Coral Creek Field Study: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Potential of High-Pressure Air Injection in a Mature Waterflood Project

Glandt, C.A.; Pieterson, Roelof; Dombrowski, Anna; Balzarini, Maria A.

doi:10.2523/52198-ms

Cited by 8 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…From 1985 until now, in the Williston basin, the Medicine Pole Hills Unit (MPHU), the Horse Creek (HC), and other low-permeability light oil reservoirs, pilot air injection experiments were carried out for secondary oil recovery, resulting in significant economic and technical benefits . In the 1990s, the University of Bath and the Beihai oilfield cooperated to perform air injection experiments in the Beihai oil reservoir after water injection flooding and obtained a satisfactory oil displacement effect …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…10 In the 1990s, the University of Bath and the Beihai oilfield cooperated to perform air injection experiments in the Beihai oil reservoir after water injection flooding and obtained a satisfactory oil displacement effect. 11 Air injection has been widely used in light oil recovery. However, during air injection, there is a risk of an explosion in the gas−oil mixture in the production well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Experimental Study on the Safety of Exhaust Gas in the Air Injection Process for Light Oil Reservoirs

Liu

Feng

et al. 2016

Energy Fuels

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Air injection is a very important technique that is used to enhance the recovery of light oil. To investigate the safety of exhaust gas in an air injection process for light oil reservoirs, static low-temperature oxidation experiments were carried out on oil samples from a block of the Liaohe oilfield in northeast China. The effects of the temperature (80−140 °C) and pressure (10−20 MPa) on the oxygen content of the exhaust gas were studied. It was found that the oxygen consumption rate increases with the temperature. When the temperature rises to 130 °C, the oxygen content in the exhaust gas is much lower than the theoretical calculation of the safe oxygen content, and when the temperature reaches 140 °C, it is nearly exhausted. The effect of the pressure on the oxygen consumption rate is extremely low. Using a component analysis of the crude oil prior to and after the reaction, we observe that aromatic hydrocarbons are barely involved in the reaction at temperatures less than 120 °C. However, when the temperature increases above 130 °C, the aromatic hydrocarbons contribute to the reaction, which results in a large amount of oxygen consumption. Therefore, if the temperature can be controlled within 130−140 °C during the air injection process at the Liaohe oilfield, the oxygen content of the exhaust gas will remain in a safe range.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental Study on the Safety of Exhaust Gas in the Air Injection Process for Light Oil Reservoirs

Liu

Feng

et al. 2016

Energy Fuels

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The air supply has no geographical restriction, and the only cost needed is the air compression expenses. Therefore, air flooding is receiving increased attention among the gas flooding technologies. ,, Field tests of air flooding have been conducted successfully in many light oil reservoirs such as MPHU, West Hackberry, Coral Creek, Ekofisk, Buffalo and Horse Creek oilfields. − However, safety remains a major obstacle for its large-scale application because of the oxygen in the air. The oxygen injected into the reservoir must be completely consumed before it breaks through to the production wells to ensure the safety of air flooding.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catalytic Effect of Transition Metallic Additives on the Light Oil Low-Temperature Oxidation Reaction

