Petroleum Engineering Commons^™

Mass Transfer Studies In Heavy Oil Recovery Using Solvents, Vijitha Mohan

Doctoral Dissertations

"Heavy oil, sometimes called bitumen, is known for its high viscosity (above 100 cp) and low API gravity (below 22⁰). In most cases, viscosity reduction is needed for the final product. There is a considerable amount of heavy oil in Alberta, Canada and the world's largest heavy oil deposit is in Venezuela. Yet less than 1% of it can be recovered because of its high viscosity. For shallow reservoirs, it is possible to resort to open cast mining. For deeper reservoirs, steam is used at ~ 350 ⁰C which gets the oil viscosity reduced to 1cp, which can now be …

Ior Methods In Unconventional Reservoirs Of North America: Comprehensive Review, Dheiaa Alfarge, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Unconventional resources have played a significant role in changing oil industry plans recently. Shale formations in North America have huge oil in place, 900 billion barrels of recoverable oil in Bakken only. However, the predicted primary recovery is still low as less than 10%. Therefore, seeking for improved oil techniques to increase oil recovery in these complex plays is inevitable. In this paper, three stages of review have been combined to find out the applicability of the most feasible IOR methods in these unconventional reservoirs. Firstly, the most common fluid and rock properties of these reservoirs have been investigated and …

Well Integrity Assessment Of Monitoring Wells At An Active Co2-Eor Flood, Andrew Duguid, Boyun Guo, Runar Nygaard

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Assessment of well integrity has become more important for CCS and CO₂-EOR as it has become apparent that wells represent the most likely migration pathway for CO₂ to leave a CCS storage unit or a CO₂-EOR reservoir. Although wells represent a migration pathway, they are also the best vehicle for employing technology monitoring CO₂ injection and storage. This contradiction of being a potential migration path and key monitoring technology leads to a need to understand how monitoring wells may be similar or different in comparison to other types of wells with respect to migration …

Analysis Of Ior Pilots In Bakken Formation By Using Numerical Simulation, Dheiaa Alfarge, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai, Mortadha Alsaba

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Bakken is the most productive formation among unconventional plays in North America. This formation has 7.4 billion barrels of recoverable oil. However, the primary oil recovery is still low as 5-10%. Miscible natural gas and carbon dioxide (CO₂) might be the most two potential strategies to improve oil recovery in such complex play. In this study, some of the IOR pilots which have been conducted in Montana, North Dakota, and South Saskatchewan have been presented. The performance results of these pilots in US-Bakken versus Canadian-Bakken have been compared. Moreover, the reasons beyond the successful IOR pilots in Canadian-Bakken …

Effect Of Molecular-Diffusion Mechanisim On Co2 Huff-N-Puff Process In Shale-Oil Reservoirs, Dheiaa Alfarge, Mingzhen Wei, Baojun Bai, Abdullah Almansour

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Unconventional resources have played a significant role in changing oil industry plans recently. Shale formations in North America such as Bakken, Niobrara, and Eagle Ford have huge oil in place, 100-900 billion barrels of recoverable oil in Bakken only. However, the predicted primary recovery is still low as less than 10%. Therefore, seeking for techniques to increase oil recovery in these complex plays is inevitable. In this paper, three different approaches have been combined to investigate the effect of molecular-diffusion mechanism on CO₂ huff-n-puff process in Bakken formation. Firstly, comprehensive review has been conducted on the reported experimental studies …

Successful Field Application Of A New Polymer Flooding Technique Suitable For Mature Oilfields Against Low-Oil-Price Background - A Case Study From East China, X. Wu, Y. Wu, C. Xiong, H. Xu, X. Jia, L. Shao, Y. Xiong, J. Zhang, A. Wang, H. Xu, J. Tian, Baojun Bai, X. Tian

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

DGXJ is a sandstone reservoir with temperature of 113 °C, salinity of 36235mg/L, and calcium and magnesium content of 1152mg/L and 30mg/L respectively. The reservoir is not only vertically multilayered and severe heterogeneous, but also witnesses water flowing channels, irregular and imperfect injecting production well patterns, high recovery degree (43%) and high water cut (97%). A new particle-type polymer (SMG) slug combined several small linked-polymer-gel (LPG)slugs and pregelled swellable particle (PSP) was applied during 2011-2015 and achieved remarkable technical and economic effect. The application area is composed of 16 injection wells and 22 production wells. Among the 22 wells, 17 …

Performance Evaluation Of Virtual Flow Metering Models And Its Application To Metering Backup And Production Allocation, Kahila Mokhtari Jadid

