Polymer in-Situ Rheology in Carbonate Reservoirs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tormod Skauge ◽  
Kenneth Sorbie ◽  
Ali Al-Sumaiti ◽  
Shehadeh Masalmeh ◽  
Arne Skauge

Abstract A large, untapped EOR potential may be extracted by extending polymer flooding to carbonate reservoirs. However, several challenges are encountered in carbonates due to generally more heterogeneous rock and lower permeability. In addition, high salinity may lead to high polymer retention. Here we show how in-situ viscosity varies with permeability and heterogeneity in carbonate rock from analysis of core flood results and combined with review of data available in literature. In-situ rheology experiments were performed on both carbonate outcrop and reservoir cores with a range in permeabilities. The polymer used was a high ATBS content polyacrylamide (SAV10) which tolerates high temperature and high salinity. Some cores were aged with crude oil to generate non-water-wet, reservoir representative wettability conditions. These results are compared to a compilation of literature data on in-situ rheology for predominantly synthetic polymers in various carbonate rock. A systematic approach was utilized to derive correlations for resistance factor, permeability reduction and in-situ viscosity as a function of rock and polymer properties. Polymer flooding is applied to improve sweep efficiency that may occur due to reservoir heterogeneities (large permeability contrasts, anisotropy, thief zones) or adverse mobility ratio (high mobility contrast oil-brine). In flooding design, the viscosity of the polymer solution in the reservoir, the in-situ viscosity, is an essential parameter as this is tuned to correct the mobility difference and to improve sweep. The viscosity is estimated from rheometer/viscometer measurements or, better, measured in laboratory core flood experiments. However, upscaling core flood experiments to field is challenging. Core flood experiments measure differential pressure, which is the basis for the resistance factor, RF, that describes the increased resistance to flow for polymer relative to brine. However, the pressure is also influenced by several other factors such as the permeability reduction caused by adsorption and retention of polymer in the rock, the tortuosity of the rock and the viscosity of the flowing polymer solution. Deduction of in-situ viscosity is straight forward using Darcy's law but the capillary bundle model that is the basis for applying this law fails for non-Newtonian fluids. This is particularly evident in carbonate rock. Interpretation of in-situ rheology experiments can therefore be misleading if the wrong assumptions are made. Polymer flooding in carbonate reservoirs has a large potential for increased utilization of petroleum reserves at a reduced CO2 footprint. In this paper we apply learnings from an extensive core flood program for a polymer flood project in the UAE and combine this with reported literature data to generate a basis for interpretation of in-situ rheology experiments in carbonates. Most importantly, we suggest a methodology to screen experiments and select data to be used as basis for modelling polymer flooding. This improves polymer flood design, optimize the polymer consumption, and thereby improve project economy and energy efficiency.

Author(s):  
Vitor H.S. Ferreira ◽  
Rosangela B.Z.L. Moreno

Injection of polymers is beneficial for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) because it improves the mobility ratio between the displaced oil and the displacing injected water. Because of that benefit, polymer flooding improves sweep and displacing efficiencies when compared to waterflooding. Due to these advantages, polymer flooding has many successful applications in sandstone reservoirs. However, polymer flooding through carbonatic rock formations is challenging because of heterogeneity, high anionic polymer retention, low matrix permeability, and hardness of the formation water. The scleroglucan is a nonionic biopolymer with the potential to overcome some of those challenges, albeit its elevated price. Thus, the objective of this work is to characterize low concentration scleroglucan solutions focusing on EOR for offshore carbonate reservoirs. The laboratory evaluation consisted of rheology, filtration, and core flooding studies, using high salinity multi-ionic brines and light mineral oil. The tests were run at 60 °C, and Indiana limestone was used as a surrogate reservoir rock. A rheological evaluation was done in a rotational rheometer aiming to select a target polymer concentration for the injection fluid. Different filtration procedures were performed using membrane filters to prepare the polymer solution for the displacement process. Core flooding studies were done to characterize the polymer solution and evaluate its oil recovery relative to waterflooding. The polymer was characterized for its retention, inaccessible pore volume, resistance factor, in-situ viscosity, and permeability reduction. Rheology studies for various polymer concentrations indicated a target scleroglucan concentration of 500 ppm for the injection solution. Among the tested filtration methods, the best results were achieved when a multi-stage filtration was performed after an aging period of 24 h at 90 °C temperature. The single-phase core flooding experiment resulted in low polymer retention (20.8 μg/g), inaccessible pore volume (4.4%), and permeability reduction (between 1.7 and 2.4). The polymer solution in-situ viscosity was slightly lower and less shear-thinning than the bulk one. The tested polymer solution was able to enhance the oil recovery relative to waterflooding, even with a small reduction of the mobility ratio (38% relative reduction). The observed advantages consisted of water phase breakthrough delay (172% relative delay), oil recovery anticipation (159% and 10% relative increase at displacing fluid breakthrough and 95% water cut, respectively), ultimate oil recovery increase (6.3%), and water-oil ratio reduction (38% relative decrease at 95% water cut). Our results indicate that the usage of low concentration scleroglucan solutions is promising for EOR in offshore carbonate reservoirs. That was supported mainly by the low polymer retention, injected solution viscosity maintenance under harsh conditions, and oil recovery anticipation.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.A. Baloch ◽  
J.M. Leon ◽  
S.K. Masalmeh ◽  
D. Chappell ◽  
J. Brodie ◽  
...  

