Pre- Treatment The kinematic viscosity results of the post-treatment crude oil
Before the treatment, FBUs were conducted to establish a samples are shown in Figure 2. Significant reduction in
baseline for Pr, Pwf and skin. It is used as a control measures viscosity, particularly in B-4 was observed in 1st post-
to check the effect of microbe after treatment. treatment sample. The reduced viscosity is believed to be the
result of in-situ microbial activities to generate bio-solvents
Post-treatment Performance Monitoring and Analysis and gases that are able to react and mix with the crude oil to
After 7 days of shut-in period the individual well production reduce its viscosity. Here the bio-enzymes and metabolites
performances were closely monitored for 6 months to evaluate produced by the microbes are able to breakdown the
the effectiveness of the treatment. In doing so, the following hydrocarbon molecules and this has further reduced the oil
monitoring parameters were established and measured: - viscosity. The viscosity appeared to fall back to its original
pre-treatment level after 24 weeks of treatment. This
Production well tests (gross rate, oil rate, watercut, observation suggested that the microbial activities had
FGOR, etc.) probably slowed-down and deteriorated after a certain period
Tubing and casing head pressures of time and thereafter no longer effective in producing the
Sand production beneficial by-products.
Pressure gradient surveys Results of whole oil GC analysis indicated that there is a
relative increase in the lower molecular weight compounds,
In order to further understand and validate the individual well particularly for samples B-4 and B-5 as depicted in Figure 3
production response after treatment, a series of laboratory tests and Figure 4 respectively. Similar results were also observed
were conducted on post-treatment wellhead crude samples in the crude oil samples in pilot project indicating the
from each well. The laboratory results were then compared to breakdown of high molecular weight components by the
those of pre-treatment samples to identify the effects and microbes. Nevertheless only slight changes took place in the
changes on crude oil characteristics upon treatment. Those crude oil compositional distribution as observed in B-6 , B-7
laboratory analyses conducted were: - and B-8 (results not shown).
Geochemical analysis (2) Rhelogical Analysis
Rhelogical analysis Rhelogical study was conducted on crude oil samples to
Emulsion separation test investigate the flow behavior of the crude oil before and after
microbial treatment. Prior to the test, the wellhead fluid
Treatment Results samples were treated with demulsifier to separate the crude oil
and the water portion. The crude oil portion was then
Wellhead Samples Analysis Results analyzed to determine the viscosity profile as a function
In this project, 3 sets of wellhead crude oil samples from each of temperature.
of the treated wells were collected for laboratory analysis. The
pre-treatment samples were collected 6 weeks before injection In general, the rhelogical analysis indicated that the microbes
whereas the post-treatment samples were taken after 2 weeks had improved the fluid quality and/or flow behavior of the
(1st post-treatment) and 24 weeks (2nd post-treatment) after crude oils. However the magnitude of reduction varies for
treatment respectively. each well. As illustrated in Figure 5, 1st post-treatment sample
of the well B-4 experienced significant reduction in dynamic
viscosity after treatment as compared to pre-treatment sample.
SPE 84867 3
The reduction fell in the range of 4.9 cP at 48°C (reservoir Well B-6
temperature) and 17.7 cP when the temperature was gradually The water trend was observed to increase from about 25% to
reduced to 25°C (room temperature). Viscosity changes can 55% after treatment as shown in Figure 8. However, the gross
also can be observed for the wells B-5, B-7 and B-8 with liquid production, apart from the initial spike after the well
higher reduction observed at room temperature than at resumed production, responded positively. The recorded
elevated temperature. However, there is no viscosity change average net oil gain was 36 bpd, representing about 7% of the
observed for the well B-6 (results not shown). total gain on the project.
results of laboratory quality control analyses showed that in Flowability of fluid is very much related to its viscosity. A
terms of the microbe quality used, they have been consistent. plot of oil gain as a function of the observed decrease in
In fact, quality control samples taken during the treatment of kinematic viscosity is shown in Figure 12. As with the skin
the wells B-7 and B-8 (poor responding wells) scored damage, the decrease in kinematic viscosity correlates strongly
approximately the same as samples taken for the treatment of with the oil gain for the three wells that responded with
the wells B-4 and B-5 (good responding wells). positive oil gains. These wells appeared to be good candidate
wells and they responded favorably to treatment.
