Paper: Water Flood Pumping In the South Ward Field

Among the peculiarities of producing an oil well which is involved in a secondary recovery project by water flooding, it is probably outstanding that the performance history of such a well can be expected to be in exact reverse order of that expected from a normal primary producing well. At the outset of a water flood project, the normal producing well is a marginal producer or "stripper," possibly making only one or two barrels daily. As the injection begins to yield results, old production equipment, such as the central power and gas lift equipment, is retired in favor of an individual pumping unit capable of handling the increasing volume and load. This volume and load continue to increase throughout the life of the water flood producer, even though the percentage of oil eventually starts to decrease as water production starts. Finally, as the high lifting cost per barrel of oil becomes prohibitive due to the small amount of oil being produced, the rods and pump are removed and the well is allowed to flow for the remainder of the project. Thus, the life of a primary producing well has been traced, but in reverse order.