Title: Simple method estimates the variation of oil production rate with oil-water viscosity ratio and water injection rate

Authors: Alireza Bahadori

Addresses: School of Environment, Science and Engineering, Southern Cross University, P.O. Box 157, Lismore, New South Wales, 2480, Australia

Abstract: The proper design and maintenance of waterfloods requires comprehension of how viscous oil can be displaced by water, and how oil recovery can be optimised. In this work, simple predictive tools are developed to rapidly investigate the variation of heavy oil production rate with oil water viscosity ratio and water injection rate for 5-spot waterflood. Estimations are found to be in excellent agreement with reported data in the literature with average absolute deviation being less than 2%. The predictive tool shows oil recovery is affected significantly by an increase in the oil-water viscosity ratio. [Received: January 5, 2012; Accepted: April 13, 2012]

Keywords: oil production rate; oil-water viscosity ratio; water injection rate; oil viscosity; waterflood; Vandermonde matrix; predictive tools; variation estimation.

DOI: 10.1504/IJOGCT.2013.054837

International Journal of Oil, Gas and Coal Technology, 2013 Vol.6 No.4, pp.477 - 484

Received: 07 Jan 2012
Accepted: 13 Apr 2012
Published online: 29 Jan 2014 *

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