Chemical Engineering Commons^™

Mitigation Of Wellbore Instability In Deviated Wells By Using Geomechanical Models And Mpd Technique, Husam Raad Abbood

Masters Theses

"During drilling operations for the E oilfield in the Mishrif formation in southern Iraq, stuck pipe presents a significant wellbore stability problem for deviated wells. In this study, two solutions are utilized to address this problem. The first approach is a 1-D Geomechanical model of the Mishrif formation compiled based on the state of stress and rock strength parameters. It is utilized to assess the contribution of borehole collapse leading to the stuck pipe problems. The results of this study show that wells characterized by stuck pipe are drilled along azimuths which promote wellbore collapse. Three different failure criteria, the …

Conceptual Parameters Necessary For Modeling Wettability Alteration In An Enhanced Smart Brine-Chalk System, Ahmed Abdulkareem Hussein Albahrani

Masters Theses

"Achieving higher recovery of oil from proven carbonate reserves around the world is not an easy task. One promising new method, especially for carbonate reservoirs, is the use of "Smart Water" technology, which is an injection water with carefully determined, optimal ionic composition and salinity. Recent experiments have shown good recovery results, but the mechanism of wettability alteration by this fluid are still not well understood. The goal of this study is to review the high and optimal salinity and ionic composition literature plus perform dimensional analysis of key variables in order to shed light on the physical and chemical …

An Investigation Of Plugging And Increasing Oil Recovery In Sandstone Porous Media By Micrometer-Size Particle Gel, Haifeng Ding

Masters Theses

"Micrometer-size particle gel (microgel) has been developed and successfully applied to improve conformance in mature reservoirs. However, quite few researches have been published to address on their effect on oil recovery and rock permeability modification.

This work conducted a series of core flooding experiments to investigate the injectivity, plugging efficiency and improving oil recovery potentials of a couple of microgels synthesized in our lab.

First, this work studied the impact of permeability and crosslinker concentration on PAM type microgel treatment. Results shows that microgel treatment would have a less plugging efficiency in lower permeability rocks, which could be caused by …

Impact Of Repeated Cyclic Production Scheme On Eur In Low-Permeability Reservoirs, Samarth Gupte

Masters Theses

"Productivity in low-permeability reservoirs declines quickly compared to conventional reservoirs. These tight reservoirs have very high initial oil production rates but as soon as the oil near the fractured area is recovered, the production declines rapidly making economic oil and gas production a challenge for the industry. This study investigates the impact of repeated shut-in/production cycles on the ultimate recovery of oil in such environments.

A reservoir model with multiple fractured horizontal well having 30 transverse fractures is created using CMG. Reservoir permeability is varied over the range of 0.000001 md to 10 md and shut-in/production cycles of 2-weeks, 1-month, …

Study And Development Of Robust Preformed Particle Gels For Conformance Control, Yifu Long

Masters Theses

"To improve the oil recovery of mature reservoirs, technologies referring to conformance control have been widely developed and implemented. Among various technologies, preformed particle gel (PPG) treatment has attracted increasing attentions. PPGs, as a kind of deformable plyometric superabsorbent, could be pumped through injection wells as plugging agents to block the fracture or high-permeability zone in a reservoir.

In decade usage of PPGs, an intensively employed material is poly(acrylamide) (PAM) based hydrogel. However, conventional PAM gel did reveal deficient in formidable conditions, such as formations with high temperature and high salinity. Therefore, a novel PPG based on starch-grafting-poly(acrylamide)/nano-composite (SAC) hydrogel …

Correlation Anaylsis Of Magnesite Dissolution Rate And Magnesite Spatial Distribution, Yao Wang

Masters Theses

"This thesis presents a correlation analysis of the spatial distribution and permeability of magnesite dissolution and focuses on its overall rate and average porosity. Magnesite dissolution is affected by several aspects.

