Surface Chemistry of Oil Recovery From Fractured, Oil-Wet, Carbonate Formations

Hirasaki, George J.; Zhang, Danhua Leslie

doi:10.2118/88365-pa

Cited by 441 publications

(289 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…It is well established that when IOR strategies are pursued for NFRs, injected fluids mostly flow through high-permeability fracture networks, bypassing oil in the rock matrix. Thus, extensive laboratory experiments have been conducted to investigate the efficiency and applicability of different IOR processes in fractured media (Horie et al, 1990;PooladiDarvish and Firoozabadi, 2000;Babadagli, 2001;Hirasaki and Zhang, 2004;Darvish et al, 2006). Although some experiments have yielded promising results, predictive simulations of such complex processes are required to reliably scale up the process from laboratory to field conditions.…”

Section: List Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an Efficient Embedded Discrete Fracture Model for 3D Compositional Reservoir Simulation in Fractured Reservoirs

et al. 2013

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Summary Many naturally fractured reservoirs around the world have depleted significantly, and improved-oil-recovery (IOR) processes are necessary for further development. Hence, the modeling of fractured reservoirs has received increased attention recently. Accurate modeling and simulation of naturally fractured reservoirs (NFRs) is still challenging because of permeability anisotropies and contrasts. Nonphysical abstractions inherent in conventional dual-porosity and dual-permeability models make them inadequate for solving different fluid-flow problems in fractured reservoirs. Also, recent technologies for discrete fracture modeling may suffer from large simulation run times, and the industry has not used such approaches widely, even though they give more-accurate representations of fractured reservoirs than dual-continuum models. We developed an embedded discrete fracture model (DFM) for an in-house compositional reservoir simulator that borrows the dual-medium concept from conventional dual-continuum models and also incorporates the effect of each fracture explicitly. The model is compatible with existing finite-difference reservoir simulators. In contrast to dual-continuum models, fractures have arbitrary orientations and can be oblique or vertical, honoring the complexity of a typical NFR. The accuracy of the embedded DFM is confirmed by comparing the results with the fine-grid, explicit-fracture simulations for a case study including orthogonal fractures and a case with a nonaligned fracture. We also perform a grid-sensitivity study to show the convergence of the method as the grid is refined. Our simulations indicate that to achieve accurate results, the embedded discrete fracture model may only require moderate mesh refinement around the fractures and hence offers a computationally efficient approach. Furthermore, examples of waterflooding, gas injection, and primary depletion are presented to demonstrate the performance and applicability of the developed method for simulating fluid flow in NFRs.

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Section: List Ofmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of an Efficient Embedded Discrete Fracture Model for 3D Compositional Reservoir Simulation in Fractured Reservoirs

et al. 2013

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“…Obviously, the contribution of capillary forces to the natural imbibition is not significant under the ultra-low oil-water IFT. Instead, under such conditions, the oil displacement during natural imbibition is influenced by the predominance of buoyancy and wettability alteration (Hirasaki and Zhang, 2004). Furthermore, most surfactant solutions tested by Abidhatla et al (2005) formed a microemulsion in the imbibition experiments, which was indicated in the phase behavior tests.…”

Section: Production Features and Recovery Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Recently, natural imbibition under conditions of ultra-low oil-water IFT (i.e., lower than 10 -2 mN/m) with anionic surfactants have been reported by Hirasaki and Zhang (2004), Seethepalli et al (2004), Abidhatla andMohanty (2006), andZhang (2007). Obviously, the contribution of capillary forces to the natural imbibition is not significant under the ultra-low oil-water IFT.…”

Section: Production Features and Recovery Mechanismsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The alkali such as sodium carbonate can also be used to reduce the adsorption of sulfonate surfactants (Najafabadi et al, 2008). Hirasaki and Zhang (2004) have explained this behavior. They found that positively charged calcite surface can become negatively charged in the presence of sodium carbonate, which consequently reduces the adsorption of some anionic surfactants.…”

Section: Major Physicochemical Phenomenamentioning

confidence: 99%

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Chemical Flooding in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs: Fundamental Aspects and Field-Scale Practices