Wang

Feng

et al. 2015

Energy Fuels

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasing the reaction rate between crude oil and oxygen (oxygen consumption rate) is an effective method for improving the safety of air flooding. The catalytic effect of the transition metallic additives copper chloride, manganese acetate, cobalt chloride, and nickel chloride on the light oil low-temperature oxidation (LTO) was determined through static oxidation experiments. Additionally, the influence of temperature, pressure, and reaction time on the catalytic effect of the additives was investigated. The changes of the oil characteristics due to low-temperature oxidation (LTO) and catalytic low-temperature oxidation (CLTO) were investigated through SARA composition tests, elements analysis, n-alkanes components analysis, and infrared spectrum analysis. In addition, the influence of additives on the kinetic parameters of LTO was also researched. The results showed that the transition metallic additives significantly improved the oxygen consumption rate of light oil LTO, notably the copper chloride. For three oils from different reservoirs, the oxygen consumption rates increased to above 2.2 times the original after the addition of copper chloride at 70°C and 16 MPa. Besides, the synergistic effect between reaction temperature and catalyst was significant in promoting oxygen consumption. When the reaction temperature reached 130°C, the oxygen content after reaction reduced to 2.67% from 9.18% after the addition of copper chloride. The oxygen in air reacted with saturate and aromatics, generating resin and asphaltene. The distribution of n-alkanes was shifted to higher molecular weight components during LTO, and the addition of catalyst could enhance the changing trend. In addition, new oxygen-containing groups were generated during LTO and CLTO. The order of the oxygen partial pressure and the activation energy of LTO were all reduced due to the addition of catalyst. This study can provide guidelines to improve the safety and application of air flooding technology.

show abstract

“…Air flooding is a cost-effective technique for exploiting oil reservoirs, which is remarkably effective for tight oil reservoirs and conventional reservoirs in the late stage of waterflooding [1][2][3][4]. Recently, there have seen numerous researches and field pilots for air flooding in the North Sea [5,6], Indonesia [7,8], Argentina [9], Buffalo Red River Unit (BRRU) [10], West Hackberry [11,12], Coral Creek [13], Ekofisk [6,14], Buffalo [15,16], and Horse Creek oilfields [17] with good performance. After air is injected into a hydrocarbon reservoir, the oxygen of air reacts with hydrocarbons in various ways, generating a lot of flue gas and heat, and thus enhancing the oil recovery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Catalytic Effect of Cobalt Additive on the Low Temperature Oxidation Characteristics of Changqing Tight Oil and Its SARA Fractions

Wang

2019

Energies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Air flooding is a potential enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method to economically and efficiently develop a tight oil reservoir due to its sufficient gas source and low operational costs, during which low temperature oxidation (LTO) is the key to ensuring the success of air flooding. In addition to inefficiency of conventional LTO, air flooding has seen its limited applications due to the prolonged reaction time and safety constraints. In this paper, a novel air injection technique based on the catalyst-activated low temperature oxidation (CLTO) is developed to improve the operational safety together with its oil recovery in tight oil reservoirs. Experimentally, static oxidation experiments are conducted to examine the influence of the catalyst on the LTO reaction kinetics of Changqing tight oil and its fractions. The catalytic oxidation characteristics are identified by applying a thermogravimetric analyzer coupled with Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (TG-FTIR) with respect to tight oil and its SARA (i.e., saturates, aromatics, resins, and asphaltenes) fractions. Accordingly, the catalyst can obviously decrease the LTO reaction activation energy of the Changqing tight oil and its SARA fraction. Cobalt additive can change the LTO reaction pathways of the SARA fractions, i.e., promoting the formation of hydroxyl-containing oxides and CO 2 from the oxidation of saturates, aromatics and resins, while inhibiting the formation of ethers from the oxidation of aromatics and resins. The LTO of each SARA fraction contains both oxygen addition reaction and bond scission reaction that can be effectively promoted with the cobalt additive. The catalytic effect on the bond scission reaction is continuously enhanced and becomes gradually stronger than that on the oxygen addition reaction as the reaction proceeds.

show abstract

Coral Creek Field Study: A Comprehensive Assessment of the Potential of High-Pressure Air Injection in a Mature Waterflood Project

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Experimental Study on the Safety of Exhaust Gas in the Air Injection Process for Light Oil Reservoirs

Experimental Study on the Safety of Exhaust Gas in the Air Injection Process for Light Oil Reservoirs

Catalytic Effect of Transition Metallic Additives on the Light Oil Low-Temperature Oxidation Reaction

Catalytic Effect of Cobalt Additive on the Low Temperature Oxidation Characteristics of Changqing Tight Oil and Its SARA Fractions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About