A reservoir's large spatial distribution can make capturing the magnesite dissolution difficult, so in this study, a variogram was built in Petrel using a percentage variation of magnesite and sand. The variogram also handles different major and minor directions in anisotropy. After building the magnesite model, simulation of magnesite dissolution was achieved in Cruch Flow to get the magnesite dissolution rate and average porosity.

For correlation analysis, a regression …

A Numerical Investigation Of Wellbore Stability Problems Using An Elastoplastic Model, Chang Huang

LSU Master's Theses

Wellbore stability analysis acts an important role in the drilling design to avoid pipe-stuck, lost circulation and the other instability-induced problems. However, the conventional linear elastic model used by the industry is too conservative in predicting the mud weight window. This project is aimed at improving the accuracy of wellbore stability analysis. An elastoplastic model with Drucker-Prager yield criterion featured by strain hardening is proposed to characterize the rock behavior. Object-oriented finite element analysis simulator, NSMOOM, is programmed in MATLAB. The simulator is verified with the analytical solution in the elastic domain and with the commercial software ABAQUS in the …

Stress Corrosion Cracking Evaluation Of Carbon Steel In Biodiesel And The Effect Of Ultrasonic Nanocrystal Surface Modification (Unsm) On 304 Stainless Steel, Josh Geyer

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The project that was performed was stress corrosion cracking (SSC) of carbon steel in biodiesel, petroleum diesel and a mixture. The project also included the effect of Ultrasonic Nanocrystal Surface Modification (UNSM) on 304 stainless steel. It included the assembly of a slow strain rate (SSR) machine and carrying out testing using the SSR machine. The assembly of the machine will require purchasing and building a stand to house the electrical equipment which includes the computer, actuator control panel and the actuator power supply. The assembly will also include designing and purchasing the connections to connect the actuator to the …

An Integrated Completion And Reservoir Modeling Methodology For Horizontal Shale Wells: A Montney Formation Example, Rashid S. Kassim, Larry K. Britt, Shari Dunn-Norman, Bryan Lang

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The Montney Formation is one of the largest unconventional resources in North America covering from southwestern Alberta to northeast British Columbia. The Montney Formation has natural gas, natural gas liquids (NGL) and oil from conventional and unconventional reservoirs. The first multiple fractured horizontal well (MFHW) was drilled in 2005. However, since the first MFHW, different methods were proposed to optimize completion designs in the Montney Formation. Some of the optimized completions utilized the "operational effectiveness" of high-rate slick-water fracture designs while other designs utilized energized fracturing fluids. What has been missing was an integrated methodology that utilizes all available data …

Modeling Gas Inflow For Extremely Low Permeability Shale Using Cfd, Chatetha Chumkratoke

Doctoral Dissertations

"Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) has been used to model 2-D well inflow over a range of permeabilities to study the impact of various well completion strategies (Augustine, 2011). Augustine's 2-D model was subsequently extended for 3-D flow by Thepporprapakorn (2013), for gas flow in the permeability range of tight gas (0.01 mD).

This work presents a 3-D CFD model of gas inflow valid for extremely low ranges of permeability (0.00001 mD). In extremely low permeability, gas flow is complex and includes flow from fractures, flow through porous media, and diffusive gas transport. Diffusive gas transport is important when strong density …

Design And Development Of A High-Temperature High-Pressure Rolling Ball Viscometer/Densimeter And Evaluation Of Star Polymer-Solvent Mixtures, Matthew Stanton Newkirk

Theses and Dissertations

Modern automotive applications such as transmission clutch plates, combustion chambers, diesel fuel injector tips, and axle gears and friction plates operate at temperatures that can exceed 250°C and pressures of 40,000 psia. Industrial practice is to add homopolymers and copolymers to base oils to modify bulk fluid viscosity and frictional properties for these demanding applications. However, designing polymeric additives for lubricants and predicting their performance is limited by the lack of available high-temperature high-pressure (HTHP) viscosity and density data needed to test contemporary lubricity models. Thus, a major objective of this thesis is the design, development, and commissioning of a …

