A New Method for Quantitative Description of Dominant Channels in High Water-Cut Stage

The development of the dominant channel seriously affects the water-flooding effect of the oil field and leads to a decrease in the recovery. How to effectively describe the dominant channel is an urgent problem to further improve the recovery rate of water-flooding in high water cut oilfields. Therefore, the quantitative calculation of the dominant channel’s parameters was carried out by using the seepage theory and mathematical models in this study. The reservoir that developed the dominant channel was regarded as the parallel of the normal reservoir and the dominant channel. The ineffective water injection was calculated from the ineffective circulating water model. According to the principle of equivalence, the ineffective water production of the oil well and the water production of the normal reservoir were calculated. Then the parameters of the dominant channel were quantitatively described by the volume analogy and the Carman-Kozeny formula. The interwell connectivity model was used to calculate the parameters of the dominant channel in the well group. The results showed a good agreement with the actual offshore oilfield situation, and the effectiveness of the method was verified.