SPE-175730-MS

Nitrogen Injection as IOR/EOR Solution For North African Oil Fields

Ulrich Heucke, Linde AG

Copyright 2015, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE North Africa Technical Conference and Exhibition held in Cairo, Egypt, 14 –16 September 2015.

This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents
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Abstract
Nitrogen injection is a proven technology for Improved and Enhanced Oil Recovery. This paper explains
the recovery mechanisms and infrastructure requirements, and highlights its advantages as a low cost and
water saving process for the arid North African region. A case study from Cantarell/Mexico demonstrates
its applicability. The assessment of oil fields in Algeria, Egypt, Libya and Tunisia shows the potential of
the technology for the North African region.
Nitrogen injection can be used for gas cap pressure maintenance, immiscible or miscible drive of oil
fields. The technologies for nitrogen production by air separation and for nitrogen rejection from
associated gas are explained. A case study of nitrogen injection is shown. The capital expenditure and
consumption figures are given. A screening method for North African oil fields is explained, including the
oil and reservoir screening criteria, as well as ratios for nitrogen demand and incremental oil production.
Nitrogen is produced from air, and therefore universally available as an inert and low cost injection
fluid. The technology can be used in onshore and offshore environments, and especially in areas where
water is scarce. The case study of nitrogen injection in the Cantarell oil field in Mexico shows the positive
production result of nitrogen injection. The assessment of North African oil fields shows a very good
potential for the application of the Technology. A total of 48 oil fields in Algeria, 49 fields in Egypt, 50
fields in Libya and 19 fields in Tunisia have been identified with good potential for nitrogen injection with
up to 10% incremental recovery factor of the Original Oil In Place.
The paper summarises the foundations of nitrogen injection for Improved and Enhanced Oil Recovery,
especially with a focus on the surface related technology installations for the North African region. The
oil field assessment including injection result estimate and nitrogen capacity requirements is new for the
region and in the literature.

Introduction
As the need for oil and gas in the developing North African region is increasing, while multiple mature
oil fields in the region show declining production, secondary and tertiary oil recovery mechanisms will
be required to satisfy the future demand. There are numerous thermal and non-thermal technologies
available, which can be implemented to improve or enhance the oil recovery from an oil field (Thomas,
2007). The applicability of a technology from this “technology toolbox” (Figure 1) is defined by not only
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the characteristics of the reservoir and the properties of the Original Oil In Place, but also by the ambient
conditions at the oil field.

Figure 1—EOR toolbox of available technologies

For the sake of clarity in this paper, the term Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) refers to a seconday oil
recovery mechanism, indicating that the injected fluid does not alter the properties of the Original Oil In
Place, whereas Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) refers to a tertiary oil recovery mechanism, indicating that
the injected fluid changes the properties of the Original Oil In Place, as for example reducing its interfacial
tension or viscosity.
The scarcity of water in the hot and arid climate of the North African countries makes it difficult to
apply water consumption intensive IOR technologies as water injection, thermal EOR technologies as
steam injection, or chemical EOR technologies as Alkaline, Surfactant or Polymer floods, where large
amounts of water are required to be provided and treated on site. In this case, it is advanteageous to use
a proven IOR/EOR technology based on a feedstock that is available virtually everywhere – which is air,
or nitrogen (N2) as its major component, making up about 78 volume percent of the air we breathe.

Nitrogen IOR/EOR recovery mechansims and benefits

Nitrogen injection can enhance oil recovery through three main different displacement mechanisms.
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Figure 2—Nitrogen based IOR/EOR mechansims

