Enhanced Oil Recovery

Concepts and Mechanisms

Concept of Improving
Oil Recovery factor
Er = Oil recovered / Oil in place
= (Oil in place Trapped oil) / Oil in place

Er can be increased by:

-- Increasing amount of oil recovered
-- Decreasing amount of oil trapped

scope of EOR

EOR mechanisms
Key factors for process selection
Geologic, rock and fluid models
Phase behavior of fluid mixtures
Required laboratory tests
Design concepts
Performance prediction
EOR field cases

Standard Scientific Units

Basic Variables
Length
Mass
Time
Temperature

L
M
T

m
kg
s
C or K

Standard Scientific Units

Area
Volume
Force =mass x acceleration
Pressure = force / area
Energy = force x distance
Power = energy / time
Specific heat = energy/mass temp.
Viscosity = energy/area velocity
Permeability
= velocity viscosity length/pressure

m2
m3
kg m s-2 = N
kg m-1s-2 = Pa
kg m2s-2 = J
kg m2s-3 = W
m2s-2C-1 = J/kgC
kg m-1s-1 = Pa s
m2

Common Conversion Factors

1 ft = 0.3048 m

1 acre = 4047 m2

1 Bbl = 0.159 m3

1 acre-ft = 1233 m3

1 dyne = 10-5 N

1 atm = 101.3 kPa

1 psi = 6.9 kPa

1 cal = 4.817 J

1 Btu = 1055 J

1 HP = 746 W

1 cp = 0.001 Pa s

1 md = 10-15 m2

Oil Recovery Phases

Natural primary recovery

Stimulated primary recovery
Secondary recovery
Enhanced oil recovery

Natural Primary
Recovery
Solution gas drive
Gas cap drive
Gas

Water drive
Gravity drainage

Oil
Water

Stimulated Primary Recovery

Acidizing
Fracturing
Microbial
Vibro-seismic
Stimulated region

Secondary Recovery
Waterfloods and
Immiscible gas floods
No changes in reservoir
except pressure and
displacement
Suitable for light oil, low
pressure reservoirs

Injector

Producer

Enhanced Oil Recovery

Cause physical, chemical,
compositional and
thermal changes in the
reservoir rock and fluids
Improve recovery beyond
secondary level
Appropriate selection
and design are important

Injector

Producer

Enhanced Oil Recovery

Categories

Miscible methods
CO2 Hydrocarbon gas LPG LNG

Chemical methods
Polymer Alkaline

Surfactant

Thermal methods
Cyclic steam

Steamflood In-situ combustion

Other methods
Foam

Microbial

Vibro-seismic

Typical Recovery Factors

Primary Methods
Heavy oil
Light oil: solution gas drive
water drive, gas cap
gravity drainage

5 15 %
10 25%
20 40%
30 45%

Secondary Methods
Waterflood
Gas flood

20 45 %
15 40 %

EOR Methods
Laboratory tests
Field applications

70 - 90 %
45 - 75 %

Oil Recovery Factor

General Definition

E r = Np / N

In displacement processes:
Recovery factor Er = Ed Ev = Ed Ea Ey
Ed = displacement efficiency
Ea = areal sweep efficiency
Ey = vertical sweep efficiency

Well Patterns in Oil

Displacement

Four spot P/I

ratio = 0.5

Five spot
P/I ratio = 1

Nine spot P/I ratio = 3

Seven spot
P/I ratio = 2

Line drive P/I ratio = 2

Volumetric Sweep Efficiency

Atotal
Atotal

Aswept
Aswept

Areal sweep efficiency

Ea = Aswept/Atotal

Vertical sweep efficiency

Ey = Aswept/Atotal

Volumetric sweep efficiency Ev = Ea Ey

Volumetric Sweep Efficiency

Atotal

Aswept

Areal sweep efficiency

Ea = Aswept/Atotal

Volumetric sweep efficiency Ev = Ea Ey

Displacement Efficiency
Consider a unit pore volume of reservoir:

Before displacement

Soi , Boi
Soi/Boi STB

After displacement

So , Bo
So/Bo STB

Displacement efficiency Ed = 1 (SoBoi/SoiBo)

Conducting an EOR
Project
Formulate a reliable reservoir model
Select EOR process and make simple
predictions
Conduct necessary laboratory tests
Refine reservoir model, process design and
predictions
Design and implement a pilot field trial
Monitor and evaluate pilot performance
Design EOR expansion

POST WATERFLOOD
After waterflooding, some oil
may left as forms of :
Bypassed oil
Bypassed oil : Unswept oil as
Residual Oil
results of displacing oil override
Saturation
the oil or fingering, due to
Reservoir heterogenity
Significant different on mobility
of water and oil
Residual Oil Saturation (Sor) :
is oil saturation that can not be
recovered by water or gas
displacement.
Sor is considered as immobile oil
saturation and the minimum oil
saturation after wateflooding.
Sor is usually determine by
coreflood (waterflood mode).

ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY (EOR)

IS THE IMPLEMENTATION OF VARIOUS TECHNIQUES FOR
INCREASING THE AMOUNT OF CRUDE OIL THAT CAN BE
EXTRACTED FROM AN OIL FIELD AFTER SECONDARY RECOVERY.
TYPES OF EOR:
Chemical injection
Polymer Flooding
Surfactant-Polymer Flooding
Colloidal Dispersion Gel
Injection
Gas Injection
Immiscible
Miscible (i.e. CO2 flooding)

(CDG)

Thermal Injection
Steam Flooding
Insitu Combustion
Insitu Retorting
Others
Microbial injection
Plasma Pulse

Chemical Injection
Polymer Injection
Objective :To improve sweep
efficiency
through
mobility
control of the displacing fluid.
Method : Polymer flooding
consists in mixing long chain
polymer molecules with the
injected water in order to increase
the water viscosity. This method
improves the vertical and areal
sweep efficiency as a consequence
of improving the water/oil
Mobility ratio.
Recovery : Gain is ranging 8-22%
of the STOIIP

Chemical Injection

Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer
Injection
Objective : To reduce Sor by
injecting surfactant to lower
interfacial tension between the oil
and water or change the
wettability of the rock.
Methods :
Surfactants to generate foams or
emulsions
Water soluble polymers to
increase the viscosity of the water
Polymer gels for blocking or
diverting flow
Alkaline chemicals such as
sodium carbonate to react with
crude oil to generate soap and
increase pH
Combinations of chemicals and
methods

Chemical Injection
Colloidal Dispersion Gel (CDG)
This nanotechnology is now chosen
as an alternative method and applied
as a new chemical enhanced oil
recovery (CEOR) method in last
decade.
Objective : Injected water tends flow
through higher permeability layer and
left some oil in less permeability
section. CDG will divert injected
water to lower permeability to sweep
the remaining oil
Methods :
Dispersion liquid will create series
of log-jam, plugging the bigger
pore throat and divert the injected
water to smaller pore throat (lower
permeability).
When dP increases, the log-jam
breaks.
Process of creating other log-jam
and injection diversion continues.

D3Flow particles initially flow in higher permeability

preferential water path. (DEEP PROPAGATION D1)

As the P increases across the log-jam and as the

particles swell and become more visco-elastic, the logjam breaks down. The particles are dispersed to the other
parts of the porous medium, where the cycle of logjamming is repeated. (DISPERSION D3)

Gas Injection
have two types :
Immiscible Gas Injection
Objective
To sweep bypassed oil at upper
section
To create three-phase region,
which is considered better at
displacing residual oil than twophase flow. During injection, gas
retains its state as gas.
Methods :
Water Alternating Gas injection
(WAG)
Simultaneous WAG (SWAG)

Miscible Gas Injection

Objective : Reduce Sor to recover
more oil.
Methods :
The gas is injected first which
reacts with the oil and reduce its
viscosity, making it more mobile
and easier to flow.
The reservoir pressure is
sustained above the minimum
miscibility pressure (MMP) of the
fluids. MMP is defined as the
minimum pressure required for
miscibility to occur between two
fluids.
Miscibility occurs when both the
displacing and displaced fluid mix
in all proportions without
interference. Once the pressure
falls below MMP, miscibility will
be lost.

CO2 Injection (CO2 Sequestrian)

Carbon dioxide flooding works on the premise
that by injecting CO2 into the reservoir, it
dissolves in oil, the oil swells and the viscosity of
any hydrocarbon will be reduced and hence, it will
be easier to sweep to the production well.

Thermal Injection
have 3Flooding
types :
Steam
Objective : Usually applied in
heavy oil. Steam will reduce oil
viscosity and make it more mobile
to be produced.
Methods :
Steam is pumped into the wells in
a pattern similar to that of water
injection. Eventually the steam
condenses to hot water.
In the steam zone the oil
evaporates and in the hot water
zone the oil expands. As a result,
the oil expands, the viscosity
drops and the permeability
increases. To ensure success, the
process has to be cyclical.

Insitu Combustion
Objective : Combustion
generates the heat within the
reservoir itself.
Method :
Continuous injection of air, or
other gas mixture with high
oxygen content, will maintain the
flame front. As the fire burns, it
moves through the reservoir
towards the production wells.
Heat from the fire reduces oil
viscosity and helps to vaporise
reservoir water to steam. The
steam, hot water, combustion gas
and a bank of distilled solvent all
act to drive oil in front of the fire
toward production wells.

Insitu retorting

Objective : At molecular level,

the heat separates carbon oil and
gas from the rock.
Methods :
Heating the reservoir through
heater wells
Producing wells sucked the
oil/gas using pumps

Microbial EOR (MEOR)

Injecting selected microbes with nutrients
The microbial metabolic products modify the
properties of the oil and the interactions between oil,
water, and the porous media, which increase the
mobility of the oil and consequently the recovery of
oil.
The main microbial metabolic products :
Biosurfactants => reduce oil/water
interfacial tension
Biopolymers => Injectivity profile
and viscosity
modification,
selective plugging
Acids & Solvents => dissolve rock
and
improve
permeability
Gases => reduce oil viscocity

Plasma Pulse Technology

(PPT)

High power shock waves having nonlinear, broad band, repetitive pulsing and
directed energy characteristics.
The shock waves clean completed intervals
then propagate and translate into elastic
waves in the reservoir.
The introduction of elastic vibrations into
natural heterogenous reservoirs initiates
resonant frequencies of Plasma Waves
that increase the relative mobility of crude
oil to water.
The cleaning of the near wellbore region,
increasing relative oil mobility and the
generation of elastic vibrations and their
resonance, continues after the well is
treated with PPT and can sustain an
increased production flow for periods of up
to twelve (12) months or more.

THANKS A LOT