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Collaborating Authors
Results
Transforming Challenges into Opportunities: First High Salinity Polymer Injection Deployment in a Sour Sandstone Heavy Oil Reservoir
Al-Murayri, Mohammed Taha (Kuwait Oil Company) | Alrukaibi, Deema (Kuwait Oil Company) | Kamal, Dawood Sulaiman (Kuwait Oil Company) | Al-Rabah, Abdullah Abdul-Karim (Kuwait Oil Company) | Hassan, Abrahim Abdelgadir (Kuwait Oil Company) | Qureshi, Faisal (Kuwait Oil Company) | Delshad, Mojdeh (Ultimate EOR Services) | Driver, Jonathan (Ultimate EOR Services) | Li, Zhitao (Ultimate EOR Services) | Badham, Scott (Chemical Tracers Inc.) | Bouma, Chris (Chemical Tracers Inc.) | Zijlstra, Ellen (Shell)
Abstract This paper describes the design and implementation of a one-spot enhanced oil recovery (EOR) pilot using high-salinity water (∼166,000 ppm TDS) in a sour, sandstone, heavy-oil reservoir (∼5 mol% hydrogen sulfide) based on an extensive laboratory study involving different polymers and operating conditions. In view of the results of this one-spot EOR pilot, a multi-well, high-salinity polymer-injection pilot is expected to start in 2020 targeting the Umm Niqqa Lower Fars (UNLF) reservoir in Kuwait. Polymer flooding is normally carried out using low- to moderate-salinity water to maintain favorable polymer solution viscosities in pursuit of maximum oil recovery. Nevertheless, low- to moderate-salinity water sources such as seawater tend to be associated with a variety of logistical, operational, and commercial challenges. For this study, laboratory experiments were conducted in conjunction with reservoir simulation to confirm the technical viability of polymer flooding using high-salinity water. Thereafter, a one-spot EOR pilot was executed in the field using a well near the location of the planned multi-well pilot to confirm the performance of the selected polymer vis-à-vis injectivity and oil desaturation. The one-spot EOR pilot described in this paper was successfully executed by performing two Single-Well Chemical Tracer (SWCT) tests. For the first stage of the pilot, 200 bbl of produced water (up to 166,000 ppm TDS) were injected into the test well in an attempt to displace mobile oil out of the investigated pore space. Following this produced water injection, an SWCT test (Test #1) was carried out and measured the remaining oil saturation to be 0.41 ± 0.03. This saturation measurement represents the fraction of oil remaining in the pore space of a cylindrical portion of the Lower Fars reservoir, measured from the wellbore out to a radius of 3.02 feet, after produced water injection. After the completion of Test #1 and subsequent recovery of the injected produced water, the same zone was treated with a 200-bbl injection of polymer solution. Following this 200-bbl polymer injection, a second SWCT test (Test #2) was performed and measured the remaining oil saturation to be 0.19 ± 0.03 out to a radius of 3.38 feet. These results indicate that polymer injection may offer considerable improvement to oil recovery over conventional waterflooding alone. Performing polymer flooding in a sour, heavy-oil reservoir using high-salinity water is a challenging and unprecedented undertaking worldwide. In addition to the improved incremental oil recovery demonstrated by this pilot, enabling the use high-salinity produced water for polymer flooding is expected to result in significant benefits for cost-efficiency and operational ease by reducing or eliminating problems commonly associated with the sourcing, treatment, and handling of less saline water in the field.
- Asia > Middle East > Kuwait (0.35)
- North America > United States > Texas (0.28)
- North America > United States > Oklahoma (0.28)
- Geology > Petroleum Play Type > Unconventional Play > Heavy Oil Play (1.00)
- Geology > Rock Type > Sedimentary Rock > Clastic Rock > Sandstone (0.71)
- Asia > China > Heilongjiang > Songliao Basin > Daqing Field > Yian Formation (0.99)
- Asia > China > Heilongjiang > Songliao Basin > Daqing Field > Mingshui Formation (0.99)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Improved and Enhanced Recovery > Waterflooding (1.00)
- Reservoir Description and Dynamics > Improved and Enhanced Recovery > Chemical flooding methods (1.00)
- Health, Safety, Environment & Sustainability > Environment > Water use, produced water discharge and disposal (1.00)
Conditioning Polymer Solutions for Injection into Tight Reservoir Rocks
Driver, Jonathan W. (Ultimate EOR Services and University of Texas) | Britton, Chris (Ultimate EOR Services) | Hernandez, Richard (Ultimate EOR Services) | Glushko, Danylo (Ultimate EOR Services) | Pope, Gary A. (University of Texas) | Delshad, Mojdeh (Ultimate EOR Services)
Abstract Water soluble polymers have been used for decades as mobility control agents for tertiary recovery processes. Viscosity is conferred by the large hydrated size of the individual high molecular weight polymer molecules; their single-molecule hydrated size is so large that it can rival the diameters of the pore throats conducting the fluid, and it is widely understood that there are permeability limits below which solutions of such polymers cannot transport well. Delineating exactly where these limits are remains challenging, and operators are left to use whatever anecdotal evidence is available to decide whether to inject polymer, and, if so, what type and molecular weight to use. A rule of thumb is that when the permeability of a rock falls below 100 millidarcys, transport can be problematic. We have developed processing techniques for laboratory tests to condition polymer solutions for injection into reservoir carbonate cores with permeabilities below 10 millidarcys and median pore radii below one micron. Shearing and tight filtration were used to reduce the maximum size of polymers in solution while retaining as much viscosity as possible. Subsequent filtration was used to quantitatively assess the plugging behavior of the product solution across a range of pore sizes smaller than those which conduct in the rock sample. Coreflood injectivity tests revealed the onset of face plugging as a function of average polymer size. Co-solvent was shown to dramatically improve the transport of sulfonated polyacrylamides when face plugging did not occur, and those improvements were mirrored in benchtop filtration data. This improvement came despite equal-or-better viscosity in the polymer solution, demonstrating that the co-solvent did not reduce the polymer's hydrated size and therefore most likely weakens inter-molecular associations in solution. In sum, the data indicate that permeability loss occurred by two mechanisms: simple mechanical plugging and progressive adsorption, likely mediated by inter-molecular entanglements. These two permeability reduction mechanisms should be rectified by different means.
- Energy > Oil & Gas > Upstream (1.00)
- Materials > Chemicals > Commodity Chemicals > Petrochemicals (0.70)