Petroleum Engineering Commons^™

New Wellbore-Integrity Classification For Gas Migration Problems And New Cement Formulations Using Graphene Nano Platelets To Prevent Gas Migration Through Cement, Mohammed Mousa M. Alkhamis

Masters Theses

"Gas migration, one of the primary problems related to the integrity of oil wells, is caused by cement failures. Gas migration can result in costly well repairs and may endanger personal, equipment, and result in severe operational difficulties and environmental issues. The ultimate objectives of this research were to provide a comprehensive review of the problem and to provide a solution to the problem using Graphene Nano Platelets (GNPs).

An intensive review was performed to understand the cement failures. The reasons behind these failures were analyzed and classified with respect to their locations in the wellbore. Recommendations and potential solutions …

An Integrated Method For Understanding The Fluid Flow Behavior And Forecasting Well Deliverability In Gas Condensate Reservoirs With Water Aquifer Drive, Abdulaziz Mustafa Em. Ellafi

Masters Theses

"Gas condensate reservoirs constitute a significant portion of global hydrocarbon reserves. In these reservoirs, as bottomhole pressure falls below the dew point, liquid develops in the pore space. This results in the formation of a liquid bank near the wellbore region that decreases gas mobility, which then reduces gas inflow. Some gas condensate reservoirs have bottom aquifer drive, which also negatively impacts gas production. This research used a field case study to demonstrate an integrated workflow for forecasting well deliverability in a gas condensate field in Libya. The workflow began with the interpretation of open-hole log data to identify the …

Numerical Simulation Study Of Factors Affecting Production Well Gel Treatment Using Linear Models With Crossflow, Kewei Shi

Masters Theses

"Conformance control is an inevitable topic related to water-flooding. Polymer gel has been proved to enhance oil recovery by blocking the existing water-breakthrough channels. Water that is injected subsequently will be directed to the unswept portion of the reservoir, replacing part of the remaining oil and increasing the oil-recovery factor. Prior to pilot tests of polymer gel treatment, laboratory experiments and numerical simulations are used to design the tests. Understanding physical meanings of key parameters that affect polymer gel treatment and relating the parameters from lab data and the simulator benefit field operation design.

This thesis study tries to evaluate …

Proppant Transport With Varying Injection Points And Its Impact On Proppant Development Inside A Fracture, Shail Janakbhai Soni

Masters Theses

"This study presents experimental work which examines the effect of perforation placement and density on proppant placement within a hydraulic fracture. The study also investigates the effect of proppant angularity.

Experiments were conducted with ceramic proppant injected in a fracture slot model consisting of three injection points at the bottom, middle and top of the fracture slot, and two outlets, at the bottom and top of the fracture model. The effect of single point injection height was investigated by injecting solely at the bottom, middle or top of the apparatus, for both bottom and top outlet conditions. Multiple injection points …

The Role Of Flexural Slip In The Development Of Chevron Folds, Yuxing Wu

Masters Theses

"Chevron folds are characterized by straight limbs and narrow hinge zones. One of the conceptual models to initiate and develop chevron folds involves flexural slip during folding. While some kinematical models show the necessity for slip to initiate during chevron folding, recent numerical modeling studies of visco-elastic effective single layer buckle folding have shown that flexural slip does not result in chevron folds. In this study, several 2D finite element analysis models are run, distinguished by 1) geometry of the initial perturbation (sinusoidal and white noise), 2) varying thewavelength of the initial perturbation (10%, 50%, and 100% of the dominant …

The Development Of A New Formulation Of Fly Ash Class C Based Geopolymer And Assessing Its Performance In Presence Of Drilling Fluid Contamination, Mohamed Saad Ahdaya

Masters Theses

"Cementing is one of the most critical steps in the drilling and completion of oil wells. Traditionally, Portland cement is used for oil cementing operations; however, geopolymer materials have recently attracted much attention because they are more cost-effective and have less environmental impacts.

