Development and Evaluation of Ultra-High Temperature Resistant Preformed Particle Gels for Conformance Control in North Sea Reservoirs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Schuman ◽  
Buddhabhushan Salunkhe ◽  
Ali Al Brahim ◽  
Baojun Bai
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stability ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
North Sea ◽  
Open Fracture ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Core Flooding ◽  
Swelling Rate ◽  
Higher Temperature ◽  
Preformed Particle Gels

Abstract Preformed particle gels (PPGs), a type of hydrogel, have been widely applied to control the conformance of reservoirs owing to their robust gel chemistries. Traditional PPGs are polyacrylamide-based hydrogel compositions which can withstand neither higher temperatures nor high salinity conditions. There are many deep oilfield reservoirs worldwide which demand PPG products with a long term hydrolytic and thermal stability at the temperatures of higher than 120 °C. Current PPGs neither remain hydrated nor retain polymer integrity at these temperatures. A unique high temperature-resistant hydrogel composition (HT-PPG) was developed with exceptional thermal stability for greater than 18 months in North Sea formation temperature (~130 °C) and formation water environments. HT-PPG described herein can swell up to 30 times its initial volume in brines of different salinity for North Sea. The effects of salinity and temperature on swelling, swelling rate, and rheological behavior was studied. These HT-PPGs exhibit excellent strength with storage modulus (G’) of over 3,000 Pa at the swelling ratio of 10. Thermostability evaluations were performed in North Sea brines with variable salinity at temperatures of 130 °C and 150 °C and found to be stable for 18 months with no loss of molecular integrity at the higher temperature. Laboratory core flooding tests were conducted to test its plugging efficiency to fracture. HT-PPGs showed good plugging efficiency by reducing the permeability of open fracture and did not wash out during waterflooding. Overall, HT-PPG is a novel product with excellent hydrothermal stability that make it an ideal candidate for conformance problems associated with reservoirs of high temperature and salinity conditions.

scholarly journals Laboratory Study on the Potential EOR Use of HPAM/VES Hybrid in High-Temperature and High-Salinity Oil Reservoirs

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dingwei Zhu ◽  
Jichao Zhang ◽  
Yugui Han ◽  
Hongyan Wang ◽  
Yujun Feng
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stability ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Salinity Tolerance ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Mechanical Degradation ◽  
Core Flooding ◽  
Reservoir Conditions ◽  
Viscoelastic Surfactant

Polymer flooding represents one of the most efficient processes to enhance oil recovery, and partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) is a widely used oil-displacement agent, but its poor thermal stability, salt tolerance, and mechanical degradation impeded its use in high-temperature and high-salinity oil reservoirs. In this work, a novel viscoelastic surfactant, erucyl dimethyl amidobetaine (EDAB), with improved thermal stability and salinity tolerance, was complexed with HPAM to overcome the deficiencies of HPAM. The HPAM/EDAB hybrid samples were studied in comparison with HPAM and EDAB in synthetic brine regarding their rheological behaviors and core flooding experiments under simulated high-temperature and high-salinity oil reservoir conditions (T: 85°C; total dissolved solids: 32,868 mg/L; [Ca2+] + [Mg2+]: 873 mg/L). It was found that the HPAM/EDAB hybrids exhibited much better heat- and salinity-tolerance and long-term thermal stability than HPAM. Core flooding tests showed that the oil recovery factors of HPAM/EDAB hybrids are between those of HPAM and EDAB. These results are attributed to the synergistic effect between HPAM and EDAB in the hybrid.

scholarly journals Modification of Xanthan Gum for a High-Temperature and High-Salinity Reservoir

Polymers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 4212
Author(s):  
Mohamed Said ◽  
Bashirul Haq ◽  
Dhafer Al Shehri ◽  
Mohammad Mizanur Rahman ◽  
Nasiru Salahu Muhammed ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Xanthan Gum ◽  
Elevated Temperatures ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Residual Oil ◽  
Core Flooding ◽  
Nacl Solution ◽  
The Core ◽  
Tertiary Oil Recovery

