Petroleum Engineering Commons^™

Investigations Of Carbon Dioxide Storage In Low-Temperature Reservoirs For Non-Leaking Storage, Md Nahin Mahmood

Doctoral Dissertations

Carbon dioxide (CO₂) injection into subsea or low-temperature water zones has emerged as a promising strategy for long-term, non-leaking CO₂ storage through the formation of solid hydrates. This research investigates CO₂ injection into Berea sandstone cores saturated with water under simulated subsea conditions, focusing on hydrate formation behavior across varying temperatures, pressures, and injection flow rates. Experimental results demonstrate that CO₂ hydrate formation under dynamic (flowing) conditions occurs at significantly higher pressure compared to static conditions reported previously. At temperatures ranging from 0 °C to 5 °C, dynamic hydrate formation pressures were observed to be approximately double. This can be …

Transport And Plugging Behavior Of Co2-Resistant Preformed Particle Gels In High Conductive Channels For Conformance Control, Adel Alotibi

Doctoral Dissertations

"Improving oil recovery is essential with rising global oil demand and declining production in mature fields. CO₂ flooding has been widely applied as a major Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) method due to its effectiveness in boosting oil recovery while enabling safe carbon storage in the subsurface. However, in fractured and highly heterogeneous reservoirs, CO₂ often flows through paths of least resistance, leading to early breakthrough or quick excessive CO₂ production and leaving substantial oil in unswept zones or areas. Traditional in-situ polymer gels have been applied to control CO₂ flooding conformance, their performance has been varied, …

Investigation Of The Transport And Plugging Behavior Of Preformed Particle Gels (Ppgs) In Fractures For Conformance Control In Carbonate Reservoirs, Abdulaziz A. Almakimi

Doctoral Dissertations

This study aims to systematically evaluate the performance of preformed particle gels (PPGs) in fractured carbonates mainly through a series of core flooding experiments. Carbonate reservoirs exhibit unique features of heterogeneity and pore geometry, while (PPGs) are known for their plugging efficiency, deformability, and dehydratable nature. The main goal of gel injection in fractured reservoirs is to place a gel pack appropriately into the fracture, diverting injected fluid to the oil-bearing matrix and reducing excessive water production. However, considerable dehydration of (PPGs) is possible at the adjacent matrix and within the fracture, which could lead to a filter-cake formation and/or …

Lithospheric Drip And Mantle Thermal Upwelling Beneath Central Asia And The Southern Great Plains Of North America: Evidence From Receiver Function Imaging, Yangyang Liao

Doctoral Dissertations

"Investigating the depth of mantle transition zone (MTZ) discontinuities provides insights into mantle dynamics, including regional-scale downwelling of mantle lithosphere (i.e., lithospheric drip) and upwelling of thermal materials (i.e., mantle plume). In our study, we employ receiver functions to image the 410 km (d410) and 660 km (d660) mantle discontinuities and to ascertain thickness of the MTZ beneath Central Asia and the Great Plains in United States. The findings unveil a significantly thickened transition zone, exhibiting an average thickness of 284 km beneath East Sayan. When considered alongside geochemical observations, our results indicate that the descent of the lithosphere is …

High Viscosity Friction Reducer Evaluation At High Temperature And High Tds Environments, Ghith Ali Ahmed Biheri

Doctoral Dissertations

"In unconventional reservoirs, proppant transport during hydraulic fracturing treatments could be successful when the proppant is placed further within the reservoir's fracture networks. This could increase the reservoir formation conductivities and improve the productivity of the wells. This job of improving the reservoir conductivity by distributing and transporting proppant can be conducted by reliable fracture fluids with excellent fluid rheology (e.g., viscosity and elasticity). However, several challenges, including the high temperatures and the presence of high TDS in produced water, may limit the capability of fracture fluids to transport proppant. Additionally, the use of fracture fluid has raised fears regarding …

Investigation Of Asphaltene Instability Under Gas Injection In Unconventional Reservoirs And Its Impact On Oil Recovery Performance, Mukhtar Elturki

Doctoral Dissertations

"Unconventional reservoirs, such as shale gas and tight oil formations, have become an important source of energy in recent years. However, these reservoirs often contain high levels of asphaltenes, which can lead to deposition and blockages in production wells and reduce the flow of hydrocarbons during gas enhanced oil recovery (GEOR) techniques. This study aims to experimentally evaluate the impact of miscible and immiscible carbon dioxide (CO₂) and nitrogen (N₂) on asphaltene deposition and its impact on oil recovery performance in unconventional shale reservoirs.

