Water Injection, Polymer Injection and Polymer Alternating Water Injection for Enhanced Oil Recovery: A Laboratory Study

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelo F. Zampieri ◽  
Rosangela B. Z. L. Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Mobility Ratio ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Polymer Injection ◽  
Paraffin Oil ◽  
Water Viscosity ◽  
Water Volumes ◽  
Expensive Process

Developing an efficient methodology for oil recovery is extremely important in this commodity industry, which may indeed lead to wide spread profitability. In the conventional water injection method, oil displacement occurs by mechanical behavior between fluids. Nevertheless, depending on mobility ratio, a huge quantity of injected water is necessary. Polymer injection aims to increase water viscosity and improve the water/oil mobility ratio, thus improving sweep efficiency. The alternating banks of polymer and water injection appear as an option for the suitable fields. By doing so, the bank serves as an economic alternative, as injecting polymer solution is an expensive process. The main objective of this study is to analyze and comparison of the efficiency of water injection, polymer injection and polymer alternate water injection. For this purpose, tests were carried out offset in core samples of sandstones using paraffin oil, saline solution and polymer and were obtained the recovery factor and water-oil ratio for each method. The obtained results for the continuous polymer injection and alternating polymer and water injection were promising in relation to the conventional water injection, aiming to anticipate the oil production and to improve the water management with the reduction of injected and produced water volumes.

The Use of Tracer Data To Determine Polymer-Flooding Effects in a Heterogeneous Reservoir, 8 Torton Horizon Reservoir, Matzen Field, Austria

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (04) ◽  
pp. 655-663 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torsten Clemens ◽  
Markus Lüftenegger ◽  
Ajana Laoroongroj ◽  
Rainer Kadnar ◽  
Christoph Puls
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Flow Path ◽  
Injection Well ◽  
Critical Parameters ◽  
Pilot Projects ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Full Field ◽  
Polymer Injection ◽  
Production Wells

Summary Polymer-injection pilot projects aim at reducing the uncertainty and risk of full-field polymer-flood implementation. The interpretation of polymer-pilot projects is challenging because of the complexity of the process and fluids moving out of the polymer-pilot area. The interpretation is increasingly more complicated with the heterogeneity of the reservoir. In the polymer pilot performed in the 8 Torton Horizon (TH) reservoir of the Matzen field in Austria, a polymer-injection well surrounded by a number of production wells was selected. A tracer was injected 1 week before polymer injection. The tracer showed that the flow field in the reservoir was dramatically modified with increasing amounts of polymer injected. Despite short breakthrough times of 4 to 10 weeks observed for the tracer, polymer breakthrough occurred only after more than 12 months although injection and production rates were not substantially changed. The tracer signal indicated that the reservoir is heterogeneous, with high flow velocities occurring along a number of flow paths with a limited volume that are strongly connecting the injection and production wells. By injecting polymers, the mobility of the polymer-augmented water was reduced compared with water injection, and led to flow diversion into adjacent layers. The tracer response showed that the speed of the tracer moving from injection to production wells was reduced with increasing amount of polymer injected. This response was used to assess the changes of the amount of water flowing from the injection well to production wells. After a match for the tracer curve was obtained, adsorption, residual resistance factor (RRF), and dispersivity were calculated. The results showed that, even for heterogeneous reservoirs without good conformance of the pilot, the critical parameters for polymer-injection projects can be assessed by analyzing tracer and polymer response. These parameters are required to determine whether implementation of polymer injection at field scale is economically attractive. Along the flow path that is connecting injection and production well, as shown by the tracer response, an incremental recovery of approximately 8% was achieved. The polymer retention and inaccessible pore volume (IPV) in the reservoir were in the same range as in corefloods. Incremental oil recovery caused by acceleration along the flow path was estimated at approximately 20% of the overall incremental oil production caused by polymer injection and 80% was attributed to improved sweep efficiency.

scholarly journals Chemical enhanced oil recovery and the dilemma of more and cleaner energy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rouhi Farajzadeh ◽  
Siavash Kahrobaei ◽  
Ali Akbari Eftekhari ◽  
Rifaat A. Mjeni ◽  
Diederik Boersma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Energy Demand ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Transition Period ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Energy Transition ◽  
Polymer Injection ◽  
Water Fraction ◽  
Water Cut

