WILLOWSTICK CASE STUDY: OIL FIELD STEAM INJECTION MAP

Oil companies frequently want to flood oil fields with high-pressure steam to loosen solidified crude allowing pumps to move the crude to the surface. The industry traditionally uses temperature sensors placed in monitoring wells around the oil field to track these stream fronts. However, drilling wells and placing sensors can be expensive and time consuming.

Willowstick worked with a consortium of oil companies to more accurately and economically track steam injection fronts, than the currently used temperature probes, in an oil field near Bakersfield, CA.

Using Willowstick to map steam

AquaTrack™ is a patented non-intrusive geophysical technique capable of mapping groundwater at depths exceeding 3500 feet (1 kilometer) over large areas. The water body to be mapped is energized and the electrical current flows preferentially through saturated subsurface materials, creating an induced magnetic field that is measured at multiple points on the ground surface, typically in a grid pattern.

Willowstick team member taking AquaTrack readings in oil field
near Bakersfield, CA.

The measured magnetic field data are processed, contoured, and correlated to other hydrogeologic data, resulting in enhanced definition of the extent of saturation associated with the groundwater body.

The electrodes were placed in the oil field in specially designed and configured test wells. This enabled different horizons (levels) of steam to be charged at different times and to read stratified levels of steam. Readings were taken from the surface in a predetermined grid.

Finding Subsurface Structure

This study identified a previously unknown subsurface geological structure that was preventing the steam of an injection well from reaching the intended solidified crude, which was on the other side of the structure. It was proven that the AquaTrack technology can effectively track steam injection fronts in oil fields as accurately if not more accurately than temperature probes.

Contour map highlighting the subsurface boundary structure and channels of spreading steam away from the structure.

To learn more about Willowstick and our resource mapping capabilities, please contact us.