CO2 EOR and Storage for a mature Indian Oilfield

: laboratory to simulation studies

Anand Selveindran, Peila Chen, Ganesh Thakur

Department of Petroleum Engineering
The University of Houston

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A First-Ever Indian CO2 EOR Pilot Design Project
2016 Dec – 2017 May Phase-1 Reservoir Screening Study
Identified NHK079D as a candidate reservoir for CO2 EOR feasibility study,
using Advanced Reservoir Screening method

2017 Sep – 2018 Dec Phase-2 CO2 EOR Pilot Design

❑ CO2 EOR Scoping Study ❑ CO2 EOR Pilot Design

Laboratory Study Simulation Study Pilot Design

Slimtube MMP Test Geological Model CO2 Source Study
Swelling Test History Match Facilities/Completion
Coreflood Test CO2 EOR Simulation Economic Analysis

2019-2022 Phase-3 CO2 EOR Pilot Implementation

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 Workflow

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 Reservoir Screening: Production-Injection performance
400
1200 16 Bottomhole pressure, ksc
WATER Field data as of Jul 2017 14 300
Oil rate, Water rate (KLPD)

1000 Oil rate : 220 klpd

Pressure, ksc
Well count (Producers)
OIL
12
Well count Water-cut : 18%
800 200
GOR : 197 scm/kls 10
600 8
100
6
400
4
0
200

1957
1961
1965
1969
1973
1977
1981
1985
1989
1993
1997
2001
2005
2009
2013
2017
2
0 0
1957

1961

1965

1969

1973

1977

1981

1985

1989

1993

1997

2001

2005

2009

2013

2017
Key Question: Is waterflood effective?
1800
➢ Reservoir pressure was supported by
Solution GOR ~
GOR (m3/m3), Water inj (KLPD)

Winj
1500 200 m3/m3 continuous water injection
GOR
1200 Start Water ➢ Oil production rate increased after water
Injection injection
900
600 ➢ GOR was reduced after water injection and
300 tended to be stabilized in recent years
0
1957

1961

1965

1969

1973

1977

1981

1985

1989

1993

1997

2001

2005

2009

2013

2017

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 Assessing reservoir connectivity : Production-Injection data

▪ Capacitance resistance method(CRM) utilized to

investigate reservoir connectivity from production-
injection data
▪ CRM analysis combined with log evaluation to select
CO2 injection location and pattern design

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 CO2 EOR Scoping Study: Possible Pilot Locations

2
1

▪ Focused on SW Production Area

1
WF Study Area ▪ Two pilot areas identified (1 and 2)
3 2
➢ Alternate area 3 as a backup
5- spot Pilot Area
➢ If CO2 source is limited, pattern 2 is preferred amongst all
253 - injector options.
➢ Recoveries compared and benchmarked against analog
New injector (if reqd.)
fields onshore USA

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 Lab test design with gas saturation considerations
Black Oil PVT Study GOR vs. Reservoir Pressure
➢ CCE (Pb and compressibility) 1000 400
900 360
➢ Differential Liberation
800 320
➢ DiffLib Viscosity Measurement 700 GOR 280

GOR, Sm3/m3

Pressure, ksc
➢ Two Stage Separator Study 600 240
500 200
400 160
Miscibility Study
300 120
➢ Assessment of MMP by RBA 200 80
Pr
➢ Swelling Test (CO2, CO2 mixing with trapped gas) 100 40
0 0
1965 1976 1986 1996 2007 2017
Year

Free gas developed from solution gas and

expanded gas cap has been produced;
Free gas saturation has reduced and is
close to critical gas saturation, based on
Live Oil preparation material balance calculation

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 Miscible EOR studies

Gas Injected MMP

(psi)
Pure CO2 3000
95% CO2 + 4.5% C1 + 0.5% 3200
C2
90% CO2 + 9% C1+ 1% C2 > 3400

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 GeoModel Description

0
3264000 3265000 3266000 3267000 3268000 3269000
3264000 3264400 3264800 3265200 3265600 3266000
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500m
M ap HCPV oil [rm3]
350