This research began with a comprehensive literature review and data analysis of GEOR methods in unconventional …

The Comprehensive Study Of High Viscosity Friction Reducers In High-Tds And High-Temperature Environments, Xiaojing Ge

Doctoral Dissertations

"High viscosity friction reducers (HVFRs) have been recently gaining more attention and increasing in use, not only as friction-reducing agents but also as proppant carriers. Reusing of produced water has also been driven by both environmental and economic benefits. Currently, most friction reducers on the market are anionic friction reducers, which are fully compatible with most produced water with low to medium level of Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) but show a significant drop at high TDS conditions in term of their friction reduction performance in most cases. On the contrary, cationic friction reducers are believed to have better TDS tolerance …

Exploring Seismic Anisotropy In The Crust And Mantle Of The Tibetan Plateau And Analyzing Seismic Velocity Variations In Yellowstone, Cong Shen

Doctoral Dissertations

"Seismology is a scientific discipline that utilizes seismic waves to investigate the deep structures within the Earth's interior, which are otherwise inaccessible to direct observation by humans. These seismic waves can be categorized into two types: body waves and surface waves, each with distinct propagation modes and behaviors, carrying valuable information about their travel paths. The first paper concentrates on the analysis and inversion of body waves produced by large seismic events. It employs shear wave splitting and receiver function methods to explore the geodynamic structure of the south-central Tibetan Plateau, near the plate boundary. The investigation covers the depth …

Investigation Wettability Contact Angle Using 2d Imaging Technology, Saleh Alsayegh

Doctoral Dissertations

"Investigation wetting preference of tight carbonate reservoir rocks and several other unconventional reservoir rocks, and their relation to oil production, is becoming noticeably important for field development in Kuwait, as in many future unconventional tight carbonate reservoirs in the Middle East. The overall objective of this investigating and modeling study is to discover many fundamental relationships from totality wettability preference as a tool for reservoir recovery predictions and management. The investigation includes advancing position of water wet preference into smaller capillaries of the matrix voids and incrementally more oil-wet into larger capillaries of natural fractures (NF). Also, investigating water/ oil …

Paleoecological And Paleoclimatic Reconstructions Based On Holocene Sediment Cores, Lake Izabal, Eastern Guatemala, Erdoo Mongol

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Maya Region in Central America is characterized by pronounced discrepancies in precipitation, resulting in high precipitation gradients that support large-scale differences in vegetation across the region. Several lake deposits and other paleoclimate archives in the region have been studied to reconstruct past climates and palaeoecological conditions. However, actual data from proxy records have not been qualitatively and quantitatively utilized to interpret the behavior of the vegetation in moister areas within the Maya Region, such as the Lake Izabal Basin (LIB). The palynomorphs from two sediment cores in the LIB provided a good opportunity to infer the patterns of past …

Topography Of The 410 And 660 Km Discontinuities Beneath The Tibetan Plateau And Adjacent Areas, Zexin Miao

Doctoral Dissertations

"The Tibetan Plateau represents the ongoing geotectonic aftermath of a continental collision initiated approximately 65 million years ago. Despite numerous seismological studies, controversies remain regarding the structure, evolution, and dynamics of the crust and mantle beneath Tibetan Plateau. In this study, we used teleseismic broadband data to investigate the topography of the mantle transition zone (MTZ) discontinuities. A total of ~655,000 receiver functions from 735 stations was utilized to image the 410 and 660 km discontinuities bordering the MTZ. Combining the observed and velocity corrected results, several areas in the central Tibet exhibit a typical d410 and an anomalously deep …

Investigation Of Recrosslinkable Preformed Particle Gels For Natural Gas Conformance Control, Ali Abdulmohsen Al Brahim

Doctoral Dissertations

"Recross linkable Preformed Particle Gel (RPPG) is a novel type of preformed particle gel in which particles can bond together to form a strong bulk gel system after being placed in the target formation. In this research, I systematically evaluated the feasibility of using this product to improve gas flooding conformance for mature reservoirs with conduits or fractures. Two RPPG systems were used for the experiment: a CO₂- resistant RPPG (CR-RPPG) synthesized using acrylamide (AM) and 2-acrylamide-2- methylpropane sulfonate acid (AMPS), designed for CO2 flooding; and an acrylamide-co-acrylic acid-based RPPG (LT-RPPG), designed for water flooding. Different experimental apparatuses …

