1887
  1. Home
  2. Conferences
  3. Conference Proceedings
  4. IOR+ 2023
  5. Conference paper

Abstract

Summary

Polymer Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a globally deployed technology in over 350 projects that has shown to be highly effective in sustainably recovering more oil. Over the last decade, several polymer pilot demonstrated to be highly efficient in increasing and accelerated oil recovery. They resulted in larger field deployments.

Historically, most of the projects were conducted in reservoir of relative high permeability, from 500 mD and above. The technology is now considered for reservoir with lower permeability reservoir where we usually observed quite high resistance factor (RF) in regard to the injected viscosity of the polymer solution measured in solution despite good injectivity.

Over the years, many researchers have considered that resistance factor is the product of viscosity and residual resistance factor (RRF), and reservoir simulators have been built accordingly. In a recent paper, Seright et al. pointed out the importance of having reliable RRF data, which is usually not the case, leading to underestimation of the apparent viscosity of the polymer solution in porous media. The depleted layer theory has been developed to explain this apparent reduction in viscosity in porous media. Some research even recommends increasing polymer concentration to compensate for this apparent lower viscosity. As very well explained by Seright et al., depletion layer does not apply to the flow of polymer solution in porous media, since polymer adsorbed onto the rock surface.

Going further in the implication of this assertion, the effective concentration in porous media is higher than the injected concentration because the adsorbed polymer brings extra-concentration. In high permeability cores (> 1 Darcy) this effect is limited however, for lower permeability cores, increase in effective concentration can be as high as 80% having a much more significant impact on apparent viscosity versus injected viscosity, up to one order of magnitude.

In this paper, we will present in detail this mechanism supported by extensive laboratory data covering a broad range of reservoir conditions and polymer type. We propose another definition of the effective viscosity in porous media, has being the product of the resistance factor and the water viscosity. Depending on permeability, it can allow reducing polymer concentration by several tenth of percent. In reservoirs, having permeability lower than 500 mD, polymer consumption could be reduced by up to 50% to achieve the targeted level of mobility ratio, significantly reducing OPEX of EOR project.

© EAGE Publications BV
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202331071
2023-10-02
2024-10-11

