1

1Review

2AN OVERVIEW: SIMULATION HOT WATER EOR

3INJECTION BY OLD AND NEW SOFTWARE
4Bafadhal Baihaqi1*, Desi Purnama Sari2, Yovi Veron Setiawan3, Nur Aisyah4,
5Surya Pratama T5, Indah Sari Mulyani6, Ketrinida7, Mila Chairani8, Encik
6Prayogi9, M. Khairul Afdhol10, Tomi Erfando11
7 1
Universitas Islam Riau; bafadhalbaihaqi@student.uir.ac.id
8 2
Universitas Islam Riau; desipurnamasari@student.uir.ac.id
9 3
Universitas Islam Riau; yoviveron@student.uir.ac.id
10 4
Universitas Islam Riau; nuraisya@student.uir.ac.id
11 5
Universitas Islam Riau; suryapratama@student.uir.ac.id
12 6
Universitas Islam Riau; indahsarimulyani@student.uir.ac.id
13 7
Universitas Islam Riau; ketrinida@student.uir.ac.id
14 8
Universitas Islam Riau; milachairani@student.uir.ac.id
15 9
Universitas Islam Riau; encikprayogi@student.uir.ac.id
16 10
Universitas Islam Riau; afdhol@eng.uir.ac.id
17 11
Universitas Islam Riau; tomierfando@eng.uir.ac.id
18 * Correspondence: bafadhalbaihaqi@student.uir.ac.id; Tel.: (+62) 813 7883 2139

19 Received: date; Accepted: date; Published: date

20Abstract: Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is used to increase the amount of crude oil that can be
21produced from the oil field. The increase is 40-60% compared to 20-40% to the primary and
22secondary recovery. When advanced technique are used in EOR, it is called quaternary recovery
23[ CITATION Mos14 \l 1033 ].
24Thermal injection is the most frequently used method in recovery of heavy oil. The main idea of
25thermal injection is to introduce heat to the reservoir. This heat will increase the temperature in
26order to increase the mobility of the oil [ CITATION Man10 \l 1033 ].
27Advanced reservoir simulation software is the most reliable approach in selecting the best EOR
28technique for a particular field. A predictive reservoir model is a must for understanding the
29dynamic behavior of reservoir fluids, including EOR agents, and for optimizing injection and
30production options. Three-phase 3-D simulations are used to model EOR techniques [ CITATION
31Tom14 \l 1033 ].

32Keywords: EOR, Thermal Injection, Simulation Software & Three-phase 3-D

33simulations

34INTRODUCTION

35For decades the industry has been employing a number of different EOR
36techniques, but generally only in large land fields that can support a large
37infrastructure and justify a major investment. Although the fundamental physics of
38EOR – how to mobilize oil within the pore system – are well known, we are now
39seeing significant advances in other enablers such as reservoir characterization,

2Energies 2020, 13, x; doi: FOR PEER REVIEW www.mdpi.com/journal/energies

 3Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 2 of 8

40reservoir-scale monitoring, well placement, smart completions, and new EOR

41agents. All of these developments provide the opportunity to make EOR more
42successful [ CITATION Tom14 \l 1033 ].

43North America has the largest number of EOR projects today, but operators in the
44oil-rich Middle East are launching similar schemes. In addition, giant oil fields are
45now being considered for EOR earlier in their life cycles. This is an important
46point: Rather than considering EOR as part of a reactive, late-life field strategy,
47consideration is being given to the most suitable EOR methodology during the
48earliest stages of field development. This proactive approach will save money,
49boost ultimate recovery, and ensure maximum return on investment. Running
50through different EOR scenarios digitally is an ideal way to mitigate the risks
51associated with these decisions and will increase confidence in reservoir strategy
52and recovery planning. Major unknowns such as formation heterogeneity can be
53evaluated using multiple iterations with different parameters. It is possible to
54compare expected costs and project economics with the base case of continued
55production without EOR. If the simulation indicates that the project meets
56technical and financial requirements, then it can be used to design subsequent pilot
57projects[ CITATION Tom14 \l 1033 ].

58EOR projects are currently among the most complex and difficult undertakings in
59the upstream industry. Success lies in improving the efficiency in every step of the
60process by synchronizing diverse measurements, applying advanced technologies,
61and integrating knowledge across multiple domains. Comprehensive reservoir
62simulation supports efficient decision-making at every stage of the EOR workflow,
63from concept selection to full-field implementation[ CITATION Tom14 \l 1033 ].

