ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY Prepared by Teknica I Teknica Petroleum Services Ltd. Suite 2500, 530 - 8th Avenue S.W. Calgary, Alberta T2P 3S8 June 2001Enhanced Oil Recovery Course Contents Chapter SONS pe BONs Enhanced recovery methods and screening guildelines Introduction Enhanced Recovery methods Residual Oil Saturation Screening Guildelines Chemical EOR Processes Introduction Mobility Control Processes 2.1. Polymer flooding 2.2. Foam flooding Low-IFT Processes 3.1. Surfactant Flooding 3.2 Alkaline Floods Miscible EOR Processes Introduction Background Phase Behavior -> P-T and P-X Diagrams Terminology 4.1. First Contact Miscibilty 4.2 Multiple Contact Misciblity Misciblity Mechanism 5.1. Gas Condensing Mechanism 5.2. Gas Vaporizing mechanism 5.3 Combination of Condensing / Vaproizing Phase Behavior Misciblity Design - Hydrocarbon and CO2 6.1 Correlations 6.2 Equation of State 6.3. Laboratory Techniques 64 Miscibility Criteria 6.5 Miscibility Equivalence Factors Affecting Displacement Behavior 7.1. Mobility Ratio 7.2. Fluid Dispersion 7.3. Flow Regimes 7.4 Viscous Fingering 7.5 Sweeping Efficiency8. 9. Improvement Sweep Efficiency 8.1 Gravity Stabilized Floods 8.2 Water Injection to Improve Mobility Ratio 83 Foam Immiscible Flooding 10. Project Development Considerations PENS 10.1 Simulations 10.2 Economic 10.3 Implementation and Monitoring Thermal methods and Application Introduction Hot Water floods Steam floods Combustion ‘Appendix Glossary Details of EOR ProjectsChapter | Enhanced recovery methods and screening guildelines 4. Introduction 4.1 Primary Oil Recovery 4.2 Secondary Oil Recovery 1.3 _ Efficiency of Conventional Recovery Methods 2. Enhanced Recovery methods 24 EOR Principles 2.2 _ EOR Oil Recovery Factor 3. Residual Oil Saturation 4. EOR Screening Guildelines 1. Introduction Oil is found in underground rock formations called reservoirs. The oil resides together with water, and sometimes gas, in very small holes (pore spaces) and fractures. The size, shape, and degree of interconnection of the pores vary considerably from place to place in an individual reservoir. Thus, the anatomy of a reservoir is complex, both micro- and macroscopically. A complete, detailed quantitative description of a reservoir is never possible. The detailed data which can be obtained from wells represents only an infinitesimal fraction of the reservoir volume, even under the best of circumstances. Properties of crude oil and formation water in different parts of an individual reservoir generally vary only slightly, although there are notable exceptions. For different reservoirs, crude properties cover a wide spectrum of differences. Some are thinner than water, while others are thicker than cold molasses. Generally, crude oils are lighter than water. The water in different reservoirs also varies, in salinity and other mineral content. Because of the existence of a wide range of properties of both rock and fluids, reservoirs act differently and must be treated individually. 4.1. Primary Oil Recovery After discovery, most oil reservoirs undergo a period of production called “primary oil recovery". Primary oil recovery used natural reservoir energy to drive the oil through the complex pore network to producing wells. The driving energy may be derived from ‘one or more of the following: gas that evolved from solution out of the oil; expansion of free gas; influx of natural water; or gravity force. The primary recovery efficiency is generally low, varied from 5 to 20 % OOIP, when gas is the drive agent; much higher recoveries are associated with water drives. Reservoirs with effective gravity drainage can also have higher recoveries. Eventually, the natural drive energy is dissipated When this occurs, energy must be added to the reservoir to produce any additional oil 4.2 Secondary Oil Recovery Secondary oil recovery involved the introduction of energy into a reservoir by injecting gas or water under pressure where the gas is immiscible with oil. Separate wells are usually used for injection and production. The technique was called "pressuremaintenance". The added energy stimulates the movement of oil, providing additional recovery at increased rates. Today, limited use is being made of gas injection because of its low oil displacement effectiveness and the need for gas supplies in the market. When gravity drainage is effective, pressure maintenance by gas injection is effective. Waterflooding is the principal secondary recovery method and accounts for about half the current U.S. daily oil production. 