Ula WAG – World Class EOR – Breathing the Gas of Life into a Mature Oil Field

Jongh, C. de; Lund, Ernest Howard; Hole, Malcolm; Duncan, J.

doi:10.3997/2214-4609-pdb.24.a04

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Foam generation is achieved either by coinjection of the gas and surfactant solution into the reservoir or by surfactant alternating gas (SAG) injection, similar to WAG. ,, The best documented foam application to date has been performed in the Snorre field, offshore Norway . In recent years foam has been also used in the Ula field, for example . However, until recently foam has mainly been studied and applied as a mobility control agent.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Immiscible Foam for Enhancing Oil Recovery: Bulk and Porous Media Experiments

Andrianov

Farajzadeh

Nick

et al. 2012

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

213

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper reports a laboratory study of foams intended to improve immiscible gas flooding in oil production. The study is relevant for both continuous and water alternating gas (WAG) injection schemes. The effect of oil on the longevity of nitrogen and air foams was studied in bulk for a selected set of surfactants. Foam heights were measured in a glass column as a function of time, in the absence and presence of mineral and crude oils. The column experiments indicated that foam longevity increases as the carbon chain length in the oil molecule increases; that is, foam is generally more stable in the presence of higherviscosity oils. The surfactant formulation that gave the most stable foam in the presence of oil was used in core floods. Oil recovery from natural sandstone cores with CO 2 and with N 2 foams was studied with the aid of X-ray computed tomography, while the injection rates, foam quality, and surfactant concentration were varied. The core floods revealed that foam increases oil recovery by as much as 20% of the oil initially in place (OIIP) as compared with water flooding, while gas injection increases oil recovery by 10% only. Thus, foam can achieve an additional recovery of up to 10% relative to gas injection. This confirms that foam is potentially an efficient enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…35 In recent years foam has been also used in the Ula field, for example. 3 However, until recently foam has mainly been studied and applied as a mobility control agent. Only few studies and field pilots have focused on the use of foam drives to recover tertiary oil.…”

Section: ■ Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Immiscible Foam for Enhancing Oil Recovery: Bulk and Porous Media Experiments

Andrianov

Farajzadeh

Nick

et al. 2012

Ind. Eng. Chem. Res.

213

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The second is to reduce the capillary forces by reducing the oil/water interfacial tensions by the presence of surfactant [8,9]. Foam has been widely applied in oil recovery development [10,11].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Surface Dilational Rheology, Foam, and Core Flow Properties of Alpha Olefin Sulfonate

Liu

Han

Sun

et al. 2016

J Surfact & Detergents

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The surface tension, surface dilational rheology, foaming and displacement flow properties of alpha olefin sulfonate (AOS) with inorganic salts were studied. The foam composite index (FCI), which reflects foaming capacity and foam stability, is used to evaluate foam properties. It is found that sodium and calcium salts can lead to decreases in AOS surface tension, critical micelle concentration, and molecular area at the gas-liquid interface. Sodium ions reduce the surface dilational viscoelasticity (E) and FCI of AOS, while calcium ions can enhance the E of AOS and make the FCI of AOS reach a maximum. In the solution containing calcium and sodium ions, the FCI of AOS is improved. Crude oil reduces the FCI of AOS. Injection pressure and displacing efficiency of AOS alternating carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) injection are higher than injections of water alternating with CO 2 or CO 2 alone in low permeability cores.

show abstract

Utilization of Associated Petroleum Gas (APG) —the Norwegian Experience

Hinderaker¹,

Njaa²

2010

All Days

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The goal of any petroleum producing country is to maximise the long-term social value of the hydrocarbon assets. To protect society's interests in development and operation of oil and gas fields, the Norwegian authorities have established frameworks for these activities, which are intended to ensure that the companies makes decisions that are also beneficial to the society at large. In Norway the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate (NPD) has the authority to monitor the development of the different oil and gas fields and to ensure that the fields are being produced in accordance with best practice reflected in regulations and the framework established. As for use of associated gas the regulation pertaining to proper utilization of the petroleum resources has been of paramount importance. In the regulations it is stated that flaring of petroleum is not allowed, unless in quantities needed for safe operation. From day one the oil companies thus had to find a proper way of utilizing the associated gas. In most cases the gas was transported in pipelines and sold to the market, but in some cases there was no pipeline available and re-injection into the reservoir was the only option. Improved recovery has been and still is of great concern for Norwegian authorities. Several initiatives have been made to evaluate the possibilities for improving oil recovery. The results of gas injection have been studied together with other methods for enhancing the oil recovery. For the Norwegian oil fields pressure maintenance by use of associated gas has proved to be very successful. By the end of 2009 and since the oil production started on the Norwegian Continental Shelf in 1971 a total of more than 3526 million Sm3 of oil and 2138 billion Sm3 of gas has been produced. Most of the gas produced has been exported to the European market. Some gas has been used as fuel on the platforms and for transportation purposes and a small amount has been used in Norway as feed-stock for petrochemical plants. Due to strict regulations and economical incentives just a minor part has been flared. However it is reported that gas in the order of 595 billion Sm3 has been re-injected into the reservoirs to sustain pressure and to enhance oil recovery. The average oil recovery factor for fields in production today is estimated to be 46%. It has been estimated that re-injection of gas so far has yielded an extra oil recovery of between 240 and 270 million Sm3 oil and condensate compared to the case without gas injection. If existing plans for further gas injection are executed, the total gains are in the range 320 to 360 extra million Sm3 oil and condensate.

show abstract

Ula WAG – World Class EOR – Breathing the Gas of Life into a Mature Oil Field

Cited by 5 publications

References 0 publications

Immiscible Foam for Enhancing Oil Recovery: Bulk and Porous Media Experiments

Immiscible Foam for Enhancing Oil Recovery: Bulk and Porous Media Experiments

Surface Dilational Rheology, Foam, and Core Flow Properties of Alpha Olefin Sulfonate

Utilization of Associated Petroleum Gas (APG) —the Norwegian Experience

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About