Online Live Streaming Course
November 16 to 20 , 2026
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The course is an overview of the fundamental concepts of waterflooding: pressure maintenance and displacement. We will discuss the importance of petrophysical properties, geology, relative permeability, fractional flow theory and analytical models of sweep efficiency. Behavior and results of several field cases will be reviewed. Students should bring a laptop computer to class that has a working installed version of Excel.
Who Should Attend
· Reservoir engineers
· Production engineers
· Petroleum engineers
· Production geologists
· Reservoir simulation specialists
· Field development engineers
· Asset managers
· Technical advisors and consultants involved in secondary recovery projects
References TEXT
Lake, Larry W., Russell T. Johns, William R. Rossen and Gary A. Pope, Fundamentals of Enhanced
Oil Recovery, 2014, Society of Petroleum Engineers
Additional Reading
1. Warner, H. J., Jr., The Reservoir Engineering Aspects of Waterflooding, 2nd ed., 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers.
2. Dake, L.P., Fundamentals of Reservoir Engineering, 1978, Elsevier Science
3. Dake, L.P., The Practice of Reservoir Engineering, 2001, Elsevier Science
Daily Schedule
Day 1. Introduction and pressure maintenance and linear displacement
A. Introduction
1. The goals of reservoir engineering (the 3 H’s)
2. Overview of WF (Denver Unit, Seminole, Salt Creek and others)
3. Review of primary recovery
B. Pressure Maintenance
1. Productivity equation
2. Injectivity equation
3. Constant injection rate
4. Constant bottom hole pressure
o Exercise: Calculating volumes for pressure maintenance
5. Some special cases
6. Capacitance resistance model (Chuido)
Day 2. Analytical Methods for Sweep efficiency
A. Linear displacement
1. Review
2. Overview and general character
3. Local effects (core scale)
4. Relative perms
5. Mobility ratio
o Exercise: Calculating fractional flow curves
6. Sweep efficiencies
7. Buckley-Leverett theory
8. Welge integration
9. Displacement efficiency
o Exercise: Walsh Diagram Example
B. Stiles
C. Dykstra-Parsons
D. Hearn (vertical equilibrium)
E. Areal sweep
F. Koval
o Exercise: Koval example
Day 3: Combining pressure maintenance and displacement
A. Review
B. Combining sweep and pressure maintenance
o Exercise: Combined calculation of oil rate
C. Comparisons to field results
D. WF and economics
E. Introduction to enhanced oil recovery
F. Use of miscible and immiscible WAG (water-alternating-gas) injection
Day 4: Waterflood Patterns, Production Data Analysis and Surveillance
A. Patterns
1. Traditional and modified pattern balancing techniques
2. Pattern selection for multilayer reservoirs
3. Optimal well placement
4. Production and injection rate control
5. Key factors affecting waterflood performance
B. Reservoir Surveillance Analysis
1. Conventional Decline Curve Analysis (DCA)
2. ABC plot
3. Bubble maps
4. Hall plot
5. Heterogeneity and confinement plots
6. Chan plots
7. Yang decline curve methods
Day 5: Water Injection and Water Treatment
A. Water Injection Issues
1. Water source options
2. Problem with commingling of source waters
· Scaling
· Bacteria
3. Key factors for water sourcing
4. Chemistry issues
· Clay Compatibility
· Scale
· Souring
5. Matrix/fractured Injection
o Exercise: Calculating filtration requirements
6. Surface facilities
B. Course Summary and evaluation
