Mechanistic Modeling of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Flooding for Snorre Field from Corescale to Larger Scale of OneSpot Pilot

Mechanistic Modeling of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Flooding for Snorre Field from Core-scale to Larger Scale of One-Spot Pilot

  IJETT-book-cover  International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT)          
  
© 2017 by IJETT Journal
Volume-46 Number-6
Year of Publication : 2017
Authors : Rasoul Khaledialidusti, Jon Kleppe, Medad Tweheyo, Kjetil Skrettingland
DOI :  10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V46P259

Citation 

Rasoul Khaledialidusti, Jon Kleppe, Medad Tweheyo, Kjetil Skrettingland "Mechanistic Modeling of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Flooding for Snorre Field from Core-scale to Larger Scale of One-Spot Pilot", International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT), V46(6),337-354 April 2017. ISSN:2231-5381. www.ijettjournal.org. published by seventh sense research group

Abstract
A considerable amount of oil resides in the Snorre reservoir in the North Sea. The impact of low-salinity-water flooding was investigated from core-scale using coreflood tests to larger scale of one-spot pilot using Single-Well-Chemical-Tracer (SWCT) tests before. Since the results showed a negligible amount of oil recovery, the alkaline/surfactant/polymer (ASP) flooding has been selected after the evaluation of the feasibility of all possible chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods based on the reservoir conditions. The potential of ASP has been evaluated through mechanistic modeling from core scale to large scale of one-spot pilot using SWCT test. First, the mechanistic modeling of ASP coreflood has been performed to make sure about the proper propagation of alkali, in-situ surfactant (soap), and surfactant. Second, the ASP injection has been also evaluated at larger scale of one-spot pilot using SWCT method. Mechanistic modeling of ASP flooding is highly sophisticated because of the complicated ASP phase behavior and the reactions that affect the process. Almost all effective reactions have been taken into account. Although low-salinitywater flooding as a standalone method could not improve oil recovery, the effect of low-salinity-water on the ASP efficiency has been studied to design and optimize the ASP method.