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

In the oil and gas industry, reliable and accurate measurements of the amount of oil, gas and water being produced by individual wells is essential. The production revenue for each well is determined from measured flow rates. Measurement of well production can be achieved by using multiphase flow meters on individual wells. However, the use of such metering technique is not always reliable or economical. As an alternative technique to monitoring individual well performance in real-time, multiphase flow simulators together with pressure and temperature sensors located at different locations in the production systems have been recently deployed to estimate individual …

Performance Evaluation Of Integrated Co2 Huff-N-Puff And Wag In Low-Pressure Heterogeneous Reservoir, Hutthapong Yoosook

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The integrated CO2 Huff-n-Puff and WAG is a novel technique to combine CO2 Huff-n-Puff technique that conducted at early state and followed by WAG technique until the end of operating time. This technique is effectiveness in term of increased oil recovery and reduced CO2 utilization. However, the integrated CO2 Huff-n-Puff and WAG process contains numerous adjustable operating parameters. Hence, numerical simulation study and sensitivity analysis become essential to investigate the effects of main operational parameters and evaluate the performance of the integrated CO2 Huff-n-Puff and WAG process in low-pressure heterogeneous reservoir to achieve the maximum benefits. According to simulation results, …

Evaluation Of Combined Low-Salinity Water And Microgel Treatments To Improve Oil Recovery Using Partial Fractured Carbonate Models, Ali K. Alhuraishawy, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Combining two methods in one process to enhance oil recovery represents a needed cost savings in the oil industry. Microgels are used as conformance control agents to improve oil sweep efficiency and control excess water production. Low-salinity waterflooding (LSWF) is used as a wettability alteration agent in carbonate reservoirs and improves displacement efficiency. This paper offers a comprehensive understanding of the combined technology through laboratory experiments. The focus of this study is to see how microgels and low water salinity perform in porous media by creating flow resistance to injected fluid thereby changing the wettability and enhancing the sweep and …

Updated Criterion To Select Particle Size Distribution Of Lost Circulation Materials For An Effective Fracture Sealing, Mortadha Alsaba, Mohammed F. Al Dushaishi, Runar Nygaard, Olav Magnar Nes, Arild Saasen

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

This paper presents a new criterion to select particle size distribution (PSD) for an effective fracture sealing. The method was developed based on a comprehensive laboratory investigation that was conducted to determine the relationship between effectiveness of different lost circulation material (LCM) treatments in terms of the sealing efficiency and PSD. The results were compared with the current selection methods, which were developed to enhance the bridging capabilities for drill-in fluid, to investigate their applicability in designing effective treatments for fracture sealing. A statistical investigation was carried out to develop new criteria that suggest PSD based on the expected fracture …

Evaluation Of Compositional Effects On Gas-Oil Miscibility And Gas-Assisted Gravity Drainage (Gagd) Eor Process, Mohamed Al Riyami

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The Vanishing interface technique (VIT), offers fast and accurate determination of minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) between the reservoir crude oil and the various gases injected for enhancing oil recovery (EOR). The technique is based on miscibility being the condition where an interface between the injected fluid and the reservoir crude oil vanishes. This research has evaluated the effect of the gas-oil ratio on zero-IFT pressure. VIT experiments were simulated using an equation of state (EOS) and the Parachor model. This work proves the robustness of VIT in estimating miscibility pressures for gas injection EOR projects. Also this work presents a …

The Role Of Surface Active Compounds In Crude Oil On Reservoir Wettability., Paulina Metili Mwangi

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the role of crude oil’s surface active compounds (SAC) in determining the reservoir wettability. Wettability describes the relative preference of a reservoir rock for oil or water. Wettability influences the distribution of fluids in a reservoir and the efficiency of oil recovery methods. Unfortunately, the chemical mechanisms controlling wettability in individual reservoirs remain hazy. Wettability is conditional and is influenced by rock mineralogy, fluid chemistry, and temperature. An extensive experimental study was executed to understand the impact of naturally-occurring SACs typically found in crude oil, on the wettability of sandstone and carbonate rocks over a range of …

Effects Of Post Eviction Resettlement On Land-Use And Cover Change In Uganda’S Oil Exploration Areas, Joseph Ssekandi, John Mburu, Oliver Wasonga, Laban Macopiyo, Charles A. Francis

Department of Agronomy and Horticulture: Faculty Publications

Evaluation of the changes in land use and land cover change (LULCC) in respect to oil exploration across the Albertine region in Uganda has been focused around the exploration areas and protected areas, with no attention to the potential impacts of evictees’ activities on resettled areas. This study used LANDSAT images to analyze the land use and land cover changes (LULCC) among the period before eviction (2002 and 2005) at the climax of eviction and resettlements (2005-2011), and during the post-resettlement period (2011-2015) to quantify the impacts of resettlements on the environment. LANDSAT images were processed using ERDAS IMAGINE software …

