Snorre In-depth Water Diversion Using Sodium Silicate - Large Scale Interwell Field Pilot

Here we report on in-depth water diversion using sodium silicate to increase oil recovery at the Snorre field, offshore Norway. A comprehensive qualification program revealed that the onset of gelation can be controlled; this was demonstrated in realistic core flood experiments as well as in a single well injection pilot. This paper highlights key design, response measurement plan and operational experiences from a large scale interwell field pilot of sodium silicate injection in a reservoir segment at the Snorre field on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. The operation of injecting 113 000 m³ preflush, 240 000 m³ sodium silicate and 49 000 m³ postflush was performed from June to October 2013. The goal is to create an in-depth restriction between a subsea water injection well and a platform oil producer with approximately 2 000 m well spacing, and thereby improve the reservoir sweep by water injection.

To perform the field pilot a 35 000 ton shuttle tanker was converted to a well stimulation vessel with the necessary equipment to accommodate a higher number of people, a desalination plant, storage and mixing equipment and high pressure pumps. The vessel was connected directly to a subsea water injection well and injected during a period of 5 months. The chosen design was to (a) soften the formation water by a KCl preflush, (b) control the gelation kinetics using HCl acid as activator, mixed into the diluted silicate solution and (c) displace the silicate solution by a KCl postflush followed by seawater injection.

The pilot injection operation is completed, and the displacement of the sodium silicate with following seawater injection to the planned position for in-depth plugging is still on-going. The operational success criteria of proving ability to perform large scale transport, mixing and injection of sodium silicate from a shuttle tanker directly into a subsea well with no near wellbore plugging is met. Future production response will reveal if the success criteria of in-depth plugging, improved reservoir sweep and decrease in water cut will be met.