Data Analytics Of Wettability Alteration With Surfactants In Carbonate Reservoirs, Ya Yao

Doctoral Dissertations

"Wettability alteration with surfactants has been widely applied to improve oil recovery in carbonate reservoirs. An effective surfactant huff-puff application design requires comprehensive guidelines about where, how, and when this method could be applied. Besides, traditional methods to design an effective application and optimize surfactant performance are dependent on extensive experiments and are time-consuming. This study is to assist in the design of surfactant huff-puff via statistical methods and machine learning techniques.

In this study, a dataset including 402 effective surfactant imbibition tests is established by collecting information from nearly 50 publications. The dataset provides a foundation for further data …

Evaluation Of Novel Preformed Particle Gels For Conformance Control And Acid Stimulation Through Core Flooding Tests, Shuda Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

"Acid stimulation and conformance control are two major methods to improve oil production. This study systematically evaluates two newly developed gels: Degradable Preformed Particle Gel (DPPG) and Re-crosslinkable Preformed Polymer Gel (RPPG). DPPG is designed to be a temporary plugging agent for acid stimulation and can self-degrade into a water-like fluid. RPPG is designed for reservoir sweep efficiency improvement and can re-crosslink to each other and form an immobile bulk gel after being placed in fractures or fracture-like conduits.

For DPPG, this study evaluates the effect of monomer, crosslinker, and initiator concentration on the swelling and degradation performance. Results show …

The Kanarra Fold-Thrust System -- The Leading Edge Of The Sevier Fold-Thrust Belt, Southwest Utah, William Joseph Michael Chandonia

Doctoral Dissertations

“The Jurassic to Eocene Sevier fold-thrust belt is the subject of continued scientific curiosity in tectonics, stratigraphy, and industry. Understanding its development in southwest Utah is hindered in part due to the multiple origins proposed for the Kanarra anticline, a major leading edge structure -- a drag fold along the Hurricane fault, Laramide monocline, Sevier fault propagation fold, or a combination of these -- which have confused its tectonic significance and regional context. This confusion results from the structural complexity of its exposed eastern limb, as well as displacement and burial of its crest and western limb beneath Neogene sediments …

Numerical Simulation Study Of Gel Treatment For Conformance Control From Lab To Field, Jianqiao Leng

Doctoral Dissertations

“Gel treatment has been widely applied to control reservoir conformance and thus improve the sweep efficiency of injection fluids. Quite a few numerical simulations have been conducted to investigate the factors impacting gel treatment and assist to optimize treatment design and predict the performance. However, there exists significant barrier between the simulation approaches and lab experiments. In this study, two comprehensive reviews have been conducted to identify the gaps between lab and current simulations for in-situ polymer treatment and preformed particle gel treatment, separately.

Based on the identified gaps, the effect of a few major factors which are very important …

Evaluation Of Recrosslinkable Preformed Particle Gel (Rppg) As A Fluid Loss Control Material During Drilling Operations, Mohamed Saad M. Ahdaya

Doctoral Dissertations

"One of the most intense, expensive, and time-consuming problems during drilling operations is the loss of circulation, which could result in several consequences, including wellbore collapse, fluid inflow, formation damage, environmental issues, and nonproductive time. This research aims to evaluate novel materials that can mitigate lost circulation and overcome the limitation of other materials. In this research, a comprehensive evaluation of a re-crosslinkable preformed particle gel (RPPG) has been conducted to determine the extent to which it can be used to control drilling fluid losses during drilling operations. The RPPG consists of swellable gel particles that can self-crosslink to form …

Evaluation Of Robust Epoxy Resin Sealants For Wellbore Integrity Applications, Mohammed Mousa M Alkhamis

Doctoral Dissertations

"During the drilling and completion phases of oil and gas wells, cement is placed in the wellbore as a barrier between the casing and the formation. All casing strings must be cemented to protect and support the casing, and to isolate production zones. The primary cement must prevent the wellbore fluids from migrating in an annular flow path so as to allow the wells to be utilized without any control problems. The primary cement may fail to deliver full zonal isolation due to several reasons such as insufficient mud removal before the cementing, casing expansion, and contraction, high fluid losses, …

