Enhanced Oil Recovery of the

Basal Tena Sand from the Well

Pad North of the Palo Azul field
Presented by:
Samuel Andrés Chiang Antón
Cristhel Briggette Eras Carrillo
INTRODUCTION

Currently, it is known that the production of hydrocarbons under natural mechanisms has become over the years a process of low
efficiency that yields minimum results of recovery factors; recovering as much oil as possible optimally taking care of the economic
investment, has become one of the constant challenges of the hydrocarbon industry where it has been working on the search and
implementation of techniques that increase the energy of the deposits as response to drastic pressure drops through IOR or EOR
stages.

The present project is based on the technical study of the implementation of secondary recovery to the producing wells of the Tena
Basal Sand of the Well Pad Norte of the Palo Azul Field, which consists in the injection of water through injector wells to obtain greater
recovery factors taking care of the economic investment.
Problem Description

Based on technical and statistical data, it is known that the current production of the Ecuadorian oil fields shows a
significant decreasing tendency during the last years. Such is the case of the Palo Azul Field which is considered a
relatively old field with a current production of 7 MBPPD as a result of a drastic fall in production of the 30 optimum
MBPPD with which it was at the beginning of its production history.
Objectives
General objective
• To develop a technical study of water injection as a method of recovering the Basal Tena sand from the Well
Pad Norte of the Palo Azul Field through analytical and computer calculations in order to obtain greater
recovery factors under optimal economic investment.

Specific objectives
• Analyze the different historical and geological parameters of the deposit for the selection of the appropriate
water injection model.
• Carry out the water injection study in such a way that the reservoir is prevented from reaching the bubble
pressure in order to disregard the operational problems caused by the presence of gas.
• Carry out an economic study of the secondary recovery to be implemented to determine its economic
profitability.
Palo Azul Field Description - Background

In 1999, the Palo Azul field was discovered in Block 18 through exploratory drilling of the Palo Azul-01 well, an
operation that was carried out by Cayman International Exploration Company S.A. and Petromanabí S.A.
Subsequently, in the year 2000, the drilling of the Palo Azul-02 well began, which by October 2001 would become the
first producing well in this field. (Petroamazonas EP, 2016)
Palo Azul field description – Geographic location

The Palo Azul field belonging to Block 18 is located in the Francisco de Orellana province. To the northwest it is limited
by the Sacha field, to the East by the Coca River and to the northeast of Campo Pucuna; 180 km on the straight line
east of Quito. (Petroamazonas EP, 2016)
Palo Azul field description – Location map

Mapa de Ubicación del Bloque 18, campo Palo Azul

Palo Azul field description – Field Geology
The regional drainage mechanism is generated by an active bottom aquifer and is locally of lateral effect caused by the
existing lutitic intercalations in the vicinity of the wells.
The Hollín Formation, the main reservoir in the area of the Palo Azul field, has been divided into four zones according to
their lithological and environmental characteristics, which can be seen in the Figure.
The U and T sands of the Napo formation have an estuary type deposit dominated by tides with sandy bodies of tide
and channel bars, which developed better in the eastern part of the basin and lose lateral continuity towards the
west. It is located in the most distal part of the estuary.
Basal Tena sand represents an estuary-type deposit dominated by more proximal tides and higher energy, is
characterized by the presence of sands of medium to fine grain, quartz, occasionally argillic matrix, calcareous cement,
with traces of glauconite and small lutitic intercalations.
Palo Azul field description – Field Geology

Deposit model for the Palo Azul Field

Palo Azul field description – Wells current
status
The following table shows the number and condition of each well in the Palo Azul field.

Estado de los Pozos Número de Pozos

Producing 35
In reconditioning 2
Closed 12
Abandoned 3
Injector 5
Drilling 1

Total de pozos perforados 58

Palo Azul field description – Geographic location

Palo Azul field has an average oil production of 6723.77 BPPD, with a BSW of 90.0% and 26 degrees API.

FIELD BSW%
FLUID (BFPD) NET (BOPD) WATER (BWPD)

90
67.377,13 6.723,77 60.653,36

The volume of production and re-injection of water is shown in the following table:

PRODUCCIÓN (BWPD) RE-INJECTION (BIPD) CAPACITY (BIPD)

60.653,36 63.665,87 70.000,00

Bibliografía

• Drake. (2003). Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering 8Th Ed. The Hague: Elsevier-Gulf Profesional Publishing.
• Ferrer, M. P. (2009). Fundamentos de Ingeniería de Yacimientos. Maracaibo: Astro Data S.A.
• Craft B.C. and Hawkins M.F. (1991). Applied petroleum reservoir engineering. – 2nd ed. Prentice-Hall Inc.
• Craig F. (1971). The Reservoir Engineering Aspects of Waterflooding. SPE Monograph Series.
• Ferrer, M. P. (2001). Inyección de agua y gas en yacimientos petrolíferos. Maracaibo: Astro Data S.A.
GRACIAS.