Alkaline-Polymer Flooding of the David Pool, Lloydminster Alberta

Pitts, Malcolm; Wyatt, Kon; Surkalo, H.

doi:10.2118/89386-ms

Cited by 41 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…There have been limited investigations into alkali and AS flooding in heavy oil reservoirs (23,31,41,(44)(45)(46)(47)(48)(49)(50) with varying degrees of success. Most of these works have focused specifically on oil-water IFT reduction as the mechanism for improved oil recovery (23,31,41,45,46) .…”

Section: Alkali-surfactant Flooding Of Heavy Oilmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Insights Into Non-Thermal Recovery of Heavy Oil

Mai

Bryan

Goodarzi

et al. 2009

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

107

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Many heavy oil reservoirs contain oil that has some limited mobility under reservoir conditions. In these reservoirs, a small fraction of the oil-in-place can be recovered using the internal reservoir energy through heavy oil solution gas drive (primary production). An integral part of this process is the so-called 'foamy oil mechanism', whereby oil is produced as a gas-in-oil dispersion. At the end of primary production, the bulk of the oil is still in place, while the natural energy of the reservoir has been depleted. This remaining oil is still mostly continuous and presents a valuable target for further recovery. Many of these reservoirs are relatively small or thin, or may be contacted by overlying gas or underlying water. As such, they are poor candidates for thermal oil recovery methods, so any additional oil recovery after primary production must be non-thermal. In this work, we present experimental results of foamy oil depletion at two different length scales and varying depletion rates. Tests were conducted in the absence of sand production, and the results from the depletion experiments are interpreted in terms of viscous forces. At the conclusion of primary recovery, the potential for further non-thermal exploitation of these reservoirs is explored. Results for waterflooding and chemical flooding are presented, demonstrating the viability of these techniques for heavy oil EOR. Several displacement mechanisms are identified through the secondary and tertiary processes that contribute to significant (although potentially slow) incremental recovery of heavy oil. Introduction Many countries have heavy oil reservoirs. Canada and Venezuela in particular contain some of the largest heavy oil and bitumen resources in the world. Rising energy demands, coupled with a decline in conventional oil reserves, has led to increased interest in heavy oil recovery in recent years. The size of these heavy oil deposits is considerable, and with volatile crude oil prices making it difficult to produce from some higher viscosity bitumen reservoirs, production of heavy oil could potentially be very important in years to come. Understanding the mechanisms by which heavy oil can be displaced in reservoirs is crucial to the successful recovery of this resource base. Heavy oil can be defined as a class of oils with viscosity ranging from 50 mPa.s up to around 50,000 mPa.s. This oil has limited mobility under reservoir temperature and pressure, and Darcy's Law predicts that the oil can flow slowly under high applied pressure gradients. However, it has been observed that in these reservoirs, solution gas drive leads to significantly higher rates and recoveries than what was expected by conventional understanding of gas-oil relative permeability behaviour(1). This behaviour, first reported in Canadian heavy oil, has since been observed in many other reservoirs around the world including South America, China and Albania. Investigations into the causes of this abnormal, but fortuitous, primary production response have been the focus of many publications in the past 25 years. The recovery from primary production in heavy oil reservoirs may be as high as 20%(2), but is usually lower.

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Section: Alkali-surfactant Flooding Of Heavy Oilmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Most of these works have focused specifically on oil-water IFT reduction as the mechanism for improved oil recovery (23,31,41,45,46) . The importance of emulsification has also been mentioned by several researchers as well (41,43,(47)(48)(49)(50) .…”

Section: Alkali-surfactant Flooding Of Heavy Oilmentioning

confidence: 99%

Insights Into Non-Thermal Recovery of Heavy Oil

Mai

Bryan

Goodarzi

et al. 2009

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

107

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Some of the recovery mechanisms proposed have been reduction in the oil-water interfacial tension 19,20 , the generation of water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions 5,21,22 and the generation of oil-in-water (O/W) emulsions 4,23-26 . The fact that various researchers have identified different oil recovery mechanisms points to the complexity of interpreting these chemical floods.…”

Section: Chemical Injection In Heavy Oil Systemsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Investigation into the Processes Responsible for Heavy Oil Recovery by Alkali-Surfactant Flooding

Bryan

Thuy

Kantzas

2008

SPE Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery

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This paper describes a suite of alkali-surfactant (AS) floods that were performed in systems containing viscous heavy oil (11,500 mPa⋅s). The study investigates how AS injection can be used to generate oil and water emulsions, which can in turn lead to improved sweep efficiencies and oil recovery. Data is obtained from core flooding, with in-situ saturation measurements made using low field NMR. This work is applicable to the many heavy oil reservoirs in countries like Canada and Venezuela that contain viscous oil that still has some limited mobility under reservoir conditions. In previous studies, improved oil recovery compared to waterflooding was observed. This work provides additional information that can be used to better understand how chemical injection can lead to oil recovery.The core floods in this study indicate that emulsification is most efficient when used to block pre-formed water channels and improve the sweep efficiency of the flood. Both O/W and W/O emulsions may form in the same system, even under controlled salinity conditions. The re-distribution of water from the flooded channels into emulsified droplets in the oil is at least partially responsible for the pressure increase seen in these systems. W/O emulsification is accompanied by wettability alteration, as evidenced by the NMR spectra obtained. After the chemical flood is completed, it may be possible to restore the original water wet condition of the rock, which can provide potential for future non-thermal improved oil recovery.

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“… ASP flooding in Viraj Field, India [124] and West Kiehl [125], Sho-Vel-Tum [126], Cambridge Minnelusa [127] and Tanner [128] fields in the U.S.  AP flooding in Xing Long Tai Oil Field [129] in China and David Pool in Canada [130].…”

Section: Chemical Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Oil Recovery: An Update Review

2010

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With the decline in oil discoveries during the last decades it is believed that EOR technologies will play a key role to meet the energy demand in years to come. This paper presents a comprehensive review of EOR status and opportunities to increase final recovery factors in reservoirs ranging from extra heavy oil to gas condensate. Specifically, the paper discusses EOR status and opportunities organized by reservoir lithology (sandstone and carbonates formations and turbiditic reservoirs to a lesser extent) and offshore and onshore fields. Risk and rewards of EOR methods including growing trends in recent years such as CO 2 injection, high pressure air injection (HPAI) and chemical flooding are addressed including a brief overview of CO 2 -EOR project economics.

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Alkaline-Polymer Flooding of the David Pool, Lloydminster Alberta

Cited by 41 publications

References 1 publication

Insights Into Non-Thermal Recovery of Heavy Oil

Insights Into Non-Thermal Recovery of Heavy Oil

Investigation into the Processes Responsible for Heavy Oil Recovery by Alkali-Surfactant Flooding

Enhanced Oil Recovery: An Update Review

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