SURFACTANT

FLOODING
Group 2
Outline
■ Introduction
■ Enhanced Oil Recovery
■ Surfactant Flooding
■ Mechanism
■ Flooding Design
■ Screening Criteria
■ Challenges
■ Case Study
■ Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
Introduction

■ World’s Energy Demand is Increasing

■ Hydrocarbons are the largest and most effective source of Energy

■ Difficulty in New Oil Field Discovery

■ World production of Hydrocarbons is declining
Introduction
■ This represents a challenge knowing that resources
are limited and new discoveries are rare
■ The average Recovery Factor from Oil Fields after
abandonment is around 30-40% (TOTAL 2008) or
around 46%, indicating that residual amount of oil
is around 50%
■ Enhanced Recovery Methods are used to recover
the residual oil for Optimum Recovery of reserves
ENHANCED OIL
RECOVERY
Enhanced Oil Recovery

■ Production of Hydrocarbons from a reservoir is divided into 3 stages:

■ Primary
■ Secondary
■ Tertiary
Primary Recovery

■ is also called (natural depletion). This denotes the production derived by the natural
pressure difference in the reservoir and the bore hole. During production, the
pressure in the reservoir will decline. This results in lower production. To maintain
the production it is necessary to maintain the pressure. The recovery rate after
natural depletion is on average 46% on the Norwegian shelf (Kristensen, 2011).
Secondary Recovery

■ Secondary recovery aims to maintain pressure by injecting non-alien fluids or gasses

into the reservoir. The fluids and gases are typically water and natural gas.
Tertiary Recovery

■ Tertiary recovery denotes the production that

is done after secondary recovery no longer is
successful. This is done by injecting alien
fluids or gases into the reservoir. This is in
literature also referred to
Incremental/Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) and
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) (UNSW, 2011).
EOR Methods

■ Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is well known for its potential to unlock up to 80% of
the world’s otherwise unrecoverable oil reserves.
■ The EOR methods are typically divided into
1. Solvent
2. Thermal
3. Chemical
Solvent Method
■ Solvent methods denote different strategies of injecting gas into the reservoir. This
is typically CO2, nitrogen or flue gas (UNSW, 2011).
Thermal Methods
■ Thermal methods are techniques where either hot water or steam is injected to
increase the reservoir temperature. This aims to increase the oil viscosity which
makes the oil more mobile and in turns provide an increase in the production.
Chemical Methods
■ Chemical methods refer to techniques were chemicals are injected. The chemicals
can, depending on the particular chemical, both aim to increase the microscopic
and macroscopic displacement. Surfactants, polymers and alkalines are examples
of such chemicals. These may be used separately or combined in order to boost the
production.
■ The amount of oil trapped in the reservoir, after primary and secondary recovery, is
on a microscopic level controlled by the capillary pressure and thus the interfacial
tension (IFT).
■ These two parameters are correlated and proportional. By decreasing the IFT the
capillary pressure will decrease, this makes the residual oil mobile and hence
possible to produce.
SURFACTANT FLOODING
Surfactant Flooding

■ A surfactant can be defined as a surface active agent. It is also referred to as “soap”

because it aims to wash out the residual oil.
■ The surfactants seek to mobilize the oil by lowering the interfacial tension between the
water and the oil and hence lower the capillary pressure trapping the oil

Figure 1 - The molecule structure of a surfactant

SURFACTANT FLOODING

■ Is an enhanced oil recovery process in which a small amount of surfactant is added

to an aqueous fluid injected to sweep the reservoir. The presence of surfactant
reduces the interfacial tension between the oil and water phases and also alters the
wettability of the reservoir rock to improve oil recovery
■ A surfactant is characterized by its tendency to absorb at surfaces and interfaces.
‘Interface’ denotes a boundary between two immiscible phases; ‘surface’ indicates
that one phase is a gas, usually air.
■ Through flooding of the reservoir the IFT will be lowered which in turns lowers the
capillary pressure and thus mobilizes the residual oil.
■ This will increase the oil saturation and the oil bank will be able to flow.
■ Behind the oil bank the surfactant will prevent the oil from being retrapped
Effects of surfactants

■ As mentioned the main task for surfactants is to lower the interfacial tension in
order to lower the capillary pressure. This is the desired effect after flooding of the
reservoir. By lowering IFT and thus Pc the trapped residual oil will become mobile.
■ These two parameters are correlated and proportional. By decreasing the IFT the
capillary pressure will decrease, this makes the residual oil mobile and hence
possible to produce. The capillary pressure and the IFT are linked together in
Laplace’s Equation
Po denotes pressure in the oil phase, pw
denotes pressure in the water phase, σ is
the interfacial tension, θ the contact angle
between the non-wetting (oil) and wetting
(water) phase, Δρ is the difference in
density for the phases, r is the radius and H
is the height.