Designing Efficient Petroleum Fiscal System For Mozambique, Nelson Victor

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Nowadays, tax regime is designed to attract investment and provide the contractor with fair return on investment, at the same time, provide the host government with adequate resources for rent, thereby resulting in win-win situation. This study analyses the existing petroleum fiscal regime in the Republic of Mozambique and proposes a more efficient and flexible regime. The analysis shows that the government take currently remains at around 39% while the contactors' net present value (NPV) increases as field sizes and oil prices increase. The current system is considered a regressive system which is inefficient in distributing wealth from oil profit. …

Numerical Simulation Of Viscoelastic Buckle Folds: Implications For Stress, Fractures, Porosity And Fluid Flow, Xiaolong Liu

Doctoral Dissertations

"Over the past several decades, buckle folds have been exclusively studied by numerous methods. However, lots of assumptions and simplifications are made, which may not result in realistic in-situ stress conditions leading to rock failure. This study represents the first numerical simulation of folding under the consideration of gravity and pore pressure to simulate the structural development of buckle folds.

The first topic covered in this dissertation is the fracture associated to the single layer fold. It is concluded that burial depth, viscosity, and permeability are critical for the initiation of major fracture sets at the hinge zone with varying …

A Comprehensive Analysis Of Lost Circulation Materials And Treatments With Applications In Basra's Oil Fields, Iraq: Guidelines And Recommendations, Husam Hasan Alkinani

Masters Theses

"Lost circulation materials (LCM's) have been widely used to avoid or stop losses. Due to a large number of current available LCM's and their different applications, classification of LCM's is very important. The most recent LCM classification was published around 50 years ago, and this paper intends to fill this gap with an updated classification including conventional and new technologies. Lost circulation materials and treatments are re-classified into various categories based on their appearance, applications, chemical and physical properties.

Wells in Basra's oil fields are highly susceptible to lost circulation problems when drilling through the Dammam, Hartha, and Shuaiba formations. …

An Investigation Of Borax For Sealing Inflow From Berea Sandstone, Tri-Tris Bao Nguyen

Masters Theses

"Well inflow control is a major challenge for the oil and gas industry. Erle Haliburton revolutionized well inflow control with his patent for cementing oil wells in 1921. Soon after, cement became the accepted material to establish well integrity and has been ever since. Cement is used in all phases of the well life cycle, and it is expected to hold indefinitely once set. Yet based on the nature of cement and the placement techniques, flow pathways may develop from improper cementing jobs or from cement degradation over time. Well integrity is especially crucial for wellbore plugging and abandonment, since …

Evaluation Of Preformed Particle Gels Penetration And Propagation Behavior For A Conformance Control Treatment In Partially Open Conduits, Ahmed Mohamed Aldalfag

Masters Theses

"Preformed particle gels (PPGs) serve as a conformance control agent and have been used widely to control excess water production through conduits, fractures or fracture-like features. This research ranks the parameters that impact PPG resistance to water flow in partially opened conduits. Experiments were conducted to examine the effect of brine concentration, PPG injection pressure, back pressure, reducing water salinity and matrix permeability on PPG resistance to water flow through conduits, PPG penetration to the matrix. PPGs were swelled in different concentration brines and were injected into the conduits at a few designed injection pressures. PPG swollen in high brine …

Determination Of Significant Parameters That Drive Fracture Optimization In The Glauconite Formation, Southern Chile, Ghassan Saleh Mahdi Alqatrani

Masters Theses

"The Glauconite Formation in the Magallanes Basin of Southern Chile is a clay- and silica-rich formation with low permeability. As with many of the unconventional resources, the Glauconite Formation requires a hydraulic fracturing operation to enhance the productivity of the wells in this area.

Data and pertinent information of fracturing, completion, and reservoir quality parameters along with post-fracture production data were collected to initiate a database of nearly 70 wells, to be used to develop a better understanding of the fracturing behavior, optimize the well stimulation, and overcome the major barriers in the hydraulic fracturing of the Glauconite Formation. The …

Survey And Data Analysis Of Weak Gel Treatments In Injection Wells, Zhuxing Chen

Masters Theses

"Excessive water production is a major concern in mature reservoirs. Weak gels have been applied in injection wells for in-depth profile modification. However, the data range and distribution of each parameter that affects performance of weak gels have not been studied thoroughly.

China has the largest amount of chemical-based conformance control treatments. This paper presents a summary of comprehensive data ranges and distributions for weak gel treatments based on the laboratory experiments and field applications in China from 2001 to 2010. The data set includes 76 cases compiled from China Academic Journals papers. In this study, reservoir properties, gel properties …