Introduction to Enhanced Oil Recovery

1
 BASIC CONCEPT OF EOR
PRIMARY OIL RECOVERY
The terms Primary oil recovery, Secondary oil recovery, and Tertiary
(Enhanced) Oil Recovery are traditionally used to describe hydrocarbons recovered
according to the method of production or the time at which they are obtained.
Primary oil recovery describes the production of hydrocarbons under the
natural driving mechanisms present in the reservoir without supplementary
help from injected fluids such as gas or water.
In most cases, the natural driving mechanism is relatively inefficient process and
results in a low overall oil recovery. The lack of sufficient natural drive in most
reservoirs has led to the practice of supplementing the natural reservoir energy by
introducing some form of artificial drive, the most basic method being the injection of
gas or Water.
2
 OIL Primary Recovery

RECOVERY NATURAL FLOW

ARTIFICIAL LIFT

PHASES
WATER DEPLETION GAS CAP GRAVITY COMBI-
DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE DRIVE NATION PUMP GAS LIFT
DRIVE

EOR

SECONDARY TERTIARY
RECOVERY RECOVERY

WATER IMMISCIBLE MISCIBLE GAS CHEMICAL THERMAL MICROBIAL

FLOODING GAS FLOOD FLOOD FLOODING INJECTION EOR OTHERS

-CO2 FLOOD - ALKALINE - HOT WATER

- N2 FLOOD - SURFACTANT - STEAM FLOOD
PRESSURE FLOODING - INERT GAS - POLYMER - INSITU COMBUSTION
MAINTENANCE - RICH GAS - MICELLAR POLYMER
- ASP

3
4
5
 SECONDARY OIL RECOVERY

Secondary oil recovery refers to the additional recovery that

results from the conventional methods of water injection and
immiscible gas injection.
Usually, the selected secondary recovery process follows the primary recovery
but it can also be conducted concurrently with the primary recovery. Water
flooding is perhaps the most common method of secondary recovery. However,
before undertaking a secondary recovery project, it should be clearly proven that
the natural recovery processes are insufficient; otherwise there is a risk that the
substantial capital investment required for a secondary recovery project may be
wasted.
6
 ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY

Tertiary (enhanced) oil recovery is that additional recovery over

and above what could be recovered by primary and secondary
recovery methods.
Various methods of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) are essentially designed to recover
oil, commonly described as residual oil, left in the reservoir after both primary and
secondary recovery methods have been exploited to their respective economic limits.

7
ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY (EOR)

 The main objective of EOR is to recover as

much as possible oil in reservoir / well
 Aim at increasing the oil recovery over its primary
and secondary potential.
 EOR methods involve injection of substances
which cause changes in compositions,
temperature and rock-fluid interactions in the
reservoir.
 In some cases, EOR Methods could be applied
after Primary or even at discovery.
 Sometimes called Tertiary Recovery Methods. This
does not mean that EOR Methods have to be
applied after Secondary Recovery.
 IOR AND EOR MECHANISMS

Waterflood Thermal Chemical Miscible Gas

Maintains reservoir Reduces Sor by steam Reduces Sor by Reduces Sor by

pressure & physically distillation and reduces lowering water-oil developing miscibility
displaces oil with oil viscosity. interfacial tension, and with the oil through a
water moving through increases volumetric vaporizing or condensing
the reservoir from sweep efficiency by gas drive process.
injector to producer. reducing the water-oil
mobility ratio.
Typical Recovery Factors
 Natural or Primary Methods
Heavy oil 5 - 15 %
Light oil: solution gas drive 10 - 25%
water drive, gas cap 20 - 40%
gravity drainage 30 - 45%

 Secondary Methods
Waterflood 20 - 45 %
Immiscible Gas flood 15 - 40 %

 Tertiary or EOR Methods

Laboratory tests 70 - 90 %
Field applications 45 - 75 %
INCREMENTAL OIL
A universal technical measure of the success of an EOR project is the amount
of incremental oil recovered. The following figure defines incremental oil.
Imagine a field, reservoir, or well whose oil rate is declining as from A to B. At
B, an EOR project is initiated and, if successful, the rate should show a
deviation from the projected decline at some time after B. Incremental oil is the
difference between what was actually recovered, B to D, and what would have
been recovered had the process not been initiated, B to C. Since areas under
rate-time curves are amounts, this is the shaded region in the figure.

11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18