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Mature Fields North America 2015
Houston, Texas
Aug. 25-26, 2015
Closed Loop Conformance Control Methods
rpsea.org
Mojdeh Delshad
Research Professor, The University of Texas at Austin
President/CEO, Ultimate EOR Services LLC
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Motivation
Excess water production is a major problem leading to early well
abandonment and unrecoverable hydrocarbons in mature wells
Current technology has limitations and results of these treatments have
been sporadic and unpredictable
A recent interest in gel treatments uses microgels to overcome some
distinct drawbacks inherent in in-situ gelation systems
We need a better understanding of recent microgel processes based on
systematic laboratory experiments
Ultimate objective is to predict water influx problems, select wells for
treatment, reduce unwanted fluid production
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Motivation
Overview of Conformance Control methods
Field examples
Produced water treatment for reinjection
Concluding Remarks
Presentation Outline
Numerical models to predict the outcome
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Background
o Conventional polymers are mobility control agents
• Primarily target bypassed oil
• More uniform areal and vertical displacement of oil
• Decrease likelihood of viscous fingering
• Not ideal when significant heterogeneity exists i.e. permeability contrast, thief zone,
fractures
o Polymer bulk gels are conformance control agents
• Presence of crosslinking agents that yield polymer networks
• More significant and long-lasting permeability reduction
• Gel treatments can be surface-produced or in-situ
o New microgel technologies are also conformance control agents
• Lower concentrations of polymer and crosslinker
• More suited for in-depth conformance control
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Causes of High Water Production
Vertical heterogeneity Areal heterogeneity
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CLARIANT OIL SERVICESSelective Water Shut-Off
Background
• Extending life of a well as key objective
• Water production in oil & gas wells – global problem
• Increasing water cut:
- natural maturation of well
- Water flood to increase pressure and sweep
• Problems created:
lifting, disposal, separation, scale, corrosion
Solution
• Bullhead downhole, enters all zones of production
interval
• No expensive well interventions (e.g. wireline,
coiled tubing)
• Reduces water production with minimal effect on oil
production
• Value Added:
• Reduce scale, corrosion, sand
• Maintain water pressure support
• Improve sweep
• Reduce hydrostatic head
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CLARIANT OIL SERVICESSelective Water Shut-Off
Products and Application
• Every single water conformance treatment
should be reservoir, well and problem specific
• Clariant customized treatments to target any
conduit from injector to producer well, thief
intervals of natural fractures and/or high
permeability streaks
• Consist of cross-linkable polymer system that
can be bullheaded into the reservoir to
selectively inhibit water whilst allowing
continued hydrocarbon production
• Cross-linker and buffer solution allows the
optimum water shut-off to be achieved across a
range of reservoir permeability (10mD to 10D)
and from 20 C to 130 C (265F)
Injector and Producer Wells Optimization
• Capability to determine the skin damage
mechanism
• Design injection well remediation through
a combination of chemical treatments to
remove organic and inorganic damage
• Treatment to inhibit future damage
deposition in the near wellbore allowing
maximum injection rates at lower
injection pressures
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Microgel Technologies
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• Microgel lots size 0.3 – 1.0 – 2.0 µm
• Broad permeability range (10 - 10,000 mD)
• Commercially available under emulsion and powder forms
• High temperature stability (up to 165°C)
• High shear stability (20,000 sec-1)
• High chemical stability (CO2, H2S, high salinity)
• Environmentally friendly
• Efficient in WSO and Sand Control applications
• Several products available:
• Brightwater@
• Colloidal dispersion gel (CDG)
• Preformed particle gels (PPG)
• Small calibrated microgels (SMG)
Alain Zaitoun, Poweltec, WorkShop EOR, IAPG, Neuquen, 3-5 November 2010
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Example of successfull WSO treatment:Pelican Lake Horizontal Well 11-15A (Canada)
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0 %
10 %
20 %
30 %
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90 %
100 %Water
Oil
Water Cut
Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4
Treatment
0
Alain Zaitoun, Poweltec, WorkShop EOR, IAPG, Neuquen, 3-5 November 2010
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Swelling Capacity for PPGs
l s
s
M MA
M
:lM Volume after swelling
:sM Volume before swelling
Swelling capacity depends on
Salinity
Temperature
Particle Size
Crosslinker ConcentrationBefore swelling After swelling
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Experiments for Scaleup: Heterogeneous Models
Parallel Flow Model(I) Three- Layer Cross Flow Model (III)
Sandwich Model ( II) Cross Flow Model
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Mathematical Model
The mathematical models for flow and transport of microgel
are developed and implemented in reservoir simulator to
characterize particle gel flow and blocking behavior in different
porous media
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Simulation Model of Sandpack