  • From This Site

    /content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202331071
    dcterms_title,dcterms_subject,pub_keyword
    -contentType:Journal -contentType:Contributor -contentType:Concept -contentType:Institution
    10
    5
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. 1.Net Zero by 2050 : A Roadmap for the Global Energy Sector. s.l. : International Energy Agency (IEA), 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  2. 2.World Oil Outlook 2045.Vienna, Austria : Organization of the Petroleum Countries (OPEC), 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. 3.Internation Energy Outlook 2021 with Projections to 2050.Washington DC : U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. 4.The Oil and Gas Industry in Energy Transitions. s.l. : Internal Energy Agency (IEA), 2020.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. 5.Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery and the Dilemna of More and Cleaner Energy.R.Farajzadeh, S.Kahrobaei, A.A.Eftekhari, R.A.Mjeni, D.Boersma, J.Bruining. s.l. : Scientific Reports, 2021, Vol. 11. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-80369-z.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. 6.Recent Advances in Polymer Flooding in China: Lessons Learned and Continuing Development.H.Guo, K.Song, S.Liu, F.Zhao, Z.Wang, Y.Xu, J.Liu, E.Tang, Z.Yang. s.l. : Socitiety of Petroleum Engineers, 2021, SPE Journal, Vol. SPE 204455.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. 7.Results of the UK Captain Field Interwell EOR Pilot.A.Poulsen, G.M.Shook, A.Jackson, N.Ruby, K.Charvin, V.Dwarakanath, S.Thach, M.Ellis. Tulsa, Oklahoma : s.n., 2018. SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference. Vol. SPE 190175.
     [Google Scholar]
  8. 8.Using Polymer EOR to Reduce Carbon Intensity while Increasing Oil Recovery.L.A.Moros-Maurice, G.Dupuis, P.Al-Khoury, J.Nieuwerf, C.Favero. 2021. 21st European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. 9.Polymer-EOR Worlwide Potential Contribution to Reducing CO2 Emissions.J.L.Mogollon, E.Tillero, F.Peretti. Bogota : s.n., 2022. Second EAGE Workshop on EOR in Latin America.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. 10.How Chemical EOR Can Contribute to Reduce Carbon Footprint while Ensuring Stable and Affordable Energy Supplies?G.Dupuis, N.Philips. Bogota : s.n., 2022. Second EAGE Workshop on EOR in Latin America.
     [Google Scholar]
  11. 11.Grimbeek Successful Polymer Pilot Extends to 80 Injectors in Factory-Mode Development at CGSJ Basin.J.Juri, A.Ruiz, F.Schein, V.Serrano, M.Thill, P.Guillen, A.Tosi, M.Pacchy, L.Soto, A.Therisod, M.Paura, P.Lauro, P.Alonso. Pau, France : s.n., 2019. IOR 2019 - 20th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovery. https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.201900061.
     [Google Scholar]
  12. 12.Sustainable Distributed Polymer Injection Achieves 23% of Manantiales Behr Oil Production in 2 Years; Reusable Mobile Development that Reduces Polymer Back-Production.J.Jury, G.Dupuis, G.Pedersen, A.Ruiz, V.Serrano, P.Guillen, I.Ylitch, N.Ojeda and S.Gandi, L.Martino, D.Perez, G.Vocaturo, A.Rojas, A.Viñales, C.Rivas, J.L.Massaferro. Houston, Texas : s.n., 2023. SPE International Conference on Oilfield Chemistry. Vol. SPE 213835. https://doi.org/10.2118/213835-MS.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. 13.Beneficial Relative Permeabilities for Polymer Flooding.R.S.Seright, D.Wang, N.Lerner, A.Nguyen, J.Sabid, R.Tochor. Tulsa, Oklahoma : s.n., 2018. SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium. Vol. SPE 190321. https://doi.org/10.2118/190321-MS.
     [Google Scholar]
  14. 14.On the Modelling of Immiscible Viscous Fingering in Two-Phase Flow in Porous Media.K.S.Sorbie, A.Y.Al-Ghafri, A.Skauge, E.J.Mackay. 2020, Transport in Porous Media, Vol. 135, pp. 331–359.
     [Google Scholar]
  15. 15.The Role of Immiscible Fingering on the Mechanism of Secondary and Tertiary Polymer Flooding of Viscous Oil.A.Beteta, K.S.Sorbie, K.Mclver, G.Johnson, R.Gasimov, W.Van Zeil. 2022, Transport in Porous Media, Vol. 143, pp. 343–372.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. 16.Immiscible Viscous Fingering at the Field Scale: Numerical Simulation of the Captain Polymer Flood.A.Beteta, K.S.Sorbie, G.Johnson. 2023, SPE Journal, Vol. SPE 215813.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. 17.Improving the Economics of Polymerflood EOR through Polymer Tapering at the Captain Field.G.Johnson, N.Lugo, A.Neal, J.McBeath, D.Farthing. Vienna, Austria : s.n., 2023. 84th EAGE Annual Conference & Exhibition.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. 18.Evidence that High Polymer Viscosity Accelerates and Increases Oil Response in Grimbeek Manantiales Behr.J.Juri, F.Schein, G.Pedersen, A.Ruiz, V.Serrano, P.Vasquez, P.Guillen, V.De Miranda, W.MacDonald, E.Figueroa, N.Robina, M.Vera, F.Di Pauly, W.Rojas, N.Ojeda, I.Ylich, A.Lucero, J.Alonso, P.Alonso, F.Funes, J.L.SMas. 2021. IOR 2021.