Objectives:
The goal of this project was to develop a more thorough understanding of Residual Oil Zones (ROZs) in the Permian Basin of West Texas and New Mexico and to demonstrate the ability to model a lateral natural waterflooding sweep process. It is hoped that techniques developed in the Permian Basin for the capacity to find and exploit potential ROZs will aid in a nationwide effort to identify these potentially very large targets.
The project sought to:
- -Change the perception of zones with only residual oil (mobile water) as a negative to one that recognizes them as a Target for Enhanced Oil Recovery
- -Develop several working hypotheses to describe both the evidence of ROZ presence and the origins of their development,
- -Identify sources of and collect data that may document ROZ presence and aid in mapping the trends, and
- -Attempt a modeling effort to demonstrate the validity of the ROZ origin postulates to observed subsurface conditions.
Approach:
The approach to this project entailed collection and synthesis of massive amounts of data, including log, core, and well data as well as reports and observations from experts in the field. Data will be assembled and mapped in an attempt to reconstruct potential flow paths and develop a regional hydrological model. The data acquired and model developed provides features of the ROZs that can be tested with new wells and cores