1.3 Efficiency of Conventional Recovery Methods Ultimately, conventional primary and secondary recovery are expected to produce about 20 to 40 % of the original oil discovered. The recovery from individual reservoirs can range from as low as 5 percent to as high as 80 percent of original oil in place (QOIP). This broad range of recovery efficiency is a result of the variations in the properties of the specific rock and fluids involved from reservoir to reservoir, as well as the kind and level of energy that drives the oil to producing wells, where it is captured. 2. Enhanced Recovery methods The term “enhanced oil recovery” refers to any method used to recover more oil from a reservoir than would not be obtained by primary recovery. Since the early 1950's, a significant amount of laboratory research and field testing has been undertaken, and some of the resulting findings have been developed on a commercial scale. 2.4 EOR Principles The intent of enhanced recovery methods is to «improve sweep efficiency by reducing the mobilty ratio between injected and in- place fluids, '* eliminate or reduce the capillary and interfacial forces and thus improve displacement efficiency, and * act on both phenomena simultaneously. The basic principles of the most promising EOR methods used are given in the following Table 1 Table 1. Methods of Enhanced Recovery Methods Used Basic Principle ‘Chemical 1. Mobility Control Processes Improvement of _ sweep methods Polymer-augmented waterflooding; efficiency; improvement of Foam-CO,-augmented displacement efficiency. waterflooding; immiscible CO; displacement. 2. Low-IFT Process surfactant flooding; alkaline flooding; Miscible Miscible fluid displacement using Improvement of displacement methods CO; nitrogen, alcohol, LPG or rich efficiency. gas, dry gas. Thermal Cyclic steam injection; steam drive; Improvement of both sweepmethods in situ combustion. efficiency and displacement efficiency, Other processes, such as bacterial activity, electrical heating of the reservoir, and so on have been proposed, but their potential for adding to proved oil reserves must be demonstrated. Figures 1 to 5 show schematic different EOR processes being conducted. A briefly introduction for each process is given as follows. Chemical methods of enhanced oil recovery are characterized by the addition of chemicals to water in order to reduce the mobility of displacing agent and/or to lowering the interfacial tension. Polymer flooding, using polyacrylamides or polysaccarides, is conceptually simple and inexpensive, and its commercial use is increasing despite the fact that it raises potential production by only small increments. Surfactant flooding is complex, requiring detailed laboratory testing to support field project design. It is also expensive and is used in few large scale projects. Alkaline flooding has been used only in those reservoirs containing specific types of high-acid-number crude oils. 2. Miscible methods have their greatest potential for enhanced recovery of low- viscosity oils. These processes are mainly in reducing the IFT to improve displacement efficiency. Among these methods, hydrocarbon gas and CO; miscible flooding on a large scale is expected to make the greatest contribution to miscible enhanced recovery in the future. 3. Thermal methods are for oil gravity less than 25 degree. These processes provide a driving force and add energy (heat) to the reservoir to reduce oil viscosity and/or vaporize the oil. This makes the oil more mobile, so that it can be more effectively driven to producing wells. Steam injection has been commercially applied in Califomia since the early 1960's and is the most advanced of all EOR methods in terms of field experience. The performance of steam injection can be estimated with less uncertainty than other methods. In situ combustion is normally applied to reservoirs containing low gravity oil, but has been field tested under a wide variety of reservoir conditions, Only a few projects have proven economical enough to advance to a commercial scale. To date, in situ combustion has been most effective for the recovery of viscous oils in moderately thick reservoirs (National Petroleum Council, 1984), 2.2 _ EOR Oil Recovery Factor The oil reserves obtained as a result of EOR methods in addition to the primary or conventional reserves may be expressed as the percentage of original oil in place (OOIP). To estimate how much EOR methods can add to oil reserves, the recovery potential of the reservoir has to be known. This is defined by the reservoir's characteristics and prior recovery mechanism.For instance, the ultimate oil recovery factor of individual reservoirs under primary and/or conventional recovery methods may range from 5 percent of OOIP for the poorest reservoir characteristics for viscous cil, to as high as 56 or 60 percent of OOIP for the best reservoir characteristics or for light oil To achieve this desideratum the oil reservoirs are classified by several models according to the average of the ultimate oil recovery Rina, expressed as a percentage of OOIP, possibly attained by the respective recovery mechanism, as follows: Rist 5-10% Tight oil reservoirs, slightly fractured or heavy oil reserve 10-25% Oil reservoirs produced mainly by solution gas drive 25-40% Oil reservoirs producing under partial water drive, gas injection, or gravity drainage 40-55% Oil reservoirs produced by conventional waterflood A possible estimation of the additional oil reserves, percentage of OOIP, that could be recovered as the result of EOR processes is shown in Table 2. These values can be used for a quick evaluation of the improved oil reserves and for the selection of methods that should be applied. For instance, for oil reservoirs where Ex = 25-40 percent of OOIP obtained by primary or conventional methods, the implementation of the EOR methods would increase these values to 35-55 percent of OOIP. However, the selection of a certain process aimed at enhancing oil recovery must be made only after detailed investigations of the pertinent oil reservoir data (especially residual oil saturation), laboratory tests, and field pilots. 3. Residual Oil Saturation il and water do not mix. If these two fluids are poured into a vessel and allowed to settle, two distinct liquid phases are apparent, separated by a sharp interface. The oil and water are said to be immiscible. Similarly, oil and natural gas also are immiscible, although natural gas has some solubility in oil. This solubility depends on pressure level, and as soon as the solubility limit is exceeded, two phases form - a gas phase and a liquid phase, separated by an interface ‘When two immiscible phases flow simultaneously in a porous medium, as for example in the displacement of cil by water, some of the oil being trapped in the pores as shown in Figure 6. This trapped oil is called ‘oil droplet” which is retained in the reservoir by the interfacial tension and viscous forces. It is this most elusive oil which is the target for “enhanced oil recovery” projects. The flow behavior in a given unit volume of rock is determined by the relative permeability characteristics of the rock. Oil relative permeability decreases with decreasing oil saturation, but oil permeability reduces to zero and oil stops flowing while the oil saturation is finite, This limiting saturation is called the residual oil saturation or, perhaps more precisely, the relative permeability endpoint residual oil saturation to distinguish it from the material balance or average residual oil saturation left in a reservoir after waterflooding. Similarly, water permeability decreases to zero at a finitevalue of water saturation called the irreducible water saturation. Oil and water both flow at saturation between the two endpoints, and the shape of the relative permeability curves between the endpoints determines how much fluid must be injected to reduce the oil saturation in the swept rock to a given level. In addition to being affected by rock pore structure, residual oil saturation and relative permeability are affected by rock wettability and by interfacial tension (IFT) at the oilWwater interface. Craig defined wettability as the tendency of one fluid to spread on or to adhere to a solid surface in the presence of other immiscible fluids. It can have a pronounced effect on immiscible displacement. For example, relative permeabilities for oiLwet rocks are more unfavorable for waterflooding than are relative permeabilities for water-wet rocks. Other factors being equal, this