Overview of Gas Displacement Enhanced Oil Recovery

Mark Holtz RECS 2012 7 June 2012

Praxair At A Glance
Packaged Gases Liquid Supply

Pipline Onsite
TEXAS LOUISIANA
LAKE CHARLES SULPHUR HOUSTON CHANNELVIEW NEDERLAND BEAUMONT MONT BELVIEU BAYTOWN LAPORTE GALVESTON BAY TEXAS CITY GALVESTON PORT ARTHUR SABINE LAKE GEISMAR BATON ROUGE

NEW ORLEANS

PASADENA DEER PARK BAYPORT

Praxairs

GULF OF MEXICO 600 MMCFD

H2 System Capacity

245 miles of pipeline serving 50 major customers

Hydrogen Nitrogen Oxygen Air Separation Plants Industrial Area

Upstream Oil and Gas Business

l Enhanced Oil Recovery Over 30 years experience with Gas Displacement Recovery (GDR)
l Nitrogen l Carbon

Dioxide

More than 25 projects

l Well

Stimulation Services

l CO2/N2 EOR Services Pilots and huff-n-puffs l CO2

Capture & Purification

Exxon Hawkins Field, Injects 80 MMscf/d of N2 at 2,000 psi

Outline
1. The Petrophysics of Residual Saturation 2. General Applications of Gas Displacement Recovery (GDR) 3. CO2 EOR Pilot Approach

Rock-Fluid Property Models

Wettability End point fluid characteristics
Residual oil and gas saturation End point water saturations

Oil-water relative permeability Oil-gas relative permeability Gas-water relative permeability Capillary pressure character

Wettability

Is defined as the tendency of one fluid to spread on or adhere to a solid surface in the presence of other immiscible fluids.

Wettability Contact Angle

Water wet
Oil Water

Oil wet

c
Water

c Grain surface

Pore-Scale Trapping results in residual saturation.

Nonwetting phase trapped Wetting phase

Wettability Effects on Water Displacing Oil

Oil

Water wet system

Oil Oil

Water

Water

Water

Time and water encroachment increasing

Wettability Effects on Water Displacing Oil

Oil

Oil Wet System

Oil

Oil

Water

Water

Water

Time and water encroachment increasing

Wettability and Relative Permeability

100 Oil Wet Water Wet 80 Oil Water 60 Oil 40 Water 20

Relative permeability (%)

20

40

60

80

100

Water saturation (%)

Capillary Pressure Curves: Water-Wet and Oil-Wet

48 48

Capillary Pressure, cm of Hg

Capillary Pressure, cm of Hg

40 32 24 16 8 0 0 40 80 100

40 32 24 16 1 8 2 0 0 20 40 60 80 100

20

60 Water Saturation, %

Water Saturation, %

Water-wet Rock (Vernango Core)

Oil-wet Rock (Tensleep sandstone)

After Killins et al. 1953, Dullien 1992

Residual Saturation as a Function of Porosity

1 Gas Residual saturation to water (fraction)

Residual Nonwetting phase saturation (fraction)

N = 143
0.8

Frio Barrier bar Log. (Gas Residual saturation to water (fraction)) Poly. (Gas Residual saturation to water (fraction)) Log. (Gas Residual saturation to water (fraction))

0.6

0.4

0.2

y = -0.3136Ln(x) - 0.1334 R 2 = 0.8536

0 0 0.1 0.2

Porosity (fraction)

0.3

0.4

0.5

0.6

Gas Displacement Recovery Reserve Growth Applications

Pressure Maintenance
Oil reservoirs Pressure maintenance condensate and retrograde condensate reservoirs

Miscible Displacement Immiscible Displacement

Patterns Huff n Puff

Mixed gas Applications

Driving agent for slug/buffer Mixed gases for density control

Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage

Gas Cap Injection

CO2/N2 displacing methane Pressure maintenance for the oil saturated zone.
Praxair

lMechanisms

CH4 CO2/N2 Oil

Generalized Retrograde Condensate-Gas Phase Diagram

Initial conditions Dew point pressure

Liquid
100

Pressure depletion

Pressure

75 50 25 10 0

Surface conditions

Cricondentherm

Gas
Modified from McCain (1973)

Temperature

Reservoir Temperature

Gas Condensate Pressure Maintenance

l

Pressure depletion causes;

Reduction in gas permeability and well productivity Lower ultimate hydrocarbon recovery 10 to 40 % Aquifer encroachment

Screening criteria:
1) Dew point pressure is near the original reservoir pressure, under saturated by 150 to 300 psi, 2) High condensate yield of 175 bbl/MMSCF produced, 3) High liquid dropout rate with liquid condensation from 20 to 40 % of the hydrocarbon pore space.

Gas Displacement Recovery Reserve Growth Applications

Pressure Maintenance
Oil reservoirs Pressure maintenance condensate and retrograde condensate reservoirs

Miscible Displacement Immiscible Displacement

Patterns Huff n Puff

Mixed gas Applications

Driving agent for slug/buffer Mixed gases for density control

Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage

Solvent EOR
Recovery mechanism
Reduces oil viscosity, swells oil

Process
Immiscible

Issues
Stability override

Typical recovery (%OOIP)

5 to 15 %

Typical utilization
10 MCF/STB oil produced

Miscible

Reduces oil viscosity, swells oil, Miscible displacement

Stability override

5 to 15 %

6 MCF/STB oil produced

Modified From Taber & Martin, 1983

Minimum Miscibility Pressure Estimation

CO2 Minimum Misciility Pressure
100 95 90 85 80 75 70 65 60 55 50 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500
CO2 Thermodynamic MMP

% Recovery at 1.2 HCPV of CO2 Injected

Estimated MMP
1600 1700 1800 Test Pressure, psia

CO2 Miscibility Displacement

l Results

in high pore level displacement efficiency. types including;