1070500

1 0 7 05050 0 0
C o u n tr y S c a le 1:40000

0
325
1 :4 0 0 0 0 0 300
00
15
B lo c k C o n to u r in c 275
250

1070000

1070000
25

0
225

00
10
L ic e n s e U se r nam e NHK-253 200
NHK-622
p che n3 175
150

1069500

1069500
M o d e l n a m0 e D a te NHK-443
125
O il re vis io n m o d e l 1 0 /3 1 /2 0 1 8
100
H o r iz o n n a m e S ig n a tu r e 75

5 00 0
50

1069000

1069000
5000
25
0
Oil saturation ( purple)
HCPV map -25 at end of history near

0
-50

1068500

1068500
(at end of history) -75 proposed pilot area
3264000 3264400 3264800 3265200 3265600 3266000
Map 0 200 400 600 800 1000m

PV multipliers • Geomodel constructed and history matched.

Country

Block
Scale

Contour inc
1:15450
1:15450

used for gas cap 25

• History matched model used for CO2 flood design. Initially a

License User name
pchen3
and aquifer Model name Date

pseudo miscible simulation used for rapid results; a fully

Oil revision model
Horizon name
10/31/2018
Signature

compositional simulation later built to verify pseudo miscible

results.
• Good agreement found between scoping studies (from
analytical plots), pseudo and compositional results

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 Incremental Oil by CO2 Injection in the Depleted Reservoir
400
CO2 decline rate
350 ~18%/year
Field Oil Production Rate

300
Waterflood decline rate
250 ~11%/year

200
0.175 MMKLS
150 (1.1 MMSTB)
Incremental
100 Oil
50 CO2 Injection

0
Open infill well if
1994 2002 2010 2019 2027 2035 2043
recommended
Year
CO2 Flood Oil production rate [sm3/d] Current CO2 Injection Chase Water Injection
Waterflood Prediction Oil production rate [sm3/d] Strategy
Reservoir History Oil production Rate [sm3/d]
09/2018 09/2019 03/2020 03/2025 09/2043

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 CO2 Injection Sensitivities
0.16 0.16
0.14 0.14

Incremental Oil RF
Incremental Oil RF

0.12 0.12
0.1 0.1 CGI
0.08 CGI 0.08 CGI w Winj
0.06 WAG 1:1 0.06 WAG 1:1
WAG 2:1
0.04 Tapered WAG 0.04 WAG 2:1
0.02 CGI w Winj 0.02 Tapered WAG
0 0
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0 0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2 0.25 0.3
HCPV CO2 Injected CO2 Stored (MT)

1. Several sensitivities run to bracket incremental oil recovery and carbon dioxide storage. All cases run in the pilot
area, where the oil recoveries are tracked over a ten year period from start of injection
2. Case description:
1. CGI : Continuous CO2 injection within pattern with no water injection. Some challenges in this case include CO2 breakthrough and reduction
in reservoir pressure below miscibility pressure (MMP)
2. WAG 1:1 and WAG 2:1 : Water alternating gas using a 1:1 and 2:1 ratio, with cycle lengths of 3 months. Sensitivities were run with varying
cycle lengths
3. Tapered WAG : Water injection at beginning of pilot with increasing CO2 injection.
4. CGI w Winj : Continuous CO2 injection within pattern with out of pattern water injection. This case allowed for continuous CO2 injection and
maintained reservoir pressure above MMP

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 Summary and Conclusions
• A multidisciplinary reservoir management approach adopted to design the CO2 flood, combining
EOR and carbon storage targets

• Good agreement found between analytical studies and simulation studies; oil recovery from gas
injection consistent with recoveries from onshore USA fields

• The MMP of CO2-live oil system in a depleted oil reservoir depends on the current reservoir pressure
and solution GOR of the oil. The impurities of hydrocarbon (mainly C1 and C2) in CO2 stream slightly
increase MMP between injectant with live oil.

• For the base case design, the total volume of CO2 injected was 268,275 MT or 5.0 BCF. The
incremental oil recovery due to CO2 injection only in Pattern-1 is approximately 0.175 MMKLS (1.1
MM BBL) over 25 years. This corresponds to an incremental recovery factor of 12% of OOIP within
this pattern.

• Considering both economics and miscibility, an optimum injection strategy needed for CO2 EOR and
storage

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