Department of Chemical & Petroleum Engineering

PEEG 794: Chemical Flooding CEOR Field Project

CO2-Foam Injection for Conformance Enhancement in the

EVGSANU

Paper Review Summary

Fall 2023
22nd November 2023

Assigned by: Dr Emad W. Alshalabi

Student Name: Hala K. Alshadafan

Hala K. Alshadafan 22nd Nov 2023

List of Figures
Figure 1: Issues faced during gas injection in porous media that reduce oil recovery efficiency. a. CO2 override due
to gravity; b. CO2 channeling due to permeability heterogeneity (Dow, 2023). ............................................................. 5
Figure 2: EVGSANU historical oil production rate (Moffitt et al., 2015). .................................................................... 5
Figure 3: Location and layout of the pattern selected for the foam injection pilot (Katiyar et al., 2020). ............... 6
Figure 4: EVGSANU large variance in water and CO2 injection during baseline period (2014-2017) (Katiyar et
al., 2020). .......................................................................................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 5: Gas injectivity for the baseline and each of the pilot cycles. Injection of surfactant and generation of foam
resulted in an immediate drop in injectivity compared to the baseline (Katiyar et al., 2020). ..................................... 7
Figure 6: Application of foam mitigated direct gas breakthrough and increased average well runtime (Katiyar et al.,
2020).................................................................................................................................................................................................. 8
Figure 7: Individual well oil production response (Katiyar et al., 2020). .......................................................................... 8

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List of Tables
Table 1: IPL results verifying the more uniform injection distribution between U-SA and L-SA post foam (Katiyar
et al., 2020)....................................................................................................................................................................................... 7

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Table of Contents
List of Figures .................................................................................................................................................................................. 2
List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................................................... 3
Introduction...................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Field History .................................................................................................................................................................................... 5
Pilot Description ............................................................................................................................................................................. 5
New Surfactant Chemistry....................................................................................................................................................... 6
Pilot Pattern ................................................................................................................................................................................ 6
Vertical Conformance: ......................................................................................................................................................... 7
Areal Conformance: .............................................................................................................................................................. 7
Injection Strategy........................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Results................................................................................................................................................................................................ 7
Gas Injectivity ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Conformance Improvement ..................................................................................................................................................... 7
Well Runtime ............................................................................................................................................................................. 7
Individual Well Oil Production Response .......................................................................................................................... 8
Conclusions ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 8
Expansion Phase .............................................................................................................................................................................. 8
References ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 9

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Introduction
Foam is a gas liquid mixture in which liquid phase forms a continuum wetting the rock, whereas gas is
made discontinuous by thin liquid films called lamellae. Co-injection or alternate injection of surfactant solution
and gas generates foam in subsurface porous media (Talebian et al., 2014). Bond and Holbrook (1958) were the
first to show that foam generated in oil reservoir could increase sweep efficiency by addressing issues including gas
override and channeling (Figure 1).

a b
Figure 1: Issues faced during gas injection in porous media that reduce oil recovery efficiency. a. CO 2 override due to gravity; b.
CO2 channeling due to permeability heterogeneity (Dow, 2023).

Field History
Selected pilot is a CO2-Foam injection endeavour by ConocoPhillips and The Dow Chemical Company
for conformance enhancement in the East Vacuum Grayburg San Andres Unit (EVGSANU). East Vacuum
formation is located in southeast New Mexico; Primary production was initiated in the 1940s, followed by
Waterflooding in the 1980s to prepare the subsurface for Miscible CO2 application five years later (Katiyar et al.,
2020). Figure 2 depicts oil production rate from the start of waterflood till the year 2015. Prior to water injection,
EVGSANU was producing 4,000 BOPD. After water injection, oil production rate increased to 15,000 BOPD.
Implementation of CO2 injection started in 1985; initial increase in oil rate was followed by a steep decline.
Mitigation included installation of an NGL recovery plant to recover liquids from the produced gas stream; the
capacity of which was reached in 1998 (Moffitt et al., 2015).

Figure 2: EVGSANU historical oil production rate (Moffitt et al., 2015).

Pilot Description
San Andres (SA), the main zone of interest, is divided into the upper (U-SA) and lower (L-SA) intervals
by the Lovington Sandstone. Injectivity in the L-SA has historically been higher than that in the U-SA. The
objective of the pilot is to improve overall sweep efficiency across the U-SA and L-SA formations by correcting

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vertical and areal conformance. Pilot would only be deemed successful if surfactant injection achieved sufficient
incremental oil production to make the operation economically feasible (Katiyar et al., 2020).

New Surfactant Chemistry

Dow Chemical designed a new surfactant that is highly stable at formation salinity and temperature, has
a higher partition coefficient in CO2, suffers lower adsorption to reservoir rock when compared to previous foam
pilots in EVGSANU, and generates stronger foam at lower surfactant concentration.
The new surfactant chemistry displayed the following characteristics (Katiyar et al., 2020):
Surfactant remained stable under real reservoir conditions.
Mass fraction of surfactant in the CO2 is 22 times greater than the mass fraction in the brine.
Higher volume of surfactant is consumed generating foam rather than adhering to the rock surface.
As surfactant concentration increased, apparent foam viscosity measured 2-3 orders of magnitude greater than
the viscosity of brine or CO2.
As total injection rate increased, shear thickening rheology was observed up to an optimal injection rate.
There is an optimal injection gas fraction that achieved the highest quality foam.
Foam destabilized when it encountered a sufficient volume of mobile oil (~10-15%mobile oil fraction).