In dome shaped or inclined reservoir structures with a gas cap, the gas cap can be displaced with
nitrogen to replace the hydrocabons in the reservoir. Thus the reservoir pressure is maintained, allowing
the production of oil and associated gas to continue.
In inclined reservoir structures with average to low oil viscosity, immiscible displacement of the oil
with nitrogen is possible by injecting the nitrogen into the oil bearing stratum under high pressure, pushing
the oil towards the production well.
In deep reservoirs with high reservoir pressure, a miscible displacement of the oil can be obtained with
nitrogen flood. The injected nitrogen creates a miscible zone, where light hydrocarbons form a mixture
with N2, which dissolves in the oil and reduces its viscosity. This miscible zone allows a coherent drive
of the oilbank towards the production well.
There are multiple benefits for nitrogen injection. Nitrogen can be produced in most locations on-site
by cryogenic air separation. It is applied as a single component system that does not require additional
components for corrosion inhibition, or project specific design requirements as in chemical EOR systems.
Nitrogen is inert and non-corrosive, and avoids biodegradation in the reservoir through its low oxygen
content of typically below 10 parts per million by weight. It does not adsorb on reservoir rock, or alter
the rock’s wettability. Nitrogen as a light gas can also be applied in low permeability reservoirs.
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Critical issue for the nitrogen injection is the availability of a cost effective and stable energy source
for its production. The consumption of energy makes up about 95% of the total operating cost of a
nitrogen production unit. A stable electrical power supply is beneficial for the operation of the air
separation process. Alternatively, associated petroleum gas can be utilized in gas turbine units to provide
the energy for the process.
Infrastructure requirements for nitrogen IOR/EOR
As a primary process step, nitrogen is produced from amient air in an Air separation Unit (ASU, figure
3). Ambient air is filtered, and then compressed to about 10 bar. Water and carbon dioxide are removed
in a temperature swing adsorption unit. The air is cooled and finally liquefied at about ⫺180°C in plate
fin heat exchanger blocks. Oxygen and nitrogen are separated in a cryogenic distillation, and separately
vaporized and heated in counter current to the air stream. The heat exchangers and columns are arranged
in super insulated “cold boxes” to prevent formation of ice on the surfaces. Nitrogen can be purified to
10 ppmv oxygen content easily. Thousands of production units are in operation world wide, with up to
10,000 tons per day of nitrogen production per train and five trains in one production complex.

Figure 3—Air Separation Unit block diagram

Even in desert areas, the ambient air contains water that will be condensed in the air separation process,
and can be used as process water in the nitrogen production unit. An absolute air humidity of about 1
weight percent, corresponding to a relative humidity of 30% at 33°C, will provide about 120 tons per day
of water from the production of 10,000 tons per day of nitrogen.
The nitrogen is compressed to the injection pressure with axial turbo-compressor units up to about 110
bar, and then with reciprocal compressors to higher pressures if required. The nitrogen can be transported
in carbon steel pipelines to the gas injectors in the oil field. The compressor units can use an air cooled
intercooler design, minimizing the cooling water requirement.
The oil and associated petroleum gas from the production well is sent to a stabilizer to separate gas and
liquid. If the associated gas contains more than 10 volume percent of nitrogen, a Nitrogen Rejection Unit
(NRU) is recommended to separate nitrogen and hydrocarbon sales gas. The associated petroleum gas is
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dried and natural gas liquieds are removed. The gas is cooled and condensed, and nitrogen is separated
in a cryogenic distillation column. A CO2 content of up to 1 volume percent can be processed in the NRU.
The NRU is also flexible to handle varying nitrogen contents in the associated gas.
An increased nitrogen content in the associated petroleum gas may be observed only years after the
start of nitrogen injection to the reservoir. A staged project implementation is therefore recommended,
building the nitrogen production and injection first, followed by a subsequent investment in a NRU at the
appropriate later time.

Case study of Cantarell nitrogen injection

The world’s largest nitrogen injection project is in operation since the year 2000 in Cantarell, Mexico
(Guzmann, 2014). The nitrogen production complex is located in a remote area in South Mexico,
producing its own power from gas fired turbine cogeneration units, and its own process water from
condensed air humidity. It supplies nitrogen to the offshore oil fields of Cantarell and Koo-Maloob-Zaap
in the Golf of Mexico, where it is injected into the gas caps of the giant oil fields.

Figure 4 —Nitrogen production facility in Cantarell, Mexico

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Figure 5—Nitrogen supply scheme for the nitrogen injection in Cantarell

The project includes five trains of each 10,000 tons nitrogen production per day (300 MMSCFD or
335,000 Nm3/h), totaling in a supply of 50,000 tons per day at 110 bar via a 95 km pipeline to the offshore
platforms Akal C1 and Nohoch-A for pressure maintenance. The plants were built from 1998 to 2000 with
four trains, and expanded in 2004 to 2006 with a fifth train, with a total investment sum of 1.3 billion
US-dollars.

Figure 6 —Cantarell production history before and after nitrogen injection start

The production of the Cantarell filed increased from 1 million barrels per day in 1996 to 2.2 millon
barrels per day peak production in 2004 (Daltaban et al. 2008). About 30 percent of the production can
be attributed to the effect of nitrogen injection (Sanchez et al. 2005).
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Field assessment for nitrogen IOR/EOR potential