First-contact miscibility Multi-contact miscibility

Injector
Praxair

Producer

l Miscibility

l Currently

applied as;

WAG Continuous injection

CO2

Miscible front

Oil

The formation of a single phase diminishes the capillary forces

Gas Displacement Recovery Reserve Growth Applications

Pressure Maintenance
Oil reservoirs Pressure maintenance condensate and retrograde condensate reservoirs

Miscible Displacement Immiscible Displacement

Patterns Huff n Puff

Mixed gas Applications

Driving agent for slug/buffer Mixed gases for density control

Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage

Immiscible Floods and Pilots

Dodan Field, Turkey, Turkish Pet.,
Lick Creek Field
9- 15 API, 300 -1000 cp 60 MMSCF/D ( 1998 production) Carbonate reservoir, at 1,500 m (4,900 ft) depth 17 API, 160 cp Ss, Arkansas, after 5 years CO2 injection = 14.1 BSCF & 1 MMSTB oil produced. Fault block 3 tar zone Fault Block 5, 14 API, 180-410 CP demonstrated incremental tertiary oil recovery 16 API, 195 cp Arkansas, CO2 utilization 6.0 Mscf/STB, 14 API, 177 cp oil

Willmington Field pilots Ritchie Field

Huntington Beach Field

EOR Huff-n-Puff

Gas Displacement Recovery Reserve Growth Applications

Pressure Maintenance
Oil reservoirs Pressure maintenance condensate and retrograde condensate reservoirs

Miscible Displacement Immiscible Displacement

Patterns Huff n Puff

Mixed gas Applications

Driving agent for slug/buffer Mixed gases for density control

Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage

N2 as Driving Agent for slug/buffer (chase gas)

St Elaine Pilot Gravity stable N2 after CO2

9 month pilot 84.4 metric tons/D CO2 injected or 1/3 Pore volume N2 slug after CO2 , CH4 & n-butane mixture Critical velocity: 2.2 ft/d N2 injection rate; 136.1 metric tons/day (2.62 MMSCF/day CO2 front velocity designed at 1.6 ft/d or 70% of critical
CO2 Injection Well Producer
0 300 600
8,000 7,800

Structure Map 8,000 ft sand

,514 GWC 7 7,600

7,400

31

From Palmer et al., 1984,

Gas Displacement Recovery Reserve Growth Applications

Pressure Maintenance
Oil reservoirs Pressure maintenance condensate and retrograde condensate reservoirs

Miscible Displacement Immiscible Displacement

Patterns Huff n Puff

Mixed gas Applications

Driving agent for slug/buffer Mixed gases for density control

Gas Assisted Gravity Drainage

Gravity Drainage Double Displacement Process

l The

process of gas displacement of a water N2 injector invaded oil column has been termed Double Displacement Process (DDP).
The DDP consists of injecting gas up-dip and producing oil down-dip. DDP is efficient gravity drainage of oil with high gas saturation. Oil displaces water and gas displaces oil downstructure.

Producer

Gravity Drainage Double Displacement Process (DDP)

l Up

dip gas injection into a dipping reservoir is one of the most efficient recovery methods.
Recovery efficiencies of 85 % to 95 %

l Increases sweep efficiency l SoDDP decrease of 35% ( Hawkins field) l Increases

l Film

displacement efficiency

Oil film flow is an important recovery mechanism

flow connects the isolated blobs of residual oil in the presence of gas

Strong water wet Positive spreading coefficient

Modified from Ren et al., 2000)

Gravity Drainage - General Design

l Obtain

piston (no gas fingering) like displacement

Horizontal gas-oil contact Have gravity dominate the gas flow

l Optimize l The

the time between gas injection and oil production.

As fast as possible without gas fingering

greater the dip angle the higher the injection & production rates w/o gas fingering
The greater the dip the more effective the gravity drainage

Gravity Drainage - General Design

l Critical

velocity analytical model

Where

2.741k sin Vc =
l Simulation

Vc k

is critical velocity rate (ft/day) is density difference is permeability (darcies) is dip angle is porosity (fraction) is viscosity difference
(Hill 1952)

model dependent on Phase relative permeability

Effected by film flow Effected by saturation history Typically from 2 phase correlations Depend on the direction of flow be directionally anisotropic)

(i.e.,

Praxair GDR Pilot Approach

Key is proper planning
Determine goals, objectives, and strategy

Important tasks include:

1) Initial reservoir characterization
Test interwell connectivity (Interference tests) Identifying reserve growth method

2) 3) 4) 5)

Monitoring program design Facilities design Proper implementation Postmortem evaluation

CO2 EOR Pumping Setup

Control house Pump Heater Manifold

Typical CO2 Injection P-T Profile

Wellhead Tanker

Reservoir

MASDAR/ADCO CO2 Pilot

Pilot characterizes oil reservoir capacity to store CO2 and impact on EOR. Started in November 2009 Continuous 60 TPD injection rate @ up to 2700 psi Praxair employees operate site 24X7 2 yr duration Multiple CO2 Sources
36

Conclusions
l Future

reserve additions in large light oil, mature fields will primarily come from GDR. additions will occur through: Pressure maintenance Miscible displacement Immiscible displacement Mixed gas Applications Gravity drainage

l Reserve

l GDR

typically increases both sweep and displacement efficiency in oil and gas reservoirs. growth targets can range from 10 to 45 % of OOIP/ OGIP

l Reserve

Seeper Trace
Leak Monitoring with Perfluorocarbon Tracers
Detection Equipment Field Analysis Laboratory

Questions Tracers Can Answer

Identify Leaks
Abandoned wells Well casings Geologic features

Positively identify the injected gas Transport times and pathways Communication between strata