The Opportunities and Challenges of Preformed Particle Gel in Enhanced Oil Recovery

Author(s):  
Imran Akbar ◽  
Zhou Hongtao

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), is a technique that has been used to recover the remaining oil from the reservoirs after primary and secondary recovery methods. Some reservoirs are very complex and require advanced EOR techniques that containing new materials and additives in order to produce maximum oil in economic and environmentally friendly manners. Because of EOR techniques, in this work previous and current challenges have been discussed, and suggested some future opportunities. This work comprises the key factors, such as; transport of Preformed Particle Gels (PPGs), Surface wettability and conformance control that affect the efficiency of PPGs. The conduits, fractures, fracture-like features and high permeability streaks are the big challenges for EOR, as they may cause early water breakthrough and undesirable water channeling. Hence, the use of PPGs is one of the exclusive commercial gel inventions, which not only increases the oil production but also decreases the water cut during the oil production. Moreover, different studies regarding PPG, surfactants, and Silica nanoparticle applications, such as the effect of salinity, particle size, swelling ratio, gel strength, wettability, and adsorption were also discussed. Future work is required in order to overcome the conformance problems and increase the oil recovery.

RSC Advances ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 4881-4889 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangbo Li ◽  
Zuming Jiang ◽  
Yi Wang ◽  
Jing Zheng ◽  
Guangsu Huang

Inspired by the viscoelastic displacement theory and the advantages of preformed particle gels, we develop an innovative product called branched-preformed particle gel (B-PPG) for enhanced oil recovery.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 01-08
Author(s):  
Desy Hikmatul Siami ◽  
◽  
Novi Hery Yono ◽  

The need for petroleum is increasing along with the development of the industry, while the production results from the process of recovering oil from the reservoir by using primary recovery and secondary recovery are still very low so that it takes an advanced stage, namely tertiary recovery or, known as EOR. EOR is a method that produces oil production above 50%. EOR is an effort to increase oil production, so it is included in the IOR (Improved Oil Recovery) section. EOR consists of various applications, ranging from water injection, chemical injection, gases injection to microbiology injection. The stages in the injection of water and gas still leave oil trapped in the rocks in the reservoir. MEOR is one method that can be used to bring oil trapped in reservoir rocks to the surface. The effectiveness of the MEOR method is measured based on several parameters that is formation temperature, oil viscosity, permeability, saltwater salinity, water cut, API gravity crude oil, pH, pressure, residual oil saturation, porosity depth and bacterial content in the reservoir.


2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 304-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M.. M. Shehata ◽  
M.B.. B. Alotaibi ◽  
H.A.. A. Nasr-El-Din

Summary Waterflooding has been used for decades as a secondary oil-recovery mode to support oil-reservoir pressure and to drive oil into producing wells. Recently, the tuning of the salinity of the injected water in sandstone reservoirs was used to enhance oil recovery at different injection modes. Several possible low-salinity-waterflooding mechanisms in sandstone formations were studied. Also, modified seawater was tested in chalk reservoirs as a tertiary recovery mode and consequently reduced the residual oil saturation (ROS). In carbonate formations, the effect of the ionic strength of the injected brine on oil recovery has remained questionable. In this paper, coreflood studies were conducted on Indiana limestone rock samples at 195°F. The main objective of this study was to investigate the impact of the salinity of the injected brine on the oil recovery during secondary and tertiary recovery modes. Various brines were tested including deionized water, shallow-aquifer water, seawater, and as diluted seawater. Also, ions (Na+, Ca2+, Mg2+, and SO42−) were particularly excluded from seawater to determine their individual impact on fluid/rock interactions and hence on oil recovery. Oil recovery, pressure drop across the core, and core-effluent samples were analyzed for each coreflood experiment. The oil recovery using seawater, as in the secondary recovery mode, was, on the average, 50% of original oil in place (OOIP). A sudden change in the salinity of the injected brine from seawater in the secondary recovery mode to deionized water in the tertiary mode or vice versa had a significant effect on the oil-production performance. A solution of 20% diluted seawater did not reduce the ROS in the tertiary recovery mode after the injection of seawater as a secondary recovery mode for the Indiana limestone reservoir. On the other hand, 50% diluted seawater showed a slight change in the oil production after the injection of seawater and deionized water slugs. The Ca2+, Mg2+, and SO42− ions play a key role in oil mobilization in limestone rocks. Changing the ion composition of the injected brine between the different slugs of secondary and tertiary recovery modes showed a measurable increase in the oil production.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentina Zharko ◽  
Dmitriy Burdakov