Jamaloei

2011

Oil Gas Sci. Technol. – Rev. IFP Energies nouvelles

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Résumé -Inondation chimique dans les réservoirs naturellement fracturés : aspects fondamentaux et pratiques de plein champ -Des méthodes appropriées devraient être utilisées pour augmenter la récupération d'huile des réservoirs naturellement fracturés (RNFs). Un des candidats pour augmenter cette récupération d'huile de ces réservoirs est l'injection d'eau contenant des agents chimiques. Cet article met en lumière les résultats techniques et les défis de cette technique. La classification, les caractéristiques de production, les mécanismes de rétablissement du RNFs et les résultats significatifs de l'injection d'eau contenant des agents chimiques dans ces réservoirs sont passés en revue et analysés. Ce papier vise à être un outil de référence utile aux ingénieurs intéressés par l'injection d'eau contenant des agents chimiques dans les RNFs. Abstract -Chemical Flooding in Naturally Fractured

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“…Several studies revealed that the injection of dilute surfactants into oil reservoirs could also modify the wettability of the reservoir rock. [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] This phenomenon can be very useful in fractured carbonate reservoirs where the wettability change can improve oil recovery by accelerating the spontaneous imbibition process. 14;15 The overall objective of this project is to evaluate the use of low-cost biosurfactants produced from agriculture process waste streams to improve oil recovery in fractured carbonate reservoirs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Biosurfactants Produced From Agriculture Process Waste Streams To Improve Oil Recovery in Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs

et al. 2007

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This report describes the progress of our research during the first 30 months (10/01/2004 to 03/31/2007) of the original three-year project cycle. The project was terminated early due to DOE budget cuts. This was a joint project between the Tertiary Oil Recovery Project (TORP) at the University of Kansas and the Idaho National Laboratory (INL). The objective was to evaluate the use of low-cost biosurfactants produced from agriculture process waste streams to improve oil recovery in fractured carbonate reservoirs through wettability mediation.Biosurfactant for this project was produced using Bacillus subtilis 21332 and purified potato starch as the growth medium. The INL team produced the biosurfactant and characterized it as surfactin. INL supplied surfactin as required for the tests at KU as well as providing other microbiological services.Interfacial tension (IFT) between Soltrol 130 and both potential benchmark chemical surfactants and crude surfactin was measured over a range of concentrations. The performance of the crude surfactin preparation in reducing IFT was greater than any of the synthetic compounds throughout the concentration range studied but at low concentrations, sodium laureth sulfate (SLS) was closest to the surfactin, and was used as the benchmark in subsequent studies.Core characterization was carried out using both traditional flooding techniques to find porosity and permeability; and NMR/MRI to image cores and identify pore architecture and degree of heterogeneity. A cleaning regime was identified and developed to remove organic materials from cores and crushed carbonate rock. This allowed cores to be fully characterized and returned to a reproducible wettability state when coupled with a crude-oil aging regime. Rapid wettability assessments for crushed matrix material were developed, and used to inform slower Amott wettability tests. Initial static absorption experiments exposed limitations in the use of HPLC and TOC to determine surfactant concentrations. To reliably quantify both benchmark surfactants and surfactin, a surfactant ion-selective electrode was used as an indicator in the potentiometric titration of the anionic surfactants with Hyamine 1622.The wettability change mediated by dilute solutions of a commercial preparation of SLS (STEOL CS-330) and surfactin was assessed using two-phase separation, and water flotation techniques; and surfactant loss due to retention and adsorption on the rock was determined. Qualitative tests indicated that on a molar basis, surfactin is more effective than STEOL CS-330 in altering wettability of crushed Lansing-Kansas City carbonates from oil-wet to water-wet state. Adsorption isotherms of STEOL CS-330 and surfactin on crushed Lansing-Kansas City outcrop and reservoir material showed that surfactin has higher specific adsorption on these oomoldic carbonates.Amott wettability studies confirmed that cleaned cores are mixed-wet, and that the aging procedure renders them oil-wet. Tests of aged cores with no initial water saturation resulted...

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Surface Chemistry of Oil Recovery From Fractured, Oil-Wet, Carbonate Formations

Cited by 441 publications

References 73 publications

Development of an Efficient Embedded Discrete Fracture Model for 3D Compositional Reservoir Simulation in Fractured Reservoirs

Development of an Efficient Embedded Discrete Fracture Model for 3D Compositional Reservoir Simulation in Fractured Reservoirs

Chemical Flooding in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs: Fundamental Aspects and Field-Scale Practices

Biosurfactants Produced From Agriculture Process Waste Streams To Improve Oil Recovery in Fractured Carbonate Reservoirs

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