Measuring and Modeling the Displacement of Connate Water in Chalk Core Plugs during Water Injection

The movement of connate water spiked with gamma emitting 22Na was studied during laboratory water flooding of oil saturated chalk from a North Sea oil reservoir. Using a one dimensional gamma monitoring technique is was observed that connate water is piled-up at the front of the injection water and forms a mixed water bank with almost 100% connate water in the front behind which a gradual transition to pure injection water occurs. This result underpins log interpretations from waterflooded chalk reservoirs. An ad hoc model was set up by use of the results, and the process was examined theoretically at a larger scale.