Pilot Pattern
EVGSANU is divided into injector-centered WAG patterns in the center of the field, and water-only
injectors around the periphery that act as a "water barrier" to maintain CO2 injection within the lease boundary.
Figure 3 shows a single WAG injector surrounded by six vertical wells and two horizontal wells.

Figure 3: Location and layout of the pattern selected for the foam injection pilot (Katiyar et al., 2020).

Figure 4: EVGSANU large variance in water and CO2 injection during baseline period (2014-2017) (Katiyar et al., 2020).

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Vertical Conformance:
Figure 4 illustrates the field’s poor vertical conformance, for U-SA has had less than 0.3PV of CO2 injected while
L-SA has received most of the historical injection with approximately 0.6PV of CO2 injected.

Areal Conformance:
Characterization of areal conformance was achieved by comparing the gas-oil-ratios (GOR) and oil cuts (OC)
during the baseline period (2014-2017) for all of the producing wells in the pattern. It was found that wells that
are East or West (E-W) relative to the injector suffered higher than normal GOR and lower than normal OC
compared to the rest of the pattern (Katiyar et al., 2020).

Injection Strategy
Designed strategy to optimize foam flood was as follows: injection of fixed volume slug of water followed
by surfactant injected with CO2 to generate foam for conformance control followed by pure CO2.

Results
Gas Injectivity

a b

Figure 5: Gas injectivity for the baseline and each of the pilot cycles. Injection of surfactant and generation of foam resulted in an immediate
drop in injectivity compared to the baseline (Katiyar et al., 2020).

Conformance Improvement
Vertical conformance improvement was evaluated by collecting four Injection profile logs (IPL) (Table
1); first two were recorded immediately after shutting off surfactant injection and transitioning into CO2, third
IPL was collected at the end of the CO2 only portion, and final reading was taken more than 1.5 years after the
previous IPL.
Table 1: IPL results verifying the more uniform injection distribution between U-SA and L-SA post foam (Katiyar et al., 2020).

% Gas Distribution
After surfactant injection After CO2 only injection
Baseline 3rd cycle 5th cycle 11th cycle 5th cycle
U-SA Pay Zone 33 38 40 47 46
Pay Zone 56 62 60 53 54
L-SA
Out of Zone (OOZ) 21 0 0 0 0

Well Runtime
All producers within the pattern use artificial lift. Excess gas in the pump from CO2 breakthrough results
in a decrease in pump efficiency and runtime, which leads to higher bottom hole pressures and lower production
rates. Application of foam mitigated direct gas breakthrough and increased average well runtime from 15% to
60% within the first six months of surfactant injection (Katiyar et al., 2020).

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Figure 6: Application of foam mitigated direct gas breakthrough and increased average well runtime (Katiyar et al., 2020).

Individual Well Oil Production Response

Foam pilot did not influence all the producers in the same way. Wells offset to the injector in an E-W
direction (identified as the dominant permeability direction) were the first to witness uplift. Wells that lie N-S
relative to the injector (perpendicular to the dominant permeability direction) recorded production uplift after
several months from start of foam injection. On the other hand, horizontal wells did not exhibit any change in
production (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Individual well oil production response (Katiyar et al., 2020).

Conclusions
Complete elimination of OOZ injection redirected gas flow to upswept regions improving vertical
conformance.
Reduction in gas injectivity, due to strong foam generation and propagation, blocked gas breakthrough
between the injector and highly connected producers located along the E-W direction improving areal
conformance and increased well runtime.
CO2 sequestration while extending the EVGSAU lifetime is another benefit of the foam technology.

Expansion Phase
Due to the outstanding performance of the pilot described by Katiyar et al. (2020), the same surfactant
with high foaming tendencies, high gas solubility, and low adsorption characteristics was utilized to expand the
pilot size by three times to verify robustness and reproducibility of the technology (Hassanzadeh et al., 2022).

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References
Dow. (2023, June 6). ELEVATE™ CO2 Foam Additives [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6-tdJTx_8U&ab_channel=Dow
Hassanzadeh, A., Katiyar, A., Kalaei, H., Pecore, D., Schofield, E., Nguyen, Q., and Corey G. "Successful
CO2-Foam Field Implementation for Improving Oil Sweep Efficiency in EVGSAU Field at Permian Basin:
Expansion Phase." Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas,
USA, October 2022. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/210182-MS
Katiyar, A., Hassanzadeh, A., Patil, P., Hand, M., Perozo, A., Pecore, D., Kalaei, H., & Quoc N. "Successful
Field Implementation of CO2-Foam Injection for Conformance Enhancement in the EVGSAU Field in the
Permian Basin." Paper presented at the SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference, Virtual, August 2020.
doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/200327-MS
Moffitt, P., Pecore, D., Trees, M., & Greg S. "East Vacuum Grayburg San Andres Unit, 30 Years of CO2
Flooding: Accomplishments, Challenges and Opportunities." Paper presented at the SPE Annual Technical
Conference and Exhibition, Houston, Texas, USA, September 2015.
doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/175000-MS
Talebian, S. H., Masoudi, R., Tan, I. M., & Zitha, P. L. J. (2014). Foam assisted CO2-EOR: A review of
concept, challenges, and future prospects. Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, 120, 202-215.