 References

[1] Kidwell, C. M., & Guillory, A. J. (1980, November 1). A Recipe for Residual Oil Saturation Determination. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/8451-PA.
[2] Donaldson, E. C., & Staub, H. L. (1981, January 1). Comparison of Methods for Measurement of Oil Saturation. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/10298-MS.
[3] Blackwell, R. J. (1985, January 1). An Overiew of In-Situ Methods for Determining Remaining Oil Saturations. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/13702-MS.
[4] Chang, M. M., Maerefat, N. L., Tomutsa, L., & Honarpour, M. M. (1988, March 1). Evaluation and Comparison of Residual Oil Saturation Determination Techniques. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/14887-PA.
[5] Teklu, T. W., Brown, J. S., Kazemi, H., Graves, R. M., & AlSumaiti, A. M. (2013, March 23). A Critical Literature Review of Laboratory and Field Scale Determination of Residual Oil Saturation. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/164483-MS.
[6] Khaledialidusti, R., Kleppe, J., & Enayatpour, S. (2014, December 10). Evaluation and Comparison of Available Tracer Methods for Determining Residual Oil Saturation and Developing an Innovative Single Well Tracer Technique: Dual Salinity Tracer. International Petroleum Technology Conference. doi:10.2523/17990-MS.
[7] Khaledialidusti, R., Enayatpour, S., Badham, S.J., Carlisle, C.T., Kleppe, J. (2015c, October 20). An innovative technique for determining residual and current oil saturations using a combination of Log-Inject-Log and SWCT test methods: LIL-SWCT. J. Pet. Science and Engineering, pp. 618–625. doi:10.1016/j.petrol.2015.10.023.
[8] Deans, H. A., Carlisle, C.T. (2007). The Single-Well Chemical Tracer Test - A Method for Measuring Reservoir Fluid Saturations In-Situ. In L. W. Lake (Ed.), Petroleum Engineering Handbook (Vol. V, pp. 615-649). Richardson, TX: Society of Petroleum Engineers.
[9] Morrow, N. R., Tang, G. Q., Valat, M., Xie, X. (1998). Prospects of improved oil recovery related to wettability and brine composition. J. of Pet. Sci. Eng. 1998, 20, 267–276.
[10] Lager, A., Webb, K. J., Black, C. J. J., Singleton, M., Sorbie, K. S. (2006). Low Salinity Recovery – An Experimental Investigation. SCA2006-36, International Symposium of the Society of Core Analysts, Trondheim, Norway, September 2006.
[11] Ligthelm, D. J., Gronsveld, J., Hofman, J., Brussee, N., Marcelis, F., & van der Linde, H. (2009, January 1). Novel Waterflooding Strategy By Manipulation Of Injection Brine Composition. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/119835-MS.
[12] Skauge, A. and Ottesen, B. 2002. A Summary of Experimentally Derived Relative Permeability and Residual Saturation on North sea Reservoir Cores. Paper SCA 2002-12 presented at the International Symposium of the Society of Core Analysis, Monterey, California, USA, 22-25 September.
[13] Jadhunandan, P. P., & Morrow, N. R. (1995, February 1). Effect of Wettability on Waterflood Recovery for Crude- Oil/Brine/Rock Systems. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/22597-PA.
[14] Stoll, W. M., al Shureqi, H., Finol, J., Al-Harthy, S. A. A., Oyemade, S. N., de Kruijf, A., … Faber, M. J. (2011, December 1). Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Flood: From the Laboratory to the Field. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/129164-PA.
[15] Zhao, P., Jackson, A., Britton, C., Kim, D. H., Britton, L. N., Levitt, D., & Pope, G. A. (2008, January 1). Development of High-Performance Surfactants for Difficult Oils. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/113432-MS.
[16] Delshad, M. (1990, December). Trapping of Micellar Fluids in Berea Sandstone. Ph.D thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
[17] Winsor, P.A. (1954). Solvent Properties of Amphiphilic Compounds. London: Butterworth’s Scientific Publications. [18] Healy, R. N., Reed, R. L., & Stenmark, D. G. (1976, June 1). Multiphase Microemulsion Systems. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/5565-PA.
[19] Levitt, D., Jackson, A., Heinson, C., Britton, L. N., Malik, T., Dwarakanath, V., & Pope, G. A. (2009, April 1). Identification and Evaluation of High-Performance EOR Surfactants. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/100089-PA.
[20] Moradi-Araghi, A., & Doe, P. H. (1987, May 1). Hydrolysis and Precipitation of Polyacrylamides in Hard Brines at Elevated Temperatures. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/13033-PA.
[21] Levitt, D., & Pope, G. A. (2008, January 1). Selection and Screening of Polymers for Enhanced-Oil Recovery. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/113845-MS.
