RECOVERY

Definition : amount of hydrocarbon that can be recovered from a reservoir.

Primary recovery is a method of producing oil from a reservoir only by natural force.
There are 2 method of primary recovery will discused:
1. Depletion Drive : expansion of hydrocarbons in a reservoir provides energy for the oil and
gas to enter the wellbore and to move up to the surface.
There are 2 kinds of depletion drive :
a. solution gas drive
b. gas cap drive
2. water drive : water (aquifer) drive well fluids out of the reservoir by displacing it. This
method leaves a relatively small amount of oil behind. With this method, expected recovery
oil higher than depletion drive.
As oil and gas flow out of the reservoir, the natural drive gradually declines until it is not
enough to lift the well fluids to the surface, so we use artificial lift.
There are 2 methods commonly used for artificial lift : pumping method and gas lift method.
We use gas lift if gas is available and economically justified.
There are 3 kinds of pumps : sucker rod pumps, hydraulic pumps, submersible pumps.
For tight formation, the wells must be stimulated (fracturing, acidizing, or by sand fracturing)
depending on type of formation.
Acidizing : preferred for the formations composed of dolomite and limestone which are
soluable in acids.