Air Foam Injection for IOR: from Laboratory to Field Implementation in ZhongYuan Oilfield China

Hui, Yu; Yang, Bohan; Xu, Guorui; Wang, Jiexiang; Ren, Shaoran; Lin, Weimin; Liang, Xiao; Gao, Haitao

doi:10.2118/113913-ms

Cited by 28 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…During the oxidation, the carbon chains of heavy components were broken, producing some light components and leading to a relative decrease in the total content of heavy components. Similar phenomena have also been found in other published studies (Yu et al 2008;Tang et al 2011;Li et al 2013b). Because the branched chains are more easily broken than linear chains, and chain scission happens more easily than dehydrogenation and oxygenation in the same carbon number alkane, oxygen addition and chain scission will play a predominant role in this stage despite the carbon chains undergoing a polycondensation process at the same time.…”

Section: Composition Variation Of Heavy Oilsupporting

confidence: 90%

In situ catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil through low-temperature oxidation

Jia

Liu

et al. 2016

Pet. Sci.

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The low-temperature catalytic oxidation of heavy crude oil (Xinjiang Oilfield, China) was studied using three types of catalysts including oil-soluble, watersoluble, and dispersed catalysts. According to primary screening, oil-soluble catalysts, copper naphthenate and manganese naphthenate, are more attractive, and were selected to further investigate their catalytic performance in in situ upgrading of heavy oil. The heavy oil compositions and molecular structures were characterized by column chromatography, elemental analysis, and Fourier transform infrared spectrometry before and after reaction. An Arrhenius kinetics model was introduced to calculate the rheological activation energy of heavy oil from the viscosity-temperature characteristics. Results show that the two oil-soluble catalysts can crack part of heavy components into light components, decrease the heteroatom content, and achieve the transition of reaction mode from oxygen addition to bond scission. The calculated rheological activation energy of heavy oil from the fitted Arrhenius model is consistent with physical properties of heavy oil (oil viscosity and contents of heavy fractions). It is found that the temperature, oil composition, and internal molecular structures are the main factors affecting its flow ability. Oil-soluble catalyst-assisted air injection or air huff-n-puff injection is a promising in situ catalytic upgrading method for improving heavy oil recovery.

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Section: Composition Variation Of Heavy Oilsupporting

confidence: 90%

In situ catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil through low-temperature oxidation

Jia

Liu

et al. 2016

Pet. Sci.

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“…Through analysis, it is regarded that in the LTO process of heavy oils, the heavy components serves as the main reactant. During oxidation reaction, the carbon chains of heavy components are broken, producing some light components, and leading to the relative decrease of the total content of heavy components [8,20,21] . 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 However, according to the measured results, the content of asphaltenes in heavy oils after LTO reaction is increased.…”

Section: Lto Reaction Activity Of Heavy Oilsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For light oil reservoirs, the low temperature oxidation (LTO) reaction mainly occurs during air injection process which is more like N2 injection but with an additional thermal effect [5][6][7] . Field tests have being conducted in a few light oil reservoirs in china recent years, including Zhongyuan oilfield, Baise oilfield, Shanshan oilfield, and Changqing oilfield [8][9][10] . Results from the Zhongyuan oilfeld have shown significant benefits of air and air foam injection via the LTO process.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Low-Temperature Oxidation Characteristics and Its Effect on the Critical Coking Temperature of Heavy Oils

et al. 2015

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Air assisted steam stimulation (huff and puff) is an innovative process for enhanced heavy oil recovery. In this paper, the low temperature oxidation (LTO) and coking experiments were conducted to reveal the LTO characteristics of heavy oils and its effect on the oil critical coking temperature. The O2 consuming ability and oxidation activity of different oils, in a temperature range of 80-170 o C, were analyzed, including typical light and heavy oil samples. The experimental results show that heavy oils have a higher oxidation activity at low temperature than that of light oils. Heavy oils can effectively consume O2 in the injected air and produce a certain amount of CO2 under reservoir conditions. In terms of the difference in LTO characteristics of different oils, a more general LTO reaction kinetics model of crude oils in reservoir was established. A parameter, Rdec (ratio of hydrocarbon oxides participating in decarbonylation to total hydrocarbon oxides produced from oxidation), is introduced to indicate the O2-to-CO2 conversion features of different oils during LTO process. The Rdec, Ea and ko of heavy oils are usually lower than those of light oils, which can well reflect the LTO characteristics of heavy oils and demonstrate that heavy oils are more easily oxidized at low temperature. However, due to more heavy oil components generated during LTO process, the critical coking temperature of heavy oils exposed to air environment will decrease (by 120 o C from 400 o C to 280 o C for super heavy oil). It should be noted that the effect of LTO process on critical coking temperature is different for different heavy oils, and the induced coking risks are also different in different heavy oil reservoirs, which need further studies in lab and field.

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“…Air foam injection was also considered, which has been successfully applied in light oil reservoirs onshore in China (Jiang et al, 2013;Yu et al, 2008). For heavy oils, CO 2 and CO 2 foam injection can be a better option (Emadi et al, 2011;Li et al, 2015;Zhang et al, 2014a;Zhang et al, 2014b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Injection of Nitrogen Foam for Improved Oil Recovery in Viscous Oil Reservoirs Offshore Bohai Bay China

et al. 2016

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Foam injection is a proven technique for improved oil recovery in both light and heavy oil reservoirs, especially for those with high heterogeneity, in which foam can improve the displacement and sweeping efficiency effectively. In this study, the feasibility of nitrogen foam injection for IOR from viscous oil reservoirs are investigated via laboratory experiments and field pilot analysis. The targeted oilfield is located offshore Bohai Bay (China), featured with high oil viscosity (up to 924 mPa.s) and severe heterogeneity of pay-zones. Water flooding has been applied in the oilfield, but the recovery factor is less than 20% and high water cut (over 85%) has been observed. Nitrogen foam injection was proposed in order to solve the problems and improve oil recovery. In this study, laboratory evaluation of nitrogen foam was conducted via foam testing and sandpack flooding. The results indicate that polymer enhanced foaming agents can greatly increase foam's performance. High blocking capability and displacement efficiency were observed in enhanced foam flooding experiments, indicating that nitrogen foam injection can mitigate the problems of heterogeneity and increase oil recovery in low permeability zones. A field pilot with 2 injectors and 13 producers involved has been conducted to verify the feasibility of the foam technique. The wellhead injection pressure was effectively increased after foam injection, and nearly all producers exhibited good response with incremental oil recovery and the average water cut dropped by 6.3% over 8 months of the field operation. The field pilot demonstrates the effectiveness of the nitrogen foam injection technique as an effective IOR method for the targeted oilfield and other similar oil reservoirs.

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Air Foam Injection for IOR: from Laboratory to Field Implementation in ZhongYuan Oilfield China

Cited by 28 publications

References 11 publications

In situ catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil through low-temperature oxidation

In situ catalytic upgrading of heavy crude oil through low-temperature oxidation

Low-Temperature Oxidation Characteristics and Its Effect on the Critical Coking Temperature of Heavy Oils

Injection of Nitrogen Foam for Improved Oil Recovery in Viscous Oil Reservoirs Offshore Bohai Bay China

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