AbstractA method based on the concept of exergy-return on exergy-investment is developed to determine the energy efficiency and CO2 intensity of polymer and surfactant enhanced oil recovery techniques. Exergy is the useful work obtained from a system at a given thermodynamics state. The main exergy investment in oil recovery by water injection is related to the circulation of water required to produce oil. At water cuts (water fraction in the total liquid produced) greater than 90%, more than 70% of the total invested energy is spent on injection and lift pumps, resulting in large CO2 intensity for the produced oil. It is shown that injection of polymer with or without surfactant can considerably reduce CO2 intensity of the mature waterflood projects by decreasing the volume of produced water and the exergy investment associated with its circulation. In the field examples considered in this paper, a barrel of oil produced by injection of polymer has 2–5 times less CO2 intensity compared to the baseline waterflood oil. Due to large manufacturing exergy of the synthetic polymers and surfactants, in some cases, the unit exergy investment for production of oil could be larger than that of the waterflooding. It is asserted that polymer injection into reservoirs with large water cut can be a solution for two major challenges of the energy transition period: (1) meet the global energy demand via an increase in oil recovery and (2) reduce the CO2 intensity of oil production (more and cleaner energy).

scholarly journals CFD simulation of HPAM EOR solutions mechanical degradation by restrictions in turbulent flow

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-129
Author(s):  
Julia Herrera ◽  
Luis Prada ◽  
Gustavo Maya ◽  
Jose Luis Gomez ◽  
Ruben Castro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Cfd Simulation ◽  
Mechanical Degradation ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Polymer Injection ◽  
Velocity Gradients ◽  
Physical Experiments ◽  
Water Viscosity ◽  
Mechanical Elements ◽  
And Control

Polymer flooding is a widely used enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technology. The purpose of the polymer is to increase water viscosity to improve reservoir sweep efficiency. However, mechanical elements of the polymer injection facilities may impact the viscosity of the polymer negatively, decreasing it drastically. Mechanical degradation of the polymer occurs in case of flow restrictions with abrupt diameter changes in valves and control systems. Such flow restrictions may induce mechanical stresses along the polymer chain, which can result in its rupture. In this research, physical experiments and numerical simulations using CFD (Computational Fluid Dynamics) were used to propose a model for estimating the mechanical degradation for the flow of polymer solutions. This technique involves the calculation of velocity gradients, pressure drawdown, and polymer degradation of the fluid through geometry restriction. The simulations were validated through polymer injection experiments. The results show that with the greater volumetric flow and lower effective diameters, there is more mechanical degradation due to polymer shearing; nonetheless, this depends on the rheology properties inherent in each polymer in an aqueous solution. This method is suitable to estimate the mechanical degradation of the polymer solution in flooding facilities and accessories. Further, the results obtained could enhance the use of the polymer, calculating its actual mechanical degradation, minimizing it, or using it to support the development of new accessories.

Improved oil recovery by raw water injection using horizontal wells

2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Pavel Bedrikovetsky ◽  
Mohammad Afiq ab Wahab ◽  
Gladys Chang ◽  
Antonio Luiz Serra de Souza ◽  
Claudio Alves Furtado
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Filter Cake ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Horizontal Wells ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Improved Oil Recovery ◽  
The North ◽  
Reservoir Simulator

Injectivity formation damage with water-flooding using sea/produced water has been widely reported in the North Sea, the Gulf of Mexico and the Campos Basin in Brazil. The damage is due to the capture of solid/liquid particles by the rock with consequent permeability decline; it is also due to the formation of a low permeable external filter cake. Yet, moderate injectivity decline is not too damaging with long horizontal injectors where the initial injectivity is high. In this case, injection of raw or poorly treated water would save money on water treatment, which is not only cumbersome but also an expensive procedure in offshore projects. In this paper we investigate the effects of injected water quality on waterflooding using horizontal wells. It was found that induced injectivity damage results in increased sweep efficiency. The explanation of the phenomenon is as follows: injectivity rate is distributed along a horizontal well non-uniformly; water advances faster from higher rate intervals resulting in early breakthrough; the retained particles plug mostly the high permeability channels and homogenise the injectivity profile along the well. An analytical model for injectivity decline accounting for particle capture and a low permeable external filter cake formation has been implemented into the Eclipse 100 reservoir simulator. It is shown that sweep efficiency in a heterogeneous formation can increase by up to 5% after one pore volume injected, compared to clean water injection.

Unit Mobility Ratio Displacement Calculations for Pattern Floods in Homogeneous Medium

1966 ◽  
Vol 6 (03) ◽  
pp. 217-227 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubert J. Morel-Seytoux
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Numerical Solutions ◽  
Mobility Ratio ◽  
Finite Difference Approximation ◽  
Difference Approximation ◽  
Numerical Techniques ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Closed Form Solutions ◽  
Regular Patterns ◽  
Quantities Of Interest