Diameter and Length 2.54 cm, 50.8 cm
Porosity, Permeability 0.386, 27290 md
Initial oil Saturation 0.88
Irreducible Water Saturation 0.12
Pore Volume 99.4 cm3
Temperature 22.5 0C
Salinity 1 wt% KCl (0.134 meq/ml)
Mineral Oil Viscosity 37 cp
Residual Oil Saturation 0.265
Duration of Experiment 268 min
PPG flood Pore volumes injected
1 wt% KCl flood 2.5 PV
2000 ppm PPG in 1 wt% KCl 1.2 PV
1 wt% KCl post flush 1.7 PV
Water Flood
1.7 PV
PPG Injection
1.2 PV
Water Flood
2.5 PVInjection Production
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Simulation of Sandpack Experiment
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0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 5 5.5 6
Reco
very
(%
OO
IP)
PV Injected
Water FloodPPG InjectionWater Flood
UTGEL
Lab Data
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Wate
r C
ut
PV Injected
Water FloodPPG InjectionWater Flood
UTGEL
Lab Data
Total Oil Recovery
Water Cut
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Field-Scale Simulation
No. of grids 19×19×3
Dx = Dy 32.8 ft
Dz (ft) 10, 20, 10
Porosity 0.3
Salinity 3411 ppm
Ratio of Kv/Kh 0.1
Simulation time 1000 days
Fluid Properties
Residual water saturation 0.25
Residual oil saturation 0.15
Oil viscosity 37 cp
Water viscosity 1 cp
Injection/Production data
No. of wells 4 injectors and 9 producers
PPG concentration 750 ppm
Injection/production rate ~ 1500 bbl/day
Injection design
Base case: 100 d waterflood
PPG:
100 d waterflood
300 d PPG injection
600 d waterflood
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PPG Field Simulation
Permeability Distribution
Initial Water Saturation
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PPG Field Simulation
PPG concentration at 200 days
Oil saturation at 200 days
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PPG Field Simulation
PPG RRF (end of PPG flood)
RRF (end of post water flood)
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PPG Field Simulation
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Wa
ter
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t
Time (Days)
PPG flood vs. Waterflood
Base Case: Waterflood
PPG flood
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Oil
Re
co
very
(%
OO
IP)
Time (Days)
PPG flood vs. Waterflood
Base Case: Waterflood (26 % Oil Recovery)
PPG flood (60 % Oil Recovery)
Water Cut
Oil Recovery
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PPG Evaluation with Conduits
A synthetic case was generated to simulate PPG’s propagation
through a long reservoir conduit
PPG was capable of propagating through the conduit, reducing its
permeability, and subsequently improving the sweep efficiency -
this was observed by the change of water saturation profile
through the reservoir with time
Required studies and matching attempts ongoing to further
validate the simulator
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PPG Evaluation with Conduits
PPG treatment simulated in a scenario where there is a conduit aligned
in the middle of a waterflood injection pattern
PPG was capable of diverting injected water to producers located off
conduit’s direction - this was observed by the change of water
saturation profile throughout the reservoir with time
Optimization attempts ongoing to further understand how to optimize
PPG treatment in different waterflood scenarios
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Water Treatment Solutions
o Goals:
• Determine if CEOR chemical recovery is desired for reinjection or if CEOR chemical should be
removed/destroyed
• Identify technologies which can treat PW to the specification required for PWRI
• Maximize treatment efficiency and address weight, footprint, and other unique aspects of ASP
projects
o If downstream treatment is necessary to meet CEOR salinity/hardness requirements, PWRI
treatment also dictated by downstream unit operations:
• Reverse osmosis (RO) desalination of nanofiltration (NF) softening
• Ion exchange
• Alternative technology (forward osmosis, electrodialysis, membrane distillation)
Parameter Units RO and NF Ion Exchange Alternatives
Turbidity NTU 1 5 5
Oil mg/L <1 <1 <5-20
Temperature °C 45 100 45-100
SDI15 3-5 3-5 NA
Upstream Requirements
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Summary and Conclusions
Microgels have great applications in WSO/Conformance with higher stability
than conventional polymers
Experiments were performed in both fracture and sandpack to rank the effectof PPG on improving conformance and reducing water cut
Mathematical models were developed for rheology, adsorption, swelling ratio,resistance factor, and residual resistance factors
Gel transport models were implemented in a reservoir simulator and validatedagainst laboratory experiments
Framework provides guidance for better design and optimization of microgelwater shutoff process
Water production can significantly be reduced
Produced water reinjection should be seriously considered for conformancemethods
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• Water Management in Mature Oil Fields using Advanced Particle Gels, RPSEA Contract #11123-32
• Lisa Henthorne, SVP & Chief Technology Officer, Water Standard
• Clariant
rpsea.org
Acknowledgement
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Microgels Injection Experiments
Objectives
o Obtain recovery factor and
water cut during water injection
and gel injection processes
o Obtain the gel concentration
effect on RF, RRFw, RRFo, and
injectivity index
o Determine thermal effect on
microgel propagation
o Study permeability effect on
microgel propagations
Experiment Model
Five Pressure taps Heater