ABSTRACT

Waterflooding has been practiced in Central and Northwest Kansas for many years. Most of these waterfloods have been conducted in the multi-reservoir Lansing-Kansas City limestone formation. This paper reviews waterflooding experience in these reservoirs and describes the components of a feasibility study to evaluate the possibility of waterflooding a specific reservoir. Because reservoir data are limited, it is necessary to use rules of thumb in order to design and implement waterfloods. Rules of thumb include a method to estimate the incremental oil recovery, the normal range of water injection rates, the scheduling of the incremental waterflood oil and incremental operating costs. An example illustrating successful application of this approach in the design of a single zone waterflood is presented. Rules of thumb are based on many years of experience and have proven to be quite helpful in evaluating, implementing, and operating waterfloods in Lansing-Kansas City reservoirs.