The Modeling Challenge of High Pressure Air Injection

Zwart, Albert Hendrik De; Batenburg, Diederik W. van; Blom, Carl; Tsolakidis, Argyrios; Glandt, C.A.; Boerrigter, Paulus Maria

doi:10.2118/113917-ms

Cited by 20 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 33 publications

(36 reference statements)

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“…One important conclusion was that black-oil models can predict the response to gas injection but should only be used as scouting tools because the results could be serendipitous. De Zwart et al (20) conducted numerical simulations in a 3D model, and compared isothermal EoS-simulations, isothermal K-value simulations and multicomponent combustion simulations in a light oil reservoir (36°API). It was shown that isothermal K-values and combustion results were similar in the first 2 years, but after that, the production response of the combustion case started to deviate from the isothermal case, because of the combustion front approaching the production well.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is High-Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) Simply a Flue-Gas Flood?

Montes

Gutiérrez²,

Moore

et al. 2010

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

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High-pressure air injection (HPAI) is an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) process in which compressed air is injected into a deep, light-oil reservoir, with the expectation that the oxygen in the injected air will react with a fraction of the reservoir oil at an elevated temperature to produce carbon dioxide. Over the years, HPAI has been considered a simple flue-gas flood, giving little credit to the thermal drive as a production mechanism. The truth is that, although early production during a HPAI process is mainly due to re-pressurization and gasflood effects, once a pore volume of air has been injected the combustion front becomes the main driving mechanism. This paper presents laboratory and field evidence of the presence of a thermal front during HPAI operations, and of its beneficial impact on oil production. Production and injection data from the Buffalo Field, which comprises the oldest HPAI projects currently in operation, were gathered and analyzed for this purpose. These HPAI projects definitely do not behave as simple immiscible gasfloods. This study shows that a HPAI project has the potential to yield higher recoveries than a simple immiscible gasflood. Furthermore, it gives recommendations about how to operate the process to take advantage of its full capabilities. Introduction High-Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) is an emerging technology for the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) of light oils that has proven to be a valuable process, especially in deep, thin, low-permeability reservoirs(1-7). A number of successful high-pressure air injection projects in light oil reservoirs have been documented in the literature(8-10). Most of these projects have been operating for many years, attesting to their technical and economic success. The improvement in recovery of light oil by HPAI involves a combination of complex processes, each contributing to the overall recovery. These processes include flue gas sweeping, field re-pressurization, oil swelling, viscosity reduction, stripping of the lighter components of the oil, and thermal effects. Early production during the HPAI process is related to re-pressurization and gasflood effects; hence, the influence of the thermal zone is secondary during the early life of an injector. The oil displaced directly by the thermal front will depend on the effectiveness of the generated flue gas on oil displacement from outside the thermal region.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Is High-Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) Simply a Flue-Gas Flood?

Montes

Gutiérrez²,

Moore

et al. 2010

Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology

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“…Comparison of the modeling results of the air injection made by the thermal simulator and the results of the isothermal gas injection showed that the oil recovery forecast is underestimated [18][19].…”

Section: The Physical Basis Of the Hpai Technology Planningmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Within the PVT-model the oil components were conditionally splitted into the heavy pseudocomponents -С 21 -40 and lighter ones С 13-20 that are oxidated at the second (С 21 -40 ) and at the first (С [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20] peaks. It is assumed that the oil fractions up to С 12 are vaporized during the heating in the DSC.…”

Section: The Building Up the Model Of The Kinetical Reactionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Analytical Basis for Accetability Appraisal of the High Pressure Air Injection for West Siberian Oil Fields

