Application of Freshwater and Brine Polymer Flooding in the North Burbank Unit, Osage County, Oklahoma

Moffitt, P.D.; Zornes, D.R.; Moradi‐Araghi, A.; McGovern, J.M.

doi:10.2118/20466-pa

Cited by 16 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…12), which is similar to the MMP value from the experiment and PVT calculation. (Joseph 1983, andMoffitt et al 1993). While the freshwater polymer flood project at NBU block A (included 84 producers and 36 injectors) is technically and economically successful, even with the large drop in oil prices in 1986.…”

Section: Reservoir Simulation Of Pag In Tr78 Of the North Burbank Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymer-Alternating-Gas Simulation—A Case Study

2014

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Carbon dioxide has been used commercially to recover oil from reservoirs for more than 40 years. Currently, CO 2 flooding is the second most applied enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process in the world behind steam flooding. Water alternating gas (WAG) injection has been a popular method to control mobility and improve volumetric sweep efficiency for CO 2 flooding. Average EOR is about 9.7% with a range between 6 and 20% for miscible WAG injection. Despite all the success of WAG injection, sweep efficiency during CO 2 flooding is a typical challenge to reach higher oil recovery.We applied polymer-alternating-gas (PAG), in which polymer flooding is combined with miscible CO 2 injection, to improve the volumetric sweep efficiency of the WAG process in TR78 of the North Burbank Unit. High heterogeneity and high permeability at the top layers are the two main challenges of the North Burbank Unit. Then, we compared PAG performance with WAG and continuous gas injection (CGI). Polymer concentration and injection slug patterns were optimized during the PAG process. Simulation results show that PAG would increase oil recovery about 14.3% compared with 7.3% for WAG in TR78.This study can not only be used to guide the development of the North Burbank Unit, but also to demonstrate that encouraging recovery can be obtained in high-heterogeneity reservoirs by using PAG.

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Section: Reservoir Simulation Of Pag In Tr78 Of the North Burbank Unitmentioning

confidence: 99%

Polymer-Alternating-Gas Simulation—A Case Study

2014

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“…The commercialization of surfactant/polymer pilot in tract 97 is considered economically (Joseph 1983;Moffitt et al 1993). The freshwater polymer flood project in NBU block A (including 84 producers and 36 injectors) is technically and economically successful, even with the large drop in oil prices in 1986.…”

Section: Pag Versus Polymer Flooding and Wagmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The freshwater polymer flood project in NBU block A (including 84 producers and 36 injectors) is technically and economically successful, even with the large drop in oil prices in 1986. In this project, 4.2 million lb of polyacrylamide and 4.0 million lb of 2.9 aluminum citrate crosslinking were injected, and incremental oil recovery exceeded 2.5 MMSTB of oil (Tracy and Dauben 1982;Joseph and Paul 1982;Zornes et al 1986;Moffitt et al 1993). It is worth comparing the performance of polymer flooding and gas flooding in this field.…”

Section: Pag Versus Polymer Flooding and Wagmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using Polymer Alternating Gas to Maximize CO<sub>2</sub> Flooding Performance

Schechter¹

2014

SPE Energy Resources Conference

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Carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) has been used commercially to recover oil from reservoirs by enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technologies for over 40 years. Currently, CO 2 flooding is the second most applied EOR processes in the world behind steamflooding. Water alternating gas (WAG) injection has been a popular method to control mobility and improve volumetric sweep efficiency for CO 2 flooding. The average improved recovery is about 9.7%, with a range of 6 to 20% for miscible WAG injection. Despite all the success of WAG injection, sweep efficiency during CO 2 flooding is typically a challenge to reach higher oil recovery and better apply the technology.This paper proposes a new combination method called polymer alternating gas (PAG) to improve the volumetric sweep efficiency of the WAG process. The feature of this new method is that polymers are added to water during the WAG process to improve mobility ratio. In the PAG process, polymer flooding and immiscible/miscible CO 2 injection are combined.To analyze the feasibility of PAG, models considering both miscible and polymer flooding processes are built to study the performance of PAG. In this paper, the sensitivity of polymer adsorption and concentration are studied. The feasibility of PAG in reservoirs with different permeabilities, different Dykstra-Parsons permeability variation coefficients (VDPs), and different fluids are also studied. A reservoir model from a typical section of the North Burbank Unit (NBU) is used to compare the performance between PAG, WAG, and polymer flooding. This study demonstrates that PAG can significantly improve recovery for immiscible/miscible flooding in homogeneous or heterogeneous reservoirs.

