Heavy oil polymer flooding from laboratory core floods to pilot tests and field applications: Half-century studies

Saboorian‐Jooybari, Hadi; Dejam, Morteza; Chen, Zhangxin

doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2016.01.023

Cited by 247 publications

(110 citation statements)

References 89 publications

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“…One of their fields of application is enhanced oil recovery (EOR) from petroleum reservoirs [1][2][3][4]. With sizes below 100 nm and high specific surface area, nanoparticles (NPs) are suitable for subsurface porous media applications since they can pass through the pore throats of porous media without blocking them and enhance oil recovery at relatively low volume concentrations [5,6] via wettability alteration [7][8][9].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Silica Nanoparticles on Fluid/Rock Interactions during Low Salinity Water Flooding of Chalk Reservoirs

2018

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Abstract:The main objective of this work is to address the adsorption of Silica nanoparticles (NPs) dispersed in different brines on chalk surfaces and their effect on fluid/rock interaction. Isothermal static and dynamic adsorption on chalk are addressed here. Isothermal static adsorption showed increased adsorption of NPs at higher salinity. The tests were performed to cover wide range of injection scenarios with synthetic seawater (SSW) and low salinity water (LSW). The selected LSW composition here is based on 1:10 diluted SSW, which has shown to have superior performance compared to other ion compositions. The dynamic adsorption tests of NPs showed reduction of calcite dissolution of about 30% compared to LSW alone. That is, silica nanofluid hinders calcite dissolution i.e., has less effect on chalk matrix integrity which is a major concern in chalk reservoir, if low salinity is employed for enhanced oil recovery. Both scanning electron microscope images and pressure drop across the core during nanofluid injection indicated no throat blockage. Based on ion tracking and the monitored pH, the mechanism(s) for NP adsorption/desorption are suggested. The results from this study suggests a synergy wherein adding relatively small amount of silica NPs can improve the performance of low salinity floods.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effect of Silica Nanoparticles on Fluid/Rock Interactions during Low Salinity Water Flooding of Chalk Reservoirs

2018

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“…They also found that the polymer was the most dominant element in chemical flooding, and the polymer concentration was the crucial factor in enhanced heavy oil recovery. Even though core-flood tests are always carried out in laboratories before executing any pilot tests in the field, Yooybari et al found that prediction of the oil recovery using core-flood investigations was unreliable compared to the use of field measurements; they stressed that the most important part of a successful polymer flooding process must be derived on the basis of the screening procedures from the viewpoints of either technical or economic feasibility [10].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chemical Flooding in Heavy-Oil Reservoirs: From Technical Investigation to Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology

Van

Chon

2016

Energies

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Heavy-oil resources represent a large percentage of global oil and gas reserves, however, owing to the high viscosity, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques are critical issues for extracting this type of crude oil from the reservoir. According to the survey data in Oil & Gas Journal, thermal methods are the most widely utilized in EOR projects in heavy oil fields in the US and Canada, and there are not many successful chemical flooding projects for heavy oil reported elsewhere in the world. However, thermal methods such as steam injection might be restricted in cases of thin formations, overlying permafrost, or reservoir depths over 4500 ft, for which chemical flooding becomes a better option for recovering crude oil. Moreover, owing to the considerable fluctuations in the oil price, chemical injection plans should be employed consistently in terms of either technical or economic viewpoints. The numerical studies in this work aim to clarify the predominant chemical injection schemes among the various combinations of chemical agents involving alkali (A), surfactant (S) and polymer (P) for specific heavy-oil reservoir conditions. The feasibilities of all potential injection sequences are evaluated in the pre-evaluation stage in order to select the most efficient injection scheme according to the variation in the oil price which is based on practical market values. Finally, optimization procedures in the post-evaluation stage are carried out for the most economic injection plan by an effective mathematic tool with the purpose of gaining highest Net Present Value (NPV) of the project. In technical terms, the numerical studies confirm the predominant performances of sequences in which alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) solution is injected after the first preflushing water whereby the recovery factor can be higher than 47%. In particular, the oil production performances are improved by injecting a buffering viscous fluid right after the first chemical slug rather than using a water slug in between. The results of the pre-evaluation show that two sequences of the ASP group have the highest NPV corresponding to the dissimilar applied oil prices. In the post-evaluation, the successful use of response surface methodology (RSM) in the estimation and optimization procedures with coefficients of determination R 2 greater than 0.97 shows that the project can possibly gain 4.47 $MM at a mean oil price of 46.5 $/bbl with the field scale of a quarter five-spot pattern. Further, with the novel assumption of normal distribution for the oil price variation, the chemical flooding sequence of concurrent alkali-surfactant-polymer injection with a buffering polymer solution is evaluated as the most feasible scheme owing to the achievement of the highest NPV at the highly possible oil price of 40-55 $/bbl compared to the other scheme.

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“…If the anisotropy of temperature conduction in oil shale strata is neglected, the conduction range of temperature will be wrongly predicted, thus affecting the effective exploitation of the formation. The anisotropy of the conduction of the temperature also affects other thermodynamic engineering, such as the thermal recovery of heavy oil [10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Anisotropy in Thermal Recovery of Oil Shale—Part 1: Thermal Conductivity, Wave Velocity and Crack Propagation

et al. 2018

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Abstract:In this paper, the evolution of thermal conductivity, wave velocity and microscopic crack propagation both parallel and perpendicular to the bedding plane in anisotropic rock oil shale were studied at temperatures ranging from room temperature to 600 • C. The results show that the thermal conductivity of the perpendicular to bedding direction (K PER ) (PER: perpendicular to beeding direction), wave velocity of perpendicular to bedding diretion (V PER ), thermal conduction coefficient of parallel to beeding direction (K PAR ) and wave velocity of parallel to beeding direction (V PAR ) (PAR: parallel to bedding direction) decreased with the increase in temperature, but the rates are different. K PER and V PER linearly decreased with increasing temperature from room temperature to 350 • C, with an obvious decrease at 400 • C corresponding to a large number of cracks generated along the bedding direction. K PER , V PER , K PAR and V PAR generally maintained fixed values from 500 • C to 600 • C. 400 • C has been identified as the threshold temperature for anisotropic evolution of oil shale thermal physics. In addition, the relationship between the thermal conductivity and wave velocity based on the anisotropy of oil shale was fitted using linear regression. The research in this paper can provide reference for the efficient thermal recovery of oil shale, thermal recovery of heavy oil reservoirs and the thermodynamic engineering in other sedimentary rocks.

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Heavy oil polymer flooding from laboratory core floods to pilot tests and field applications: Half-century studies

Cited by 247 publications

References 89 publications

Effect of Silica Nanoparticles on Fluid/Rock Interactions during Low Salinity Water Flooding of Chalk Reservoirs

Effect of Silica Nanoparticles on Fluid/Rock Interactions during Low Salinity Water Flooding of Chalk Reservoirs

Chemical Flooding in Heavy-Oil Reservoirs: From Technical Investigation to Optimization Using Response Surface Methodology

Anisotropy in Thermal Recovery of Oil Shale—Part 1: Thermal Conductivity, Wave Velocity and Crack Propagation

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