Metabolic activity of the microbes in the treated formation are
known to cause several changes in fluid properties such as Based on the above observations, the analyses that have been
decreased emulsion stability, decreased oil viscosity and conducted thus far indicated that good responding wells
increased API gravity. These observations were based on the correlate closely with pre-treatment skin values and observed
wellhead samples collected and analyzed before and after improvements in crude oil quality. Quick review of the sand
treatment. Essentially, the results in Table 2 show that production history of the well B-7 showed that the well had
microbial activity has occurred and caused changes in the fluid observed to produce sand in the past especially after well
properties in all the wells. Although the level of fluid treatment exercises. The transient sand production was again
properties change varies for all the samples, the data indicated observed instantaneously but temporary in this project when
that the microbes have to a certain degree altered the crude oil the well resumed production after treatment. Therefore it is
properties in all the wells. believed that the fine or sand particle is the cause that
responsible for the high skin developed at the near-wellbore
Primary mechanisms by which the microbial activity area. And it is well known that such inorganic induced damage
stimulates oil production include6: - is impossible to be removed by microbial treatment. The
reasons for the poor response of the well B-8 to microbial
Remove or reduce skin damage in the near-wellbore treatment are not entirely clear.
area. This can include near-wellbore formation
damage caused by paraffin or asphaltene deposition, Lastly, the production response of individual well after
emulsion blocks, or wetttability (relative treatment was reviewed. In the pilot project reported earlier,
permeability) problems. the 3 treated wells responded with an average oil production
rate increase of 47% after 5 months port-treatment monitoring
Improve flow properties (mobility) of the oil. This period. Although the average percentage increase from the 5
improvement can include reducing oil viscosity and treated wells in this project over the same monitoring period
lowering capillary forces. Oil in the formation also was less, only 18%, more incremental oil was actually
may form an emulsion during the process of its produced. Collectively the treated 5 wells produced an average
retrieval from the production zone where the agitation of 111 bopd per well incremental oil, compared to 90 bopd per
and shearing forces are profound. Emulsion has well incremental oil in the pilot project.
significantly higher viscosity than the oil. Reducing
the stability of such emulsion can in effect reduce Production profile of the treated wells in the pilot project
fluid viscosity and improves flow properties. suggests that the wells were substantially depleted and
producing at very low rates compared to historical rates, i.e.
In the case of skin damage, only one datum point for each well 10 – 30% of the maximum production rate at around 900 –
is available. Unfortunately, only pressure gradient analyses 1000 bopd. In such cases, response to microbial treatments
were conducted after treatment and hence no representative was strong, however, because of the low baseline the response
skin values were established for the wells. Nevertheless, the in terms of percentage was very large. After treatment,
plot of oil gain as a function of pre-treatment skin for all the production rates increase were around 15 – 35% of the
wells indicates a good correlation between the well responses historical production rates.
and skin values for good responding wells (Figure 11). This
observation was further supported by the pressure gradient On the other hand, the wells treated in this project are not very
analyses that had shown significant drawdown improvement much depleted at the time of treatment. These wells were
for the good responding wells. On the other hand, the wells B- produced historically at the maximum rates similar to those
7 and B-8 did not respond with significant increase in the oil pilot wells. At the time of treatment, baseline production of
production rate although these two wells also have very high these wells was still up around 60 – 80% of the maximum rate
skin factors, similar to those of good responding wells. that these wells had historically produced. Response to the
microbial treatment in 3 of the wells was strong, with
It is known that emulsion blocks can also contribute to skin substantial increases in oil production. Production rates after
factor. Based on the emulsion stability results as shown in treatment in those positively responding wells was 70 – 90%
Table 1, data indicates that emulsion became less stable after of the historical production rates. However, because of the
treatment in all wells. This would suggest that emulsion higher baseline applied, the percentage gain was less
problems would have been mitigated to some extend. compared to the pilot wells.
However, there is remained unclear whether the skin has been
reduced or not completed evolved after treatment until the
post-treatment skin data becomes available.
SPE 84867 5
Project Economics
The total project costs are US$ 0.94 Million.
At 505 bopd @ 6 months, P18 NPV @ 15% is
US$ 0.045 Million.
At 505 bopd @ P18, project break even after
5.5 months.
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the management of
PETRONAS, PCSB, and PRSS for their kind support and
permission to submit this paper. Special thanks to all project
team members from PCSB and PRSS for their full
commitment during the implementation of the project. Lastly
many thanks to Dr. Scott Bailey of Micro-Bac Inc for his kind
effort for providing detail explanation of the well responses
after treatment.
References
1. PCSB & PRSS, “Pilot Project Microbial Enhanced Oil
Recovery (MEOR) Bokor Field, Sarawak (Final Report)”,
February 2001.