To assess the potential of oil fields for nitrogen injection, numerous screeneing criteria have been
developed, and refined by analysing data from many commercial EOR projects (Clancy 1985, Taber
1997). Three critical parameters for nitrogen injection have been defined, being the API gravity of the oil,
the reservoir depth, which related to the pressure in the oil field, and the oil viscosity. Other parameters
as permeability or temperature are seen as not critical. The critical parameters are used in this study to
identify oil fields with a potential for nitrogen injection.
The effectiveness of nitrogen injection was observed and compared in various nitrogen injection
projects with different recovery mechanisms (Sinanan, 2012), showing incremental recovery factors of
12% to 36% of the Original Oil In Place. For this assessment, we have used a conservative approach of
10% incremental recovery factor for miscible gas injection, and 5% for immiscible gas injection including
pressure maintenance, in order to estimate the potential incremental recovery of a specific field.
The efficiency of nitrogen injection is defined as sweep efficiency in barrels of incremental oil
produced per ton of injected gas, and estimated on a conservative level for this assessment (Table 1).
Values for carbon dioxide injection are shown as comparison.

Table 1—Screening criteria for field assessment

The North African oil fields in Egypt, Algeria, Libya and Tunesia have been assessed based on the
information from the Rystad Global Upstream Database 2012, using the criteria above. To establish the
required potential capacity of nitrogen injection, a project duration of ten years with continuous injection
has been assumed. This provides an order of magnitude for the size of the project and related annual
return.
To establish a more accurate view, the results of the screening need to be evaluated by the field
operating entities. Additional geological criteria as the reservoir inclination angle or current reservoir
pressure need to be assessed, and the database information needs to be verified. A reservoir simulation
needs to be performed for the specific field to determine the incremental recovery factor and sweep
efficiency more accurately, along with laboratory tests to calibrate the simulation. A next step, a field pilot
trial is recommended to ascertain the target capacity of the nitrogen injection, and to determine the
requirement for a potential future nitrogen rejection unit.

North African oil field assessment

The field assessment lists the producing oil fields that fulfill the screening criteria above. Based on the
given Original Oil In Place (OOIP), an incremental oil recovery potential is calculated in million barrels
(MMbbl), as shown for the example of Egypt in Table 2.
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Table 2—Nitrogen EOR field screening example Egypt

Taking into account a ten years scheme for nitrogen injection, and a sweep efficiency as given above,
the average nitrogen demand is calculated in tons per day, as well as the average incremental oil recovery
potential in barrels per day. These figures give a first estimate of the potential capacities required and
returns to be expected.

Table 3—Nitrogen EOR potential for Egypt

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Multiple medium sized opportunities for nitrogen injection can be idientified in Egypt, with a cluster
potential in the Zeit Bay area at the Red Sea, where multiple fields could be supplied with nitrogen from
one unit installed in the region.

Table 4 —Nitrogen EOR potential for Algeria

Algeria has many potential fields which may be suitable for nitrogen injection. The potential capacities
are in the range of the Cantarell reference, with a possiblility to use nitrogen in a staged injection approach
in the Hassi Messaoud field.
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Table 5—Nitrogen EOR potential for Libya

Also in Libya, many fields with potential for large nitrogen injection units may be feasible. Significant
incremental oil recovery could be achieved in a sustainable business environment.

Table 6 —Nitrogen EOR potential for Tunesia

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Tunisia has one major field with potential for nitrogen EOR, wich is El Borma. Some more, smaller
fields may be suitable for a nitrogen injection scheme with a reduced budget, also with some cluster
potential in the El Borma area.

Conclusion
Nitrogen injection can be an Improved or Enhanced Oil Recovery solution for North African Oil Fields.
The technology is proven and established, and especially suitable for mature fields in arid regions, where
water may be scarce.
For the implementation of a nitrogen injection project, an Air Separation Unit is used to produce
nitrogen on site from ambient air, which can be designed to use associated petroleum gas in gas turbine
cogeneration units to drive the process, and air coolers to minimize cooling water requirement. As a follow
up investment a Nitrogen Rejection Unit can be implemented after years of nitrogen injection, if the
associated petroleum gas nitrogen content is higher than 10%, in order to remove nitrogen from the
hydrocarbon sales gas.
Based on the assessment of API gravity, reservoir depth and oil viscosity, a number of North African
fields with potential for either miscible or immiscible nitrogen injection have been identified. The
incremental oil recovery potential rates for a ten year project are ranging from some hundered to hundreds
of thousand barrels of oil per day, with an estimated nitrogen injection capacity of some hundred to several
tens of thousand tons per day, equaling the or even exceeding the largest proven reference in Cantarell,
Mexico.
To further develop one nitrogen injection opportunity, a reservoir simulation needs to be performed for
the specific field to ascertain the incremental recovery factor and sweep efficiency, along with laboratory
tests to calibrate the simulation. Before the commercial implementation, a field pilot trial is recommended
to ascertain the target capacity of the nitrogen injection, and determine the requirement for a future
nitrogen rejection unit.

References
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