An intensive laboratory work was conducted to obtain a new formulation of fly ash class C based geopolymer cement to be used as a potential alternative cementing material to Portland cement in oil and gas cementing. Twenty-four variations of fly ash class C based geopolymers were prepared, and by comparing several of their properties using API standard …

New Nanoparticle Water-Based Drilling Fluid Formulation With Enhanced Thermal Stability And Inhibition Capabilities In The Woodford Shale, Jose Aramendiz Pacheco

Masters Theses

"Drilling fluid design for unconventional reservoirs aims at preventing formation instability problems associated with fluid invasion, shale swelling, and cuttings dispersion. Although oil-based mud (OBM) can be used to achieve these goals, environmental and economic concerns limit its application. This experimental study evaluated the potential use of nanoparticles (NP) to improve water-based mud (WBM) inhibition capabilities and its ability to enhance the overall drilling fluid thermal stability while providing a cleaner technology to the industry.

Characterization of Woodford shale was completed with X-ray diffraction, cation exchange capacity, and scanning electron microscopy, silica, and graphene NP were characterized with aqueous stability …

Investigation Of Proppant Static Settling Velocity In Hydraulic Fractures Using Viscoelastic Linear Gel, Vismay Manishbhai Shah

Masters Theses

"Few studies have quantified proppant transport in static conditions using actual proppant and validated previously established correlation. The objective of this study is to investigate the rheological properties of the linear gel, and determine the effect of size, shape and specific gravity of the proppant, fracture walls and rheological properties of the fluid on the proppant settling velocity in static condition and validate the previously established correlation.

Shear viscosity and dynamic frequency sweep tests were performed to investigate the viscous and viscoelastic behaviour of the HPG linear gel with five different concentrations. Proppant settling experiments were conducted with different proppant …

Hydraulic Fracture Design Optimization For Nubian Sandstone Formation In Libya, Housameddin Mohamed Sherif

Masters Theses

There is growing interest in developing unconventional oil and gas reserves in Libya, such as the tight portions of the Nubian sandstone.

Well-X7 is a development well drilled to a TD of 13,005' penetrating the Upper Nubain Sandstone (UNSS) at 12,122'-12,207' and the Lower Nubain Sandstone (LNSS) at 12,524'-12,880' KB. Based on open hole logs, the UNSS has 71 ft of net pay and the LNSS was found to have 295 ft of net pay. Openhole logs also showed low permeabilities of 2.5 and 3 md for the UNSS and LNSS, respectively. The well was initially perforated in both zones …

Conical Folds -- An Artifact Of Using Simple Geometric Shapes To Describe A Complex Geologic Structure, Avery Joseph Welker

Masters Theses

"Accurate representation of the 3D shapes of natural folds is essential to characterization of the dynamic models for fold formation. Geometrical analysis of folds commonly relies upon analyzing patterns defined by the variation in the orientation of poles to planar surfaces deformed by a shortening event when plotted using graphical calculators (e.g., stereogram, polar tangent diagrams) to interpret the shape of folds. Stereograms for which orientation data define small circles are classified as non-cylindrical regular folds and are interpreted as "conical folds," where the shape of the fold is represented by a cone that terminates at a point. Utilizing similar …

Ore Reserves Estimation Of The Nam Nga Coal Deposit, Lao Pdr, Using Geostatistical Method, Tongvang Bliachongvang

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

This research study focuses on estimating the coal deposit quantity and qualities as CV and AC at Nam Nga coal deposit, Lao PDR using OK and SGS geostatistical methods. A total of 295 assays data from 51 exploration drill holes collected from LID Company were used. The results reveal that OK produces geological resource of 2.2 MT with an average CV of 3,733 kcal/kg and an average AC of 48.68 %. The mineable reserve computed from OK's ultimate pit design and pit adjustment are 0.55 MT. The OK method produces 9.32 MT of wastes, yielding a stripping ratio of 10.4:1. …

Designing Binary Low Ift Surfactant System Using Hld Concept For Oil Recovery, Tukta Jamprakhon

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Surfactant-based microemulsion technology is widely used in tertiary enhanced oil recovery applications (EOR). The formulation of suitable surfactant system is a key success in production and economic feasibility of this technology. The middle phase or Winsor Type III microemulsions, employed for selecting appropriate surfactant system, can offer an optimal salinity at which the high oil solubilization capacity and minimum interfacial tension (IFT) or ultralow IFT (<0.01 mN/m) are obtained. By this technology, more remaining oil in the reservoir can be solubilized and mobilized which leads to an improvement of oil recovery. This study aims to formulate surfactant systems for the oil recovery through microemulsion formulation. The novel mixed anionic surfactant system of a sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (AOT) and an internal olefin sulfonates (IOS) with different alkyl chain lengths (C15-18, C19-23, C24-28) were used due to its mixture avoiding the surfactant precipitation. The result found that the binary mixture of AOT and (IOS C15-18 and IOS C19-23) can form the middle phase at the mixing ratios of 5:5 to 9:1 (by molar ratio) with heptane and decane. When the fraction of IOS increased in the mixed AOT/IOS system, the optimal salinity (S*) also increased. For the effects of a carbon tail length of IOS surfactant was observed that the tail length increased with decreasing the optimal salinity. The hydrophilic-lipophilic deviation (HLD) for the mixed surfactant system was investigated to individually determine the K and Cc values for the IOS surfactants. The finding from this work provided a guide for surfactant selection through HLD concept to formulate microemulsion-based surfactant flooding for EOR application.

