We investigate quantitatively the effect of inclined and intersecting discontinuous shales on horizontal waterfloods, using generic, dimensionless 2- and 3-D models. We find that dis-continuous shales have a significant effect on reservoir performance only if they are >95% continuous, and are steeply dipping or intersecting, or if the displacement is unfavourable. 2-D simulations can significantly overestimate the effect of discontinuous shales, because they assume that the shales are entirely continuous in the third dimension.

Keywords:
water saturation distribution, upstream oil & gas, waterflooding, reservoir simulation, breakthrough time, displacement, reservoir performance, favourable displacement, shale intersection, saturation distribution
Subjects:
Reservoir Characterization, Reservoir Fluid Dynamics, Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Reservoir Simulation, Reserves Evaluation, Unconventional and Complex Reservoirs, Flow in porous media, Waterflooding
Copyright 1999, Society of Petroleum Engineers
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