Abstract
A heavy oil field in Northern part of Kuwait has developed which requires appropriate disposal of produced formation water. Some important questions for water disposal well planning include:
Where to inject?
Where to inject?
What is the maximum operation pressure (MOP)?
How far away the disposal wells should be spaced?
How much water can be inject in each well?
Integrated subsurface evaluation performed to address above questions. Seismic data provide a good overview lof the structuration and imporatant insight where sweet spots for injection may be found. Wireline logs and core information are used to derive petrophysical properties, characterize fracture, and gather geomechanical information. Injectivity tests established the injection rate and confirmed the estimated minimum horizontal stress. Analogue water injection data from nearby fields are used to provide information on the dynamic behavior of the reservoir, to reduce uncertainties owing to the limited injection rate data available.
The integrated analysis of the relevant, available subsurface data reveals that the Tayarat formation has significant variations in lithologies, mineralogies, and mechanical properties. Important information such as the receiving zone thickness, fracture orientation, injection rate, and storage capacity have been derived. Based on this information, we have made important recomemndations on disposal well spacing and maximum operational operating pressure (MOP).