Oil Shale In-Situ Upgrading by Steam Flowing in Vertical Hydraulic Fractures

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Lee ◽  
G.J. Moridis ◽  
C.A. Ehlig-Economides
Keyword(s):  
Oil Shale ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures

scholarly journals Numerical simulation of diverse thermal in situ upgrading processes for the hydrocarbon production from kerogen in oil shale reservoirs

2017 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 315-337 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kyung Jae Lee ◽  
George J Moridis ◽  
Christine A Ehlig-Economides
Keyword(s):  
Oil Shale ◽  
Hot Water ◽  
Conversion Process ◽  
Hydraulic Fractures ◽  
Product Selectivity ◽  
Mass Ratio ◽  
Hydrocarbon Production ◽  
Weight Percentage ◽  
Shale Reservoirs

We investigate the productivity and product selectivity of diverse thermal in situ upgrading processes in oil shale reservoirs. In situ upgrading processes applying the ideas of Shell In situ Conversion Process, ExxonMobil Electrofrac, and Texas A&M Steamfrac are simulated by using sector models with the assumption of symmetric patterns. In-house fully functional simulator is used, which has been developed for the kerogen pyrolysis and hydrocarbon production. In the simulation cases, sensitivity analyses to the factors having major influence on the productivity and product selectivity are conducted. The effects of the temperature of vertical heaters, the spacing of hydraulic fractures, and the position of horizontal production wells are analyzed in the applied In situ Conversion Process, Electrofrac, and Steamfrac, respectively. In the applied In situ Conversion Process cases, hydrocarbon production increases with the increasing heater temperature. In the applied Electrofrac cases, hydrocarbon production increases with the increasing spacing of hydraulic fractures, even though longer time period for the process is needed. In the applied Steamfrac cases, the case of production well located at the same depth to the injection well shows the least hydrocarbon production. Among the processes, the applied In situ Conversion Process cases show the highest weight percentage of total hydrocarbon components in the produced fluid, and the applied Electrofrac cases follow it. The applied Steamfrac cases show far lower weight percentage of hydrocarbon production than the other methods. In terms of the mass ratio of produced hydrocarbon to decomposed kerogen, the applied Steamfrac cases show the largest value among the processes by aqueous phase sweeping liquid organic phase, but they also show the huge water oil mass ratio by the continuous injection of hot water. All the applied In situ Conversion Process cases and the Electrofrac case with the short spacing of hydraulic fractures show good heating efficiency by decomposing whole kerogen in the system.

Spectro-mechanical Characterization of Aromaticity and Maturity of Kerogens in Oil Shale at 6 nm Spatial Resolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Devon Jakob ◽  
Le Wang ◽  
Haomin Wang ◽  
Xiaoji Xu
Keyword(s):  
Spatial Resolution ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
Infrared Imaging ◽  
Mechanical Characterization ◽  
Optical Diffraction ◽  
Chemical Compositions ◽  
Valuable Insight ◽  
Eagle Ford Shale

<p>In situ measurements of the chemical compositions and mechanical properties of kerogen help understand the formation, transformation, and utilization of organic matter in the oil shale at the nanoscale. However, the optical diffraction limit prevents attainment of nanoscale resolution using conventional spectroscopy and microscopy. Here, we utilize peak force infrared (PFIR) microscopy for multimodal characterization of kerogen in oil shale. The PFIR provides correlative infrared imaging, mechanical mapping, and broadband infrared spectroscopy capability with 6 nm spatial resolution. We observed nanoscale heterogeneity in the chemical composition, aromaticity, and maturity of the kerogens from oil shales from Eagle Ford shale play in Texas. The kerogen aromaticity positively correlates with the local mechanical moduli of the surrounding inorganic matrix, manifesting the Le Chatelier’s principle. In situ spectro-mechanical characterization of oil shale will yield valuable insight for geochemical and geomechanical modeling on the origin and transformation of kerogen in the oil shale.</p>

Numerical simulation of in situ exploitation of oil shale by injecting high-temperature steam

Oil Shale ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 483
Author(s):  
D Yang ◽  
Y Zhao ◽  
Z Kang
Keyword(s):  
Numerical Simulation ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
High Temperature Steam

scholarly journals Cyclic Subcritical Water Injection into Bazhenov Oil Shale: Geochemical and Petrophysical Properties Evolution Due to Hydrothermal Exposure

Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (15) ◽  
pp. 4570
Author(s):  
Aman Turakhanov ◽  
Albina Tsyshkova ◽  
Elena Mukhina ◽  
Evgeny Popov ◽  
Darya Kalacheva ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Energy Demand ◽  
Oil Shale ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Subcritical Water ◽  
Pore Space ◽  
Water Injection ◽  
Microstructural Properties ◽  
Gas Generation ◽  
Geochemical Parameters

In situ shale or kerogen oil production is a promising approach to developing vast oil shale resources and increasing world energy demand. In this study, cyclic subcritical water injection in oil shale was investigated in laboratory conditions as a method for in situ oil shale retorting. Fifteen non-extracted oil shale samples from Bazhenov Formation in Russia (98 °C and 23.5 MPa reservoir conditions) were hydrothermally treated at 350 °C and in a 25 MPa semi-open system during 50 h in the cyclic regime. The influence of the artificial maturation on geochemical parameters, elastic and microstructural properties was studied. Rock-Eval pyrolysis of non-extracted and extracted oil shale samples before and after hydrothermal exposure and SARA analysis were employed to analyze bitumen and kerogen transformation to mobile hydrocarbons and immobile char. X-ray computed microtomography (XMT) was performed to characterize the microstructural properties of pore space. The results demonstrated significant porosity, specific pore surface area increase, and the appearance of microfractures in organic-rich layers. Acoustic measurements were carried out to estimate the alteration of elastic properties due to hydrothermal treatment. Both Young’s modulus and Poisson’s ratio decreased due to kerogen transformation to heavy oil and bitumen, which remain trapped before further oil and gas generation, and expulsion occurs. Ultimately, a developed kinetic model was applied to match kerogen and bitumen transformation with liquid and gas hydrocarbons production. The nonlinear least-squares optimization problem was solved during the integration of the system of differential equations to match produced hydrocarbons with pyrolysis derived kerogen and bitumen decomposition.

In-situ catalytic co-pyrolysis of kukersite oil shale with black pine wood over acid zeolites

2021 ◽  
Vol 155 ◽  
pp. 105050
Author(s):  
Young-Kwon Park ◽  
Muhammad Zain Siddiqui ◽  
Selhan Karagöz ◽  
Tae Uk Han ◽  
Atsushi Watanabe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oil Shale ◽  
Black Pine ◽  
Pine Wood ◽  
Acid Zeolites

CHANGES IN OIL SHALE CHARACTERISTICS DURING SIMULATED IN-SITU PYROLYSIS IN SUPERHEATED STEAM

Oil Shale ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 35 (3) ◽  
pp. 230 ◽  
Author(s):  
L WANG ◽  
D YANG ◽  
J ZHAO ◽  
Y ZHAO ◽  
Z KANG
Keyword(s):  
Oil Shale ◽  
Superheated Steam
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