Increased production was achieved by water injection in the Ahvaz field

According to a report by Energy Press, citing the National Iranian Oilfields Company (NIOC), Amin Sharifi, regarding the complexity of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects from oil reservoirs, stated: “The Bangestan reservoirs, due to their low porosity and permeability, low recovery factor, severe wellhead and bottom-hole pressure drop, and asphaltene deposition, are among the most challenging reserves in the oil-rich regions of the south. Therefore, using gas-drive methods in such reservoirs may carry significant risks.”

He added that the injection of water into the Bangestan reservoir of the Ahvaz field, as the first operational EOR project based on water-drive in the south oilfields, started with five packages including reservoir studies, injection validation, well program, monitoring, and surface facilities. Many of the project’s activities, such as reservoir modeling for water injection, advanced lab-scale, well-scale, and reservoir-scale characterization, have been successfully carried out for the first time by NIOC’s Southern Oilfields EOR and Reservoir Studies Department.

The significant role of water injection in increasing recoverable oil reserves

The head of NIOC’s Southern Oilfields EOR and Reservoir Studies Department’s projects, referring to the injection and water flooding of low-salinity water (after specialized software design) to investigate injectivity capacity in the Ahvaz Bangestan 402 well, which was carried out for about a month at a rate of 5,000 barrels per day for the first time, said: “The injection and production log testing, long-term well testing (over two months) in the Bangestan reservoirs with very low permeability and long pressure build-up, the use of wellhead separators and packers to eliminate well storage effects, and emphasizing the negative skin factor, are among the unique activities carried out in this project in collaboration with oil engineering experts from various departments.”