15.: Design Issues for Specific Environments

Looking at the performance of waterfloods in different settings, it becomes evident that a number of factors commonly recur within each setting. This section therefore discusses a number of specific waterflood environments and the factors that commonly influence waterflood success within these settings.

Deep water is a very expensive operating environment that can place significant pressure on a project to reduce capital expenditure to make the project more economic. Because many deepwater reservoirs have only modestly sized attached aquifers, waterflood is a common requirement in this setting. The pressure to limit capital expenditure can place particular pressure on the waterflood design because the waterflood adds incremental costs, resulting in a clear tension.