Numerical Analysis Of Flexural Slip During Viscoelastic Buckle Folding, Davi Rodrigues Damasceno

Masters Theses

"Flexural slip is considered to be an important folding mechanism contributing in the development of different folds such as chevron, and kink-band buckle folds. Various filed studies have provided a general conceptual and qualitative understanding of flexural slip. However, quantitative evidence of the importance of the flexural slip mechanism during fold evolution is sparse, as the actual amount of surface parallel displacement, and timing, is difficult to measure accurately, due to the lack of suitable strain markers.

In this study 2D finite element analysis is used to overcome these disadvantages and to simulate flexural slip during viscoelastic buckle folding. Variations …

Data Analysis Of Surfactant-Induced Wettability Alteration In Carbonate Reservoirs, Hao Sun

Masters Theses

"Most carbonate formations prove to be oil-wet due to oil aging effect. Therefore it is essential to employ wettability alteration methods for a more effective enhanced oil recovery process. It is confirmed by researchers that surfactant treatment has positive effects on wettability alteration of carbonate rock, from strong oil-wet to intermediate wet or to even weak water-wet. A number of experiments have the same conclusion and yet, a systematic screening guide development with the support of sufficient data analysis is lacking.

This study involves screening guide development for surfactant-induced wettability alteration method. 199 experiments collected from published literatures are analyzed …

Nitrogen Gas Flooding For Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoir: Visualisation Experiment And Numerical Simulation, Zhaojie Song, Jirui Hou, Zhongchun Liu, Fenglan Zhao, Shijun Huang, Yong Wang, Jieheng Wu, Baojun Bai

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Tahe Naturally Fractured Carbonate Reservoir has implemented nitrogen gas flooding since 2013, with daily oil production of 7580 bbls and oil recovery increment of 0.83% by the end of 2015. However, the presence of fractures significantly affects gas swept volume and production performance, so large amount of oil reserves is poorly flooded due to gas channeling through fractures. The fluid flow mechanisms in fractured models were discussed in order to improve field gas flooding efficiency. Based on the geological constrains of Tahe Oilfield, fractured models with different apertures were fabricated using acrylic glass to model carbonate matrix wettability and for …

Shale Instability Of Deviated Wellbores In Southern Iraqi Fields, Ahmed Ali Shanshool Alsubaih

Masters Theses

"Wellbore instability problems are the cause for the majority of nonproductive time in the southern Iraqi fields' developments. The most severe problem in terms of effort and disbursement which is referred to a pipe sticking in Tanuma shale formation. Examining the drilling data revealed that this phenomenon was mostly related to the shear failure of the wellbore. Thus, a geomechanical analysis and drilling parameters/ practice optimization analysis were performed on a field in southern Iraq based on data from 45 deviated wells. The geomechanics analysis predicted the suitable drilling fluid density to prevent onset shear failure by using the Mogi-Coulomb …

Mechanistic Understanding Of Water-Rock Interactions During High-Salinity Water-Flooding Of Carbonate Reservoirs, Pu Han

Masters Theses

"Chemically tuned water-flooding provides a relatively cheap method of enhanced oil recovery from carbonate and sandstone reservoirs. Several possible recovery mechanisms such as mineral dissolution, multi-component ion exchange, double-layer expansion, adsorption/desorption from rock surface, reduction in interfacial tension, and fines migration that have been proposed are widely debated. The combination of these processes may result in wettability alteration that increases sweep efficiency of water-flooding. Here, wettability alteration due to water-rock interactions will be examined numerically.