Integrated Study On The Applicability Of Co₂-Eor In Unconventional Liquids Rich Reservoirs, Dheiaa Khafief Khashan Alfarge

Doctoral Dissertations

"Unconventional Liquids Rich Reservoirs (ULR) such as Bakken, Niobrara, and Eagle Ford have become the main target for oil and gas investors as conventional formations started to deplete and diminish in number. These unconventional plays have a huge oil reserve; however, the predicted primary oil recovery is still low as an average of 7.5 %. Unconventional Improved Oil Recovery (UIOR) techniques are still a new concept in the oil industry because there is no commercial project for any IOR technique so far. Injecting carbon dioxide (CO₂) might be the most potential strategy to improve oil recovery in such complex plays. …

Limiting Key Drilling Parameters To Control Mud Losses In Basra's Oil Fields, Iraq, Abo Taleb Tuama Al-Hameedi

Doctoral Dissertations

"Wells in Basra's oil fields are highly susceptible to lost circulation problems when drilling through the Dammam, Hartha, and Shuaiba formations. Drilling engineers are challenged to select the optimum value for key drilling parameters such as ECD, Yp, MW, WOB, ROP, and RPM to mitigate mud losses in these formations. Many of these drilling parameters are inter-related and the overall impact of changing key parameters require extensive drilling experience and study. A multi-regression analysis was performed on mud loss event data for more than 300 wells drilled in Basra's oil fields. From this analysis, a model was developed to predict …

Synthesis And Comprehensive Studies Of Nanogels For Enhanced Oil Recovery, Jiaming Geng

Doctoral Dissertations

“Nanomaterials have been developed and applied for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) in oil industry. Among the developed nanomaterials, nano-sized crosslinked polymeric gel particles (nanogels) have shown the potential in improving both the macro- and micro-displacing efficiency. This dissertation focuses on the synthesis and the potential EOR mechanisms of nanogels. Nanogels with positive, negative, and neutral charges were synthesized through suspension polymerization. The morphology, size distribution, and zeta potential of nanogels were elucidated by corresponding technologies, such as scanning electron microscopy and dynamic light scattering. The ability of nanogels in oil-water interfacial tension (IFT) reduction and oil-in-water (o/w) emulsion stabilization was …

Effects Of Monovalent Ions On Low Salinity Waterflooding In Shaly-Sandstone Reservoir, Ativish Yomchan

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Multi-component Ion Exchange (MIE) was proved to be a major mechanism occurred during Low Salinity Waterflooding (LSWF). Reduction of both total salinity and concentration of divalent ions of injected water together with a presence of monovalent ion results in dissolution of divalent ions linking between rock surface and oil. As a consequence, oil is liberated from rock surface. This study aims to study effects of monovalent ions in MIE mechanism. Stirring test is performed and results show that ion with less hydration radius tends to be more active in MIE; hence, potassium ion and cesium ion illustrate potential in oil …

Evaluation Of Wax Deposition Prevention For Crude Oil Production From Mae Soon Oil Field, Htet Myat Min

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Waxy crude oils are normally found in petroleum reservoirs. Crude oil with the wax formation is one of the crucial problems for flow assurance of pipeline transportation in oil and gas production. This issue can commonly cause wax deposition problem and it has made a huge amount of economic losses such as production, time and maintenance cost. Therefore, it is a critical aspect to deal with wax deposition for crude oil flow assurance, especially at the surface region in cold climate. In this study, n-heptane and poly (maleic anhydride-alt-1-octadecane) or MA as the inhibitors with different concentrations will be measured …