64Hot water flooding is the least expensive thermally based oil recovery
65technique[ CITATION Far74 \l 1033 ] since it only involves sensible heat.
66Compared with conventional water flooding, the use of hot water improves the
67mobility ratio due to a drop of the oil phase viscosity arising from it being heated.
68Furthermore, heating also reduces the interfacial tension and residual oil
69saturation which leads to potentially higher recovery factor. In hot water flooding,
70the heated water for injection delivers less heat to the reservoir compared with
71steam due to absence of latent heat and therefore is less effective in reducing oil
72viscosity. However, for thin heavy oil reservoirs, hot water-flooding has
73advantages over steam-flooding. First, it provides larger displacement drive than
74steam-flooding since water viscosity is much larger than that of steam
75[ CITATION Dia75 \l 1033 ]. Second, it permits the use of much higher injecting
 4Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 8

76pressure then steam-flooding at a given temperature. Third, due to smaller

77reservoir temperature, heat losses to the overburden and understrata will be
78substantially smaller than that encountered in steam-flooding [ CITATION
79Dav13 \l 1033 ].

80METHODS
81Hot Water Flooding for High Permeability Viscous Oil Fields Using SCORPIO Software
82In the base case the water injector was located just below the OWC, 256 ft from the reservoir top.
83The diameters of the injector and producer were assumed to be sufficiently large that friction effects
84in the well bore could be neglected. This point will be considered in more detail in the discussion of
85risk management. The injection temperature in the hot water base case was 100°C above the initial
86reservoir temperature. The base case cold and hot water flood results are summarised in Table 1.

87 Table 1 Base Case Model Parameters [ CITATION SGG96 \l 1033 ]

Property Value
3
Water/Oil density difference (kg/m ) 98*
Temperature 30.6
Oil viscosity (cp) 400*
Water viscosity (cp) 0.79*
Porosity 0.33
Permeability (darcy) 5.0
Kv/Kh 0.5
Residual oil saturation 35%
Connate water saturation 10%
Water endpoint relative permeability 0.16
Well position (depth from top, ft) 256
88 *at initial reservoir temperature
89
90Hot water flooding produces an additional 2.9 MMSTB of oil, or 7.8 % of STOIIP. The oil production
91profiles for these cases are illustrated in Fig. 1. There is a clear IOR signal in the production rate at
92approximately 8 years. Alternative termination criteria might be adopted. If, for example, the well
93became uneconomic when the watercut increased above 90?4., then it would be shut in afler
94approximately 8.5 years in the cold water flood, recovering only 8.0 MMSTB. In contrast, the
95watercut for hot water flooding increases briefly to 90.5 % at 13.5 years, but then decreases again,
96therefore the well would remain economic beyond 25 years. In these circumstances, hot water
97flooding produces an additional 5.5 MMSTB of oil. or 14.60/. of STOIIP [ CITATION SGG96 \l
981033 ].
 5Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 4 of 8

99
100 Figure 1 Production Profiles for Base Case Cold and Hot Wafer Floods[ CITATION SGG96 \l
101 1033 ]
102Cold and hot water flooding were simulated using SCORPIO, a general purpose chemical flooding
103simulator with a till temperature capability. A model was built of a sector from a reservoir with a
104250 tl oil column with underlying water, developed with a pattern of alternating horizontal
105producers and injectors. The wells have a horizontal completion length of 6000 ft and a spacing of
106500 ft. Each well was operated at a rate of 15000 bbl/D. The model represented a half pattern
107element with the grid shown in Fig. 1, giving a model STOIIP of 37.6 MMSTB. The key reservoir
108and fluid properties for the base case model are summarised in Table 1. Each well in the half pattern
109model was operated at a rate of 7500 bbl/D [ CITATION SGG96 \l 1033 ].

110
111 Figure 2 Schematic Ohgram of Reservoir Model [ CITATION SGG96 \l 1033 ]
112
113Stochastic Optimization of Hot Water Flooding Strategy in Thin Heavy Oil Reservoirs using
114CMG Stars software
115In this work, a Simulated Annealing (SA) algorithm is used for operating strategy optimization as
116described in [ CITATION Gat08 \l 1033 ]. The optimization algorithm is designed to control a
117commercial thermal reservoir simulator STARS [ CITATION Com12 \l 1033 ] and execute
118reservoir performance evaluations. Parameters for reservoir simulation are generated by the SA
 6Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 5 of 8