To evaluate the wettability alteration, separation between breakthrough curves of the non-reactive component and the cations based on the chromatographic separation will be used due …

Evaluating Completion Performance For Gas Wells In The Upper And The Lower Montney Formation, Canada, Omar Qasim Mohammed

Masters Theses

"Identifying the key drivers for success of multiple fractured horizontal wells is not straightforward, especially in unconventional reservoirs like the Montney. Al-Alwani et al. (2015) provided a statistical analysis of Montney completions based on publicly available data. They showed that for the entire well population, cumulative gas recovery per stage, declines as the number of completed stages increase. However, their statistical analysis did not differentiate between completions in the Upper/Middle/Lower Montney, and did not include perforation cluster data.

This work documents the statistical analysis of 296 cased-hole horizontal gas well completions reported in the Upper and the Lower Montney. The …

Characterization Of Fracture Initiation In Non-Cylindrical Buckle Folds Using 3d Finite Element Analysis, Eli Jacob Steinbeck

Masters Theses

"The spatial distribution of fracture sets associated with buckle folds has been well documented in field studies. There are difficulties, however, in placing accurate constraints on the timing of the initiation of individual fracture sets during the deformation history of the fold under in-situ conditions. This study investigates specific conditions that give rise to the initiation of various fracture sets in the hinge and limb of a pericline, based on an analysis of the effective stress evolution during the processes of buckling and erosional unloading. A 3D finite element modeling approach is used to simulate the effective stress evolution in …

Fluid Flow Through Deformation Band, Huining Zhang

Masters Theses

"Cataclastic deformation bands, which are common in porous sandstone, have the potential to restrict fluid flow. Geological studies have shown that permeability of deformation band shear zones can be one to five orders of magnitude less than for the sandstone host rock. However, recent studies based on simplified analytical estimates have shown that fluid flow in jointed deformation bands may not be retarded since joints play an important role in conducting fluids. In this study, 2 dimensional finite element analysis (FEA) is used to simulate the total discharge flow rate through jointed deformations. Variations of single planar and conjugate jointed …

Exploring Reservoir Connectivity With Production Data: Two New Methods And A New Technique, Ghazwan Faisal Jasim Al-Khmaysawee

Masters Theses

"This study presents two new, simple methods to explore reservoir connectivity, which has a significant impact on field development strategy. Identifying reservoir connectivity during primary depletion plays an important role in achieving the most cost-effective and highest production possible. It is also very important in future secondary and tertiary oil recovery, particularly when costs dictate a limited number of wells such as those in deepwater environments.

The presented methods are reciprocal-productivity index versus total field material-balance time trend lines and reciprocal-productivity index versus time trend lines. Those two methods are quick, simple, inexpensive, and only need rate and pressure data …

Sensitivity Analysis Of Geomechanical Parameters In A Two-Way Coupling Reservoir Simulation, Hector Gabriel Donoso

Masters Theses

"Currently reservoir simulators model geomechanical effects such as compaction, subsidence, fault reactivation, breach of the seal integrity, etc. using only the rock compressibility to change the pore volume. However, rock compressibility as a scalar quantity is unfit to represent the true rock mechanics in the reservoir. In order to accurately represent geomechanical effects in a reservoir simulation, a two-way coupling simulation of the stress analyzer and the reservoir simulator was done. Based on the poroelasticity theory during the production or depletion of the reservoir the porosity and permeability changed due to the stress or pore pressure changes.

A sensitivity analysis …

Experimental Investigation Of Fracture Width Limitations Of Granular Lost Circulation Treatments, Mortadha Al-Saba, Runar Nygaard, Arild Saasen, Olav Magnar Nes

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Drilling fluid losses into fractured shales is a major challenge. Lost circulation treatments are widely applied to mitigate the losses; however, the effectiveness of these treatments is affected by different physical properties of the used lost circulation materials (LCM). This paper presents an experimental investigation to study the effect of LCM type, concentration, particle size distribution, temperature, and LCM shape on the formed seal integrity, with respect to differential pressure, at different fracture widths. The overall objective of this study is to address the effectiveness of LCM treatments in sealing fractured shales, with specific application to the over consolidated Barents …

