Effect of Rates on Performance in Browning Unit Water Flood

A brief history of the Browning Unit waterflood project in Greenwood County, Kans., is presented in which both slow and high injection rates have been used. The pilot area which was subjected to six years of slow injection rates followed by high injection rates is analyzed. It is concluded that performance has been more satisfactory at the higher rates of injection. Introduction The Browning Unit is a pattern-type flood operated by Sinclair Oil & Gas Co. Other members of the unit include Tidewater Oil Co., Sunray Mid-Continent Oil Co., Dover Corp., C. A. Steele, Irma Rosenthal and David M. Rhodes Estate. Because of the variance in waterflooding rates applied during the past eight years, much interest in the performance has developed. Geology The Bartlesville sand of Pennsylvanian age is found at approximately 2,300 ft in a lens-shaped body apparently deposited as an offshore bar. The unit lies in a definite trend of shoestring development of the Bartlesville sand. Figs. 1 and 2 show core graphs of the Bartlesville sand on the Browning Unit. Table 1 gives other information concerning this reservoir. Primary Production Fig. 3 gives the oil production history of the unit since its development in 1924. In addition, Fig. 4 shows a pre-unit history on a typical part of the Browning Unit. At the start of the water flood the primary oil was essentially depleted. Gas Repressuring In 1928 a program of gas repressuring was started which recovered an estimated 3 million bbl of oil.