119algorithm and then used for generating the simulation input file. Then a simulation run based on
120the newly generated input file is performed by the reservoir simulator. Once the simulation is
121complete, a computer code is called to process the reservoir simulation output data and evaluate
122the performance of the simulated strategy. The evaluation results are then sent back to the
123optimizer to generate new parameter sets and the next iteration of the optimization algorithm
124starts. In the optimization procedure, the SA algorithm conducts random searches that attempt to
125lower the value of the cost function, i.e., the optimum value of desired reservoir operating
126performance. The parameters of the SA algorithm were the same as those used in previous studies [
127CITATION Gat08 \l 1033 ].
128 Table 2 Reservoir simulation model and fluid properties [ CITATION Dav13 \l 1033 ].
Property Value
Depth to reservoir top (m) 334
Net pay (m) 4
Porosity 0.32±0.02
Oil saturation 0.65±0.09
3 3
Solution gas-to-oil ratio (m /m ) 6.17
Horizontal rock permeability kh (mD) 3,650±347
kv/kh 0.8
Effective rock compressibility (1/kPa) 14x10-6
Rock heat capacity (kJ/moC) 2,600
o
Rock thermal conductivity (kJ/m day C) 660
Reference pressure (kPa) 2,800
Reference depth (m) 334
Initial reservoir temperature 20
o
Water thermal conductivity (kJ/m day C) 53.5
o
Gas thermal conductivity (kJ/m day C) 5
o
Oil thermal conductivity (kJ/m day C) 11.5
2
Effective molecular diffusion coefficient of oil (m /day) 34.32x10-6
Effective molecular diffusion coefficient of solvent (m2 /day) 34.32x10-5
129
130The base reservoir model is a two-dimensional model with two horizontal wells spaced 50 m apart
131derived from a previous study of a thin heavy oil reservoir [ CITATION Zha12 \l 1033 ]. A
132commercial thermal reservoir simulator was used for the study [ CITATION Com12 \l 1033 ].
133The thickness of the heavy oil interval is equal to 4 m thick. The models were discretized into a
134regular Cartesian grid with dimensions 1 m in the cross-well direction, 1,000 m in the downwell
135direction and 0.4 m in the vertical direction. The length of the perforated sections of the horizontal
136wells in all models is equal to 1,000 m. The reservoir simulation model and fluid properties are
137listed in Table 1. The spatial distributions of porosity (average equal to 0.32), horizontal
138permeability (average equal to 3,650 mD), and oil/water saturations (average oil saturation equal to
1390.65), displayed in Figure 3 [ CITATION Dav13 \l 1033 ].
140
 7Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 6 of 8

141
142

143
144 Figure 3 Reservoir properties of the studied reservoir model. The injection well is on the left side of
145 the domain whereas the production well is on the right side of domain. The spacing between the
146 wells is equal to 50 m [ CITATION Dav13 \l 1033 ].
147
148were derived from core data taken from one of Devon Canada’s heavy oil fields located in eastern
149Alberta. The vertical-to-horizontal permeability ratio is equal to 0.8. The initial reservoir pressure
150and temperature are equal to 2,800 kPa and 20°C, respectively [ CITATION Dav13 \l 1033 ]. The
151solution gas-to-oil ratio at original reservoir conditions is equal to 6.17 m3 /m3. All of these
152properties were taken from the heavy oil field from which the core data was obtained. To
153investigate the effect of permeability and its variations on the reservoir performance, five cases
 8Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 8

154were optimized. These cases were chosen to span the range of reservoir characteristics that are
155typical in thin heavy oil reservoirs in Western Canada[ CITATION Dav13 \l 1033 ].

156Result

158Hot Water Flooding for High Permeability Viscous Oil Fields Using SCORPIO Software
159 Table 3 Base case result at 25 years [ CITATION SGG96 \l 1033 ]
Case Oil Production Final water cut
MMSTB % STOIIP
Cold Water 10.6 28.2 0.955
Hot Water 13.5 36.0 0.883
160
161
162Stochastic Optimization of Hot Water Flooding Strategy in Thin Heavy Oil
163Reservoirs using CMG Stars software
164 Table 4 Comparison of optimized operating strategies in all the four cases in terms
165 of cumulative oil production, cumulative water produced to oil produced ratio
166 (cWOR), cumulative energy injected to oil ratio (cEOR), operating time and net
167 present value (NPV).
Case Cummulative cWOR cEOR (GJ/m3) NPV
3 3
oil ( m /m )
production
(m3)
1 24,366 14.5 6.2 2.8
2 26,400 14.6 9.9 2.9
3 25,655 13.5 8.2 2.9
4 27,319 19.1 7.4 4.7
5 5,396 13.7 3.4 -1.6

168Conclusions

169 1. Advanced reservoir simulation software is the most reliable approach in

170 selecting the best EOR technique for a particular field.
171 2. EOR projects are currently among the most complex and difficult
172 undertakings in the upstream industry
173 3. Stochastic Optimization of Hot Water Flooding Strategy in Thin Heavy Oil Reservoirs using
174 CMG Stars software
175 4. Hot Water Flooding in case 1 for High Permeability Viscous Oil Fields Using SCORPIO
176 Software
177Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Bafadhal Baihaqi; methodology, Desi Purnama Sari; validation,
178Yovi Veron Setiawan; formal analysis, Nur Aisyah; resources, Surya Pratama T; data curation, Indah Sari
179Mulyani; writing—original draft preparation, Ketrinida; writing—review and editing, Mila Chairani;
180supervision, M. Khoirul Afdhol, Tomi Erfando; project administration, Encik Prayogi. All authors have read
181and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
 9Energies 2020, 13, x FOR PEER REVIEW 8 of 8

182Acknowledgments: Thanks to Mr. M. Khoirul Afdhol, MT and Mr. Tommy Erfando, MT as our advisor and
183supervision in this paper.
184Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest
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209
210
© 2020 by the authors. Submitted for possible open access publication under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
211