The harvesting of mineral resources through horizontal drilling, fracturing, and collection doesn’t happen blindly. An extensive process of resource location identification and collection happens through significant research and testing, as well as the narrowing of the physical options. All that homework goes through an intensive analysis process to then confirm that commitment has the best potential for return. Injection profiling is part of that review.
How Injection Profiling Works
Injection profiling provides the metrics and details needed to evaluate how much water flow should be applied in the horizontal line as well as what efficiency targets should be met in the sweep run applied. This includes temperature analysis of the line as well as the bore profile and the permeability of the area the line runs through as well. Variability and changing pressures trigger a non-uniform behavior of the water flow distribution as it flows through the line, so the injection profiling helps with identifying these change factors as well as how to deal with them, particularly as the temperature in the line changes.
It’s critical to understand that the activity of the line sweep creates change as much as the surrounding conditions. For example, heat transfer happens as different equipment is applied, as well as with the energy needed for movement. That heat moves through convection and conduction to the line itself and the strata surrounding the line. Both energy transfer changes change how water behaves as well. The entire collection of related data then becomes the injection profiling needed to understand how to apply the water flow in the horizontal line correctly.
Targeting the Right Mix
Ideally, the right mix is desired for the most efficient waterflow in the line. However, this can feel like a moving target. For example, as cold fluid moves along a line surrounded by warmer strata, the line flow behavior will change over time. Water does not compress, but it can molecularly expand as temperature changes. Not taking time to understand how this change affects a line can also affect its flow efficiency over time. It can also affect the shape and permeability of the line as well as the adjacent strata.
Some friends and experts who do Injection profiling in Hobbs, NM gave us a leg up on this and said “Good analysis and data collection make a huge difference in the success and productivity of horizontal drilling operations.” Applied correctly, the analysis helps with the proper and most effective application of water flow and related sweeping of the affected horizontal line. And that saves both time and money in drilling operations as well as cleanout services.
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