Gas Reinjection

Presentation at
Workshop on”CDM Methodology Issues related to Gas Flaring”
Amsterdam 03.12.08
By
Steinar Njå, Project Director,
Norwegian Petroleum Directorate
Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08
Content of presentation
 Gas reinjection in general
 Purpose of gas reinjection
 Gas and Reservoir properties
 Injection facilities
 The economics of gas reinjection
 The Norwegian Case
 Legal framework
 Some field cases
 Gas reinjection related to CDM
 Reinjection schemes
 Injection Monitoring
 Closing remarks

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

 Main stages in Production and Capture
Flare
Clean flue
Fuel gas
Gas
Flue gas
Separation CO2
Capture

Sale
”Utilization”
Products:
- Electricity
Well Oil - Chemicals
stream - LNG
Gas Reinjection - Others

CO2 Storage
Reservoir
CO2 Reinjection ?

12/03/09 3
Purpose of gas reinjection
 High pressure gas reinjection is used for many
producing fields:
 Provides pressure maintenance
 Improves recovery of oil
 Provides storage and swing capacity
 Different form for application:
 Non-miscible injection
 Miscible injection
 Tertier injection after water flooding
 Injection in gas/condensate fields

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Gas Properties and Reservoir Considerations
 For Improved Recovery
 Reservoir geology and configuration
 Compatability with reservoir fluid
 Miscibility
 Injectivity
 Theft Zones(High permeability layers, Hetrogeniety)
 For Storage
 Reservoir geology and configuration
 Available volume
 Injectivity
 Reservoir pressure
 Leakage
 Normally not a problem
 Strict rules for well plugging before abandonment
Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08
Injection facilities
 Standard high pressure compressors are applied driven
by gas turbines or electrical motors
 Gas have to be cleaned and conditioned before
compressed and reinjected into the reservoir
 Injection wells normally cheaper than production wells

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

The economics of gas reinjection
 Gas reinjection has to compete with other alternatives
for utilization.
 For IOR purposes there are always great uncertainties
regarding efficiency and added recovery of oil
 For storage purposes better utilization of transportation
systems and improved delivery efficency is the main
economical driver.
 Some gas will be used as fuel(2-3%) to reinject and
15-25% of gas reinjected will be left in the reservoir.
Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08
 Reservoir Management
 System for Management and Monitoring is requiered.
 Most companies have established monitoring program
for each field based on geological models, petrophysical
properties of the reservoir and reservoir simulations.
 Reservoir behaviour evaluated on regular basis by flow
measurement and well testing.
 In some instances tracers are used to understand flow
regimes in the reservoir

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

The Norwegian Case

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

The Norwegian Continental Shelf

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

 Petroleum production
300

Gass/Gas
Kondensat/Condensate
250
NGL
Olje/Oil

200
millioner Sm o.e.
million Sm o.e.
3

150

100

50

0
1971 1980 1989 1998 2007 2012
Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08
 Gas Balance - Norwegian Continental Shelf

210

180

150
Billion Sm3

120 Fuel&Flare
Gas injection
Resourcesr
Reserves
90
Historic export

60

30

0
1975

1979

1981

1985

1987

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2003

2005

2009

2011
1977

1983

1989

2001

2007
Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08
Prudent Extraction
Petroleum Act: § 4-1
“Production of petroleum shall take place in such manner that as
much as possible of the petroleum in place in each individual
petroleum deposit, or in several deposits in combination, will be
produced.

The production shall take place in accordance with prudent

technical and sound economic principles and in such a manner
that waste of petroleum or reservoir energy is avoided.

The licensee shall carry out continuous evaluation of production

strategy and technical solutions and shall take the necessary
measures in order to achieve this.”

