SUMMARY:

Waterflooding is still the most used method to keep pressure and improve oil recovery from petroleum fields. One important phenomenon to be considered during the water injection project is the possible occurrence of a thermal induced fracture in an injection well due to the difference between reservoir and injected water temperatures. This difference reduces the initial stress state of the reservoir, also decreasing the fracture pressure, and the induced fracture will propagate at a lower pressure than those calculated by isothermal methods. This work describes a methodology to estimate the impact of a fracture propagation in a waterflooding project in an offshore Brazilian High Pressure High Temperature (HPHT) field. The object is to study the possible conditions that a thermal induced fracture can occur and estimate the main parameters that affect the process, like horizontal and vertical penetration of the fracture and propagation pressure. The results indicates that the probability of thermal induced fracture is very high and, due to the reservoir depth and geological environment, it is quite possible to have benefits from its application.

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