Pre-Feasibility Study Of Silica Sand Processing Plant In Sihanoukville Province, Cambodia, Sochea Ros

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Nowadays, bottom ash and flue gas desulfurization (FGD) gypsum are by-products of the coal combustion process from coal-fired power plant. Bottom ash has been applied in many applications such as landfill, cement industry etc., and FGD gypsum is applied in cement and wallboard industry. Also, they can be used in agricultural activities for soil amendment but the amount of bottom ash and FGD used in this function is still low. Furthermore, biochar has long been used to improve soil fertility. The positive impacts of biochar amendment on soils are that it can increase soil capacity to adsorb plant nutrients, decrease …

Utilization Of Biochar Coupled With Coal Combustion Products For Degraded Soil Amendment, Thidphavanh Sengsingkham

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Low Salinity Waterflooding (LSWF) has been intensively studied worldwide as it is a low-cost technique. By injecting water with very low salinity compared to formation water in the reservoir, the method changes equilibrium between rock surface, oil and surrounding water, causing wettability alteration through Multi-component Ion Exchange (MIE) mechanism. In this study, ammonium ion is added into low salinity water to facilitate the MIE mechanism in shaly-sandstones reservoir. Experiments are performed with shaly-sandstone rock as it contains both calcium and magnesium ions as part of clays and ammonium ion can express its potential by triggering MIE mechanism. Stirring test, spontaneous …

Removal Of Mixed Vocs Of Benzene, Toluene, And Xylene By Using Catalytic Corona Discharge System, Issaree Tantiprapa

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Silver (Ag) and Manganese (Mn) catalysts were loaded on TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ supports on quartz wool that were tested for the oxidation of mixed Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) of benzene, toluene, and xylene in nonthermal plasma corona discharge. The total feed concentration of VOCs was fixed at 100 ppm. The catalyst located between the pin and plate electrodes with a constant gap distance of 15 mm and the pin and plate plasma reactor had an inside diameter of 9 mm. The outlet stream was analyzed by gas chromatography equipped with TCD and FID detectors. The operating parameters including applied voltage, …

Adsorption Of Methane And Carbon Dioxide On Activated Carbon And Metal Organic Frameworks, Chutima Sudsuansi

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Natural gas has gain popularity for transportation among other fuels since it is the cleanest burning fossil fuel. However, the important challenge for utilizing natural gas is its comparatively low volumetric energy storage density. Consequently, a suitable natural gas storage is needed. Adsorbed natural gas (ANG) is an interesting alternative because it could be expected to reduce the cost and potential damage from compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) technology. Comparative adsorption of methane and carbon dioxide on activated carbon ZIF-8, UiO-66, and MIL-53 (Al) was investigated at 35 °C and up to 100 psi. The addition …

Identification Of Crude Oils And Fuel Oils After Weathering Using Biomarkers, Pyrogenic Index And Asphaltenes Contents, Hathairat Thongkorn

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Oil spills have become a global problem. This is one of the serious problems in marine environment. The spills are generally from reservoir zipping, accident or unauthorized drainage. Typically, the spilled oils are fuel oils or crude oils which are difficult to differentiate. After oil spill incident, oils are undergone weathering processes such as evaporation, dissolution, and biodegradation etc., which are main factor of depleting hydrocarbon. This work focuses on the distribution of hydrocarbon and diagnostic ratio of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons such as pristane, phytane, phenanthrene, pyrene, chrysene and biomarker in hopane group after weathering processes. Moreover, measuring of Al, …

Heat Exchanger Network Retrofit Under Fouling Effect, Jaturaporn Yanyongsak

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The energy conservation by heat exchanger network (HEN) is important in process design according to an increase of energy costs and global environmental concerns. To minimize the energy consumption with positive net present value (NPV), the retrofitted HEN plays an important role in process energy systems. The HEN retrofit model is based on stage-wise superstructure by Yee and Grossmann (1990). In addition, fouling deposition on the surface area of heat exchangers causes extra energy consumption, production loss and maintenance costs. The new proposed model is retrofitting HEN with fouling effects. This method achieves HEN with the optimal trade-offs between energy …

