to the initial work of Moses and Baggett B 16,
From the data reported in Table 3, you wil[ see that re-
sults were disappointing. Oniy three wells responded, and
this response was insufficient to be economically attract-
ive. In several instances the oii producing rate after in-
jection never reached the rate prior to injection, Work
done on the J. B. Tiller lease was the most, unproductive.
in this area, a thief zone, made Llp of a fractured shaly
section in the base of the Austin, took essentially ali of
the water, This was evidenced by water breakthrough
into offset wells completed in this same interval. The pre-
sence of a thief zone was suspected from the low injee-
tion pressures. The response data of Moses and Bag-
gett B 11 are shown in Fig. 11. You wili note on this
plot a secondary influence of injection in the Moses and
Baggett B 16 in 1960. Moses and Baggett B 11 wa-
tered out soon after injection in B 16 was commenced;
however, it returned to production at an increased capacity
soon thereafter.
Since June, 1963, Colorado Oil & Gas as weil as LSKL
Oii Co., Nortex Oil and Gas Corp., and Comstock 011
Co. have used imbibition water flooding at SaIt Flat,
Colorado Oil & Gas has subjected 12 wells to the process
with each of the other operators having used one well.
At Darst Creek, imbibition projects have been attempted
by Texaco, Mobil and Sun. Mobii has also fnhfated an
imbibition program in the Lu]ing field. The degree of suc-

...
TAJME 3-ISUMSLES IMBIBITION WATERFLOOD EXPERIENCEAUS71N CHALK AND SUDA LIME, D.4RST CREEK AND SALT FLAT Fl~lDS

Prodvctlon Data
Prior 9ct10n
Water Inlection Data
to [n}.
Avg. Mon. 011to w30pt0p
Refe ...
P,*,. .. .
Vnluma 011 Water Peak 0! I 3.1.65 . Retur%c?tc.
- field, [Formation), lease & Well [S/D) (9$1) (bbl) IB/D) (%) (s/D) _(bbll (bbl) Producing Remarks _
1
SALT FLAT FIELD
[Awtln-BwJa)
Moses & B.asQett E 16 [Ist Cycle) 437 5Q0 15,330 3.0 40 17.0 9,;:~ 4.7?* 9-a.60 successful
1.5
Meses k Smnaett B
Mom & Soaeeft S
Moses & SOSEeft S
16 (2nd CYCIOI

;:
100
135
101
SW
600
1s,212
1S,030
18,466
4,s

;::
30
65
Tr,
43.6
@
2,075
80
4;100
3,300 )
3,6S0
?.29.64
6.16.64
S.25.64
MOmlnOl SUCCeSS I
Mom & Sassett 8 23 102 q 1s,019 .s.a 30 ::: 5,100 ~2:::
J, B. Illler 2 7,825 45 4.6 9: f,5#
1. S. Tiller S I:: 17,s4s k: S5 2.5 2:1 S:65
J. S, lIller S . 127 lg 14,504 20 Smid[ Small 2.18.6S
J. S. Tiller 9 119 17,s1s ?: r9 310 $::; :.3.64
J, B. Tiller 10 147 I 50 16,7a3 2.4 ;: Small 2.1S.65
J, S. Tiller 11 l:J 150 1;$:: 2.7 50 ~6 3,170 S.12.64
J. S. Tfller 12 5.6 i; 5,050 6.1-64
T. A, Tlllar 3 153 59Z 1S:164 2.5 !: 1:2 6S0 2,806 9.23.64

[Austin)
T. A. Tiller 3 152 660 17,087 2.3 93 8.4 920 4,640 9.22.64

13ARSTCREEK FIELD
(A#w~: ~ll,en ~
116 4,534 0.s 95 3,qo !2:4.@ Wmcry cement failed I
L. 0. Denmon A 61 .U 16B 4:: 1s,193 4.8 10 4.: 1,04: 3,40s 3.12.64

(B.da) 214 22,900

Sue S, Denman C 5-U 171 50! 1S,127 :; 2s .42.5 22,246 17,950 ~O;#9;~2 Sm dimmtlon
.Sollre Wilson 3 173 l% 1S,500 51 a,7 1,62~** 11 ,600w . - Llmlt#S.Re@ansv
YatOs Wllsen 5 314 22.900 SI Prlmerv cement foilod
L. G. Denman A 464J 227 600 1S,214 4.3 50 4,3 213 4,520 9.7.i4 NO rc$mw I
.- {AUIi#&a@&n ,
0 1y%; Si 2,5 67 ** 3,130*** 2.23.63 ,.
A. S. Dowdy A 3 4.0 9s 6.S 2,340 43.906 12.14.63. .Km~wW&Ronl failad
D, P. Bakw S 14 1S:ooo 4.3 45 4.? 1,50s 6;070 2.6.44 Ne fwienw
CTO 12.20.63
**T* 7.1 &
***T~ 7.1.63