Abstract The influence of pattern geometry on assisted oil recovery for a particular displacement mechanism is the object of investigation in this paper. The displacement is assumed to be of unit mobility ratio and piston-like. Fluids are assumed incompressible and gravity and capillary effects are neglected. With these assumptions it is possible to calculate by analytical methods the quantities of interest to the reservoir engineer for a great variety of patterns. Specifically, this paper presentsvery briefly, the methods and mathematical derivations required to obtain the results of engineering concern, andtypical results in the form of graphs or formulae that can be used readily without prior study of the methods. Results of this work provide checks for solutions obtained from programmed numerical techniques. They also reveal the effect of pattern geometry and, even though the assumptions of piston-like displacement and of unit mobility ratio are restrictive, they can nevertheless be used for rather crude but quick, cheap estimates. These estimates can be refined to account for non-unit mobility ratio and two-phase flow by correlating analytical results in the case M=1 and the numerical results for non-Piston, non-unit mobility ratio displacements. In an earlier paper1 it was also shown that from the knowledge of closed form solutions for unit mobility ratio, quantities called "scale factors" could be readily calculated, increasing considerably the flexibility of the numerical techniques. Many new closed form solutions are given in this paper. INTRODUCTION BACKGROUND Pattern geometry is a major factor in making water-flood recovery predictions. For this reason many numerical schemes have been devised to predict oil recovery in either regular patterns or arbitrary configurations. The numerical solutions, based on the method of finite difference approximation, are subject to errors often difficult to evaluate. An estimate of the error is possible by comparison with exact solutions. To provide a variety of checks on numerical solutions, a thorough study of the unit mobility ratio displacement process was undertaken. To calculate quantities of interest to the reservoir engineer (oil recovery, sweep efficiency, etc.), it is necessary to first know the pressure distribution in the pattern. Then analytical procedures are used to calculate, in order of increasing difficulty: injectivity, breakthrough areal sweep efficiency, normalized oil recovery and water-oil ratio as a function of normalized PV injected. BACKGROUND Pattern geometry is a major factor in making water-flood recovery predictions. For this reason many numerical schemes have been devised to predict oil recovery in either regular patterns or arbitrary configurations. The numerical solutions, based on the method of finite difference approximation, are subject to errors often difficult to evaluate. An estimate of the error is possible by comparison with exact solutions. To provide a variety of checks on numerical solutions, a thorough study of the unit mobility ratio displacement process was undertaken. To calculate quantities of interest to the reservoir engineer (oil recovery, sweep efficiency, etc.), it is necessary to first know the pressure distribution in the pattern. Then analytical procedures are used to calculate, in order of increasing difficulty: injectivity, breakthrough areal sweep efficiency, normalized oil recovery and water-oil ratio as a function of normalized PV injected.

Carbonated Water Injection for Recovery of Oil and Wettability Analysis

2014 ◽  
Vol 695 ◽  
pp. 499-502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamad Faizul Mat Ali ◽  
Radzuan Junin ◽  
Nor Hidayah Md Aziz ◽  
Adibah Salleh
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Promising Result ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
High Mobility ◽  
Wettability Alteration ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Gas Flooding ◽  
Carbonated Water Injection ◽  
Carbonated Water

Malaysia oilfield especially in Malay basin has currently show sign of maturity phase which involving high water-cut and also pressure declining. In recent event, Malaysia through Petroliam Nasional Berhad (PETRONAS) will be first implemented an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project at the Tapis oilfield and is scheduled to start operations in 2014. In this project, techniques utilizing water-alternating-gas (WAG) injection which is a type of gas flooding method in EOR are expected to improve oil recovery to the field. However, application of gas flooding in EOR process has a few flaws which including poor sweep efficiency due to high mobility ratio of oil and gas that promotes an early breakthrough. Therefore, a concept of carbonated water injection (CWI) in which utilizing CO2, has ability to dissolve in water prior to injection was applied. This study is carried out to assess the suitability of CWI to be implemented in improving oil recovery in simulated sandstone reservoir. A series of displacement test to investigate the range of recovery improvement at different CO2 concentrations was carried out with different recovery mode stages. Wettability alteration properties of CWI also become one of the focuses of the study. The outcome of this study has shown a promising result in recovered residual oil by alternating the wettability characteristic of porous media becomes more water-wet.

scholarly journals Enhanced Oil Recovery: Chemical Flooding

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmed Ragab ◽  
Eman M. Mansour
Keyword(s):  
Interfacial Tension ◽  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Mobility Ratio ◽  
Chemical Flooding ◽  
Sweep Efficiency ◽  
Oil Displacement ◽  
Remaining Oil ◽  
Oil Displacement Efficiency

