scholarly journals Joint Optimization of Well Completions and Controls for CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery and Storage

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bailian Chen ◽  
Rajesh Pawar
2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (06) ◽  
pp. 67-68
Author(s):  
Chris Carpenter

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 200316, “Joint Optimization of Well Completions and Controls for CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery and Storage,” by Bailian Chen, SPE, and Rajesh Pawar, Los Alamos National Laboratory, prepared for the 2020 SPE Improved Oil Recovery Conference, originally scheduled to be held in Tulsa 18–22 April. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Carbon dioxide (CO2) storage through CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has been considered an option for larger-scale deployment of CO2 storage because of the economic benefits of oil recovery, 45Q tax credits, and the use of existing infrastructure. The complete paper investigates how optimal reservoir management and operation strategies can be used to optimize both CO2 storage and oil recovery. Results of the authors’ study showed that joint optimization of well completions and well controls can achieve a higher final net present value (NPV) than that obtained from the optimization of well controls only. Introduction In CO2 EOR associated with storage processes, poorly designed well-operating conditions or completions can lead to low oil recovery factors and suboptimal CO2 storage. Co-optimization of oil production and CO2 storage has been recognized as a feasible technique to maximize benefit in terms of oil production and CO2 storage tax credit. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, settings for well completions have not been considered as optimization variables in a CO2 EOR and storage co-optimization process. The objective of this study is to conduct joint optimization of well completions and controls [well rates or bottomhole pressures (BHP)] that maximize life-cycle NPV in CO2 EOR and storage processes and demonstrate the superiority of joint optimization over well-control-only optimization. Optimization Problem In this study, the optimization problem considered is the joint optimization of well completions and well controls for a CO2 EOR and storage process. The mathematical process behind this determination is detailed in the complete paper. The optimization problem was focused on jointly estimating the well completions (i.e., fraction of injection/production well perforations in each reservoir layer) and CO2 injection and oil-production controls that maximize NPV in a CO2 EOR and storage operation. The authors used a newly developed stochastic simplex approximate gradient algorithm to solve the optimization problem. The performance of the joint optimization approach was compared with the performance of the well-control-only optimization approach. In addition, the performance of the co-optimization of CO2 storage and oil-recovery approach was compared with that of the maximization of only-CO2-storage and only-oil-recovery approaches.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Bailian Chen ◽  
Rajesh Pawar

Summary Carbon dioxide (CO2) enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is considered one of the technologies to help promote larger scale deployment of geologic CO2 storage because of associated economic benefits through CO2 storage, associated benefits of oil recovery, and the 45Q tax credit (a tax incentive that would reduce CO2 emission in the United States) as well as potential for utilization of existing infrastructure. The objective of this study is to demonstrate how optimal operation strategies (including well completions and controls) can be used to optimize both CO2 storage and oil recovery. The optimization problem was focused on joint estimation of well completions (i.e., fraction of injection/production well perforations in each reservoir layer) and CO2 injection/oil production controls [i.e., rates or bottomhole pressures (BHPs)] that maximize the net present value (NPV) in a combined CO2-EOR and CO2 storage operation. We used the newly developed stochastic simplex approximate gradient (StoSAG), one of the most efficient optimization algorithms in the reservoir optimization community, to solve the optimization problem. The performance of the joint optimization approach was compared with the performance of the well-control-only optimization approach. The superiority of joint optimization was demonstrated with two examples. In addition, the performance of co-optimization of CO2 storage and oil recovery approach was compared with the performances of maximization of only CO2 storage and maximization of only oil recovery approaches.


2019 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-750
Author(s):  
Sébastien Chailleux

Analyzing the case of France, this article aims to explain how the development of enhanced oil recovery techniques over the last decade contributed to politicizing the subsurface, that is putting underground resources at the center of social unrest and political debates. France faced a decline of its oil and gas activity in the 1990s, followed by a renewal with subsurface activity in the late 2000s using enhanced oil recovery techniques. An industrial demonstrator for carbon capture and storage was developed between 2010 and 2013 , while projects targeting unconventional oil and gas were pushed forward between 2008 and 2011 before eventually being canceled. We analyze how the credibility, legitimacy, and governance of those techniques were developed and how conflicts made the role of the subsurface for energy transition the target of political choices. The level of political and industrial support and social protest played a key role in building project legitimacy, while the types of narratives and their credibility determined the distinct trajectories of hydraulic fracturing and carbon capture and storage in France. The conflicts over enhanced oil recovery techniques are also explained through the critical assessment of the governance framework that tends to exclude civil society stakeholders. We suggest that these conflicts illustrated a new type of politicization of the subsurface by merging geostrategic concerns with social claims about governance, ecological demands about pollution, and linking local preoccupations to global climate change.


2019 ◽  
Vol 239 ◽  
pp. 167-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pieter Roefs ◽  
Michele Moretti ◽  
Kris Welkenhuysen ◽  
Kris Piessens ◽  
Tine Compernolle

SPE Journal ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (06) ◽  
pp. 1227-1237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fatemeh Kamali ◽  
Furqan Hussain ◽  
Yildiray Cinar

Summary This paper presents experimental observations that delineate co-optimization of carbon dioxide (CO2) enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and storage. Pure supercritical CO2 is injected into a homogeneous outcrop sandstone sample saturated with oil and immobile water under various miscibility conditions. A mixture of hexane and decane is used for the oil phase. Experiments are run at 70°C and three different pressures (1,300, 1,700, and 2,100 psi). Each pressure is determined by use of a pressure/volume/temperature simulator to create immiscible, near-miscible, and miscible displacements. Oil recovery, differential pressure, and compositions are recorded during experiments. A co-optimization function for CO2 storage and incremental oil is defined and calculated using the measured data for each experiment. A compositional reservoir simulator is then used to examine gravity effects on displacements and to derive relative permeabilities. Experimental observations demonstrate that almost similar oil recovery is achieved during miscible and near-miscible displacements whereas approximately 18% less recovery is recorded in the immiscible displacement. More heavy component (decane) is recovered in the miscible and near-miscible displacements than in the immiscible displacement. The co-optimization function suggests that the near-miscible displacement yields the highest CO2-storage efficiency and displays the best performance for coupling CO2 EOR and storage. Numerical simulations show that, even on the laboratory scale, there are significant gravity effects in the near-miscible and miscible displacements. It is revealed that the near-miscible and miscible recoveries depend strongly on the endpoint effective CO2 permeability.


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