Abstract The paper presents the results of a pilot project implementing WAG injection at the oilfield with carbonate reservoir, characterized by low efficiency of traditional waterflooding. The objective of the pilot project was to evaluate the efficiency of this enhanced oil recovery method for conditions of the specific oil field. For the initial introduction of WAG, an area of the reservoir with minimal potential risks has been identified. During the test injections of water and gas, production parameters were monitored, including the oil production rates of the reacting wells and the water and gas injection rates of injection wells, the change in the density and composition of the produced fluids. With first positive results, the pilot area of the reservoir was expanded. In accordance with the responses of the producing wells to the injection of displacing agents, the injection rates were adjusted, and the production intensified, with the aim of maximizing the effect of WAG. The results obtained in practice were reproduced in the simulation model sector in order to obtain a project curve characterizing an increase in oil recovery due to water-alternating gas injection. Practical results obtained during pilot testing of the technology show that the injection of gas and water alternately can reduce the water cut of the reacting wells and increase overall oil production, providing more efficient displacement compared to traditional waterflooding. The use of WAG after the waterflooding provides an increase in oil recovery and a decrease in residual oil saturation. The water cut of the produced liquid decreased from 98% to 80%, an increase in oil production rate of 100 tons/day was obtained. The increase in the oil recovery factor is estimated at approximately 7.5% at gas injection of 1.5 hydrocarbon pore volumes. Based on the received results, the displacement characteristic was constructed. Methods for monitoring the effectiveness of WAG have been determined, and studies are planned to be carried out when designing a full-scale WAG project at the field. This project is the first pilot project in Russia implementing WAG injection in a field with a carbonate reservoir. During the pilot project, the technical feasibility of implementing this EOR method was confirmed, as well as its efficiency in terms of increasing the oil recovery factor for the conditions of the carbonate reservoir of Eastern Siberia, characterized by high water cut and low values of oil displacement coefficients during waterflooding.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tinuola Udoh

Abstract In this paper, the enhanced oil recovery potential of the application of nanoparticles in Niger Delta water-wet reservoir rock was investigated. Core flooding experiments were conducted on the sandstone core samples at 25 °C with the applications of nanoparticles in secondary and tertiary injection modes. The oil production during flooding was used to evaluate the enhanced oil recovery potential of the nanoparticles in the reservoir rock. The results of the study showed that the application of nanoparticles in tertiary mode after the secondary formation brine flooding increased oil production by 16.19% OIIP. Also, a comparison between the oil recoveries from secondary formation brine and nanoparticles flooding showed that higher oil recovery of 81% OIIP was made with secondary nanoparticles flooding against 57% OIIP made with formation brine flooding. Finally, better oil recovery of 7.67% OIIP was achieved with secondary application of nanoparticles relative to the tertiary application of formation brine and nanoparticles flooding. The results of this study are significant for the design of the application of nanoparticles in Niger Delta reservoirs.


2021 ◽  
pp. 79-90
Author(s):  
Т. A. Pospelova

The article discusses ways to increase the oil recovery factor in already developed fields, special attention is paid to the methods of enhanced oil recovery. The comparative structure of oil production in Russia in the medium term is given. The experience of oil and gas companies in the application of enhanced oil recovery in the fields is analyzed and the dynamics of the growth in the use of various enhanced oil recovery in Russia is estimated. With an increase in the number of operations in the fields, the requirements for the selection of candidates inevitably increase, therefore, the work focuses on hydrodynamic modeling of physical and chemical modeling, highlights the features and disadvantages of existing simulators. The main dependences for adequate modeling during polymer flooding are given. The calculation with different concentration of polymer solution is presented, which significantly affects the water cut and further reduction of operating costs for the preparation of the produced fluid. The possibility of creating a specialized hydrodynamic simulator for low-volume chemical enhanced oil recovery is considered, since mainly simulators are applicable for chemical waterflooding and the impact is on the formation as a whole.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-131
Author(s):  
Frzan F. Ali ◽  
Maha R. Hamoudi ◽  
Akram H. Abdul Wahab

Water coning is the biggest production problem mechanism in Middle East oil fields, especially in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. When water production starts to increase, the costs of operations increase. Water production from the coning phenomena results in a reduction in recovery factor from the reservoir. Understanding the key factors impacting this problem can lead to the implementation of efficient methods to prevent and mitigate water coning. The rate of success of any method relies mainly on the ability to identify the mechanism causing the water coning. This is because several reservoir parameters can affect water coning in both homogenous and heterogeneous reservoirs. The objective of this research is to identify the parameters contributing to water coning in both homogenous and heterogeneous reservoirs. A simulation model was created to demonstrate water coning in a single- vertical well in a radial cross-section model in a commercial reservoir simulator. The sensitivity analysis was conducted on a variety of properties separately for both homogenous and heterogeneous reservoirs. The results were categorized by time to water breakthrough, oil production rate and water oil ratio. The results of the simulation work led to a number of conclusions. Firstly, production rate, perforation interval thickness and perforation depth are the most effective parameters on water coning. Secondly, time of water breakthrough is not an adequate indicator on the economic performance of the well, as the water cut is also important. Thirdly, natural fractures have significant contribution on water coning, which leads to less oil production at the end of production time when compared to a conventional reservoir with similar properties.


2021 ◽  
pp. 131-143
Author(s):  
F. A. Koryakin ◽  
N. Yu. Tretyakov ◽  
O. B. Abdulla ◽  
V. G. Filippov

Nowadays the share of hard-to-recover reserves is growing, and to maintain oil production on necessarily level, we need to involve hard-to-recover reserves or to increase oil production efficiency on a brownfields due to enhanced oil recovery. The efficiency of enhanced oil recovery can be estimated by oil saturation reduction. Single-well-chemical-tracer-test (SWCTT) is increasingly used to estimate oil saturation before and after enhanced oil recovery application. To interpret results of SWCTT, reservoir simulation is recommended. Oil saturation has been calculated by SWCTT interpretation with use of reservoir simulator (CMG STARS). Distribution constants has been corrected due to results of real core sample model, and core tests has been successfully simulated. Obtained values of oil saturation corresponds with real oil saturation of samples. Thus, SWCTT as a method of oil saturation estimation shows good results. This method is promising for enhanced oil recovery efficiency estimation.


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