Field Pilot of Gel Barriers Placement for In-Depth Fluid Diversion in Daqing Oil Field

Abstract Due to severe heterogeneity of thick positive rhythm reservoir and the gravity influence, the injected water channels and ineffectively cycles in high-permeability layers at the bottom of thick reservoir. An innovative in-depth fluid diversion technique, gel barrier placement, will be a promising approach to tap the potential of remaining oil in positive rhythm reservoirs in the period of high water-cut, which involves injecting gel into the radial laterals in the vertical wells between the injectors and producers to form ‘gel barriers’, then follow-up injected water will bypass these barriers and be diverted into the upper low permeability zones where the remaining oil is relatively enriched. As a result, the sweep efficiency of the upper low-permeability zones can be increased. A pilot of gel barrier placement was conducted in Daqing oil field. The paper deals with well pattern and chemical agents’ selection, injection scheme design, numerical simulation, and field implementation results.