scholarly journals Assessment of a surfactant- polymer formulation for conditions in a Colombian field

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabián Andrés Tapias- Hernández ◽  
Rosangela Barros Zanoni Lopes Moreno

The surfactant-polymer (SP) process is one of the Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (CEOR) methods used in the industry. It has been continuously studied; however, it is still a challenge for the petroleum industry due to the difficulty to design the solution to be injected and forecast process performance. This paper is intended to contribute to the design of fluids used in an SP process based on some previously known properties and conditions. Hence, reservoir and fluid properties of a Colombian Field were used as reference parameters to select the polymer and surfactant. Then, the effects of salts, temperature, and surfactant on tailor-made polymer solutions were determined through a rheological study. Ostwald-de Waele and Carreau-Yasuda models adjusted the measured viscosity data against shear rate, while Arrhenius equation fitted viscosity values at 7,8 s-1 against temperature. The surfactant performance was analyzed using phase behavior tests, and the Chun Huh equations determined the interfacial tension (IFT) values. The Bancroft’s rule was used as a qualitative verification tool of the kind of micro- emulsion formed. From rheology, we concluded that the viscous modulus is predominant for all polymer solutions, and the fluid thickness is reduced due to the presence of divalent cations and raise on temperature, salts or surfactant concentration. On the other hand, the observed phase behavior corresponded to a transition Winsor II to I without finding any Winsor III micro-emulsion. Therefore, some criteria were proposed to select the optimal conditions. For the desired conditions, the reduction of IFT reached values ranging in magnitudes of 10-3 to 10-4 [mN/m]. These values are usually associated with an improved oil recovery factor.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eko Awan Yudha Fitnawan ◽  
Wibi Aulia Harsum ◽  
Agus Hasan ◽  
Muhammad Iffan Hannanu ◽  
Steven Leonardus Paulus ◽  
...  

Abstract Indonesia has become a net-oil importer since 2004 as the growing internal demand exceeds Indonesia's oil production. As many fields go into mature phase and combined with other challenges, the national oil production in the last decade has been decreasing from 945 MBOPD to 745 MBOPD with a decline rate of 3-5% per year. Thus, the contribution of the oil and gas sector to the state revenues has also shown a downward trend from 21% in 2010 to only 9.2% in 2019. However,oil production is still strategically importantfor the national economy. It is important for economic value creation, power generation, transportation, and industries as most of the archipelago's infrastructures are still based on fossil energy. If no effort is made to increase production, the country will be fullydependent on crude oil imports, which poses a threat to national energy security. It is thereforeinthe nation's great interest to enhance oil production, minimizing the deficit gapbetween export and import. Several key strategies may be considered to achieve this ambitious target. These strategies can be categorized into the following: 1) People and high performing organization; 2) Exploration, as critical factor for future production; 3) Improved oil recovery (including enhancedoil recovery) technologies, to grow production from the maturing fields; 4) Fast track and simplified project to develop small field discoveries; 5) Strong collaboration between government, industry, academia, and professional associations; and 6)Cost conscious culture. The derivatives of the above-mentioned strategies are among others: standardized resource data management, open source & digitalized geoscience data library, reimbursement system for exploration costs, near field/infrastructure exploration,new play concept, cluster license collaboration, infill wells campaign, multilateral wells, waterflooding, gas injection, stimulation and hydraulic fracturing campaign, well interventions, EOR screening, perfect-well optimization, standardize subsea and/or topside production system, digitalization, and attractive fiscal and regulation that encourages not only the ‘big operator’ to participate in the petroleum sector. The foundation of these strategies should be the legal certainty and effective & proactive bureaucracy. Above all, it is also important to emphasize the common ground of havingearly HSE involvement as part of the solution. In this paper, the authors would like to contribute in sharing the knowledge, technology and perspectives to all petroleum industry professionals in Indonesia based on the authors exposure in the Norwegian petroleum activities. The paper will also review the strategies, short term and long-term opportunities that may inspire Indonesian petroleum authorities and industry in transforming the ambition into action to achieve the national production target of 1 MMBOPD and 12 BCFD gas by 2030.


2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (03) ◽  
pp. 384-395 ◽  
Author(s):  
Odd Steve Hustad ◽  
Na Jia ◽  
Karen Schou Pedersen ◽  
Afzal Memon ◽  
Sukit Leekumjorn