Abstract Over the last few years, ADNOC has systematically investigated a new polymer-based EOR scheme to improve sweep efficiency in high temperature and high salinity (HTHS) carbonate reservoirs in Abu Dhabi (Masalmeh et al., 2014). Consequently, ADNOC has developed a thorough de-risking program for the new EOR concept in these carbonate reservoirs. The de-risking program includes extensive laboratory experimental studies and field injectivity tests to ensure that the selected polymer can be propagated in the target reservoirs. A new polymer with high 2-acrylamido-tertiary-butyl sulfonic acid (ATBS) content was identified, based on extensive laboratory studies (Masalmeh, et al., 2019, Dupuis, et al., 2017, Jouenne 2020), and an initial polymer injectivity test (PIT) was conducted in 2019 at 250°F and salinity >200,000 ppm, with low H2S content (Rachapudi, et al., 2020, Leon and Masalmeh, 2021). The next step for ADNOC was to extend polymer application to harsher field conditions, including higher H2S content. Accordingly, a PIT was designed in preparation for a multi-well pilot This paper presents ADNOC's follow-up PIT, which expands the envelope of polymer flooding to dissolve H2S concentrations of 20 - 40 ppm to confirm injectivity at representative field conditions and in situ polymer performance. The PIT was executed over five months, from February 2021 to July 2021, followed by a chase water flood that will run until December 2021. A total of 108,392 barrels of polymer solution were successfully injected during the PIT. The extensive dataset acquired was used to assess injectivity and in-depth mobility reduction associated with the new polymer. Preliminary results from the PIT suggest that all key performance indicators have been achieved, with a predictable viscosity yield and good injectivity at target rates, consistent with the laboratory data. The use of a down-hole shut-in tool (DHSIT) to acquire pressure fall-off (PFO) data clarified the near-wellbore behaviour of the polymer and allowed optimisation of the PIT programme. This paper assesses the importance of water quality on polymer solution preparation and injection performance and reviews operational data acquired during the testing period. Polymer properties determined during the PIT will be used to optimise field and sector models and will facilitate the evaluation of polymer EOR in other giant, heterogeneous carbonate reservoirs, leading to improved recovery in ADNOC and Middle East reservoirs.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Skauge ◽  
Tormod Skauge ◽  
Shahram Pourmohamadi ◽  
Jonas Solbakken ◽  
Abduljelil Sultan Kedir ◽  
...  

1999 ◽  
Vol 2 (02) ◽  
pp. 205-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Raje ◽  
K. Asghari ◽  
S. Vossoughi ◽  
D.W. Green ◽  
G.P. Willhite

