Enhanced Oil Recovery PE 510: Dr. Mohamed El-Houni
Enhanced Oil Recovery PE 510: Dr. Mohamed El-Houni
PE 510
EOR METHODS
FALL 2013
Methods to Improve Recovery Efficiency
DISCOVERY
Conventional
Oil Recovery Natural Flow Artificial Lift
Methods to Improve
Recovery Efficiency
Wettability:
When two immiscible phases are placed in contact with a
solid surface, one of the phases is usually attracted to the
surface more strongly than the other phase. This phase is
identified as the wetting phase while the other phase is the
non-wetting phase. Wettability is explained quantitatively
by examining the force balances between two immiscible
fluids at the contact line between the two fluids (water and
oil) and the solid. Contact angle, is the principal measure
of wettability for a smooth, homogeneous surface.
Waterflooding
Wettability:
Laboratory experiments have proved that rock
wettability affects oil displacement. The term
wettability can be defined as "the tendency of one
fluid to spread or to adhere to a solid surface in the
presence of other immiscible fluids".
Wettability refers to interaction between fluid and solid phases.
Reservoir rocks (sandstone, limestone, dolomite, etc.) are the solid surfaces
Oil, water, and/or gas are the fluids
Waterflooding
CONTACT ANGLE
Oil
ow
Oil q Water Oil
os ws os
Solid The contact angle, q, measured through
the denser liquid phase,
AT = adhesion tension, dynes/cm) defines which fluid wets the solid surface.
q = contact angle between the oil/water/solid interface measured through the water, degrees
ow = interfacial energy (interfacial tension) between the oil and water, dynes/cm
Waterflooding
Interfacial Tension:
The energy per unit area (force per unit
distance) at the surface between phases.
IFTs between oil and water are usually 10 to
30 dyne/cm at 25 oC. The IFT between a liquid
and its vapor is referred to as surface tension.
Waterflooding
Capillary Pressure:
The concept of capillary pressure as
characteristics of a porous rock evolved from
the representation of capillary phenomena in
capillary tubes. The capillary phenomena are
predictable from the analysis of the forces at
the contact line between the interface and the
solid surface.
Waterflooding
Capillary pressure:
may be defined as the pressure difference
across a curved interface between two
immiscible fluids. By convention, the Pc term
is positive for unconfined immiscible fluid
pairs, where Pc is defined as the pressure
difference between the non- wetting and the
wetting phase.
Flood Patterns Affect Areal Sweep
Efficiency & Injectivity
Factors Affect Areal Sweep Efficiency
INJECTION WELL
PRODUCTION WELL
Regular 5 Spot Pattern
Regular 5 Spot Pattern
INJECTION WELL
PRODUCTION WELL
Regular 7 Spot Pattern
Regular 7 Spot Pattern
INJECTION WELL
PRODUCTION WELL
Regular 9 Spot Pattern
Regular 9 Spot Pattern
INJECTION WELL
PRODUCTION WELL
Other Factors Affect Sweep
Efficiency
Fractures
Directional Permeability
Areal Permeability Variations
Selection of Waterflood Pattern
PRODUCING
WELL
Viscous Fingering
A problem often encountered in the
displacement of oil by water is the viscosity
contrast between the two fluids. The adverse
mobility ratios that result promote fingering of
water through the more viscous crude oil and
can reduce the oil recovery efficiency.
Displacement Sweep Efficiency
ED is a function of
Mobility ratios
Wettability
Dip angle
Displacement Sweep Efficiency
Where:
= mobility, md/cp
k= effective permeability of reservoir rock to a given fluid, md
= fluid viscosity, cp
MOBILITY AND MOBILITY RATIO
When multiple fluids are flowing through the
reservoir, relative permeabilities must be used
along with viscosities of the fluids. By
convention, the term mobility ratio is defined as
the mobility of the displacing fluid divided by the
mobility of the displaced fluid. For waterfloods,
this is the ratio of water to oil mobilities. Thus the
mobility ratio, M, for a waterflood is:
MOBILITY AND MOBILITY RATIO
M= krw/w / kro/o
= krwo / krow
where krw and kro, are relative permeabilities to water and oil, respectively,
o is oil viscosity and w is water viscosity.