1887
  1. Home
  2. Conferences
  3. Conference Proceedings
  4. IOR 2019 – 20th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery
  5. Conference paper

Abstract

Summary

Some foamy heavy oil reservoirs in the eastern Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt in Venezuela have been developed for decades by the foamy oil cold production method. The oil production rate declines obviously with reservoir pressure depletion. It should be carried out with consideration of a follow-up method to increase the ultimate oil recovery. Whereas the completion method of a great many production wells is not suitable for steam based recovery technology. Therefore a series of non-thermal EOR methods were investigated.

In this work, the viscosity of dead oil is 14500 mPa•s (53.7℃) and the produced gas is mainly comprised of methane and CO2 (87:13 in molar ratio). The flooding EOR methods of water flooding, produced gas flooding, surfactant flooding, and foam flooding; the huff and puff EOR methods of produced gas huff and puff , viscosity reducer assisted produced gas huff and puff, and foaming agent assisted produced gas huff and puff were conducted through microscopic visualization and sandpack displacement experiments.

Experimental results show that the for the flooding EOR methods, due to the tremendous mobility ratio, the water flooding and produced gas flooding get poor EOR performance. The surfactant flooding can improve the oil recovery factor by 15.09% because the surfactant reduces the interfacial tension and increases displacement efficiency. Furthermore the foam flooding can improve the oil recovery factor by 24.06% because the foam increases both the displacement efficiency and the sweep efficiency. For huff and puff EOR methods, produced gas huff and puff can improve the oil recovery factor by 7.4%, and microscopic visualization experiment shows the secondary foamy oil is generated after produced gas dissolved in oil phase. The viscosity reducer assisted produced gas huff and puff can improve the oil recovery factor by 12.5% owing to the reduced oil viscosity and improved oil mobility. The foaming agent assisted produced gas huff and puff can improve the oil recovery factor by 18.2%. That is because the foaming agent helps to form secondary foamy oil and keep the produced gas dispersed in the oil phase as long as possible.

© EAGE Publications BV
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201900097
2019-04-08
2024-04-19

  • From This Site

    /content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201900097
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. A.Alshmakhy, B.Maini
    .[2012] A follow-up recovery method after cold heavy oil production cyclic CO2 injection. SPE-157823.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. A.Mai, J.Bryan, N.Goodarzi et al.
    [2009] Insights into non-thermal recovery of heavy oil. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 48(3):27–35.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Beliveau, D.
    [2009]Waterflooding Viscous Oil Reservoirs. SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering, 12(5),689–701.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Bryan, J., & Kantzas, A.
    [2009] Potential for Alkali-Surfactant Flooding in Heavy Oil Reservoirs Through Oil-in-Water Emulsification. Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology, 48(2),P37–46.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. B.Yadali, Jamaloei and A.R.Singh
    . Evaluating EOR potential in an unconventional heavy-oil reservoir with strong foamy solution gas drive. SPE 174423 MS.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. F.Rodriguez, D.Rousseau, S.Bekri et al.
    [2016] Investigation and interpretation of a novel surfactant-polymer approach to increase extra-heavy oil recovery: application to a thin-bedded reservoir, Faja petrolifera del Orinoco, Venezuela.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Ivory, J., Chang, J., Coates, R. et al.
    [2010] Investigation of cyclic solvent injection process for heavy oil recovery. J Can Pet Technol49(9):22–33. SPE 140662-PA.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. J.Bryan, H.Shamekhi, S.Su et al.
    [2013] Insights into heavy oil recovery by surfactant, polymer and ASP flooding. SPE 165440.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. J. E.Rivera, C. A.Duarte, C. H.Chaparro et al.
    [2016] Comparison between cyclic gas injection and cyclic solvent+ gas injection. SPE-181168-MS.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. LixingLin, HongzeMa, FanhuaZeng
    , et al. [2014] A critical review of the solvent-based heavy oil recovery methods. SPE-170098-MS.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. M.Mohammadpoor, F.Torabi
    . [2012] An extensive review on the effective sequence of heavy oil recovery. SPE 157864.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. TuoHuang, HuaijunYang, GuangzhiLiao et al.
    [2015] Optimization of CO2 flooding strategy to enhance heavy oil recovery. SPE-174480-MS.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. XiaoGuangLu, ShaoqingSun, JohnXu
    . [2010] Application of thermal recovery and waterflood to heavy and extra-heavy oil reservoirs: analog knowledge from more than 120 clastic reservoirs. SPE-130758-MS.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. YadaliJamaloei, B.
    .[2013] Enhanced cyclic solvent process(ECSP) for thin heavy oil reservoirs. University of Calgary, Calgary, AB.(Ph.D.thesis).
     [Google Scholar]
  15. YadaliJamaloei, B., Dong, M., Mahinpey, N., Maini, B.B.
    . [2012] Enhanced cyclic solvent process(ECSP) for heavy oil and bitumen recovery in thin reservoirs. Energy Fuels26, 2865–2874.
     [Google Scholar]
http://instance.metastore.ingenta.com/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201900097
Loading
Experimental Investigation of Non-thermal EOR Methods for Foamy Extra-Heavy Oil Reservoirs
Conference Proceedings 2019, 1 (2019); https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.201900097
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201900097
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.201900097
Loading

Data & Media loading...

Most Cited This Month Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error