Laboratory Evaluation Of A Real-Time Coaxial Cable Casing Imager For Wellbore Integrity Monitoring, Yurong Li, Runar Nygaard, Baokai Cheng, Wenge Zhu, Hai Xiao

Geosciences and Geological and Petroleum Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

Leakage is one of the major concerns in a geological carbon sequestration project due to the adverse environmental consequences. The main leakage risk of CO₂ through a thick, low permeable cap rock is identified to be along wells, especially in sedimentary basins that have a history of oil and gas exploration and production. To pursue a robust and cost-effective real-time monitoring technology for CO₂ leakage risk detection along the wellbore, a permanently downhole deployed coaxial cable casing imaging system is developed and tested for various deformation modes in laboratory in this paper. The casing imager consists of a …

Mathematical Scaling And Statistical Modeling Of Geopressured Geothermal Reservoirs, Esmail Ansari

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The interest for developing geopressured-geothermal reservoirs along the US Gulf Coast is increasing for securing energy needs and reducing global warming. Identifying the most attractive candidate reservoirs for geothermal energy production requires quick and simple models. Analytical models are not always available and simulating each case individually is expensive. The use of scaling and statistical modeling is one approach to translate the output of a simulator into quick models with general applicability at all scales. The developed models can quickly estimate temperature and thermal energy recovery from the geopressured-geothermal reservoirs. These models can screen large databases of reservoirs to select …

Development And Evaluation Of A Coaxial Cable Sensing System For Co₂ Sequestration Wellbore Integrity Monitoring, Yurong Li

Doctoral Dissertations

"Downhole monitoring plays a crucial part in geological carbon dioxide (₂) sequestration. Various downhole monitoring technologies have been explored and applied, but they are either expensive or have system longevity issues. To address this issue, a robust and cost-effective downhole sensing system based on distributed coaxial cable sensors is developed and evaluated in laboratory, and a numerical simulation with staged finite element model is conducted to study the feasibility of using the coaxial cable sensing system for monitoring and evaluation of wellbore stability during CO₂ injection.

The real-time distributed sensing system is composed of Fabry-Perot interferometer based …

การแตกสลายสีย้อมโดยใช้ไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์ภายใต้การส่องสว่างด้วยแสงอาทิตย์, สุนิติ ไทยเจียมอารีย์

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

งานวิจัยนี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อศึกษาอิทธิพลของตัวแปรต่างๆและหาภาวะที่เหมาะสมต่อประสิทธิภาพการแตกสลายสีย้อมรีแอคทีฟเรด 120 (RR120) ผ่านกระบวนการเร่งปฏิกิริยาเชิงแสงบนตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์เชิงพาณิชย์ (Com TiO2) ตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์สังเคราะห์ (Syn TiO2) และตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์สังเคราะห์เจือไนโตรเจน (N-TiO2) ภายใต้การส่องสว่างด้วยแสงอาทิตย์ โดยตัวแปรที่ศึกษา ได้แก่ ระยะเวลาการฉายแสง ชนิดตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์ แหล่งไนโตรเจน ปริมาณไนโตรเจน ปริมาณตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยา ความเข้มข้นเริ่มต้นของสีย้อมรีแอคทีฟเรด 120 และค่าความเป็นกรดด่าง จากผลการทดลองพบว่าภายใต้การฉายแสงอาทิตย์นั้นตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์เชิงพาณิชย์ไม่สามารถแตกสลายสีย้อมได้ ในขณะที่ตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์สังเคราะห์และตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์สังเคราะห์เจือไนโตรเจนร้อยละ 10 โดยน้ำหนัก สามารถแตกสลายสีย้อมได้ แต่จะพบว่าตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาไทเทเนียมไดออกไซด์สังเคราะห์เจือไนโตรเจนด้วยกัวนิดีน คาร์บอเนต ร้อยละ 10 โดยน้ำหนัก มีประสิทธิภาพในการแตกสลายสีย้อมได้ดีในทุกภายใต้การฉายแสง ที่ปริมาณตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาเท่ากับ 5 กรัม สารละลายสี 1 ลิตรที่ความเข้มข้นเริ่มต้น เท่ากับ 100 มิลลิกรัมต่อลิตร และค่าความเป็นกรดด่างเท่ากับ 3 จากนั้นทำการศึกษาแบบจำลองจลนพลศาสตร์ของกระบวนการเร่งปฏิกิริยาเชิงแสงพบว่าสอดคล้องกับแบบจำลองแลงเมียร์-ฮินเชลวูด (Langmuir-Hinshelwood model) โดยแบบจำลองนี้สามารถอธิบายรูปแบบการเกิดปฏิกิริยาได้เป็นสองกระบวนการจากสองค่าคงที่ คือ ค่าคงที่การดูดติด (KLH) และค่าคงที่อัตราการเกิดปฏิกิริยา (kLH)

