Evaluation of EOR Techniques for Medium-Heavy Oil Reservoirs with a Strong Bottom Aquifer In South Oman

Brooks, David J.; Zwart, Albert De; Bychkov, A. Yu.; Azri, Nasser; Hern, Carolinne; Ajmi, Widad Al; Mukmin, Mukmin

doi:10.2523/129149-ms

Cited by 3 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…Preliminary simulation results in a thick (45 m) reservoir were good; later Brooks and co-workers (Brooks, et al 2010) revised the results using 3D simulations which suggested that the process would not be successful without air confinement i.e. local structures are required.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Enhanced Oil Recovery of Heavy Oil in Reservoirs With Bottom Aquifer

Delamaide¹,

Moreno²

2015

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Oil production in presence of a bottom aquifer is one of the most challenging issues in reservoir engineering. In most cases water coning happens very quickly and the influx of water restricts oil production and limits recovery. The problem is even more difficult when the oil is heavy because the viscosity contrast is large. In some cases horizontal wells may be used to improve the situation but when reservoirs are thin and the oil is viscous even horizontal wells are of limited use. This paper presents the challenges and potential solutions for Enhanced Oil Recovery in heavy oil reservoirs with bottom aquifer. Existing literature is reviewed for field cases of EOR experience with bottom aquifer for chemical as well as thermal processes (SAGD, steam injection as well as In Situ Combustion). In the case of chemical EOR the chemicals may be lost to the aquifer; for thermal recovery the bottom water can act as a heat sink and affect and steam oil ratio. Some in-situ combustion projects have been successful in such settings but in every case the outcome is the same: the economics of the project can be affected. The paper contains some previously unpublished data of polymer injection in a heavy oil pool with some limited bottom aquifer; for the most part it is a review of the existing literature which may prove useful to practicing engineers who are faced with the issue of developing heavy oil resources in the presence of bottom aquifer.

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Brooks and co-workers (Brooks, et al 2010) studied polymer as one of the potential ways to increase recovery in Nimr, a field in Oman with a strong bottom aquifer. The case is further discussed below.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Enhanced Oil Recovery of Heavy Oil in Reservoirs With Bottom Aquifer

Delamaide¹,

Moreno²

2015

All Days

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“…Air injection processes are under evaluation for a number of fields (De Zwart, 2008a, 2008b, Brooks, 2010, and van Batenburg, 2010. This recovery process is characterized by a moving combustion front, powered by continued air or oxygen injection and using the residual oil as fuel.…”

Section: Reservoir Modellingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Extending the Smart Fields Concept to Enhanced Oil Recovery

Regtien

2010

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During the last several years Shell and its affiliates have initiated a significant number of Enhanced Oil Recovery projects covering chemical, thermal and miscible flooding applications in a variety of geological and hydrocarbon settings.Key in de-risking and sanctioning these projects is a far more detailed understanding of the fundamentals in rock and fluids physics and chemistry that have an overriding impact on the ultimate recovery and project economics. This required a significant upgrade of the experimental capability to measure relevant rock and fluid properties as well as the ability to visualize and model the EOR processes at various geological and time scales. State of the art experimental facilities have been built to enhance visualisation and understanding of flow processes in cores as well as to measure accurate physical and chemical properties.The proprietary reservoir simulator and modelling toolkit has been upgraded to include the relevant EOR processes and rock / fluid interactions in sufficient detail, covering for example In-Situ Combustion, Polymer floods, Designer Water™ flooding, Alkaline Surfactant Polymer flooding, Thermally Assisted-Gas-Oil-Gravity-Drainage, In-Situ Upgrading, a variety of Solvents and Hybrid applications at various scales, ranging from core scale to full field simulations.The Smart Fields concept pursues continuous optimisation of hydrocarbon assets, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week. This optimisation covers locating and recovering hydrocarbons, improving performance of production (well) facilities throughout the field life cycle on timescales ranging from seconds to field life. An important part of the Smart Fields concept is Closed Loop Reservoir Management (CLRM), which ensures that data gathered in the operations phase is used to improve quality of reservoir models and allow a faster field management cycle. Novel robust mathematical optimisation algorithms and control methods are rapidly maturing to assist automatic history matching, high-grading geological reservoir model ensembles and reducing the uncertainties. The desired outcome is better well offtake or injection policies that are also robust against remaining key uncertainties.Extending the Smart Field concepts to EOR requires the definition of the appropriate levels of smartness for EOR projects for each element of the Smart Field Life Cycle, which consists of: data acquisition, modelling, integrated decision making and operational field management, each with a high level of integration and automation.

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Full Field Polymer Flooding Development Concept in Nimr Oil Fields with Horizontal Injectors and Strong Bottom Aquifer

Karpan,

Bimani,

Bellman

et al. 2024

Day 2 Tue, April 23, 2024

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The Nimr fields comprise a group of medium size mature oil fields in the Southern part of Oman. This study focuses on Nimr-A and Nimr-E fields. The fields have similar reservoir properties and have been in commercial production since 1980 through the depletion. The strong regional bottom aquifer provides pressure support in these fields. The combination of a strong aquifer and relatively high viscosity of Nimr crude (~250-700 cP at reservoir conditions) resulted in the rapid development of water conning, limiting the oil recovery efficiency. Therefore, polymer flooding was selected as the technology to improve recovery. During 2013-2019, a polymer injection trial was executed in the Nimr-E field, whereby three horizontal injectors were used to evaluate the performance of polymer flooding under the reservoir conditions. As a result, the incremental recovery factor due to polymer has reached ~7% of STOIIP. Furthermore, due to the strong bottom aquifer, incremental oil production was observed even during the extended periods of injection shut-in through the "water cone recharging" mechanism. This has led to the proposal of a new polymer flooding concept for oil reservoirs with strong bottom aquifers called Nothing-Alternating-Polymer (NAP). In 2020, a new field trial was started in the Nimr-E field to investigate the performance of the concept under controlled field conditions and identify the optimal NAP design. This publication presents the conceptual design of an integrated polymer flooding project in two mature Nimr oil fields. Both surface and subsurface considerations were taken into account and discussed here. Despite moving at different project development paces at the earlier stages, the projects were synchronized, and their value drivers were reviewed in line with modern-day requirements. Considerable attention was paid to reducing carbon intensity and water source sustainability. Polymer flooding was selected due to incremental and accelerated oil recovery at reduced carbon intensity. The selection of a sustainable water source was also important, given the high value of water resources in Oman. Commercial-scale polymer flooding in Nimr A and Nimr E is PDO's most recent polymer flooding project, with value drivers focused on reduced CO2 intensity, water sustainability, and commercial robustness. The proposed multi-field, phased polymer development concept uses ~80 horizontal injectors above the oil-water contact to benefit from the aquifer support. Nimr is a flagship project for polymer flooding, with its results defining the development of polymer flooding in Oman for years to come.

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Evaluation of EOR Techniques for Medium-Heavy Oil Reservoirs with a Strong Bottom Aquifer In South Oman

Cited by 3 publications

References 1 publication

Enhanced Oil Recovery of Heavy Oil in Reservoirs With Bottom Aquifer

Enhanced Oil Recovery of Heavy Oil in Reservoirs With Bottom Aquifer

Extending the Smart Fields Concept to Enhanced Oil Recovery

Full Field Polymer Flooding Development Concept in Nimr Oil Fields with Horizontal Injectors and Strong Bottom Aquifer

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