Viscosity Modelling of Pyrenees Crude Oil Emulsions

Tjoeng, A. Y.; Loro, Richard

doi:10.2118/182326-ms

Cited by 6 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 6 publications

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“…The authors considered as the main parameters that govern the emulsion inversion point the surfactant physical and chemical properties, emulsion droplet size, and standard chemical potentials of the liquid phases. Recently, Tjoeng and Loro presented an empirical modeling of emulsion viscosity as a function of the water cut. Emulsion viscosity data, measured in the laboratory, were input in a multiphase flow simulator and were compared to field data (flow rate, pressure drop, and temperature).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscosity of Water-in-Oil Emulsions from Different American Petroleum Institute Gravity Brazilian Crude Oils

et al. 2018

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Water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions are very common in oil field operations and are formed as a result of energy input from turbulence caused by the flow in the production pipelines, pumps, and valves. Understanding emulsion rheological behavior is crucial to deal with flow assurance issues. This paper presents and discusses a series of rheological experiments carried out with synthetic emulsions formulated with 126 Brazilian crude oils with American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity ranging from 13° to 35°. This rheological study includes viscosity dependence upon the shear rate, temperature, and water volume fraction. The results show that crude oils with similar API gravity and viscosity can generate emulsions with very different viscosities (8–50 mPa s at 50 °C around 25° API gravity, for example) and different maximum water content limits. Besides, W/O emulsions that are prepared with either light (API gravity of >35°) or heavy (API gravity of <13°) crude oils are the emulsions observed to be the more difficult to stabilize, particularly the high-water-cut emulsions. Also, a large amount of data show that intermediate API gravity crude oils can incorporate up to 70% water volume fraction and show the highest relative viscosity. As a general trend, W/O emulsions show a typical Newtonian behavior at temperatures above the wax appearance temperature and at low water cuts. The rheological study shows that the temperature, shear rate, water volume fraction, and API gravity have important impacts on the viscosity of W/O emulsions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viscosity of Water-in-Oil Emulsions from Different American Petroleum Institute Gravity Brazilian Crude Oils

et al. 2018

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Application of Subsea Demulsifier Chemicals to Reduce Heavy Oil Emulsion Viscosity and Enhance Production in the Pyrenees Development

2016

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The Pyrenees development is located offshore Western Australia, and has been producing since 2010 under the operatorship of BHP Billiton Petroleum. Six heavily biodegraded, low GOR oil fields are developed by 19 horizontal production wells with reservoir sections up to 3000m long. Each field has between 1 and 6 gas lifted production wells connected by separate production and test flowlines to a Floating Storage Production and Offtake (FPSO) vessel. As field water cuts progressed above 10%, an increasing deviation between predicted and actual flowline pressure drop was observed and indicated the formation of emulsions in the wells production tubing and flowlines. The additional flowing pressure loss and consequent reduction in production rates formed the basis for a debottlenecking project to treat subsea emulsions. After identification of a suitable demulsifier chemical through laboratory testing, chemical treatment was initially undertaken via injection at the subsea manifolds. Initial demulsifier field trials yielded a 4% increase in field oil production. In an attempt to realise further pressure drop reduction, the opportunity for downhole injection at each well was investigated. As downhole chemical injection had been initially designed for scale inhibitor, flow assurance studies were performed to ensure repurposing the downhole lines would not result in an elevated calcite scaling risk in subsea equipment. Field implementation of downhole chemical injection across the available wells resulted in an additional 18% field oil production uplift, with individual wells achieving up to 50% increase in drawdown and 58% increase in liquid production. Additional benefits attributed to downhole demulsifier injection include improved gas lift efficiency and stabilised flow regimes and pressures observed at the downhole gauges and topsides risers. This paper provides a unique case study in opportunity identification and multifaceted problem solving to significantly and safely debottleneck production. An innovative solution was found by relocating the injection location and repurposing existing topsides and subsea equipment with very low additional capital investment. The lessons and processes used in this project may be carried across to other existing fields and facilities to assist identifying and resolving related flow assurance bottlenecks.

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Use of Nickel Nanoparticles for Promoting Aquathermolysis Reaction During Cyclic Steam Stimulation

Babadagli

2017

SPE Journal

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Summary Late cycles of cyclic steam stimulation (CSS) are characterized by a decreasing heavy-oil recovery and an increasing water cut. Nickel nanoparticles can be used to promote aquathermolysis reactions between water and heavy oil in steam-injection processes, thereby increasing the recovery factor (RF). In this paper, detailed investigations were performed to determine the optimal operational parameters and answers to the following questions: What is the optimal concentration of nickel nanoparticles for promoting aquathermolysis under high steam temperature? Can we improve oil recovery at lower steam temperatures with the presence of nickel nanoparticles? What effect does the penetration depth of nickel nanoparticles have on the final oil recovery? CSS experiments were conducted between temperatures of 150 and 220°C. Steam generated under these temperatures was injected into sandpacks saturated with Mexican heavy oil. Powder-form nickel nanoparticle was introduced into this process to boost the oil production. In an attempt to obtain the optimal concentration, different concentrations were tested. Next, oil sands without any nanoparticle additives were first added into the cylinder. Then, only one-third of the sandpack was mixed with nickel nanoparticles near the injection port. Experiments were executed to study the effects of temperature, nickel concentrations, and nanoparticle-penetration depth on the ultimate oil recovery and produced oil/water ratios after each cycle. Produced-oil quality and emulsion formation were evaluated with gas-chromatography (GC) analysis, viscosity measurements, saturates/asphaltenes/resins/aromatics (SARA) tests, and microscopic analysis of the effluents. Experimental results show that the best concentration of nickel nanoparticles, which gives the highest ultimate oil RF, is 0.20 wt% of initial oil in place (IOIP) under 220°C, whereas the nickel concentration of 0.05 wt% provides the highest RFs at the early stages. A lower temperature of 150°C provides a much-lower RF than 220°C, which is mainly because of a lower level of aquathermolysis reactions at 150°C. By analyzing the compositions of produced oil and gas samples with GC and SARA tests, we confirm that the major reaction mechanism during the aquathermolysis reaction is the breakage of the carbon/sulfur (C/S) bond; the nickel nanoparticles can act as catalyst for the aquathermolysis reaction; and the catalytic effect becomes less remarkable from cycle to cycle. One run of the experiment to test the effect of particle-penetration depth revealed that the nickel nanoparticles distributed near the injection port greatly contributed to the ultimate RF.

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Viscosity Modelling of Pyrenees Crude Oil Emulsions

Cited by 6 publications

References 6 publications

Viscosity of Water-in-Oil Emulsions from Different American Petroleum Institute Gravity Brazilian Crude Oils

Viscosity of Water-in-Oil Emulsions from Different American Petroleum Institute Gravity Brazilian Crude Oils

Application of Subsea Demulsifier Chemicals to Reduce Heavy Oil Emulsion Viscosity and Enhance Production in the Pyrenees Development

Use of Nickel Nanoparticles for Promoting Aquathermolysis Reaction During Cyclic Steam Stimulation

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