Enhanced Heavy Oil Recovery By Low Salinity Polymer Flood Combined With Microgel Treatment, Yang Zhao

Doctoral Dissertations

“Heavy oil resources account for a large portion of the total oil reserves around the world. The target heavy oil reservoir is located on Alaska’s North Slope (ANS). Advantages of low-salinity HPAM polymer (LSP) over high-salinity polymer (HSP) were demonstrated. LSP could recover more oil with 40% less polymer consumption. No additional oil was recovered by HSP after LSP flood. The first-ever polymer flood pilot on ANS showed remarkable success regarding water cut reduction, oil production increase, delayed breakthrough, and projected oil recovery improvement. Polymer alone was insufficient to achieve satisfactory recovery as the reservoirs were highly heterogeneous. Microgels could …

Exploring Wellbore And Reservoir Temperature Profiles In Fluid Circulation And Production Operations, Ahmed Qasim Al Saedi

Doctoral Dissertations

"The wellbore heat flow occurs during different well operations resulting from any temperature differences between the wellbore fluid and the adjacent formation. Understanding the direction and mechanism of heat flow whether it is conduction or convection help to represent this heat exchange mathematically. However, the only available factor used to understand the heat flow behavior is the measured wellbore temperature which can be obtained from the direct measurement while drilling or circulation operations, well logging, well test, or from the production operations. Also, the initial geothermal formation temperature resulting from the geothermal gradient will help to understand the undistributed formation …

An Integrated Wellbore Stability Study To Mitigate Expensive Wellbore Instability Problems While Drilling Into Zubair Shale/Sand Sequence, Southern Iraq, Ahmed Khudhair Abbas

Doctoral Dissertations

”The Zubair Formation is the most prolific reservoir in Iraq, which is comprised of sandstones interbedded with shale sequences. Due to the weak nature of the shale sequence, the instability of a wellbore is one of the most critical challenges that continuously appears during drilling across this formation. Historically, over 90% of wellbore problems in the Zubair Formation were due to wellbore instability. Problems associated with wellbore instability, such as tight hole, shale caving, stuck logging tools along with subsequent fishing, stuck pipe, and sidetracking result in increasing the non-productive time. This non-productive time has cost an enormous amount of …

Integrated Approach To Investigate The Wellbore Integrity Under Downhole Conditions, Weicheng Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

“The integrity of the cement sheath is the key part to maintain zonal isolation and prevent the inter-zonal communication. Loads arising from multiple stages of wellbore life span may induce various modes of cement failure within the cement (disking and radial cracks) and at the cement-casing and the cement-formation interfaces (debonding fractures). This research utilizes the integrated laboratory and numerical approach to investigate the cement hardening process, to predict the cement failure under various loading conditions. An innovative experimental setup is established to measure the cement pore pressure variation during the hardening process under downhole conditions, and a staged 3D …

Fabrication Of Micro-/Nanofluidic Models And Their Applications For Enhanced Oil Recovery Mechanism Study, Yandong Zhang

Doctoral Dissertations

”Micro-/nanofluidic model, as a potential powerful tool, has been used for decades for investigating fluid flow at pore-scale in energy field. It is still increasingly imperative nowadays to use different micromodels to direct observe pore-level fluid flow and analyze mechanisms of different enhanced oil recovery methods. In this work, three main tasks including three dimensional micromodels (1D,2D,3D) are proposed to fabricate and use for investigating different mechanisms of different enhanced oil recovery methods. For 1D capillary tube micromodel, we fabricate and use it to investigate the dynamics of a trapped oil droplet under seismic vibration. Seismic stimulation is a promising …

Factors Impacting The Transport And Enhanced Oil Recovery Potential Of Polymeric Nanogel In Sandstone, Haifeng Ding

Doctoral Dissertations

"Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) using nanometer-sized particles has drawn great attention in the oil industry because of their various advantages brought by size. However, their applications on a field scale are very limited, especially for deformable nanoparticles. The objective of this research is to explore the transport behavior of deformable polymeric nanoparticles (nanogel), the factors impacting these behavior, and their EOR potentials. First, 240 published nanoparticle core flooding experiment data were collected and analyzed about the extent to what the nanoparticles can improve oil recovery. Results show that on the laboratory scale the incremental oil recovery could be as high …

