Techniques of Controlling Water Coning in Oil Reservoirs

Onwukwe SI

Onwukwe SI Center of Excellence in Geosciences and Petroleum Engineering, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria.

Abstract

Water coning in oil reservoirs pose serious hindrance to optimizing oil
production as unwanted fluids tend to replace the oil in the production stream,
which invariably limits the ultimate oil recovery. The coning of water into
production wells is caused by pressure gradients established around the wellbore
by the production of fluids from the well. These pressure gradients can raise the
water-oil contact near the well where the gradients are dominant. Many methods
have been published for evaluating and combating coning tendencies in the
wellbore, yet water coning are still a major issue in many oil fields all over the
world. This article examines the various approaches of controlling coning of
unwanted fluid in the wellbore thereby optimizing oil production from the
reservoir.

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