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EOR. Termal Methods

Phases of EOR projects implementation involves several complex phases: 1) An initial multi-criteria analysis is conducted to estimate the potential for various EOR methods based on reservoir properties like viscosity, permeability, and depth. 2) Potential EOR methods are further evaluated including thermal methods like steam injection, in situ combustion, and microwave heating which use heat to mobilize oils. 3) The most common thermal methods - steamflooding and steam cycling - have seen significant development and are major contributors to oil output, though challenges remain with processes like in situ combustion and overcoming gravity segregation.

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137 views2 pages

EOR. Termal Methods

Phases of EOR projects implementation involves several complex phases: 1) An initial multi-criteria analysis is conducted to estimate the potential for various EOR methods based on reservoir properties like viscosity, permeability, and depth. 2) Potential EOR methods are further evaluated including thermal methods like steam injection, in situ combustion, and microwave heating which use heat to mobilize oils. 3) The most common thermal methods - steamflooding and steam cycling - have seen significant development and are major contributors to oil output, though challenges remain with processes like in situ combustion and overcoming gravity segregation.

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Mukhtarov Pg
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Phases of EOR projects implementation

Implementation of the EOR project is complex and long lasting process


comprising the phases. In order to achieve a greater level of efficiency and
reduction of risks and uncertainties of the project outcome, it is necessary to
define the comprehensive management of the EOR process starting from EOR
method selection, process designing, performing the pilot test and full
implementation at the whole oil reservoir.

Phase 1 refers to the preliminary multi-criteria analysis in order to estimate


the possibilities of application of adequate EOR methods at certain oil reservoir.
Main properties of fluids and reservoir (potential candidate for the EOR method
application), which are comparing to the criteria defined on the basis of
laboratory results and practical results of a large number of EOR projects
involve: oil viscosity and density, oil saturation, thickness, permeability,
porosity, depth, reservoir temperature and pressure, formation type. Screening
criteria for EOR processes are given in Table 13.1. Besides parameters in the
table, additional criteria and considerations are needed depending on the method
which possibility of using is estimated

EOR. Termal methods


These processes use heat to improve oil recovery by reducing the viscosity
of heavy oils and vaporising lighter oils, and hence improving their mobility.
The techniques include:

- Steam injection (fig. 13.8).


- In situ combustion (injection of a hot gas that combusts with the oil in place, fig.
13.9).
- Microwave heating downhole (fig. 13.10).
- Hot water injection.
It is worth noting that the generation of large amounts of heat and the
treatment of evolved gas has large environmental implications for these
methods. However, thermal EOR is probably the most efficient EOR approach.
The most common thermal methods are steamflooding and steam cycling.
These techniques experienced enormous development in the last few decades
and have grown to be the largest contributor to oil output by EOR.

The reservoir sweep efficiency of steamflooding is limited by gravity


segregation. One way to overcome this problem is using the steam-assisted
gravity drainage (SAGD) method. SAGD is limited by the reservoir thickness
needed to develop a steam chamber. Ongoing SAGD research is aimed at
improving the displacement efficiency and speed by using solvents. In-situ
combustion techniques are being developed, but controlling the process is a
challenge.

Other EOR techniques that are considered complementary to steam injection or


cyclic steam stimulation include direct electrical resistive (ER) or
electromagnetic radiation (EM) heating. These techniques are still in the early
development phase and have not been tested extensively in the field. However,
when fully developed, they could be particularly useful to recover medium-
heavy to extra-heavy oil. The ER methods pass current through the reservoir,
which behaves like a resistor, and thus heat is produced directly in the reservoir
by ohmic effect. In EM heating, hyper-frequency electromagnetic waves
propagating through the reservoirs are absorbed directly by water molecules
(similar to microwave ovens). Both ER and EM heating suffer from the fact that
when they are applied, heat is released locally and is not distributed uniformly in
the reservoir. One idea to overcome this is to combine ER or EM heating with
waterflooding. Owing to its high heat capacity, water can carry thermal energy
deeper into the reservoir. Another limitation of EM is poor propagation in
presence of salt water due to high absorbance of salt water. Considerable
progress is likely to be made if the resonance frequency can be tuned so that
only oil molecules are heated. This requires further fundamental studies on EM
oil/water interactions.

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