[22] Hirasaki, G., & Zhang, D. L. (2004, June 1). Surface Chemistry of Oil Recovery From Fractured, Oil-Wet, Carbonate Formations. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/88365-PA.
[23] Tabary, R., Douarche, F., Bazin, B., Lemouzy, P. M., Moreau, P., & Morvan, M. (2012, January 1). Design of a Surfactant/Polymer Process in a Hard Brine Context: A Case Study Applied to Bramberge Reservoir. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/155106-MS.
[24] Tabary, R., Bazin, B., Douarche, F., Moreau, P., & Oukhemanou-Destremaut, F. (2013, March 10). Surfactant Flooding in Challenging Conditions: Towards Hard Brines and High Temperatures. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/164359-MS.
[25] Delbos, A., Tabary, R., Chevallier, E., & Moreau, P. (2014, December 10). Surfactant-Polumer Flooding in Hard Brines and High Temperature Reservoirs. International Petroleum Technology Conference. doi:10.2523/18208-MS.
[26] Chiou, C.S. and Chang, H.L. (1978, February 26). Preflood Design for Chemical Flooding - A Study on Ion- Exchange/Dispersion Process in Porous Media. Paper 376, presented at AICHE 84th National Meeting, Atlanta, GA.
[27] Pope, G. A., & Nelson, R. C. (1978, October 1). A Chemical Flooding Compositional Simulator. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/6725-PA.
[28] Hirasaki, G. J., van Domselaar, H. R., & Nelson, R. C. (1983, June 1). Evaluation of the Salinity Gradient Concept in Surfactant Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/8825-PA.
[29] Flaaten, A. K., Nguyen, Q. P., Zhang, J., Mohammadi, H., & Pope, G. A. (2010, March 1). Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Chemical Flooding Without the Need for Soft Water. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/116754-PA.
[30] Dwarakanath, V., Chaturvedi, T., Jackson, A., Malik, T., Siregar, A. A., & Zhao, P. (2008, January 1). Using Cosolvents to Provide Gradients and Improve Oil Recovery During Chemical Flooding in a Light Oil Reservoir. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/113965-MS.
[31] Flaaten, A., Nguyen, Q. P., Pope, G. A., & Zhang, J. (2008, January 1). A Systematic Laboratory Approach to Low-Cost, High-Performance Chemical Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/113469-MS.
[32] Zhang, J., Nguyen, Q. P., Flaaten, A., & Pope, G. A. (2008, January 1). Mechanisms of Enhanced Natural Imbibition with Novel Chemicals. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/113453-MS.
[33] Kon, W., Pitts, M. J., & Surkalo, H. (2002, January 1). Mature Waterfloods Renew Oil Production by Alkaline- Surfactant-Polymer Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/78711-MS.
[34] Sheng, J. J. (2013, April 19). A Comprehensive Review of Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer (ASP) Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/165358-MS.
[35] Jackson, A.C. (2006, December). Experimental Study of the Benefits of Sodium Carbonate on Surfactants for Enhanced Oil Recovery. MS thesis, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA.
[36] Mohammadi, H., Delshad, M., & Pope, G. A. (2009, August 1). Mechanistic Modeling of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Floods. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/110212-PA.
[37] Nelson, R. C., Lawson, J. B., Thigpen, D. R., & Stegemeier, G. L. (1984, January 1). Cosurfactant-Enhanced Alkaline Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/12672-MS.
[38] Martin, F. D., Oxley, J. C., & Lim, H. (1985, January 1). Enhanced Recovery of a ?J? Sand Crude Oil With a Combination of Surfactant and Alkaline Chemicals. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/14293-MS.
[39] Skrettingland, K., Holt, T., Tweheyo, M. T., & Skjevrak, I. (2011, April 1). Snorre Low-Salinity-Water Injection-- Coreflooding Experiments and Single-Well Field Pilot. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/129877-PA.
[40] Mohammadi, H., & Jerauld, G. (2012, January 1). Mechanistic Modeling of the Benefit of Combining Polymer with Low Salinity Water for Enhanced Oil Recovery. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/153161-MS.
[41] Ayirala, S., & Yousef, A. (2015, February 1). A State-of-the- Art Review To Develop Injection-Water-Chemistry Requirement Guidelines for IOR/EOR Projects. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/169048-PA.
[42] Delshad, M., Han, C., Koyassan Veedu, F., & Pope, G. A. (2011, January 1). A Simplified Model for Simulations of Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer Floods. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/142105-MS.
[43] Goudarzi, A., Delshad, M., & Sepehrnoori, K. (2013, February 18). A Critical Assessment of Several Reservoir Simulators for Modeling Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/163578-MS.