The Laplace Equation is developed from the

equation of static equilibrium on the
interface between oil and water in a cup
containing a capillary tube (Lien, 2008). The
capillary pressure is the difference between
the pressure of the non-wetting phase and
the wetting phase (Lien, 2008).
 illustrates two pores/capillaries with
different widths. Water is here the wetting
phase. As water is flowing through the
pore space it will reach highest in the
smaller pore due to the smaller radius.
The water will break through to production
before the largest pore is swept for all its
oil. This is called snap-off and it is oil in
this form that is called residual oil
saturation, Sor when the reservoir is water
wet(Dr.Tran, 2006).
MECHANISM
Reduction in interfacial tension
■ The main functions of surfactants are to reduce interfacial tension and wettability
alteration. Surfactant EOR mechanisms are discussed separately according to these
two functions.
■ Reduction in interfacial tension
■ Wettability alteration
Reduction in interfacial tension

■ relationship between capillary number versus residual oil saturation.

where μ is the displacing fluid, u is the displacing Darcy velocity, θ is the contact angle,
and σ is the interfacial tension (IFT) between the displacing fluid and the displaced fluid
(oil).
Surfactant injection reduces residual saturations so that each relative permeability is
increased
Reduction in interfacial tension

■ to reduce waterflooding residual oil saturation by half, the capillary number must be
increased by 1000 times from a typical number of 10−7 for waterflooding . From the
definition of capillary number with cosθ omitted for simplicity, there are three ways:
(1) increasing injection fluid velocity u, (2) increasing displacing fluid viscosity μ and
(3) reducing the IFT σ.
■ It is known that the interfacial tension between a surfactant solution and oil can be
reduced from 20 to 30 to the order of 10−3 mN/m. In other words, by adding
surfactants, the capillary number can be practically increased by more than 1000
times. Due to the low IFT, oil droplets can flow more easily through pore throats
because of reduced capillary trapping. The oil droplets move forward and merge with
the oil down the stream to form an oil bank.
Wettability alteration
■ Wettability alteration mechanism targets more on
carbonate reservoirs. Carbonates are more likely
oil-wet. As the rock becomes more water-wet,
water imbibition is enhanced and the residual oil
saturation is reduced. In natural fractured
carbonate reservoirs, surfactant injection changes
the matrix to more water-wet. Then water can
imbibe from fractures into matrix blocks to
displace oil out.
■ wettability alteration plays important roles when
IFT is high, and it is effective in the early time. IFT
plays very important roles with or without
wettability alteration and is effective during the
EOR entire process.
 Surfactant Flooding Mechanism
■ Improvement of Mobility Ratio (M)
The mobility ratio is defined as the mobility of the displacing
fluid, which is water or surfactant enhanced water for the sake
of the discussion, divided by the mobility of the displaced fluid
which is oil, per

where κri and μi are the relative permeability and phase

viscosity, respectively. It is quite intuitive by looking at the above
equation that it is better to have a low mobility ratio (less than
1), since otherwise water or the displacing fluid will pass
through oil creating fingering or channeling effects and thus
reducing the sweep displacement efficiency
Surfactant Flooding Mechanism
■ Increasing the Capillary Number (Ca)
The capillary number (Ca) is defined as the ratio of viscous to capillary forces. It is given
by

