Challenges of Producing Middle East Oilfields During the Maturation Stage—A Paradigm Shift

Al-Mahroos, F.M.; Zubari, Hisham

doi:10.2118/120214-ms

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 16 publications

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“…Having been potentially attractive, these rocks exhibit immense variation in properties that include porosity, permeability, and flow mechanism. These rocks can be naturally fractured and preferentially oil-wet [4,5]. In addition, carbonate formations contain large amounts of calcium and magnesium ions in the form of calcite (CaCO 3 ) and dolomite.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Application of Acrylic Acid as Precipitation Inhibitor for ASP Flooding

Elraies¹

2013

J Pet Environ Biotechnol

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Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) flooding has shown incredible successes for enhancing oil recovery for both sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. However, the main constraint of ASP flooding in carbonate reservoirs is the presence of undesired minerals either within the reservoir rock or reservoir brine. These minerals could react with the added chemicals to form their insoluble salts as precipitations. In this paper, the performance of the acrylic acid was evaluated in the presence of sodium metaborate as an alkaline, alpha olefin sulfonate as a surfactant and AN-125 SH as a polymer. The effect of various acrylic acid concentrations on alkalinity, interfacial tension reduction and polymer viscosity were investigated using hard brine with a total salinity of 59,940 ppm. Fluid-fluid compatibility test indicates that acrylic acid has the potential to prevent any precipitation when hard brine is used. The acrylic acid to alkali ratio of 0.6:1 was found to be the optimum ratio for keeping the solution without precipitations for 30 days at 80 o C. It was also observed that the combination of ASP with acrylic acid has a positive effect on interfacial tension and solution viscosity. This makes the new system more flexible for offshore application in which hard brine or sea water could be used to prepare ASP slug without any negative effects.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Application of Acrylic Acid as Precipitation Inhibitor for ASP Flooding

Elraies¹

2013

J Pet Environ Biotechnol

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Unique CO2-Injection Experience in the Bati Raman Field May Lead to a Proposal of EOR/Sequestration CO2 Network in the Middle East

Sahin¹,

Kalfa²,

Çelebioğlu³

2010

All Days

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Fossil fueled power generation is the largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2), which could be captured and stored. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the most important emission reduction technologies available for large stationary CO2 sources. Depleted oil and gas fields and major CO2 sources nearby are ideal areas for large scale geological storage. Injection of CO2 into a depleted reservoir can enhance the recovery of hydrocarbons. The circumstances, in fact, dictate the CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) industry and a power generation sector eager to magnify the mutually beneficial link between CO2-EOR and new industrial sources of CO2. In 1986, the TPAO (Turkish Petroleum Corporation) started the first large scale immiscible CO2 injection project in southeastern Turkey. Around one million tons per year of naturally occurring CO2 has been injected into the Garzan carbonates in the Bati Raman Field. A substantial increase in the production rate and ultimate recovery has been experienced and more is expected. The Bati Raman immiscible CO2 injection project has been acknowledged as one of the most unique and successful enhanced oil recovery (EOR) applications in the history of heavy oil in fractured limestone reservoirs. There are nearly 50 oilfields in Turkey, and a significant proportion of them would be potentially suitable for EOR. If sufficient volumes of CO2 were economically available, many of these could produce incremental oil for an extended period. It is a fact that sedimentary basins in the Middle East are typically carbonates and this limits the selection of EOR processes significantly. Having observed CO2 injection as an excellent choice for carbonates through the Bati Raman experience, one may extend the CO2 network idea to the whole region. This will not only activate the enormous EOR potential in the mature fields of the Middle East but also the permanent storage of CO2 through a common effort. The utilization of captured CO2 for EOR will become feasible if CO2 recovery plants with a higher CO2 content give an attractive CO2 delivery cost and emission rights can be traded in the carbon market which was introduced by the Kyoto Protocol. The major challenge would be how to formulate a working and acceptable model between petroleum and power sectors and, to establish a market mechanism to ensure that this system becomes economically feasible.

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Unique CO2-Injection Experience in the Bati Raman Field May Lead to a Proposal of EOR/Sequestration CO2 Network in the Middle East

Sahin¹,

Kalfa²,

Çelebioğlu³

2011

SPE Economics &Amp; Management

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Summary Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is one of the most important emission-reduction technologies available for large stationary CO2 sources. Fossil-fueled power generation is the largest source of carbon dioxide (CO2) that could be captured and stored. Depleted oil and gas fields and major CO2 sources nearby are ideal places for large-scale geological storage. Injection of CO2 into a depleted reservoir can enhance the recovery of hydrocarbons. The circumstances, in fact, dictate that the CO2 enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) industry and power-generation sector should be eager to magnify the mutually beneficial link between CO2 EOR and new industrial sources of CO2. In 1986, the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) started the first large-scale immiscible-CO2-injection project in southeastern Turkey. Approximately 1 million tons/yr of naturally occurring CO2 has been injected into Garzan carbonates in the Bati Raman field. A substantial increase in the production rate and ultimate recovery has been experienced, and this is expected to continue. The Bati Raman immiscible-CO2-injection project has been acknowledged as one of the most unique and successful EOR applications in the history of heavy oil in fractured-limestone reservoirs. There are nearly 50 oil fields in Turkey, and a significant proportion of them would be potentially suitable for EOR. If sufficient volumes of CO2 were economically available, many of these could produce incremental oil for an extended period. It is a fact that sedimentary basins in the Middle East are typically carbonates, and this limits the selection of EOR processes significantly. Having observed CO2 injection as an excellent choice for carbonates through experience with the Bati Raman field, one may extend the CO2 network idea to the whole region. This will not only activate the enormous EOR potential in the mature fields of the Middle East, but also the permanent storage of CO2 through a common effort. The use of captured CO2 for EOR will become feasible if CO2-recovery plants with a higher CO2 content give an attractive CO2 delivery cost and emission rights can be traded in the carbon market, which was introduced by the Kyoto protocol. The major challenges would be formulating a working and acceptable model between petroleum and power sectors and to establish a market mechanism to ensure that this system becomes economically feasible.

show abstract

Challenges of Producing Middle East Oilfields During the Maturation Stage—A Paradigm Shift

Cited by 6 publications

References 16 publications

The Application of Acrylic Acid as Precipitation Inhibitor for ASP Flooding

The Application of Acrylic Acid as Precipitation Inhibitor for ASP Flooding

Unique CO2-Injection Experience in the Bati Raman Field May Lead to a Proposal of EOR/Sequestration CO2 Network in the Middle East

Unique CO2-Injection Experience in the Bati Raman Field May Lead to a Proposal of EOR/Sequestration CO2 Network in the Middle East

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