Investigating The Factors Impacting The Success Of Immiscible Carbon Dioxide Injection In Unconventional Shale Reservoirs: An Experimental Study, Sherif M. Fakher

Doctoral Dissertations

"Unconventional shale reservoirs are currently gaining significant interest due to the huge hydrocarbon volumes that they bear. Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques have been suggested to increase recovery from shale reservoirs. One of the most promising EOR methods is gas EOR (GEOR), most notably carbon dioxide (CO₂). Not only can CO₂ increase oil recovery by interacting with the oil and the shale, but it has also been shown to adsorb to the shale rock and thus is effective in both EOR applications and also carbon storage purposes. This research aims to experimentally investigate several of the interactions …

Evaluation Of The Performance Of Different Polymer Gel Systems As An In-Depth Gel Treatment Using Numerical Simulation, Tariq K. Khamees

Doctoral Dissertations

"Oil production from heterogeneous and naturally fractured reservoirs are usually hindered due to the presence of high-permeability streaks and natural fractures networks. Oil production could be more lowered if there is a crossflow from the high- to the low-permeability layers and high mobility ratio. These problems are called conformance problems and the treatment is called conformance improvement technologies (CITs). The aims of CIT is to correct the heterogeneity of the reservoir and to lower the unfavorable mobility ratio. These technologies are leading to the diversion of post-treatment water into the low-permeability layers and to increase the viscosity of the displacing …

Experimental Study On A Novel Eor Method -- Polymeric Nanogel Combined With Surfactant And Low Salinity Water Flooding To Enhance Oil Recovery, Mustafa M. Almahfood

Doctoral Dissertations

“Extracting higher amounts of oil from current reservoirs is a necessity for the oil industry to enhance their profitability and sustainability. The desire to recover more oil from the existing reservoirs has led to a growing interest of nanoparticle application in enhanced oil recovery (EOR). However, most researchers have focused on the evaluation and surface modification of non-deformable nanoparticles. This dissertation evaluates the potential of deformable nanogel particles as an EOR material when they are combined with two other promising technologies - surfactant and low salinity water floodings. The particle size distribution, ζ-potential and interfacial tension were measured for a …

Experimental Study On Enhanced Oil Recovery (Eor) Mechanisms Of Nanogel Combining With Low Salinity Water For Carbonate Reservoirs, Pu Han

Doctoral Dissertations

"Nanomaterials have been widely studied and applied in the oil and gas industry. Among the developed nanomaterials, nano-sized crosslinked polymeric gel particle (nanogel) has shown great potential in recovering residual oil and improving oil recovery. This dissertation carried out their potential EOR mechanisms and the synergetic effect between nanogel and low salinity water. Nanogel used in this study was synthesized through the suspension polymerization process in our lab. The morphology, size distribution, and zeta potential were studied for nanogel dispersed in brine with variable ionic strength. The injectivity of nanogel was elucidated at first to ensure their in-depth penetration ability. …

Investigating The Use Of Different Types Of Sealant Materials For Cement Remedial Applications, Murad Mohammedahmed Abdulfarraj

Doctoral Dissertations

"The overall objective is to investigate the ability of several material to mitigate cement failures such as channels, fractures, and micro-annuli in oil and gas wells. The sealant material that can also be used in the wells that are used for geologic storage of carbon dioxide CO₂. Evaluating the sealant material is critical to improve the zonal isolation of the wells, which would lead to safer operations. The approach of this dissertation is to utilize particles gel that has been used successfully in conformance control application, and epoxy resin systems, that have superior seal characteristics compared to conventional …

Transient Multiphase Flow Simulation For Unloading Of Frac Hit Gas Wells, Miguel Angel Cedeno Moreno

Doctoral Dissertations

"This work seeks to develop a fully step-by-step transient multiphase flow simulation valid for unloading gas wells using nitrogen. It studies the behavior of nitrogen for unloading horizontal gas wells with gas injection in the annulus. The work investigates unloading non-Newtonian fluids such as those which invade offset wells when a frac hit occurs during hydraulic fracturing operations in unconventional wells. The effect of varying tubing depth and injection pressure are included in the study.

Results show that as the plastic viscosity increases, the nitrogen volume and time to unload will be increased. As tubing depth increases, the nitrogen volume …