This paper provides an introduction to the topic of water shutoff and conformance improvement. After indicating the volumes of water produced during oilfield operations, a strategy is provided for attacking excess water production problems. Problem types are categorized, typical methods of problem diagnosis are mentioned, and the range of solutions is introduced for each problem type. In the third section of the paper, the concept of disproportionate permeability reduction is introduced—where polymers and gels may reduce permeability to water more than to oil or gas. When and where this property is of value is discussed. The fourth section describes the properties of formed gels as they extrude through fractures and how those properties can be of value when treating conformance problems caused by fractures. Section 5 covers the efficiency with which gels block fractures after gel placement—especially, the impact of fluids injected subsequent to the gel treatment.

本文介绍了水切断和一致性改进的主题。在指示了油田运营期间产生的水量之后，提供了一种解决过量水生产问题的策略。对问题类型进行分类，提到典型的问题诊断方法，并针对每种问题类型介绍解决方案的范围。在本文的第三部分中，引入了不成比例的渗透率降低的概念，在该概念中，聚合物和凝胶对水的渗透率比对油或气的渗透率降低更多。讨论了何时何地该属性有价值。第四部分描述了形成的凝胶穿过骨折时的性质，以及这些性质在治疗由骨折引起的顺应性问题时如何具有价值。