2. Karim, M.G.M, Salim, M.A.H., Zain, Z..M. and Talib,
N.N.: “Microbial Enhanced Oil Recovery (MEOR)
Technology in Bokor Field, Sarawak”, SPE 72125,
6 SPE 84867
7
Wellhead fluid samples separate and stabilize
% area Normalised
6
4
Pre-treatment 3 1 7 1 1
3
0
C10 C12 C14 C16 C18 C20 C22 C24 C26 C28 C30 C32
Table 2: Summary of oil properties changes after microbial Carbon Number
treatment (1st post-treatment wellhead crude oil samples)
B-4 B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8 Figure 3: Relative carbon distribution of wellhead crude oil
Emulsion Less Stable Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes samples before and after microbial treatment (B-4)
API Gravity Reduction Yes Yes No No No
The Well B-5: % Area normalised vs Carbon # distribution (C9 to C33)
Viscosity Reduction Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes 9
Pre-treatment 1st post 2nd post
8
7
% area Normalised
5
API Gravity of Wellhead Crude Oil Samples
4
20.0 3
2
19.0
API Gravity
18.0 0
C10 C12 C14 C16 C18 C20 C22 C24 C26 C28 C30 C32
16.0
B-4 B-5 B-6 B-7 B-8
Well Figure 4: Relative carbon distribution of wellhead crude oil
pre-treatment 1st post 2nd post
samples before and after microbial treatment (B-5)
Figure 1: API Gravity of Wellhead Crude Oil Samples before Viscosity vs. Temperature for B-4
and after microbial treatment 90
80 Pre-treatment
70
2nd post
Viscosity (cP)
Pre-treatment 1st post 2nd post Figure 5: Viscosity profile of wellhead crude oil samples
before and after microbial treatment (B-4)
Figure 2: Kinematic viscosity of wellhead crude oil samples
before and after microbial treatment
bpd bpd bpd
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
0
500
0
500
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
SPE 84867
Oil Rate
Oil Rate
Oil Rate
13-Oct-00 13-Apr-01
Gross Rate
Gross Rate
Gross Rate
03-May-01
14-Mar-01 06-May-01
07-Apr-01 05-Sep-01 04-Jun-01
08-May-01 23-Sep-01 01-Jul-01
Pre-treatment
Pre-treatment
Pre-treatment
26-Sep-01 25-Sep-01
25-Jul-01
27-Sep-01
20-Sep-01 02-Oct-01
28-Sep-01
26-Sep-01 25-Oct-01 15-Oct-01
10-Oct-01 27-Oct-01 17-Oct-01
12-Oct-01 05-Dec-01 27-Nov-01
13-Oct-01 05-Dec-01
10-Dec-01
29-Nov-01 05-Dec-01
11-Dec-01 04-Jan-02
12-Dec-01
19-Jan-02 16-Jan-02
15-Jan-02
B-4 : Production Performance
26-Jan-02
Post-treatment
Post-treatment
Post-treatment
10-May-02
12-Apr-02 02-May-02
07-Jun-02
03-May-02 08-Jul-02 02-Jun-02
04-Aug-02 01-Jul-02
Figure 8: Production Performances for the well B-6 at pre & post microbial treatment
Figure 7: Production Performances for the well B-5 at pre & post microbial treatment
Figure 6: Production Performances for the well B-4 at pre & post microbial treatment
7
8 SPE 84867
2000
bpd
1500
24-Oct-01
27-Oct-01
15-Mar-01
13-May-00
08-Sep-01
18-Sep-01
19-Sep-01
09-Dec-01
12-Dec-01
27-May-02
13-Apr-00
24-Apr-02
31-Aug-02
15-Jun-01
11-Mar-02
26-Mar-02
07-Jul-01
13-Jan-00
19-Jan-02
25-Jun-00
13-Nov-00
15-Jun-02
Figure 9: Production Performances for the well B-7 at pre & post microbial treatment
2000
bpd
1500
06-Oct-01
16-Mar-01
09-May-00
22-May-00
11-Sep-01
22-Sep-01
23-Sep-01
10-Dec-01
14-Dec-01
15-May-02
14-Apr-00
16-Apr-02
10-Aug-02
03-Oct-00
13-Mar-02
06-Jul-01
14-Nov-01
17-Jan-00
13-Jan-02
14-Jan-02
20-Jan-02
14-Feb-00
20-Jun-00
08-Nov-00
11-Feb-02
15-Jun-02
18-Jul-02
Figure 10: Production Performances for the well B-8 at pre & post microbial treatment
60 60
B-4
40 40 B-4
O il G a in (% )
O il G a in ( % )
B-5
20 20 B-5