Single Phase Gas Flow Response Of Fractured Horizontal And Vertical Wells To Repeated Production, Divya Kandlakunta

Masters Theses

"Historically, the conventional approach to well production has been to produce continuously, minimizing interruptions to flow insofar as possible. Yet some operators have observed improved well flow rates and ultimate recovery after a significant well shut-in periods. These production increases have not been documented. This study investigates the production impact of cyclic production/shut-in on fractured vertical and horizontal gas well performance.

A numerical reservoir model in Stimplan software was used to model production in fracture stimulated vertical and horizontal gas wells. Reservoir permeability is varied over a range of 0.0001 md to 1 md, and the shut-in period was varied …

Computational Fluid Dynamic Analysis In High Permeability Hydraulic Fractured Horizontal Gas Wells, Hrithu Vasudevan

Masters Theses

"Hydraulic fracturing of horizontal wells in unconventional reservoirs has become the dominant type of well completion performed in the United States. In very low permeability reservoirs (~.00001-.0001 mD), the wellbore is aligned with the minimum horizontal stress, and the completion includes multiple transverse fractures. These fractures may be placed with either open hole sleeve type completion systems (OHMS), or cased hole plug and perf systems (P-n-P). In slightly higher permeability reservoirs (1 to 10 mD) multiple longitudinal fractures have been found to be preferred to completions with transverse fractures.

This study presents an evaluation of gas well productivity for both …

Commercialization Of Cobalt Promoted Molybdenum Disulfide Hydrodesulfurization Unsupported Catalyst, Juan Hilario Leal

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Catalysis is a key player in the petroleum refining process. Our focus is primarily on the improvement of a commercial HDS (HydroDeSulfurization) hydrotreating catalyst. The commercial catalyst sold today is cobalt promoted molybdenum supported on γ-alumina. Our aim is to work with Porocel Industries LLC to produce an unsupported, cobalt promoted, molybdenum disulfide catalyst by improving on previous work conducted by Dr. Brenda Torres. The catalysts (B3&B5) developed by Dr. Torres were reported to be highly active on real feedstocks and were produced via hydrothermal process. Oxidic Mo, and H2S were used to make an ammonium tetrathiomolybdate precursor that was …

Modelling Hydraulic Fracturing Propagation In Heterogeneous Reservoirs Using Cohesive Zone Methods, Miguel Alejandro Gonzalez-Chavez

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The recent success in exploiting low permeability shale reservoirs has heavily relied on hydraulic fracturing to produce hydrocarbons economically in disadvantaged reservoir conditions. Although horizontal drilling significantly increases the contact area between the wellbore and the reservoir, the objective of hydraulic fracturing is set on creating further expanded conductive flow paths into the reservoir. This research uses cohesive zone method to numerically simulate hydraulic fracture propagation in the presence of natural fractures in two- and three-dimensional model. The Cohesive element approach limits fracture propagation to some predefined paths. However, in highly fractured formations since hydraulic fractures are growing through a …