Summary Conformance control for carbon dioxide miscible flooding using gel has not been widely attempted. Laboratory research efforts at the University of Kansas have produced promising in-situ gelation techniques aimed at this application. Three in-situ gel systems were developed and tested in laboratory cores. Two systems are based on a new biopolymer, termed KUSP1, and the third gel system uses the reaction of sulfomethylated resorcinol and formaldehyde to form a gel. KUSP1 gel systems were studied using two different methods of inducing in-situ gelation. In the first method, gelation was accomplished by injecting CO2 at low pressure into the Berea sandstone core saturated by alkaline polymer solution. Permeability reduction to the brine and CO2 in the range of 80% was achieved. Stability of the gel was tested in the presence of supercritical CO2 When supercritical CO2 was used to induce in-situ gelation, the same degree of permeability reduction was achieved. The gel remained stable after the injection of many pore volumes of supercritical CO2The second method of initiating in-situ gelation involved the use of an ester. Hydrolysis of the ester, monoethylphthalate, in the alkaline polymer solution caused the pH to drop to levels where in-situ gelation occurred. The permeability of the treated core to supercritical carbon dioxide was about 1 md which was equivalent to a permeability reduction of 95%-97% of the initial brine permeability. The third gel system, based on the reaction of sulfomethylated resorcinol and formaldehyde (SMRF), was gelled in situ and contacted with both brine and supercritical CO2. Permeabilities to carbon dioxide on the order of 1 md or less were observed. This permeability is equivalent to a reduction of about 99% in the initial brine permeability. Reduced permeabilities were maintained after injecting many pore volumes of supercritical CO2 and brine. Introduction Carbon dioxide miscible flooding is one of the most important tertiary oil recovery techniques employed in the United States. However, the process experiences major difficulties in field application because of reservoir heterogeneity due to high permeability contrast. CO2 tends to finger through the high permeability zones and bypass the oil. Early CO2 production occurs with increased recycling and other operating costs. Different methods have been investigated for improving the overall efficiency of the CO2 flooding process. In almost all these methods, attempts have been made to achieve a favorable mobility ratio by affecting the CO2 relative permeability. Examples of these methods are:water alternating gas (WAG) process,1carbon dioxide-foam process,2 andviscosified carbon dioxide process.3 Another technology which is under study is permeability reduction by in-depth placement of polymer gels. The objective of this research is to reduce the permeability in permeable zones of the reservoir. Reduction of matrix permeability in the CO2 process has been studied by other investigators.4,5 No systems were found that gave satisfactory permeability reduction when exposed to prolonged injection of CO2. Three new in-situ gel systems developed and tested in our laboratory are described in this paper. Two of these systems are based on a biopolymer termed KUSP1.6,7 The third system is based on a modification of a previously reported organic crosslinking system. Experiment The experimental program consisted of gelling each polymer system in a 1 ft Berea core which was mounted in a core holder and determining the permeability of the treated rock to brine and carbon dioxide at supercritical conditions. Five separate tests were conducted. Dispersion tests were run in some tests to estimate the pore volume contacted by the injected fluids after treatment with a gelled polymer system. Equipment and Materials Experimental Apparatus. Fig. 1 is a schematic presentation of the experimental apparatus used in this work. An ISCO syringe pump was used for injecting CO2 brine, and gel solutions into the core. All the experiments were conducted at constant rate. The effluent of the core was collected by a fraction sample collector for further analysis. A TEMCO high-pressure core holder equipped with pressure ports was used. The rubber sleeve was filled with water and the injection pressure was kept at 500 psi below the sleeve pressure because higher sleeve pressures caused the rubber sleeve around the pressure taps to deform and seal off the pressure ports. One ft Berea cores, 2 in. in diameter, were used in all experiments. Pressure ports were located such that the core was divided into four sections. The first and fourth sections were 5 cm in length and sections two and three were 10 cm long. The pressure difference for each section and the overall pressure difference were measured by pressure transducers and recorded via a computer-based data gathering system. The apparatus was placed in an air bath in which the temperature of the core and the injected fluids was kept constant. The pressure of the core was maintained by a TEMCO back-pressure regulator connected to a cylinder containing nitrogen at high pressure. The back pressure was maintained at 1200 psi. Details of the experimental setup are presented elsewhere.8 Gels Produced from KUSP1. KUSP1 is an acronym for a biopolymer developed at the University of Kansas. The polymer is a ?-1,3-polyglucan and is produced by fermentation of a bacterium known as Alcaligenes faecalis and certain species of Agrobacterium.6 The polymer grows on the surface of the bacteria. During the fermentation process, the polymer laden bacteria aggregate and settle out from the growth medium. Polymer is extracted from the bacteria by suspension in dilute alkali. Neutralization of the alkaline polymer solution produces a hydrogel. The gelation process is reversible and the hydrogels are stable at high temperatures in neutral solutions. The polymer degrades in alkaline solution with time and at elevated temperatures.


