Basra University for oil & gas

College of oil and gas Engineering

Oil & gas engineering department

Water flooding
Buckely-Leverett theory

By Ali K. Al-Maliki, MSc

October, 2017

1
 Water flooding
Outline
Buckely-leverett theory
Application of BL & FFE
Constructing water saturation profile
Breakthrough time
Cumulative water injection at BT
Pore volume of water injected at BT

2
 Buckley-leverett theory

 The fractional flow equation is used to determine fw at any point in

the reservoir, assuming Sw at the point is known.

 But!! We do not know Sw at this particular point????

 The frontal advance equation is used determine the water saturation

profile in the reservoir at any give time during water injection

3
 Buckley-leverett theory

 Buckley & Leverett (1942) presented the basic equation for describing
two-phase flow for immiscible displacement in linear systems

 The BL theory includes several important assumptions:

1- Single layer homogeneous reservoir
2- Capillary pressure effects are negligible
3- Linear flow
4- No free gas saturation in the reservoir at any time
5- Incompressible fluids
4
 Buckley-leverett theory

The equation is derived based on developing a material balance

for the displacing fluid as it flows through any given element in
the porous media:
V entering the element – V leaving the element= change in fluid
volume

5
 Buckley-leverett theory
 Volume of water entering the
element (V entering )= qt fw dt

 Volume of water leaving the

element (V leaving) = qt (fw – dfw) dt

 The accumulation of the water

volume within the element= V
entering-V leaving
V element= Aφ
(dx) (dSw)/5.615
Volume of water leaving the element ( V leaving) has a differentially
smaller Water cut (fw – dfw) and is given by 6
 Buckley-leverett theory

V entering V leaving V accumulated

Rearrange the above equation, then BL

equation become:

V element= Aφ
(dx) (dSw)/5.615
7
 Buckley-leverett theory

the total flow rate qt is essentially equal to the injection rate iw,

Where:
(V) sw= velocity of any specific value of Sw,
ft/day
A= cross-sectional area, ft2
qt= total flow rate, bbl/day
(dfw/dsw)sw=slope of the fw vs Sw at specific
Sw, ft
Iw=water injection rate, bbl/day
8
Buckley-leverett theory

Where:
Iw= water injection rate, bbl/day
t= time, day
Winj= Cumulative water injection, bbl
Winj= t x iw
(x)sw= distance from the injector at
any given Sw, ft

9
 Buckley-leverett theory
Plotting of Sw vs fw and Sw vs distance showing an impossible
physical situation, Problem???

Two saturations
at each x-
position.

This is a result of
the discontinuity
in the saturation
function

10
 Buckley-leverett theory

Why this problem?

 Neglecting of the capillary
pressure gradient in the FFE

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 Buckley-leverett theory
Why this problem?

 Including capillary term when

constructing S-Shape curve produce
two segments of lines:

1- A straight line with a constant slope of

(dfw/dSw)@ Swf from Swc to Swf

2- A concaving curve with decreasing slopes

from Swf to (1 – Sor)

12
 Buckley-leverett theory

How to solve this problem?

the BL solution:

1- Construct the Sw profile

2- Modify the plot by

defining a saturation
discontinuity at x f

2- Balancing of the areas

ahead of the front and
below the
curve

13
 Buckley-leverett theory
How to solve this problem?
Weldge solution: fwf

 Welge (1952) showed that by drawing a

straight line from Swi tangent to the fractional
flow curve

 The saturation value at the tangent point is

equivalent to that at the front Swf

 The coordinate of the point of tangency

represents also the value of the water cut at
the water front fwf Swf

 After determining these values, use a certain

procedure for plotting Sw profile 14
 Applications of BL & FFE

Main calculations for water flooding in homogenous reservoirs using BL

and S-shape curve:

1- Constructing water saturation profile

2- Breakthrough time
3- Cumulative water injection
4- Pore volume of water injected
5- Average water saturation in the reservoir (Swept area)
6- Recovery factor before, at and after Breakthrough
7- injection and production profile
Water injection rate vs time
Oil production rate vs time
8- Produced WOR and Wc
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 Constructing water saturation profile
Framework for constructing the water saturation profile at any time:
1- Ignore the capillary pressure term, construct the fractional
flow curve, (fw vs. Sw)

2- Draw a straight line tangent from Swi to the curve

3- Identify the point of tangency and read: Swf and fwf

4- From the graph, calculate the slope of the tangent as

(dfw/dSw) @ Swf.

5-Calculate the distance of the water front from the injection

well
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 Constructing water saturation profile
Framework for constructing the water saturation profile at any time:

6- Select several values for Sw greater than Swf

7-determine (dfw/dSw) at each Sw by graphically drawing a

tangent to the fw curve at each selected Sw
(Another method is used for this purpose, see slide no. 23)

8- Calculate the distance from the injection well to each

selected saturation

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 Constructing water saturation profile
Framework for constructing the water saturation profile at any time:

9- Establish the water saturation profile

after t1 days by plotting results obtained 0.8
1-Sor
in step 8. 0.7

0.6

10- Select a new time t2 and repeat steps 0.5

Sw
5 through 8 to generate a the profile of 0.4 t1

water saturation 0.3 t2

t3
0.2

0.1
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Distance, ft

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 Constructing water saturation profile
Alternative method for determining (dfw/dSw) at each Sw:
To avoid any error in determining (dfw/dSw) at a
certain Sw from S-Curve, It can be determine as
100
follow:

1- Plot (kro/krw) vs Sw 10

2- Determine the coefficients (a & b)

Kro/Krw
1

3- The FFE can be written as:

0.1

Then,(dfw/dSw) can be
obtained by differentiating FFE 0.01
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
with respect to Sw : Sw

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 Breakthrough time

Calculating the breakthrough time L

At water breakthrough, the water front

would have travelled exactly the entire
distance between the injector and
producer

To determine the time to breakthrough, tBT

Set (x)Swf equal to the distance between the
injector and producer, L

20
 Breakthrough time

Calculating the breakthrough time

Since

Then,
Where:
tBT= time to breakthrough, day
PV= total flood pattern pore volume, bbl
L= distance between the injector and producer, ft

21
 Cumulative water injection at BT
Calculating the cumulative water injection
 Assuming a constant water-injection rate
 the cumulative water injected
at breakthrough is calculated as follow

Where:
WiBT = cumulative water injected at breakthrough, bbl

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 Pore volume of water injected at BT
Calculating the cumulative water injection
 The cumulative water injected can be
expressed as injected pore volume by
dividing Winj by the reservoir total pore
volume

 Qi refers to the total pore volumes of water

injected

Where:
QiBT = cumulative pore volumes of water injected at
breakthrough
PV = total flood pattern pore volume, bbl 23