where v is the velocity, μ the displaced fluid viscosity, and σ is the surface tension.
Surfactant Flooding Mechanism
■ Surfactant flooding, also known as detergent or micro emulsion flooding, uses low
concentration of surfactants augmented water to lower the interfacial tension between
oil and water and in some cases alter the wettability of the rock to create favorable
conditions for efficient oil displacement.
■ It is the most complex and accompanied with high degree of uncertainty among other
enhanced oil recovery methods. However, if designed optimally for the specific crude
accounting for factors such as salinity, temperature, pressure and clay content, it would
demonstrate a high potential for maximum oil recovery.
■ Surfactants can be classified as anionic, cationic or non-ionic; among which anionic
surfactants is widely used in the oil industry as an EOR injectant fluid due to its lower
adsorption tendency on the reservoir rock.
■ In the field implementation scale, other chemicals including polymer and alkali are also
added to the surfactant slug in order to maximize the project design efficiency. Polymer
increases the viscosity of the displacing fluid/water and thus generate a more desirable
mobility ratio. Alkali, on the other hand, would lower the adsorption level of the
surfactant and reacts with the acidic components of the oil to produce in-situ surfactant
which as a result optimizes the injected surfactant concentration.
FLOODING DESIGN
■ Four major criteria used in selecting a surfactant for a tertiary oil-recovery process
are:
1. low oil-water interfacial tension
2. low adsorption
3. compatibility with reservoir fluids and
4. low cost
■ Low interfacial tension reduces capillary forces trapping residual oil in porous media
allowing the oil to be recovered. Attraction of surfactant to oil-water interfaces
permits reduction of interfacial tension; however, attraction to rock-water interfaces
can result in loss of surfactant to rock surfaces by adsorption.
■ Attraction of surfactant to oil-water interfaces permits reduction of interfacial
tension; however, attraction to rock-water interfaces can result in loss of surfactant
to rock surfaces by adsorption. Surfactant losses can also arise from precipitation
due to incompatibility with reservoir fluids.
■ Low adsorption and low cost are primarily economic considerations, whereas low
interfacial tension and compatibility are necessary for workability of the process
itself. Petroleum sulfonates useful in surfactant flooding have been disclosed in
several patents; however, virtually no detailed information is available in the
nonpatent technical literature.
■ Laboratory evaluation of surfactants consisted of determining their adsorption,
interfacial tension, and oil recovery properties. Adsorption measurements were
made by static equilibration of surfactant solutions with crushed rock and clays and
by flowing surfactant solutions through various types of cores.
 Screening Criteria

■ Technical screening Criteria are empirical, mainly based on field project data and
technical knowledge about surfactant flooding. Many parameters can affect the
surfactant flooding process, but the most critical are reservoir temperature, oil
composition, formation water salinity and divalent contents, and clay content. Oil
viscosity and formation permeability may be less important.
Screening Criteria
CASE STUDY
Norne Field, Norway

■ Discovered -1991
■ Location –about 200 km from the main
land between Sandnessjøen and
Brønnøysund.
■ operator of the field is Statoil ASA.
■ controlled from Harstad in Northern
Norway by Statoil with Petoro, with a share
of 54%, and Eni Norway, with a share of
6.9%, as partners (Norwegian Petroleum
Directorate, 2011).
■ The original oil in place (OOIP) and original gas in place (OGIP) was calculated to be
156.0 x 106 Sm3 and 28.90 x 109 Sm3 respectively (Lind, et al., 2001),
■ the recoverable oil and gas in place was calculated to be 93.40 x 106 Sm3 and
11.70 x 109 Sm3.
■ Recoverable oil gas is the oil the volumes possible to produce.
■ it can be seen that the recovery factor gets to 92% for the surfactant flooded
reservoir unlike the base case with no surfactant flooding which gives only 75%
recovery factor. The 92% recovery indicates extra recovery of oil that is obtained
when interfacial tension reduces between oil and water leading to more oil being
produced.
■ The 75% recovery for the base case is equally high because the model used is
homogenous and flat leading to a better sweep of the reservoir.
■ shows the effect of continuous surfactant flooding on oil production rate. From the
graph, it can be seen that for the continuous surfactant flooding, there was an
increase in production rate from the point of surfactant injection to about
150Sm3/day. However, the base case shows a steady decline in production rate for
the entire period.
CHALLENGES
Challenges
■ The theory of how the surfactants target to extract more oil is simple. The
implementation however, is not as easy.
■ High Oil Price is needed for Economical Feasibility of Surfactant Flooding
■ measurement of the effective IFT in a porous media is difficult.
■ economic feasibility of projects regarding surfactant flooding
■ When measuring the IFT in the laboratory the conditions will be ideal. The conditions in-
situ in the reservoir is far from ideal.
■ When the surfactant phase is injected into the reservoir occurrences like precipitation,
adsorption and phase trapping of the surfactant will happen.
■ All these processes lead to retention of surfactants which in turns potentially raise the
effective IFT in the reservoir from the value measured beforehand in laboratory, and thus
contribute to oil trapping
■ It has also been suggested that nearly 90% of the injected surfactants are retarded by
the formation when passing through the reservoir
ADVANTAGES
Advantages

■ Recent advances in both research and surfactant product technology have lowered
chemical concentrations within the range of 0.1-0.5% dramatically lowering the
amount or chemical required.
■ Surfactant manufacturing is now also delivering more advanced and safer EOR
products at a lower cost than ever before.
■ Effective Where Polymers and Alkali Don’t Work
CONCLUSION
■ Enhanced oil recovery techniques highly contributes to a sustainable oil production
and thus ensures meeting the long term world's energy demands.
■ Surfactant injection specifically is a promising technique that have been
implemented on large scales and demonstrated a remarkable success for the cases
under which proper and thorough evaluation/screening studies were conducted.