2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (11) ◽  
pp. 60-61
Author(s):  
Chris Carpenter

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 202809, “Low Polymer Retention Opens for Field Implementation of Polymer Flooding in High-Salinity Carbonate Reservoirs,” by Arne Skauge, SPE, and Tormod Skauge, SPE, Energy Research Norway, and Shahram Pourmohamadi, Brent Asmari, et al., prepared for the 2020 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference, Abu Dhabi, held virtually 9–12 November. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Polymer flooding has been a successful enhanced-oil-recovery method in sandstone reservoirs for decades. Extending polymer flooding to carbonate reservoirs has been challenging because of adsorption loss and polymer availability for high-temperature, high-salinity (HT/HS) reservoirs. In this study, the authors establish that HT/HS polymers can exhibit low adsorption and retention in carbonate reservoir rock at ultrahigh salinity conditions. Introduction Retention is a key factor for polymer propagation and acceleration of oil production by polymer flooding. In the complete paper, the authors consider HT/HS applications for carbonate reservoirs. Synthetic polymers such as partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide are not thermally stable at temperatures above 60°C. The thermal stability of the synthetic polymers can be improved by incorporating monomers. To evaluate the retention of polymer in reservoir rock, dynamic retention experiments were performed in the presence and absence of oil. In homogeneous rock, the presence of residual oil typically will reduce the retention proportional to the surface covered by the oil saturation. Strongly heterogeneous rock containing fractures also may have low retention because the fluid flow mainly may be through highly permeable fractures or channels and, consequently, only part of the porous medium will contact polymer. Retention in carbonate matrix displacement (homogeneous rock) was performed on outcrop Indiana limestone for reference, but most experiments were made on reservoir rock material. The polymer used is SAV 10. Experimental Methods The easiest and, in many cases, most-accurate method for quantifying retention in dynamic coreflow experiments is by material balance. This refers to the measurement of the polymer in the effluent. The injected amount minus the backproduced amount of polymer gives the loss caused by transport through the porous medium. The retention includes both adsorption of polymer onto the rock and dynamic loss as the result of mechanical entrapment such as molecular straining and concentration blocking. In most cases, the authors used a passive tracer injected with the polymer and applied two slugs. The first slug quantifies the retention by material balance, but the difference in effluent of the second slug minus the first slug also can give an alternative measurement of the polymer retention. Comparing tracer and polymer effluent concentrations from the second polymer slug quantifies the inaccessible pore volume (IPV). The experimental setup is illustrated in Fig. 1.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shehadeh Masalmeh ◽  
Ali AlSumaiti ◽  
Nicolas Gaillard ◽  
Frederic Daguerre ◽  
Tormod Skauge ◽  
...  

SPE Journal ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (06) ◽  
pp. 2260-2278 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. S. Seright ◽  
Dongmei Wang ◽  
Nolan Lerner ◽  
Anh Nguyen ◽  
Jason Sabid ◽  
...  

Summary This paper examines oil displacement as a function of polymer-solution viscosity during laboratory studies in support of a polymer flood in Canada's Cactus Lake Reservoir. When displacing 1,610-cp crude oil from field cores (at 27°C and 1 ft/D), oil-recovery efficiency increased with polymer-solution viscosity up to 25 cp (7.3 seconds−1). No significant benefit was noted from injecting polymer solutions more viscous than 25 cp. Much of this paper explores why this result occurred. Floods in field cores examined relative permeability for different saturation histories, including native state, cleaned/water-saturated first, and cleaned/oil-saturated first. In addition to the field cores and crude oil, studies were performed using hydrophobic (oil-wet) polyethylene cores and refined oils with viscosities ranging from 2.9 to 1,000 cp. In field cores, relative permeability to water (krw) remained low, less than 0.03 for most corefloods. After extended polymer flooding to water saturations up to 0.865, krw values were less than 0.04 for six of seven corefloods. Relative permeability to oil remained reasonably high (greater than 0.05) for most of the flooding process. These observations help explain why 25-cp polymer solutions were effective in recovering 1,610-cp oil. The low relative permeability to water allowed a 25-cp polymer solution to provide a nearly favorable mobility ratio. At a given water saturation, krw values for 1,000-cp crude oil were approximately 10 times lower than for 1,000-cp refined oil. In contrast to results found for the Daqing polymer flood (Wang et al. 2000, 2011), no evidence was found in our application that high-molecular-weight (MW) hydrolyzed polyacrylamide (HPAM) solutions mobilized trapped residual oil. The results are discussed in light of ideas expressed in recent publications. The relevance of the results to field applications is also examined. Although 25-cp polymer solutions were effective in displacing oil during our corefloods, the choice of polymer viscosity for a field application must consider reservoir heterogeneity and the risk of channeling in a reservoir.