Methane Hydrate Formation And Dissociation : Roles Of Promoters, Kimhak Neak

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Roles of promoters become necessary in methane hydrate formation for the attempt of gas storage application, but some additives might cause unwanted results in gas recovery. The effects of amino acids (l-leucine and l-valine) and surfactants, sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), and methyl ester sulfonate (MES) was investigated at 8 MPa and 2 to 4 °C. L-leucine system enhanced hydrate formation because of its surface activity and surface adsorption at interfaces. A noticeable methane uptake yield was also observed in the l-valine solution. Its influences might be from the nature of l-valine that has non-polar, aliphatic hydrophobic side chain resulting in …

Optimization Of Single Refrigerant Conocophillips Lng Cascade Process, Naken Saetang

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

An LNG cascade process operates under high pressure and extremely low temperature to liquefy natural gas, requiring very high work input to the compressors. This thesis performed the optimization of the single refrigerant ConocoPhillips LNG process by a global optimization technique based on the domain and image partitioning methodology (Faria and Bagajewicz, 2012) to minimize work input to the system. The procedure consists of an NLP upper bound and MILP lower bound models. The lower bound model was formulated by discretizing and linear relaxation of the upper bound non-linear equations by assigning new integer variables and a set of linear …

Energy And Exergy Analysis For Cryogenic Process Design/Retrofit, Nattawat Threerachannarong

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Energy and Exergy analysis are one of alternative techniques to analyze chemical processes in term of energy quality parameters such as enthalpy, entropy and exergetic temperature. The exergetic temperature can conduct Exergy Composite Curves diagram (ECCs) (Marmolejo-Correa, 2012) which represents exergy targets: exergy requirement, exergy rejection and exergy destruction etc. In addition, these targets can be used for improving processes. The strength points of these analysis are to design the new process and to improve the utility performance. Therefore, these analysis methods have been applied to low-temperature process that requires a large amount of energy consumption. In this work, there …

Removal Of Mixed Vocs Of Benzene, Toluene And Xylene By A Multistage Corona Discharge System, Nitikorn Ditthawat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The oxidation of mixed volatile organic compounds (VOCs) of benzene, tol-uene and xylene in non-thermal plasma corona discharge was investigated. An initial total VOCs concentration of 100 ppm and feed flow rate of 50.0 ml/min were firstly fixed to investigate the effects of an applied voltage and input frequency on VOCs conversion, power consumption and CO₂ and CO selectivities. For a single stage plasma system, under the optimum applied voltage of 8 kV and input frequency of 500 Hz, the system gave the high CO₂ selectivity with the low CO selectivity and the lowest power consumption. At the optimum operationable …

Life Cycle Assessment Of End Of Life Strategies For Waste From Petroleum Production, Nuntawat Urairat

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The waste treatment and disposal of oil refining industry sector are one of the significant aspects of environmental concerns. Because they are not only generated in substantial amounts, but also contained with various hazardous substances such as waste oils, spent catalysts, and mercury-contaminated materials. This study aimed to develop and evaluate the waste management strategies, from waste generator (WG) to waste processors (WP), using the material flow analysis (MFA, STAN v.2.6.601) and life cycle assessment (LCA, SimaPro v.8.3.0.0) as an assessment tool. The functional unit is the amount of waste generated from six refineries in the year 2015. The waste …

Kinetics Study For Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis Over Cobalt Catalyst By Kinetic Monte-Carlo Simulation, Nuttawut Pugingna

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

Kinetic Monte-Carlo simulation was utilized to study the kinetic behaviors of C₁ and C₂ formation in the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis over the cobalt surface by varying reaction conditions. Two reaction models: the carbide mechanism and the CO insertion mechanism were applied to this simulation. The production rates and fractional coverages of each adsorbed species could be calculated under the steady state. Moreover, the combination between carbide and CO insertion mechanism was also studied to suggest the possibility of each reaction mechanism, and compared the results with the reported experimental results under the same conditions. It was ob-served that the C–C bond …

Effecst Of Water On The Methane Hydrate Formation And Dissociation With Hollow Silica And Activated Carbon, Sarocha Rungrussamee

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

The porous materials, hollow silica (HSC) and activated carbon (AC), were selected to investigate their effects with water on methane hydrate formation and dissociation. The methane hydrate formation with the porous materials was conducted at 8 MPa and 277 K. The dissociation of hydrates was achieved by thermal stimulation with 294 K temperature driving force. The result showed that the hydrate formation of the system with 1:14 HSC to water ratio, the system with excess water, provided the highest methane consumed and water conversion to hydrates. That is because the HSC has low density allowing it to float on water …