Summary This paper presents fluid composition, high-pressure pressure/volume/temperature (PVT) measurements, and equation-of-state (EoS) modeling results for a recombined Tahiti oil, Gulf of Mexico (GoM), and for the oil mixed with nitrogen in various concentrations. The data include: Upper and lower asphaltene onset pressures and bubblepoint pressures for the reservoir fluid swelled with nitrogen. At the reservoir conditions of 94 MPa (13,634 psia) and 94°C (201.2°F), asphaltene precipitation is seen after the addition of 27 mol% of nitrogen. Viscosity data for the swelled fluids showing that the addition of nitrogen significantly reduces the oil viscosity. Slimtube runs indicating that the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) of the oil with nitrogen is significantly higher than estimated from published correlations. The data were modeled with the volume-corrected Soave-Redlich-Kwong (SRK) EoS and the perturbed-chain statistical association fluid theory (PC-SAFT) EoS. Although both equations provide a good match of the PVT properties of the reservoir fluid, PC-SAFT is superior to the SRK EoS for simulating the upper asphaltene onset pressures and the liquid-phase compressibility of the reservoir fluid swelled with nitrogen. Nitrogen-gas flooding is expected to have a positive impact on oil recovery because of its favorable oil-viscosity-reduction and phase behavior effects.


2011 ◽  
Vol 14 (03) ◽  
pp. 269-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
M.. Buchgraber ◽  
T.. Clemens ◽  
L. M. Castanier ◽  
A. R. Kovscek

Summary Of the various enhanced-oil-recovery (EOR) polymer formulations, newly developed associative polymers show special promise. We investigate pore and pore-network scales because polymer solutions ultimately flow through the pore space of rock to displace oil. We conduct and monitor optically water/oil and polymer-solution/oil displacements in a 2D etched-silicon micromodel. The micromodel has the geometrical and topological characteristics of sandstone. Conventional hydrolyzed-polyacrylamide solutions and newly developed associative-polymer solutions with concentrations ranging from 500 to 2,500 ppm were tested. The crude oil had a viscosity of 450 cp at test conditions. Our results provide new insight regarding the ability of polymer to stabilize multiphase flow. At zero and low polymer concentrations, relatively long and wide fingers of injectant developed, leading to early water break-through and low recoveries. At increased polymer concentration, a much greater number of relatively fine fingers formed. The width-to-length ratio of these fingers was quite small, and the absolute length of fingers decreased. At a larger scale of observation, the displacement front appears to be stabilized; hence, recovery efficiency improved remarkably. Above a concentration of 1,500 ppm, plugging of the micromodel by polymer and lower oil recovery was observed for both polymer types. For tertiary polymer injection that begins at breakthrough of water, the severe fingers resulting from water injection are modified significantly. Fingers become wider and grow in the direction normal to flow as polymer solution replaces water. Apparently, improved sweep efficiency of viscous oils is possible (at this scale of investigation) even after waterflooding. The associative- and conventional-polymer solutions improved oil recovery by approximately the same amount. The associative polymers, however, showed more-stable displacement fronts in comparison to conventional-polymer solutions.


Author(s):  
Alfisha Saifi ◽  
Kapil Kumar ◽  
Deepak Teotia

Lipid dosage forms are attractive delivery systems for hydrophobic drug molecules. Emulsion is one of the popular system since many decades. Pharmaceutical applications of emulsions widened especially after micro emulsion emergence. Now a day Microemulsion is an emerging trade and having worldwide importance in a variety of technological applications. These applications include enhanced oil recovery, combustion, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, metal cutting, lubrication, food, enzymatic catalysis, organic and bio-organic reactions, chemical synthesis of nanoparticles etc. This review article deals with feature and application of microemulsion. a brief introduction and definition, structure, type, formation characteristics, stability, phase behavior and the effect of additives, pressure, temperature on the phase behavior of microemulsion . In addition to oral and intravenous delivery, they are amenable for sustained and targeted delivery through ophthalmic, dental, pulmonary, vaginal and topical routes. Microemulsions are experiencing a very active development as reflected by the numerous publications and patents being granted on these systems. They have been used to improve the oral bioavailability of various poorly soluble drugs including cyclosporine. Keywords: Microemulsion, Self micro emulsifying system, poor soluble, thermodynamically stable, Sustained & Controlled release, Drug delivery.


SPE Journal ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 25 (03) ◽  
pp. 1406-1415
Author(s):  
Sheng Luo ◽  
Jodie L. Lutkenhaus ◽  
Hadi Nasrabadi

Summary The improved oil recovery (IOR) of unconventional shale reservoirs has attracted much interest in recent years. Gas injection, such as carbon dioxide (CO2) and natural gas, is one of the most considered techniques for its sweep efficiency and effectiveness in low-permeability reservoirs. However, the uncertainties of fluid phase behavior in shale reservoirs pose a great challenge in evaluating the performance of a gas-injection operation. Shale reservoirs typically have macroscale to nanoscale pore-size distribution in the porous space. In fractures and macropores, the fluid shows bulk behavior, but in nanopores, the phase behavior is significantly altered by the confinement effect. The integrated behavior of reservoir fluids in this complex environment remains uncertain. In this study, we investigate the nanoscale pore-size-distribution effect on the phase behavior of reservoir fluids in gas injection for shale reservoirs. A case of Anadarko Basin shale oil is used. The pore-size distribution is discretized as a multiscale system with pores of specific diameters. The phase equilibria of methane injection into the multiscale system are calculated. The constant-composition expansions are simulated for oil mixed with various fractions of injected gas. It is found that fluid in nanopores becomes supercritical with injected gas, but lowering the pressure to less than the bubblepoint turns it into the subcritical state. The bubblepoint is generally lower than the bulk and the degree of deviation depends on the amount of injected gas. The modeling of confined-fluid swelling shows that fluid swelled from nanopores is predicted to contain more oil than the swelled fluid at bulk state.