The enhanced oil recovery phase of oil reservoirs production usually comes after the water/gas injection (secondary recovery) phase. The main objective of EOR application is to mobilize the remaining oil through enhancing the oil displacement and volumetric sweep efficiency. The oil displacement efficiency enhances by reducing the oil viscosity and/or by reducing the interfacial tension, while the volumetric sweep efficiency improves by developing a favorable mobility ratio between the displacing fluid and the remaining oil. It is important to identify remaining oil and the production mechanisms that are necessary to improve oil recovery prior to implementing an EOR phase. Chemical enhanced oil recovery is one of the major EOR methods that reduces the residual oil saturation by lowering water-oil interfacial tension (surfactant/alkaline) and increases the volumetric sweep efficiency by reducing the water-oil mobility ratio (polymer). In this chapter, the basic mechanisms of different chemical methods have been discussed including the interactions of different chemicals with the reservoir rocks and fluids. In addition, an up-to-date status of chemical flooding at the laboratory scale, pilot projects and field applications have been reported.

scholarly journals The Optimization and Analysis of Hydrocarbon Recovery under Injection of Biopolymer, Synthetic Polymer and Gels in a Heterogeneous Reservoir

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dike Fitriansyah Putra ◽  
Cenk Temizel
Keyword(s):  
Water Injection ◽  
Synthetic Polymer ◽  
Mobility Ratio ◽  
Viscosity Reduction ◽  
Deep Penetration ◽  
Shear Stresses ◽  
Displacement Efficiency ◽  
High Permeability ◽  
Polymer Injection ◽  
Narrow Channels

Water injection is a conventional method which increases the recovery percentage by providing pressure support and displacing oil in the heterogeneous porous medium. In such a displacement process, (low) mobility ratio is important for a more efficient oil displacement by the injected fluid. As such, the mobility ratio can be reduced using the fluids involving gelling agents for increasing in the volumetric sweep. While polymers degrade and break up on experiencing sudden shear stresses and high temperatures, polymer macromolecules are forced to flow into narrow channels and pores where molecular scission processes can take place. Thus, it is of utmost importance to have a strong understanding of the use of the right type and amount of viscosity as a reduction agent. For polymer injection, a comparison of xanthan polymer and synthetic polymer mechanisms was conducted. A commercial full-physics reservoir simulator was coupled with a robust optimization and uncertainty tool to run the model, where a simplified gel kinetics was assumed to form a microgel with no redox catalyst. Water injection continues over all six layers for 450 days, followed by gel system injection for 150 days in the bottom two layers. Water injection was continued to four years. The top four layers have higher horizontal permeabilities, and a high permeability streak is at the bottom of the reservoir to reduce any helpful effects of gravity. Control and uncertainty variables were set to investigate the sensitivity of this process using the coupled optimization and uncertainty tool. Results demonstrate deep penetration of gel and blocking of the high permeability bottom layers. Sensitivity studies indicate the relative merits of biopolymer, xanthan polymer in terms of viscosity effects vs synthetic PAM in terms of resistance factor vs in-situ gelation treatments and their crossflow dependence. Adsorption and retention of polymer and gel are permeability dependent. Considering the potential for application of gel solutions in the U.S. and throughout the world, this study illustrates the relative advantages of different treatments in terms of viscosity reduction in the same model in a comparative way, while outlining the significance of each control and uncertainty variable for better management of reservoirs where displacement efficiency is highly critical.

An Experimental Research on Enhanced Oil Recovery Using Local Polymers

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Abiola Oyatobo ◽  
Amalachukwu Muoghalu ◽  
Chinaza Ikeokwu ◽  
Wilson Ekpotu
Keyword(s):  
Enhanced Oil Recovery ◽  
Experimental Research ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Produced Water ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Gum Arabic ◽  
Oil And Gas Industry ◽  
Profile Control

Abstract Ineffective methods of increasing oil recovery have been one of the challenges, whose solutions are constantly sought after in the oil and gas industry as the number of under-produced reservoirs increases daily. Water injection is the most extended technology to increase oil recovery, although excessive water production can pose huge damage ranging from the loss of the well to an increase in cost and capital investment requirement of surface facilities to handle the produced water. To mitigate these challenges and encourage the utilization of local contents, locally produced polymers were used in polymer flooding as an Enhanced Oil Recovery approach to increase the viscosity of the injected fluids for better profile control and reduce cost when compared with foreign polymers as floppan. Hence this experimental research was geared towards increasing the efficiency of oil displacement in sandstone reservoirs using locally sourced polymers in Nigeria and also compared the various polymers for optimum efficiency. Starch, Ewedu, and Gum Arabic were used in flooding an already obtained core samples and comparative analysis of this shows that starch yielded the highest recovery due to higher viscosity value as compared to Ewedu with the lowest mobility ratio to Gum Arabic. Finally, the concentration of Starch or Gum Arabic should be increased for optimum recovery.

Effect of Polymer Injection on the Mobility Ratio and Oil Recovery

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pablo Morelato ◽  
Lorennzo Rodrigues ◽  
Oldrich Joel Romero
Keyword(s):  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Mobility Ratio ◽  
Polymer Injection
Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document