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. 19.Revisiting Polymer Selection Workflows for Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery.Thomas, A.The Hague, Netherlands : s.n., 2023. 22nd European IOR+ Symposium.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. 20.Why is it so Difficult to Predict Polymer Injectivity in Chemical Oil Recovery Processes.A.Thomas, M.A.Giddins, R.Wilton. Pau, France : s.n., 2019. 20th European Symposium on Improved Oil Recovey.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. 21.Basic Rheological Behavior of Xanthan Polysaccharide Solutions in Porous Media: Effects of Pore Size and Polymer Concentration.G.Chauveteau, A.Zaitoun. Bournemouth, England : Society of Petroleum Engineers, 1981. 1st European Symposium on Enhanced Oil Recovery. pp. 197–212.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. 22.Two-Phase Flow Through Porous Media: Effect of an Adsorbed Polymer Layer.A.Zaitoun, N.Kohler. Houston, Texas : s.n., 1988. SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition. Vol. SPE 18085.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. 23.Sorbie, K.S.Polymer-Improved Oil Recovery. s.l. : Springer Science & Business Media, 2013. p. 359. 9401130442, 9789401130448.
     [Google Scholar]
  24. 24.Generalized Modeling of Spontaneous Imbibition Based on Hagen-Poiseuille Flow in Tortuous Capillaries with Variable Shaped Apertures.J.Cai, E.Perfect, C.L.Cheng, X.Hu. 18, s.l. : American Chemical Society, 2014, Langmuir, Vol. 30, pp. 5142–5151.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. 25.Rodlike Polymer Solution Flow through Fine Pores: Influence of Pore Size on Rheological Behavior.Chauveteau, G. 2, 1982, Journal of Rheology, Vol. 26, pp. 111–142.
     [Google Scholar]
  26. 26.Prediction of Xanthan Rheology in Porous Media.W.J.Cannella, C.Huh, R.S.Seright. Houston, Texas : Society of Petroleum Engineers, 1988. 63rd Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition.
     [Google Scholar]
  27. 27.Analysis of Factors Influencing Mobility and Adsorption in the Flow of Polymer Solution Through Porous Media.G.J.Hirasaki, G.A.Pope. s.l. : Society of Petroleum Engineers, 1974, SPE Journal, Vol. 14, pp. 337–346.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. 28.New Insights into Polymer Rheology in Porous Media.R.S.Serigth, T.Fan, K.Wavrik, R.D.C.Balaban. 2011, SPE Journal, Vol. SPE 129200.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. 29.How Much Polymer Should be Injected During a Polymer Flood? Review of Previous and Current Practices.Seright, R.S.2017, SPE Journal, Vol. SPE 179543.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. 30.Polymer Retention Evaluation in a Heavy Oil Sand for a Polymer FLooding Application on Alaska’s North Slope.D.Wang, C.Li, R.S.Seright. Tulsa, Oklahoma : s.n., 2020. SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium. Vol. SPE 200428.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. 31.Polymer Solution Near an Interface. Adsorption and Depletion Layers.Gennes, P.G. De. 6, 1981, Macromolecules, Vol. 14, pp. 1637–1644.
     [Google Scholar]
  32. 32.Gennes, P.G.De. Scaling Concepts in Polymer Physics.Ithica, New York : Cornell University Press, 1979.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. 33.Literature Review and Experimental Observations of the Effect of Salinity, Hardness, Lithology, and ATBS Content on HPAM Polymer Retention for the Milne Point Polymer Flood.R.S.Seright, D.Wang. s.l. : Society of Petroleum Engineers, 2023, SPE Journal, Vol. SPE 212946.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. 34.Thickness Dependent Effective Viscosity of a Polymer Solution Near an Interface Probed by a Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation Method.J.Fang, J.Sheng, Z.Jiang, Y.Ma. 2015, Scientific Reports, Vol. 5. 8491.
     [Google Scholar]
  35. 35.The Effect of Inaccessible Pore Volume on Polymer Core Experiments.T.Lotsch, T.Muller, G.Pusch. Phoenix, Arizona : s.n., 1985. Internation Symposium on Oilfield and Geothermal Chemistry. Vol. SPE 13590.
     [Google Scholar]
  36. 36.Appraisal of the Use of Polymer Injection to Suppress Aquifer Influx and to Improve Volumetric Sweep in a Viscous Oil Reservoir.D.S.Hughes, D.Teew, C.W.Cottrell, J.M.Tollas. 1990, SPE Reservoir Engineering, pp. 33–40.
     [Google Scholar]
  37. 37.Polymer Transport and Rheological Properties of Polymer Flooding in the North Sea Captain Field.W.T.Osterioh, E.J.Law. Tulsa, Oklahoma : s.n., 1998. SPE/DOE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium. Vol. SPE 39694.
     [Google Scholar]
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202331071
Loading
Better Understanding of Polymer Behaviour in Porous Media Allowing Reducing OPEX of EOR Projects
Conference Proceedings 2023, 1 (2023); https://doi.org/10.3997/2214-4609.202331071
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202331071
/content/papers/10.3997/2214-4609.202331071
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