Water Injection Profiling Using Fiber Optic Sensing by Applying the Novel Pressure Rate Temperature Transient PTRA Analysis

Abstract

Fiber Optic Systems, such as Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS), have been used for wellbore surveillance for more than two decades. One of the traditional applications of DTS is injectivity profiling, both for hydraulically fractured and non-fractured wells. There is a long history of determining injectivity profiles using temperature profiles, usually by analyzing warm-back data with largely pure heat conduction models or by employing a so-called "hot-slug" approach that requires tracking of a temperature transient that arises at the onset of injection. In many of these attempts there is no analysis performed for the key influencing physical factors that could create significant ambiguity in the interpretation results. Among such factors we will consider in detail is the possible impact of cross-flow during the early warm-back stage, but also the temperature transient signal that is related to the location of the fiber-optic sensing cable behind the casing when the fast transient data are used for interpretation such as the "hot slug" during re-injection. In this paper it will be shown that despite all such potential complications, the high frequency and quality of the transient data that can be obtained from a continuous DTS measurement allow for a highly reliable and robust evaluation of the injectivity profile. The well-known challenge of the ambiguity of the interpretation, produced by the interpretation methods that are conventionally used, is overcome using the innovative "Pressure Rate Temperature Transient Analysis" method that takes maximum use of the complete DTS transient data set and all other available data at the level of the model-based interpretation. This method is based on conversion of field measurements into injectivity profiles taking into account the uncertainty in different parts of the data set, which includes the specifics of the DTS deployment, the uncertainty in surface flow rates, and possible data gaps in the history of the well. Several case studies will be discussed where this approach was applied to water injection wells. For the analysis, the re-injection and warmback DTS transient temperature measurements were taken from across the sandface. Furthermore, for comparison, injection profiles were also recorded by conventional PLTs in parallel. This case study will focus mostly on the advanced interpretation opportunities and the challenges related to crossflow through the wellbore during the warm-back phase, related to reservoir pressure dynamics, and finally related to the impact of the method of DTS deployment. In addition to describing the interpretation methodology, this paper will also show the final comparison of the fiber-optic evaluation with the interpretation obtained from the reference PLTs.