Tertiary oil recovery, commonly known as enhanced oil recovery (EOR), is performed when secondary recovery is no longer economically viable. Polymer flooding is one of the EOR methods that improves the viscosity of injected water and boosts oil recovery. Xanthan gum is a relatively cheap biopolymer and is suitable for oil recovery at limited temperatures and salinities. This work aims to modify xanthan gum to improve its viscosity for high-temperature and high-salinity reservoirs. The xanthan gum was reacted with acrylic acid in the presence of a catalyst in order to form xanthan acrylate. The chemical structure of the xanthan acrylate was verified by FT-IR and NMR analysis. The discovery hybrid rheometer (DHR) confirmed that the viscosity of the modified xanthan gum was improved at elevated temperatures, which was reflected in the core flood experiment. Two core flooding experiments were conducted using six-inch sandstone core plugs and Arabian light crude oil. The first formulation—the xanthan gum with 3% NaCl solution—recovered 14% of the residual oil from the core. In contrast, the modified xanthan gum with 3% NaCl solution recovered about 19% of the residual oil, which was 5% higher than the original xanthan gum. The xanthan gum acrylate is therefore more effective at boosting tertiary oil recovery in the sandstone core.

Water-Flooding Fluid Diversion Copolymeric Microsphere Prepared by Inverse Suspension Polymerization

e-Polymers ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Huang Zhiyu ◽  
Lu Hongsheng ◽  
Zhang Tailiang
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stability ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Suspension Polymerization ◽  
Oil Reservoirs ◽  
Water Flooding ◽  
Toughness Index ◽  
Inverse Suspension Polymerization ◽  
Enhance Oil Recovery

Abstract In order to enhance oil recovery in high-temperature and high-salinity oil reservoirs, the copolymeric microspheres containing acrylamide (AM), acrylonitrile (AN) and AMPS was synthesized by inverse suspension polymerization. The copolymeric microsphere was very uniform and the size could be changed according to the condition of polymerization. The lab-scale studies showed that the copolymeric microsphere exhibit good salt-tolerance and thermal-stability when immersed in 20×105 mg/L NaCl(or KCl) solution, 7500 mg/L CaCl2 (or MgCl2) solution or 2000 mg/L FeCl3 solution, respectively. The copolymeric microsphere showed satisfactory absorbency rates. The sand-pipes experiments confirmed that the average toughness index was 1.059. It could enhance the oil recovery by about 3% compared with the corresponding irregular copolymeric particle.

scholarly journals Role of Ionic Headgroups on the Thermal, Rheological, and Foaming Properties of Novel Betaine-Based Polyoxyethylene Zwitterionic Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery

Processes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 908 ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Shahzad Kamal ◽  
Syed Muhammad Shakil Hussain ◽  
Lionel Talley Fogang
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stability ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
Oil Recovery ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Foam Stability ◽  
Foaming Properties ◽  
Zwitterionic Surfactants ◽  
Reservoir Conditions ◽  
Thermal Stability Of

Long-term thermal stability of surfactants under harsh reservoir conditions is one of the main challenges for surfactant injection. Most of the commercially available surfactants thermally degrade or precipitate when exposed to high-temperature and high-salinity conditions. In this work, we designed and synthesized three novel betaine-based polyoxyethylene zwitterionic surfactants containing different head groups (carboxybetaine, sulfobetaine, and hydroxysulfobetaine) and bearing an unsaturated tail. The impact of the surfactant head group on the long-term thermal stability, foam stability, and surfactant–polymer interactions were examined. The thermal stability of the surfactants was assessed by monitoring the structural changes when exposed at high temperature (90 °C) for three months using 1H-NMR, 13C-NMR, and FTIR analysis. All surfactants were found thermally stable regardless of the headgroup and no structural changes were evidenced. The surfactant–polymer interactions were dominant in deionized water. However, in seawater, the surfactant addition had no effect on the rheological properties. Similarly, changing the headgroup of polyoxyethylene zwitterionic surfactants had no major effect on the foamability and foam stability. The findings of the present study reveal that the betaine-based polyoxyethylene zwitterionic surfactant can be a good choice for enhanced oil recovery application and the nature of the headgroup has no major impact on the thermal, rheological, and foaming properties of the surfactant in typical harsh reservoir conditions (high salinity, high temperature).