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Gas flaring and venting regulations
Petroleum Act: § 4-4
“Flaring in excess of the quantities needed for normal operational
safety shall not be allowed unless approved by the Ministry”:
 Associated gas utilisation required to get authority approval of Plan for
Development and Operation
 Annual gas flaring permits
 Avoid waste of petroleum and reservoir energy
 Cold venting is not in accordance with the principle of environmentally
prudent petroleum production

CO2-tax charged on all fuel and flare consumed and vented gas
(~USD 0.1 per Sm3 gas)
Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08
Reservoir Management
Production reg. - Section 27
“The licensee shall continually monitor the deposit during
production, including pressure and flow conditions, produced or
injected volumes per well, zone and reservoir, the composition of
components of petroleum etc.
The total monthly production and injection volumes of the field
shall be apportioned to each individual well on a monthly basis
according to recognized norm.”

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Gas (and WAG) injection on NSC – a
success !
EOR effect to date estimated
to be 180-220 million Sm3
extra oil and condensate

1984: gas into Ekofisk and Statfjord

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Gas injection cases
 Togi  Grane

Troll

Oseberg

 Statfjord LB WAG
Producer LS WAG US WI/GI
UB WAG
Gas injector B EF C block
Water injector
WAG-injector

Brent
Tarbert/Ness
Etive/Rannoch

Cook

Statfjord
Nansen/Eiriksson

Raude
WAG injection in Brent and Lower Statfjord
Updip water injection and gas injection in Upper Statfjord
High drilling and well activity level

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Area consideration (Tampen)
Fields evaluated for
external injection:
 Snorre
 Sygna
 Statfjord Nord
 Vigdis

Possible source for gas:

 Gullfaks

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

CO2-injection
 Associated CO2- removed from produced gas and
injected into storage reservoar
 Snøhvit
 Sleipner
 CO2 from gas power plant
 Test Centre Mongstad
 NPD is currently working on a project to identify the
best storage reservoar for a planned full-scale gas
power plant in Norway
 CO2 injection and storage at Sleipner

Sleipner A

0
Sleipner T

500m

C Injection
O 2 well
1000m
CO 2
Utsira Formation

1500m

Production and Injection wells

2000m

0 500m 1000m 1500m

2500m
Heimdal Formation

12/03/09 20
Gas reinjection related to CDM

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Reinjection schemes
 Reinjection for IOR  Reinjection for storage

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Reinjection will reduce CO2 emission
 Reinjection for improved oil recovery(IOR)
 Major reduction in CO2 emission until injected gas is reproduced
and utilized
 Some emission due to power generation for injection compressors
 Reinjection for storage
 Reduction in CO2 emission for as long as the gas is being stored
assuming no leakage
 Necessary precautions to avoid leakage has to be made as well as
establishment of system for leakage monitoring.

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Injection Monitoring
 Program for Reservoir Management
 Petroleum producing countries have rules and regulations for proper
depletion and requirments for reservoir management
 In general most companies will have program established for
reservoir monitoring
 Behaviour of gas injected can be traced using well testing and
reservoir simulations
 Gas resirculation will be discovered through GOR measurement
 Possible to establish monitoring program that controls reproduction
of injected gas.

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Additionality
 IOR from gas injection has in the long run proved more
economical than expected
 Yet, in a project perspective the IOR-effect may be too risky
for investment purposes
 CDM may be a good solution for projects to reduce flaring on
fields in production.
 Flaring restriction should however be handled at planning
stage as a requirement to the company developing the field.

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

Closing remarks
 Gas reinjection is a well known method for storing of
gas instead of flaring
 Gas reinjection will in most cases improve oil
recovery if applied in a right way
 Calculation and accounting of gas injected and stored
should be possible through proper reservoir
monitoring
 Considering the huge amount of gas currently being
flared, gas reinjection is a fast and valuable alternative
to avoid flaring and thereby reduce CO2 emission
Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08
Ekofisk – Future CO2 Storage?
The World

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08

The difference between natural gas(CH4+)
and CO2
 CH4+  CO2
 Rich in energy  Low in energy
 Easy to produce  Difficult to extract
 Easy to store  Easy to store
 High value on storage  Low value on storage

Carbon Limit, Amsterdam, 03.12.08