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New Fluorescent Tracers for SWCTT
- Publisher: European Association of Geoscientists & Engineers
- Source: Conference Proceedings, IOR 2017 - 19th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery, Apr 2017, Volume 2017, p.1 - 12
Abstract
Tracer technology is a tool mostly uses to monitor mass flow in various systems. In the context of reservoir monitoring, and when used during a Single Well Chemical Tracer Test (SWCTT), tracers can provide information on residual oil saturation (SOR) in the near-well zone.
Although effective, today’s single-well tracers suffer from important drawbacks. Current technology consists of simple esters such as ethyl acetate which need to be used in large quantities to be detected properly by highly qualified workers.
With its ease of use, luminescence seems to be a promising substitute to current technics. Although the oil intrinsic luminescence may be looked upon as a difficulty, time-resolved spectroscopy offers a way to circumvent it, without generating too much drawbacks.
Lanthanide chelates have gained a lot of traction over the last decade in several fields including tracers (e. g. in medicine). They are versatile and it is possible to adapt, modify and customize so that they conform to specified requirements in term of interactions and stability. In this manner, it is possible to produce potential replacement candidates for today’s SWCTT tracers.
This study explores luminescent tracers currently being designed for SWCTT, their possibilities, future developments and applications for SOR measurements.