An Evaluation of Field Projects of Steam With Additives

Castanier, L.M.; Brigham, W.E.

doi:10.2118/17633-pa

Cited by 29 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…In the field, evidence of mobility reduction of steam using foam can be investigated by analyzing the pressure measurements, tracer testing, injectivity profiling, logging, temperature monitoring, observation wells, and production data (Castanier and Brigham 1991). An increase in the injection pressure is the first indication of the effectiveness of a steam-foam process since it is the result of a reduction in the steam mobility.…”

Section: Applications and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These additives can decrease the steam mobility in the zones of the reservoir that have already been depleted of oil and divert the steam to unswept areas. There were many attempts to improve steam injection by the use of additives in late 1970's and the 1980's, and steam-foam was one of the most promising technologies (Castanier and Brigham 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Steam-Foam Technology as an Option to Improve Steam Drive Efficiency

Bagheri

Clark

2015

All Days

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The steam-foam process is an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method which aims to improve the performance of a traditional steam drive by using a foaming surfactant. A Canadian thermal project under development in NW Alberta, which will use steam drive to recover extra heavy oil from the Bluesky Reservoir, is a good candidate for the application of steam-foam. A pilot test is planned to evaluate the benefits of the steam-foam process in this reservoir.The steam-foam process is based on the use of a surfactant which, when co-injected with steam into the formation, generates foam. A candidate surfactant for steam-foam should be able to generate stable foam at high temperature, have a good thermal stability, a low rate of adsorption on the rock, and good solubility in brine. An experimental plan was designed to screen for appropriate surfactants to use in the field. Bulk foam height tests at high temperature, thermal degradation tests and static adsorption tests with disaggregated rock were carried out to screen the best surfactant. Two candidate surfactants were chosen based on the results. A pilot test plan was also developed for a proof-of-concept test of the candidate surfactant in the field. The primary success criterion for the test is an increase in the Bottom Hole Pressure (BHP) of the injector well after the start of surfactant injection.Core-flooding tests are currently underway to confirm the performance of the candidate surfactant in the porous medium and determine the value of parameters required for the pilot design. The generation of strong foam in the formation should result in not only a BHP increase in the injector, but also improvement of the Steam to Oil Ratio (SOR) and ultimate recovery. The oil uplift response is dependent on the pattern geometry and geology of the reservoir and may not be observed immediately. However, the BHP increase will be immediately observed provided that strong foam has been generated near the wellbore, and this is the focus of the proof-of-concept test. A more extensive field test is planned for a later date to evaluate SOR improvement and recovery uplift.

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Section: Applications and Challengesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Steam-Foam Technology as an Option to Improve Steam Drive Efficiency

Bagheri

Clark

2015

All Days

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“…Castanier and Brigham (1991) summarized the field tests of cyclic steam stimulation and steam injection processes conducted with chemical additives during the late 1970s and 1980s. The authors outlined the success of some field implementations connected to high efficiencies and economic favorable conditions of addtives with steam.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recovery Improvement of Gravity Driven Steam Applications Using New Generation Chemical Additives