Successful Field Application of Delayed Water-Swelling, Flexible Gel Particles for In-Depth Waterflood Conformance Improvement in Wide Spacing of Wells with High Temperature and High Salinity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayang Jin ◽  
Qihang Li ◽  
Yong Liu ◽  
Wanfen Pu ◽  
Chengdong Yuan ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
High Salinity ◽  
Production Performance ◽  
Wide Spacing ◽  
Gel Particles ◽  
Well Spacing ◽  
Profile Control ◽  
Reservoir Conditions ◽  
Water Swelling

Abstract The HD Oilfield, operated by PetroChina, is located in Tarim Basin. It is characterized by high temperature (112 ℃) and high salinity (291000 mg/L), and developed by wide spacing of wells (average 700 m). High vertical and areal heterogeneity lead to early water breakthrough and a poor water sweep efficiency. Effective conformance control is urgently needed, but harsh reservoir conditions, wide well spacing, and discontinuous interlayers pose great challenges for conformance treatments in this field. Because of wide well spacing and discontinuous interlayers, water channeling and crossflow in in-depth part of reservoir could still occur after conformance treatment. To prevent this, in-depth conformance improvement treatments with injecting large volumes of low-cost profile control agents were proposed. To achieve this goal, we designed delayed water-swelling, flexible gel particles that have high deformability and elasticity. Simultaneously, to meet the harsh reservoir conditions, gel particles were designed to have long-term tolerance to high temperature and high salinity. The first treatment was implemented in May 2016, and the total incremental oil by June 2019 was 17347 tons. The treatment validity is more than 36 months, and it keeps being effective. Until now, 9 treatments have been finished. The total incremental oil is 102100 tons until May 2020, and the increment is still going on. The input-output ratio for these 9 treatments is about 8.45, which indicates the treatments were an economic and technical success. In this paper, first we describe the design of gel particles and their properties evaluation by extensive experiments, including water-swelling ability, long-term tolerance to high temperature and high salinity, elasticity, tenacity, injectivity, selectivity, plugging ability, and scouring resistance, etc. Then, we present operation design and control in the field, which is especially important for the success of these treatments. Furthermore, according to production performance as well as the wellhead pressure drop curve, pressure curve of water injection, and water injectivity in injection well, treatment results are discussed in detail to evaluate if the treatment is successful or not. Finally, several important experiences with respect to how to do operation design and field control are summarized. This paper documents a successful case history of in-depth waterflood conformance improvement in wide spacing of wells. These successful field cases together with summarized experience will provide a detailed guide and an updated framework for conformance improvement treatment for operators. In addition, this paper presents an alternative agent, i.e., delayed water-swelling, flexible gel particles, for in-depth waterflood conformance improvement in high temperature and high salinity reservoirs.

An evaluation of anion suitability for use in ionic liquids with long-term, high-temperature thermal stability

2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (16) ◽  
pp. 7844-7848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adela Benchea ◽  
Benjamin Siu ◽  
Mohammad Soltani ◽  
JaMichael H. McCants ◽  
E. Alan Salter ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Thermal Stability ◽  
Ionic Liquids ◽  
High Temperature ◽  
The Stability

The stability of fourteen different PPN+ salts has been studied in 96 hour tests, in air, at temperatures of 200 °C, 250 °C, and 300 °C.

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