causes earlier water breakthrough in the oil-wet rock and requires that more water be injected to achieve a given reduction in ol saturation than in water-wet rocks. The effect of oillwater IFT on residual oil saturation is illustrated in Figure 7. Here the residual oil saturation is plotted vs. capillary number, the product of Darcy velocity and oil viscosity divided by IFT. Capillary number is an approximate measure of the ratio of viscous to capillary forces. Over ranges of velocity, oil viscosity, and oilwater IFT found in conventional waterflooding, residual oil saturation is insensitive to capillary number. Figure 7 shows that a drastic reduction in oilWwater IFT, by several orders of magnitude or more, is required to achieve a significant reduction in waterflood residual oil saturation. Although the discussion of this section centered on waterflooding, similar behavior is found when a gas immiscibly displaces oil 4. EOR Screening Guildeline: Reference 1 provides the most recent literature review on EOR screening criteria. Table 3 was copied from reference 2 for a quick checking usage. Later in the course note, a more detail guildelines will be discussed for each process. In summary, factors used in the screening are as following. a. reservoir conditions - temperature and pressure b. reservoir fiuid properties - oil viscosity and density and formation water salinity c. reservoir geology - rock type and depth and permeability and porosity References 1, Taber, J. J., et al, ‘EOR Screening Criteria Revisited,” SPE/DOE 35385, presented SPE/DOE Tenth Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, 1996. 2. Dafter, Ray, “Scraping the Barrel, The Worldwide Potential for EOR" Financial Times management Reports, 1980.and EOR Method Effciency (Ep) Table 2 Convention: Ei BY PRIMARY AND CONVENTIONAL RECOVERY $10% 10-25% 25-40% 10-55% ‘ADBITIONAL OW, % OF ADDITIONAL “ADDITIONAL ADDITIONAL] ADDITONAL OO TO ANAL ‘oe, om, ‘ol, ot, RECOVERY % OOIP % OOIP % OOIP % OOTP FOR ‘hn "Fre METHODS rr 08% “5% 70% ts Gena) 40% 45% 0% 55% 0% 55% 50% -65% 209% Te STEAM INECTION —— ma. 125% i POLYMER INJECTION - ae - DRY +8% AND nucH 7 _ SOLVENT Gas B-0% IUECTION Time ‘ALCOHOL, — am 7 ae 50% 130% 115% 110% SURFACTANT FLOODI - tim 159% 109% ae 0% - 55% 40% -55% 50% 65% TNAASCIBLE co, PIHLACE- - wee Bae - IECTION DISPLACE. 7 7 tio MENT -8% INFILL DRILLING 7 ALTERNATING WATER GAS 41% 45% _ TRIECTION ‘WATERILOODING AFTER 7 3% _ GAS IOECTION CONVENTIONAL WATER INJECTION I 739% = METHODS SECONDARY GAS CAP PRESSURE PULSING Boe Bm = ‘GAS INJECTION AND GRAVITATIONAL 5% = DRAINAGE (ATTIC On) CROSS-FLOODING = 759%eb epnio odk-owounuden, ‘eucispues Supooy souoyeydse ‘oysneo 40} B}eq eules —‘sploeouayiydeN 99-05 fanssaid Ayyqqosqus woos'z 01 poyejoui0o ¥000'S< uudep :9I0N wo0e'2 5 (403-214) papooy oq 0} eave uy Bujurewier 10 10 %S2 SPOON - wooo'e < ereuogqrea 10 7 5 ‘eucrspues 4 00E'Z < Ayes adonsue ‘Suunssij “dip desis 09s Suunss,y —Ayujes mo] 08-09 % ‘RIBKOOOR, SOwe] STO SUBUIOD © SIGEIMONIUT| | BIGEMONEI © BIBSOG © ASEH UOT, e e we TeONLO ION <0s2> TayauRL, -o1geL SES puigg < dopozs ge door be SNIGOOTS SNTTVITY ez 08 ~ of lt 5 2 does (Oe (seprio eWWoHED 40} 92 <) 06 < — FORUOION dogi > se lB - doors ee : dogg be ‘SIGMOSIN SOIKOIO NOBEVS doors be wer wav = AUIIRROUEG ABCA TH SpomoTN UOT Pa292]9g Jo wonwoyiddy 405 waID ¢ a1qvL,zobed bere ssouyonyt (403-214) pepooy oq x hysoud 0} eave uy Bujurewias ‘ybiy ‘uaIu0d Aejo woose > ing HO J0.%0S SpeON : ‘guunigieo mo] - Yeonuo ion <002> puoz< doggz> Se snosuaboioioy ‘Aevexopows : “yo sno0sin e : : 002 > : pugz2 —dogoz> ee Suunssi; —Ayqemued y6H = 0S-S¥ - - - a a dooz-s te ‘DOOTIESILVM USISISSY HANK TOd (o861)d008 5 (oa61)do02 5 uorspues : (9261) 02+ > - puozz — (9261)60015 Le weonuo ion —dogz> $B dooms POo|aIEM %0S Jejad ‘SSO x Aysoid (403-214) popooy oq ‘UBiy “IueWoo eo (epruo oy Bare ul Bulurewer — queIuoo MO “UONEULIO} wo0se > ina weWioyeD Wojo%Gz spaeN —AeDYBIH —snroauaBiowoH =~ - TORO ION —«O0Z> 404.92 <).82< a 7 . ‘auospues - oss S22 puiog < does oe winsdi6 pur epAyue Jo eouaseid ‘hel uoyspueguesig §=— == auispueg : 02> : puigz < doge> ze Suynssy —_wueyuoo pues “queue AeD "InOJe}EMMOT 9G : a : : : 001-0} 1-8 ‘UNVIOVSNS) EINK TOUEV TION SOE] SORE] ‘ona le) ‘BIGEINOAETUT] §—BIGEIMOAC FBOOOD ‘Wasa paweL dv ANqeCUSI «= AISOOSIA PU 7 SCOHISW XUIAOOSY CIONVANS CaLO=1SS JO NOILVOMddv SHI WOs VIdaLES