[44] Kazemi Nia Korrani, A., Sepehrnoori, K., & Delshad, M. (2015, April 1). A Mechanistic Integrated Geochemical and Chemical-Flooding Tool for Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Floods. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/169094-PA.
[45] Faber, M. J., Ameri, A., Farajzadeh, R., Bruining, H., Boersma, D. M., & Van Batenburg, D. W. (2013, July 2). Effect of Continuous, Trapped, and Flowing Gas on Performance of Alkaline Surfactant Polymer (ASP) Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/165238-MS.
[46] Bhuyan, D. (1989). Development of an Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Compositional Reservoir Simulator. phD Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.
[47] Parkhurst, D. L., and Appelo, C. A. J. (2013). Description of Input and Examples for PHREEQC Version 3--a Computer Program for Speciation, Batch-reaction, One-dimensional Transport, and Inverse Geochemical Calculations.
[48] Khaledialidusti, R., Kleppe, J., & Skrettingland, K. (2015a, June 1). Numerical Interpretation of Single Well Chemical Tracer (SWCT) Tests to Determine Residual Oil Saturation in Snorre Reservoir. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/174378-MS.
[49] Khaledialidusti, R., Kleppe, J., & Enayatpour, S. (2015b, September 14). Mechanistic Modeling of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Floods Based on the Geochemical Reactions for Snorre Reservoir. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/175655-MS.
[50] Bhuyan, D., Lake, L. W., & Pope, G. A. (1990, May 1). Mathematical Modeling of High-pH Chemical Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/17398-PA.
[51] Korrani, A. K. N., Sepehrnoori, K., & Delshad, M. (2016, April 11). Significance of Geochemistry in Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer (ASP) Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/179563-MS.
[52] Hand. D.B. (1939). Dineric Distribution of a Consolute Liquid between Two immiscible Liquids. J. of Physics and Chemistry, Volume 34, pp. 1961-2000.
[53] Jin, M. (1995). A Study of Nonaqueous Phase Liquid Characterization and Surfactant Remediation. PhD dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
[54] Delshad, M., Delshad, M., Bhuyan, D., Pope, G. A., & Lake, L. W. (1986, January 1). Effect of Capillary Number on the Residual Saturation of a Three-Phase Micellar Solution. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/14911-MS.
[55] Mohammadi, H. (2008, December). Mechanistic Modeling, Design, and Optimization of Alkaline/Surfactant/Polymer Flooding. PhD dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas.
[56] Novosad, Z., & Novosad, J. (1984, February 1). Determination of Alkalinity Losses Resulting From Hydrogen Ion Exchange in Alkaline Flooding. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/10605-PA.
[57] Dezabala, E., Parekh, B., Solis, H. A., Choudhary, M. K., Armentrout, L. J., & Carlisle, C. T. (2011, January 1). Application of Single Well Chemical Tracer Tests to Determine Remaining Oil Saturation in Deepwater Turbidite Reservoirs. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/147099-MS.
[58] Jerauld, G., Mohammadi, H., & Webb, K. J. (2010, January 1). Interpreting Single Well Chemical Tracer Tests. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/129724-MS.
[59] Deans, H. A., & Carlisle, C. T. (1986, January 1). Single- Well Tracer Test in Complex Pore Systems. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/14886-MS.
[60] De Zwart, A. H., van Batenburg, D. W., Stoll, M., Boerrigter, P. M., & Harthy, S. (2011, January 1). Numerical Interpretation of Single Well Chemical Tracer Tests for ASP injection. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/141557-MS.
[61] Deans, H.A. (1971, November 30). Method of Determining Fluid Saturations in Reservoirs. U.S. Patent # 3623842. [62] Tomich, J. F., Dalton, R. L., Deans, H. A., & Shallenberger, L. K. (1973, February 1). Single-Well Tracer Method To Measure Residual Oil Saturation. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/3792-PA.
[63] Khaledialidusti, R., & Kleppe, J. (2016). A New Automated Algorithm for Designing the Optimal Single-Well-Chemical- Tracer SWCT Tests At Various Reservoir Conditions. Society of Petroleum Engineers. doi:10.2118/181612-MS.
[64] Khaledialidusti, R., Kleppe, J. & Enayatpour, S. (2016). Evaluation of surfactant flooding using interwell tracer analysis. J Petrol Explor Prod Technol. pp 1-20. doi:10.1007/s13202-016-0288-9.

Keywords
ASP flooding, Single-Well-Chemical- Tracer (SWCT) method, low-salinity-water flooding, oil saturation.