In the Name of God

Enhanced Oil Recovery

1401
Course Syllabus

Shahab Ayatollahi
Professor
Instructor shahab@shairf.ir
dr.ayatollahi@gmail.com
www.eor.ir

Farhad Saedi (farhad.s76m@gmail.com)

TAs
Arya Seif (aryaseif@engineer.com)

Texts
1. A set of notes will be provided by the instructor
2. A collection of SPE papers
3. "Enhanced Oil Recovery," D. W. Green and G. P. Willhite,
SPE Textbook Series, (1998)

Quizzes, home works and Midterm Exam 40%

Grading
Final Exam 30%
Term Project, Class Lecturing 30%
Note: All Quizzes and exam will be "closed book exams."

Term Project Must be related to the EOR processes as discussed in the class,
especially the followings.

• EOR Best practices around the world

• Recent EOR activities in Iranian Oil Companies
• EOR/IOR experiences; Hydraulic Fracturing, Acidizing,
Pumps
• Cheap EOR techniques for low oil price era
• The role of Economical parameters on EOR process selection
• Screening of EOR Processes (AI techniques)
• Artificial Intelligence in EOR Techniques
• The role of Environmental parameters on EOR process
selection
 • EOR in carbonate reservoirs
• Improved Water Flooding (Low Salinity/Smart/Chemical)
• Non Hydrocarbon gas injection as an EOR process
• Simple Modelling of any EOR Techniques

This is a teamwork project and every team consists of at most Four

students. You need to specify the topic first, send your work
proposal to me and then try to collect the needed materials such as
SPE papers, reports
and journal papers. The project would include a review of the past
works and some future research topics. Then include your own input
to the project, such as new proposed works, critical review of the
past practices, Simulation Results and Economical Evaluation. The
results will be presented in the class in front of your classmates. No
report is needed for the project, however, a summary of each paper
should be presented in PPT format in the class. All refereed papers
should be attached to the your PPT file.

COURSE TOPICS

This course is aimed to cover the related topics of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)
processes. Enhanced Oil Recovery is referred to the techniques used to increase the
oil recovery factors after the natural depletion of the oil reservoirs.

Lectures
1. Oil price and its effect on petroleum industry (1 Week)
a. Low oil price and the opportunities for EOR
b. Some statistics
c. Lectures overview and assessments

2. Oil Trapping due to Heterogeneities: (4 Weeks)

a. Production mechanisms of oil reservoirs
b. Pore structure
c. IFT and surface forces
d. Wettability, measurements and alteration
e. Capillary Pressure
f. Relative permeability
g. Trapping in porous media
h. Sweeping Efficiencies

3. An introduction to EOR techniques, Description and Challenges (2 Weeks)

a. Introducing EOR techniques
b. Water based EOR Techniques
c. Improved waterflooding
d. Gas Injection Techniques
e. Thermal EOR processes
f. MEOR
 4. EOR Screening (1 Weeks)
a. Taber Method
b. Economical criteria
c. AI techniques for EOR screening
d. EOR techniques evaluation for Iranian oil reservoirs

5. Immiscible vs. Miscible flooding (1 Weeks)

a. Solvent flooding (miscible injection).
b. Phase behaviour and fluid properties.
c. MMP measurement
d. Gas injection.

6. Modified waterflooding (1 Weeks)

a. Waterflooding.
b. Improved waterflooding techniques; Chemical Injection
c. Low Sal/Smart Water Injection

7. Your Projects’ Presentations (4 Weeks)