1971 ◽  
Vol 11 (01) ◽  
pp. 72-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.T. Patton ◽  
K.H. Coats ◽  
G.T. Colegrove

Patton, J.T., Member AIME, Patton, J.T., Member AIME, Computer/Bioengineering Institute, Inc., Houston, Tex. Coats, K.H., Member AIME, International Computer Applications Ltd., Houston, Tex. Colegrove, G.T., Kelco Co., Houston, Tex. Abstract This experimental and numerical study was performed to estimate the incremental oil recovery performed to estimate the incremental oil recovery by pattern polymer flooding in a California viscous-oil reservoir. Results indicate that adding 270-ppm Kelzan to the normal flood water will boost oil production by 42 percent (at 1 PV injected) and production by 42 percent (at 1 PV injected) and will reduce water handling costs sharply. This corresponds to $8.35 incremental oil/$1.00 polymer injected, taking into account the 30 percent pore volume bank of polymer solution. The 28.6 percent additional oil recovery predicted at 0.5 PV injected yields a return of $4.60 incremental oil/$1.00 polymer injected. polymer injected. The field predictions are based onlaboratory measurements of polymer solution viscosity, adsorption and dispersion upon displacement by normal water in a sand representative of the reservoir,linear laboratory oil displacement experiments using brine and polymer solution, anda numerical model developed to simulate linear or five-spot polymer floods in single-layer or stratified reservoirs. The paper presents an analytical solution to the linear polymer flood problem, which provides a check on accuracy of the numerical model and a quick estimate of additional oil recovery by line-drive polymer floods. The numerical model developed indicates that additional oil recovery by polymer flooding is sensitive to polymer bank size polymer flooding is sensitive to polymer bank size and adsorption level and is insensitive to the extent of dispersion active at the trailing edge of the polymer slug. polymer slug Introduction The benefits of improving the mobility ratio, lambda o/lambda w, on waterflood performance is well documented and research on how best to effect this improvement has been considerable. Both producers and chemical manufacturers, spurred on producers and chemical manufacturers, spurred on by the vast reserves of oil which will be otherwise abandoned, have sought to resolve the problem. Currently, two types of additives are being marketed and field tested with promising results. Both additives increase oil recovery by lowering the mobility of the flood water, lambda w. However, they effect this lowering by distinctly different mechanisms. Mobility of the flood water is given by: lambdaw = kw/ w . Hence, one may elect to either increase viscosity, mu w, or decrease effective permeability, kw. Viscosity can be increased by adding small amounts of a water-soluble polymer. To be effective at the flood front this additive should exhibit minimum adsorption on the pore surfaces. Polymers showing minimal adsorption are generally a combination nonionic-anionic type. The negative charge repels the clay platelets to reduce adsorption and the nonionic portion provides the brine tolerance required for reservoir applications. A polymer of this type, Kelzan M, was chosen for the study. The alternate method of lowering mobility is equally well known. It consists of adding to the flood water a polymer designed to adsorb on the pore surfaces, thereby physically reducing the available flow area. This study was performed to estimate the additional oil recovery by pattern polymer flooding using Kelzan in a California viscous-oil reservoir. Laboratory experiments were performed to estimate polymer solution viscosity, adsorption and polymer solution viscosity, adsorption and dispersion upon displacement by normal injection water. Waterflood and polymer flood oil recovery curves were obtained for a laboratory core packed with sand representative of the reservoir. A numerical model was developed to simulate polymer floods in linear or five-spot patterns in single-layer or stratified reservoirs. An analytical solution to the linear polymer flood problem was developed to provide a quick estimate of incremental oil provide a quick estimate of incremental oil obtainable by polymer flooding and to provide a check on the accuracy of the numerical model. SPEJ P. 72


2014 ◽  
Vol 997 ◽  
pp. 284-287
Author(s):  
Yin Feng Liu ◽  
Da Zhao Song ◽  
Yu Yao ◽  
Bi Yun Fu

In view of the actual conditions of childers - jayne GuoPu reservoir with low temperature, high salinity , this text select three kinds of polymer by evaluating the related parameters of polymer which is resistant to high salinity to discuss the performance and adaptability.From the polymer viscosity-concentration relationship and viscosity-temperature relationship, it can be concluded that when the concentration of the HDSJ is 3000 mg/L, it can meet the requirements of the theory of reservoir viscosity values.However, due to the specific conditions of reservoir with high salinity (249060mg/L), the single polymer HDSJ cannot continue to maintain theory viscosity value.In view of the problems of polymer degradation at high salinity, those experiences join the mass fraction of chromium acetate 2.7% with retarder, to cross-linking in a single polymer solution based on 30:1 polymer chromium rate. By testing the stability of cross-linking system, we can conclude that HDSJ gel solution with polymer chromium ratio 30:1 can meet the reservoir conditions.


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