2019 ◽  
Vol 797 ◽  
pp. 402-410 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarveen Mahendran ◽  
Parthiban Siwayanan ◽  
Nur Anisah Shafie ◽  
Surej Kumar Subbiah ◽  
Babar Azeem

As the petroleum industry is facing challenges to add more oil reserves in their book, greater emphasis has been placed on improving the ultimate recovery factor for oilfields. When the recovery from primary and secondary methods could not be improved further, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) generally will be sought as the last option. One of the techniques applied in EOR is known as surfactant flooding. Though surfactants are very effective for the incremental oil recovery, there are implications during the post-flooding process. EOR surfactants that derived from petrochemicals generally display negative effects towards the marine ecosystem. This initial study aims to evaluate the potential application of palm oil based methyl ester sulfonate (MES) as a possible candidate for EOR application. Three qualitative and quantitative tests were performed on MES to evaluate its properties and capabilities for application in a specific offshore field. The results obtained from the qualitative compatibility and stability tests show that this anionic surfactant has great stability and compatibility with the brine solution as there are no visible signs of precipitation formation. However, the qualitative phase behavior test results indicated that the surfactant solution although has the ability to react with the crude oil but not at the required micro-emulsion state. In addition, the quantitative interfacial tension (IFT) test results also verified and supported the phase behavior test results where the strength of the MES was not adequate as a single surfactant system to achieve the ultra-low IFT state.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 56
Author(s):  
Mumuni Amadu ◽  
Adango Madongye

While geological sequestration of anthropogenic carbon dioxide is a technically and economically viable option for reducing emissions to the level required to avoid the predicted 2 degrees Celsius increase of atmospheric temperature by the end of this century, efficient sequestration planning is vital for the achievement of this goal.The petroleum industry has used conventional surfactants in enhance oil recovery projects aimed at prolonging the life span of a field, thereby increasing ultimate reserves. Notable among these is the use of surfactants for injected gas relative mobility control. Therefore, the potential for carbon dioxide mobility control in saline aquifers using surfactant alternating gas injection is huge, given the rich experience that can be tapped from the petroleum industry practice.Considering the expected surfactant loses in surfactant-enhanced geological sequestration similar to that encountered in the petroleum industry, this paper has used the analytical solution to advective diffusive equation that exists in the literature with a linear adsorption model where, adsorption has been used to predict trends in minimum pressure drop required for foam generation. The greatest utility of this work lies in the fact that the analytical solution is related a linear adsorption model related to a novel surfactant found from biological and hydrocarbon sources of geologic origin. This paper, therefore, extends the work of linear adsorption models for this novel surfactant aimed at exploring improved oil recovery potentials; in addition to exploring its potential for efficient geological carbon storage in saline aquifers.


2015 ◽  
Vol 137 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahmood Reza Yassin ◽  
Shahab Ayatollahi ◽  
Behzad Rostami ◽  
Kamran Hassani ◽  
Vahid Taghikhani

Based on the conventional approach, the trapped oil in rock pores can be easily displaced when a Winsor type (III) micro-emulsion is formed in the reservoir during surfactant flooding. On the other hand, the Winsor type (III) involves three phase flow of water, oil, and micro-emulsion that causes considerable oil phase trapping and surfactant retention. This work presents an experimental study on the effect of micro-emulsion phase behavior during surfactant flooding in sandstone and carbonate core samples. In this study, after accomplishing salinity scan of a cationic surfactant (C16–N(CH3)3Br), the effects of Winsor (I), Winsor (III) and Winsor (II) on oil recovery factor, differential pressure drop, relative permeability, and relative permeability ratio were investigated extensively. To carry out a comparative study, homogeneous and similar sandstone and carbonate rocks were selected and the effects of wettability alteration and dynamic surfactant adsorption were studied on them. The results of oil recovery factor in both rock types showed that Winsor (I) and Winsor (III) are preferred compared to Winsor (II) phase behavior. In addition, comparison of normalized relative permeability ratio at high water saturations revealed that Winsor (I) has more appropriate oil and water relative permeability than Winsor (II). The results presented in this paper demonstrate that optimum salinity which results in higher recovery factor and better oil displacement may occur at salinities out of Winsor (III) range. Therefore, the best way to specify optimum salinity is to perform core flood experiments at several salinities, which cover all phase behaviors of Winsor (I), Winsor (III), and Winsor (II).


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