Evseeva

Ushakova²,

Volokitin³

et al. 2012

All Days

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Presently, the problem of enhancing the efficiency of the oil recovery becomes of the high priority. The procedure described in this paper is the analytical basis for accetability appraisal of the high pressure air injection (HPAI) on the light oil fields for enhancing the oil recovery.The objective of this paper is the physical basis of the HPAI method, i.e. the air injection into a light oil bearing formation and the in-situ oil oxidation under high temperatureres with production of combustion gasescarbon mono-and dioxides, hydrocarboneous gases.For evaluation of the technological parameters and the applicability of the HPAI method on the West-Salymskoe oil field of the Salym Petroleum Development Company the results of experimental studies of oil properties, the efficiency of the oil displacement by the injected and the combustion gases and the oxidation kinetics were analysed. The phase behavior of the oil and gases under high temperature conditions was modeled using the developed PVT model based on the equation of state. The experimental results of the linear oil displacement by gaseous agents on the core (lab) scale were simulated. The relative permeabilities have been obtained as saturation functions. The kinetics of oil oxidation reactions obtained by calorithmetic experimenta on the light oil on core was also simulated on the linear models. The developed linear models are the basis for the transition to the 3D modeling of the HPAI method.

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“…Typically, the flue-gas that is generated in-situ by combustion leads to in an immiscible gas drive where a key recovery mechanism is stripping of volatile components. An earlier paper [11] provided an historic overview of the various modeling approaches for predicting the HPAI performance that have been presented in the literature. A wide variety of modeling approaches, ranging from black-oil, and Equation-of-State (EOS) isothermal flue gas models to coarse and fine grid combustion models that employ K-values for phase partitioning are used.…”

Section: Spe 129882mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In a previous paper [11], application of continuous air injection in a relatively high permeability fluvio-deltaic type reservoir was evaluated. Thermal simulations that included combustion showed that, under continuous injection conditions, oxygen breakthrough occurred quite rapidly while additional oil is produced prior to air breakthrough, due to an oil bank in front of the combustion front and the hot hydrocarbon gases behind the front.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Water Alternating High Pressure Air Injection

Batenburg¹,

Zwart²,

Doush³

2010

Proceedings of SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium

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High Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) is a potentially attractive enhanced recovery method for deep, high-pressure light oil reservoirs. The clear advantage of air over other injectants, like hydrocarbon gas, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, or flue gas is its availability at any location. Although, the process has successfully been applied in the Williston Basin for more than two decades, the potential risks associated with the presence of oxygen in air are a significant hurdle for implementation in other locations.Thermal simulations that include combustion are required to quantify the incremental oil, the oxygen consumption and resulting oxygen distribution from the application of HPAI in a given field. Once such a simulation model is available, it can be used to optimize the injection strategy: strategies that have a good incremental recovery while reducing the amount of gas injected are key to a successful project. The injection rate is bounded by a technical lower limit and an economic upper limit: there is a minimum rate required to maintain the combustion and higher rates require larger compressors that are more expensive. This paper focuses on the optimization of the injection strategy for HPAI in a 3D model with realistic geological features. Numerical simulations with a thermal model that includes combustion were conducted for continuous versus alternating air injection. A critical assumption for alternating air injection is that the remaining oil spontaneously re-ignites.This study shows that water alternating air injection has a great potential to improve HPAI projects: project life can be extended and incremental recovery is improved when compared with continuous air injection. In addition, the variation in distribution of oxygen between different cycles is presented. This also illustrates that the numerical model can be used as an oxygen management tool. The effects of alternating air injection are comparable to the effects of alternating gas injection: the saturation in the swept areas changes due to the alternating (re-) invasion of gas, oil and water. This paper illustrates that modeling oxygen consumption is essential for the evaluation of potential risks and optimization of the HPAI process.

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The Modeling Challenge of High Pressure Air Injection

Cited by 20 publications

References 33 publications

Is High-Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) Simply a Flue-Gas Flood?

Is High-Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) Simply a Flue-Gas Flood?

The Analytical Basis for Accetability Appraisal of the High Pressure Air Injection for West Siberian Oil Fields

Water Alternating High Pressure Air Injection

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