Abstract:BP has developed a range of innovative techniques to maximize economic oil recovery from its global miscible gas floods and the results have been reported in a series of publications over the past three decades. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of BP's experience of establishing, managing and optimizing a miscible gas flood.Prudhoe Bay (Alaska) is the world's largest miscible gas project. Conventional and unconventional methods have been applied in a variety of different settings. An extensi… Show more
“…By 2005, the previous decline in oil rate had been arrested and a secondary plateau in oil production rate was achieved (figure 8). By 2010 some 3.2×10 9 sm 3 of gas had been injected into four gas injection wells yielding 1.8×10 6 sm 3 of incremental oil overall and contributing 40% of the oil production rate in 2010 [88]. Figure 8.Daily oil production rate (average over a month) from the Magnus field from the start of production in 1983.…”
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques can significantly extend global oil reserves once oil prices are high enough to make these techniques economic. Given a broad consensus that we have entered a period of supply constraints, operators can at last plan on the assumption that the oil price is likely to remain relatively high. This, coupled with the realization that new giant fields are becoming increasingly difficult to find, is creating the conditions for extensive deployment of EOR. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the nature, status and prospects for EOR technologies. It explains why the average oil recovery factor worldwide is only between 20% and 40%, describes the factors that contribute to these low recoveries and indicates which of those factors EOR techniques can affect. The paper then summarizes the breadth of EOR processes, the history of their application and their current status. It introduces two new EOR technologies that are beginning to be deployed and which look set to enter mainstream application. Examples of existing EOR projects in the mature oil province of the North Sea are discussed. It concludes by summarizing the future opportunities for the development and deployment of EOR.
“…By 2005, the previous decline in oil rate had been arrested and a secondary plateau in oil production rate was achieved (figure 8). By 2010 some 3.2×10 9 sm 3 of gas had been injected into four gas injection wells yielding 1.8×10 6 sm 3 of incremental oil overall and contributing 40% of the oil production rate in 2010 [88]. Figure 8.Daily oil production rate (average over a month) from the Magnus field from the start of production in 1983.…”
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques can significantly extend global oil reserves once oil prices are high enough to make these techniques economic. Given a broad consensus that we have entered a period of supply constraints, operators can at last plan on the assumption that the oil price is likely to remain relatively high. This, coupled with the realization that new giant fields are becoming increasingly difficult to find, is creating the conditions for extensive deployment of EOR. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the nature, status and prospects for EOR technologies. It explains why the average oil recovery factor worldwide is only between 20% and 40%, describes the factors that contribute to these low recoveries and indicates which of those factors EOR techniques can affect. The paper then summarizes the breadth of EOR processes, the history of their application and their current status. It introduces two new EOR technologies that are beginning to be deployed and which look set to enter mainstream application. Examples of existing EOR projects in the mature oil province of the North Sea are discussed. It concludes by summarizing the future opportunities for the development and deployment of EOR.
“…The gas available for injection in these projects was 77% methane and 12% CO 2 . The condensing/vaporizing conditions in these projects reduced the oil viscosity by a factor of 10, and the combination of laboratory and simulation investigation indicates about 12% OOIP incremental recovery (Brodie et al, 2012 andMcGuire et al, 2005).…”
Section: Orion and Polaris Fields Alaskamentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Milne Point Field Alaska The project at Milne Point is an immiscible WAG, which is described by Brodie et al, 2012 as a viscosity-reducing WAG. Of the three producing horizons in Milne Point, the middle Kuparuk formation was the injection zone (Ning and McGuire, 2004).…”
Section: Daqing Oil Field Pilot Chinamentioning
confidence: 99%
“…Of the three producing horizons in Milne Point, the middle Kuparuk formation was the injection zone (Ning and McGuire, 2004). Brodie et al, 2012 report that the reservoir is severely under saturated, and that IWAG achieves a 45% reduction in oil viscosity and a 6 to 9% OOIP incremental oil recovery. Ning and McGuire, 2004 concluded that the degree of incremental recovery depends on how undersaturated the oil is during the EOR process.…”
Section: Daqing Oil Field Pilot Chinamentioning
confidence: 99%
“…West Sak/Schrader Bluff, Alaska Brodie et al, 2012 report that an IWAG project was initiated in West Sak in 2004. The authors stated that this was a cost effective approach.…”
Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is a general application used in mature oil fields to generate additional reserve growth. Several types of EOR applications are implemented in the oil industry. One such application is the injection of gas into a reservoir as a gas displacement recovery (GDR) mechanism to induce additional reserve growth. A specific type of GDR application is the immiscible water-alternatinggas (IWAG) displacement process. In this application a slug of water is put into an injection well, followed by gas, which exists as a separate phase from the water and oil. Water and gas injection slugs are alternated until the designed amount of gas has been injected, or as field production dictates. Continuous water (case water) is typically injected after the IWAG process.Herein, the state-of-art of IWAG EOR is described from an extensive literature review. First, the theories of the recovery mechanisms that cause IWAG to produce incremental oil are described. These mechanisms include viscosity reduction, 3-phase relative permeability, oil swelling, and oil film flow, all of which are a function of fluid and rock-fluid interactions. Next, salient laboratory studies are summarized, including micromodel and core floods. These studies test pore-level characteristics, displaying ranges of residual non-wetting phase saturations (hydrocarbons) down to 0.13 to 0.25 and incremental oil recovery ranging from 14% to 20% of OOIP. Some experiments isolate a specific recovery mechanism in order to determine its validity and contribution to recovery. Studies generally point to the conclusion that the gas type shows no discernable difference in recovery character.The paper concludes with a synopsis of results from small-scale field trials and field-scale projects in both heavy and light oil. Both simulation modeling and field trials are summarized. Projects have been implemented with varying types of gases, WAG ratios, and gas slug sizes, resulting in incremental reserve growth being reported in the range of 2 to 9%. The fundamental immiscible recovery mechanisms in IWAG can produce lower cost and faster response EOR projects, with moderate recovery efficiency gains.• N 2 • CO 2 • Flue gas (a combination of several gases from combustion) • Hydrocarbon gas, lean and enriched • Air SPE-179604-MS
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