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“…A tight zone is present in the lower part of the formation, which is overlayed by higher permeability zones. To the southern part of the field the reservoir rock becomes generally more homogeneous and tighter (Zornes, Cornelius, and Long 1986, Moffitt et al 1993, Jenneman, Moffitt, and Young 1996, Trantham and Moffitt 1982.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Porosity ranges from 0.15 to 0.25, and exceeds 0.18 in most parts of the field. Net sand thickness varies from 10 to 63 ft, with an average value of 42 ft (Boneau and Clampitt 1977, Jenneman, Moffitt, and Young 1996, Moffitt et al 1993.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Investigation of Polymer Assisted WAG for Mobility Control in the Highly Heterogeneous North Burbank Unit in Oklahoma, Using Anthropogenic CO2

Tovar

Barrufet

Schechter

2015

SPE Latin American and Caribbean Petroleum Engineering Conference

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This work investigates the use of polymers during CO 2 WAG using a physical model. Coreflooding experiments were conducted to compare polymer assisted WAG, conventional WAG, continuous CO 2 flooding, and polymer flooding. The effect of miscibility in the CO 2 -oil interface was evaluated from coreflooding at two different pressures, above and below the MMP of 1563 psig The MMP was experimentally determined using a fast version of the slim tube procedure with a shorter column. The influence of reservoir heterogeneity was observed by conducting corefloodings in homogeneous and heterogeneous rocks with permeability ranging from 13 to 1300 md. The core plugs were selected using computed tomography to ensure the presence or absence of heterogeneous features.Our results show that under miscible displacement in a homogeneous rock, continuous CO 2 injection can reduce residual oil saturation (S or ) to less than 10%, even for a permeability as low as 13 md. The implementation of conventional WAG and polymer assisted WAG in this case was detrimental for the process as water saturation shielded a portion of the oil preventing CO 2 contact. The departure from the ideal miscible displacement resulted in a S or as high as 32 %. For the heterogeneous rock, at 285 psig above MMP, the WAG CO 2 was able to reduce S or to as low as 11%, whereas at 260 psig below MMP a S or of 23% was reached. As the level of heterogeneity increases, the oil recovery of polymer assisted WAG relative to conventional WAG increased suggesting that a certain degree of heterogeneity is needed for the polymer assisted WAG process to be beneficial. A throughout discussion on the recovery mechanisms and the interactive / combined role of miscibility, heterogeneity, permeability and viscosity is presented.This work adds to the understanding of the CO 2 flooding process implemented in the North Burbank Unit (NBU) and the potential to use WAG and polymer assisted WAG to improve mobility control. Sweep efficiency is the most important challenge from a reservoir engineering standpoint for CO 2 flooding, but it is particularly critical in the NBU for two reasons. The high vertical heterogeneity in the field, with a permeability variation of three orders of magnitude within 30 ft of reservoir thickness, which greatly exacerbates viscous fingering, and the use of anthropogenic CO 2 which makes the economics of the project more sensitive.

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Application of Freshwater and Brine Polymer Flooding in the North Burbank Unit, Osage County, Oklahoma

Cited by 16 publications

References 7 publications

Polymer-Alternating-Gas Simulation—A Case Study

Polymer-Alternating-Gas Simulation—A Case Study

Using Polymer Alternating Gas to Maximize CO<sub>2</sub> Flooding Performance

Experimental Investigation of Polymer Assisted WAG for Mobility Control in the Highly Heterogeneous North Burbank Unit in Oklahoma, Using Anthropogenic CO2

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