AUGUST, 1966 98s

I
1
-.. .,. .. .-
..--. , .
 .
cess experienced by these operators has not been estab-
lished, nor have the details of their applied methods been
determined. However, from data submitted to the Texas
Railroad Commission in the applications for these water-
injection projects, it appears th~t the intended procedure
was very similar to that used by Humble in the original
Moses and Baggett BY 16 test:
Methods and Equipment
The procedures normally used for imbibition water
flooding were simple, and were built around the pro-
cedure used initially in Humbles Moses and Baggett B
16. The wells were converted to injection, usually by
removing the pumping equipment and setting tubing on a
packer immediately above the production section. Approx-
imately 18,000 to 20,000 bbl of water was injected into
the well. The wells were then shut in for about a month,
after which they were returned to production. The volume
of water used was approximately the amount of oil norm-
ally produced by primary methods from a well completed
in these formations, As illustrated by previous discussion
of well histories, the successful tests normally produced
mostly water for several days upon return to production.
After this initial water production, the oii percentage in-
creased up to a point, where it leveled off.
On all but one of HumbIes field trials of the imbibi-
tion waterflooding technique, Edwards formation salt
water was used. This water was chosen primariiy because
of its availability in both the Salt Fiat and Darst Creek
fields; however, water-injectivity tests were made on ~four
Aust in-chaik and three Buds-lime cores from the Darst
Creek field. These cores were subjected to several pore
volumes of native formation water, Edwards limestone
\vater, and fresh water avai,iable in the area. In nearly
every case the fresh water resulted in from 30 to 40 per
cent reduction in permeability as compared to the native
formation or Edwards lime water, These data ore summar-
ized in Table 4. Edwards water has caused considerable
difficulty because of high solids content and the corrosive
nature of the water. The plunger pumps, tubing, and the
distribution lines have also corroded. Also, in several wells
till-up .of corrosion products and solids in the Edwards
water has obstructed the wells and prevented access to
the well bottom with temperature measurement instru-
ments, Proper filtering and treating of this water for future
application ip imbibition water flooding is advisable.
One of die main difficulties experienced with the im-
bibition water flooding so far has been early breakthrough
Fig. ll+Production
924
.
.
Sdta##ofi~d
.
.
1
r W65
and Baggett B 11,
-,
TABLE 4-WATER INJECT IVITV TESTS-
AUSTIN AND SUDA, DAR6T CSEEK FIELD I
into adjoining welis. The small leases and ciose well spac-
ing (300 ft between we[ls) in the Salt Flat and Darst
Creek fields are especially troublesome from thk+ stand-
point, In several instances water has broken through to ad-
joining operators wells and either the cooperation of the
adjoining operator had to be obtained or the injection
stopped. As might be expected, in no case has the produc-
tivity of a well heen permanently damaged from water
breakthrough,
Most of the wells which received water under the imbi-
bition test had completion intervals over relatively large
gross thicknesses in several porous streaks of the Austin
and/or Buds formations, To determine to what extent wa-
ter entered the several perforated members, temperature
surveys have been used extensively. Piots of severid of the
temperature surveys made arc shown in Fig. [2. In most
cases water left the casing and entered the formation at
several perforated intervals. The definition of the [temper-
ature measurements is not sufllcient to know that water en-
tered each of the many perforated intervals. However, it
appears that water was fairly well dispersed, In several
wells there does appear to be a preferettce for water to en-
ter a section in the base of the Austin. This section is
sometimes highly fractured. obstructions in several of the
wells prevented temperature measurement throughout the
entire injection jntervafs,
Application of water imbibition methods at Salt Flat
and Darst Creek have been hampered by Vdckof data on
current fluid saturations, and by primary completion meth-
ods. Having several zones open for production has allow-
ed the water to go to the stratum of least resistance. This
zone may be of high water saturation or may be a fracture-
d zone of such extent that no pressured area is created to
provide an expulsive force necessary to regain fluids at the
wellbore in the producing cycle. It has been found from
cores cut in oil-base mud that water saturations are high-
ly variablti within the Austin and Buds formations, and
on initial completion most wells are perforated in all ht.
tervals suspected of having producible oil saturations, In
Fig.lZ-Tenqwrutum
7.! M?tRAIUkE
., JOUkNAL
( .CUCI kl&u=4
(<,
y..
msrveys after water injection and
!24hour shutdn.
OF PETROLEUM
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TECHNOLOGY
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imy future applications .of the imbibition process, accu-

rate determination of saturations and close control of water
entry must be obtained 10 provide any usable data.
~ There is also a likelihood that solids contained in the
water have significantly reduced fluid returns to the well.
Work is currently in progress to establish whether this
is the case and if corrective measures can be taken.

Conclusions
From the field tests and laboratory data reported in
this paper, the following conclusions have been reached.
1. Imbibition of water into oil-saturated Austin or Buds
limestones can be utilized to provide additional recovery
of oil from these formations,
2, The imbibition process can, under favorable con-
ditions, be effected through introduction of water into a
well und subsequent production of this siime well to re-
cover oil released by water imbibition.
3. A poor record of success was experienced in the
Salt Flat and Darst Creek field triols of this recovery
method. This poor experience was believed caused by (a)
uncontroilwi water entry into zones of very high water
saturation, (b) insufficient expulsive energy to transmit re-
leased oil to the wellbore after water was imbibed,
(c) primary cement and casing failures, and (d) wellbore
damage in the zone of interest due to solids contained in
the water.
4,, The cost of obtaining necessary oil saturation data and
adequate controI over injectjon may be large enough to pro-
hibit any widespread use of the technique in marginai
but complex reservoirs such as the Austin and Buds for-
mations.

Acknowlcrfgsn&ts
Appreciation is extended to Humble Oil & Refining Co.
for permission to publish this paper, We appreciate the

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.+UCUST, 196S .

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