Bruns

Babadagli

2017

SPE Western Regional Meeting

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Reservoirs containing very heavy oil or extremely heterogeneous/fractured geology are not convenient for steamflooding and even cyclic steam injection. Then, steam can be used to heat the reservoir and accelerate the recovery by gravity drainage. Two well-known applications of this method are steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD) and thermally assisted gas oil gravity drainage. Although the latter is not commercially applied, the former is a proven technology with remarkable production in Canada and Venezuela. Due to the risks caused by the cost and solvent retention, no large scale applications of solvent injection with steam have been implemented. An alternative is to use chemicals as suggested a few decades ago to alter the interfacial forces and improve microscopic displacement. This paper presents experimental results on testing -new generation-chemicals for their capability in recovery improvement.Sandpack experiments were conducted to evaluate the incremental in oil recovery by chemical additives compared to sole steam injection. Steam and chemicals were heated and introduced to the system from separate channels at the entrance of the vertically situated sandpack (30 cm long, 5 cm in diameter). To generate a purely gravity dominated system (pressure differential of 10-25 psi) a back pressure regulator was used. The chemicals used include thermally stable surface agents, such as surfactants (AAS J1111, O352, LTS-18), Tween 20, biodiesel), ionic liquid (BMMIM BF4), high pH solution (NaBO2), solvent (heptane), and nanoparticles (SiO2). The oil selected was 20,000 cp crude.Incremental recoveries were monitored and related to the thermal stability of the chemicals. A comparative analysis was provided as to their contribution to the reduction of the cost (less steam and lower temperature) and chemicals were classified based on their recovery improvement performance and thermal stability. Through this experimental schematic, the highest increment in oil recovery was achieved by LTS-18 but also combined a high duration of the experiment with a high water consumption. This reduces the result in economical favorable conditions of the LTS-18. Biodiesel had the best performances in steamto-oil ratio (SOR) and its effects needs to be further investigated. Tertiary injection of hot water with a surfactant was inefficient. Ionic liquid increased the oil recovery in the tertiary stage after the core was flooded with a low quality steam by 20%.

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“…Usage of foam translates into better sweep efficiency and improved oil production. Reviews of field tests attest the successful utilization of foam (Hirazaki 1989) (Castanier and Brigham 1991) (Delamaide and Kalaydjian 1996).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impact of Oil on Steam Foam Formulations at 250°C

Cuenca

Lacombe

Chabert

et al. 2016

Day 1 Mon, March 21, 2016

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The most widespread thermal EOR method relies on steam injection. Steam is employed to warm up the reservoir, increase oil mobility and in turn enhance heavy oil recovery. In steam injection processes, recovery of oil is limited by steam channeling due to reservoir heterogeneities. Early breakthrough implies large consumption of steam and incomplete reservoir drainage. A low cost viable option to minimize heat loss consists in generating steam foam in situ. Foam will reduce steam mobility, increase its apparent viscosity and reduce steam channeling. Foam should form and flow in reservoir swept regions containing residual oil saturation. For a field application, where the residual oil saturation may vary from 0 to 30% depending on the recovery method applied, any effect of the oil on foam stability becomes a crucial matter. The scope of this work is to design an appropriate foaming surfactant solution in reservoir representative conditions of 250°C. We study the impact of crude oil on its foaming properties.Previous publications demonstrate that formulation viscosity as well as foamability and foam stability are key parameters to optimize steam mobility reduction in model porous media. It is also well known that measuring foam properties at 200°C in presence of heavy crude oil is an experimental challenge. Injecting heavy oil in common equipment is often problematic, due to its high viscosity and low flowability. Our methodology is based on the use of high pressure/high temperature set-ups, such as sapphire view cell to measure foam stability, capillary rheometer to measure formulation viscosity and high temperature sandpack experiments to measure gas mobility reduction in model porous media. We also present a new high pressure/high temperature screening tool based on disposable containers to evaluate foaming properties in presence of heavy crude oil.We have shown in previous work that long chain surfactants present high foam forming ability at 200°C. We build on our knowledge to demonstrate foam existence at 250°C. This study highlights the performance of new foaming formulations at this temperature. Our development effort has been concentrated on building a novel experimental setup and also providing data to evaluate the impact of heavy crude oil on foaming performances. Based on our experimental results, we demonstrate that foam stability in presence of crude oil can be improved by surfactant synergetic associations.Overall, this work offers new insights to design efficient steam foaming formulations up to 250°C, in particular in presence of heavy crude oil. This novel approach helps in developing more efficient steam foam EOR solutions and in optimizing steam injection processes.

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An Evaluation of Field Projects of Steam With Additives

Cited by 29 publications

References 19 publications

Steam-Foam Technology as an Option to Improve Steam Drive Efficiency

Steam-Foam Technology as an Option to Improve Steam Drive Efficiency

Recovery Improvement of Gravity Driven Steam Applications Using New Generation Chemical Additives

Impact of Oil on Steam Foam Formulations at 250°C

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