EOR Global Markets, Challenges, and Opportunities Atlanta, Aug 5, 2011
Song Cao Global Synergy Corporation www.GlobalSynergyCorp.com
Presentation Topics
EOR Concept/T Concept/Terminology erminology Review
EOR Global Markets
EOR Challenges/Opportunities Challenges/Opportunities
Discussion
Presentation Topics
EOR Concept/T Concept/Terminology erminology Review
EOR Global Markets
EOR Challenges/Opportunities Challenges/Opportunities
Discussion
EOR Concept/T Concept/Terminology erminology Review EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) Terminology IOR - Improved Oil Recovery ertiar y Oil Recovery Tertiary CO2-EOR Thermal EOR Chemical EOR (CEOR) Microbial EOR (MEOR) Pre-EOR (Conformance Control)
EOR Concept/Terminology Review IOR and EOR
EOR Concept/Terminology Review Field-Proven Solution - Chemical EOR Chemical 1: Surfactant (to increase microscopic displacement efficiency) Chemical 2: Polymer (to increase volumetric sweep efficiency)
EOR Concept/Terminology Review
EOR Concept/Terminology Review
EOR Concept/Terminology Review
EOR Concept/Terminology Review Summary of Polymer Technologies
Polymer Flood (P) – Basic chemical flood. (Mobility Controller to increase volumetric sweep efficiency) Surfactant-Polymer Flood (SP) – Advanced Polymer flood. (To increase volumetric sweep efficiency and microscopic displacement efficiency) Alkali-Surfactant-Polymer Flood (ASP) – Advanced SP flood. (Using alkali as sacrifice agent to reduce surfactant usage)
EOR Review (Pre-EOR) Common Problems with Mature Oilfields (1) Injector
Producer
Need secondary recovery (waterflood) after primary methods been exhausted
Left oilfields with high water cut, low production rate, and depleted reservoirs
In general, it only can remove ~20-30% of the original oil in place after waterflood
EOR Review (Pre-EOR) Common Problems with Mature Oilfields (2)
Homogeneous Reservoir
EOR Review (Pre-EOR) Common Problems with Mature Oilfields (3)
Heterogeneous Reservoir
EOR Review (Pre-EOR) Common Problems with Mature Oilfields (4)
Heterogeneous Reservoir
EOR Review (Pre-EOR) Common Problems with Mature Oilfields (5)
Solution: Conformance Control (or Pre-EOR)
EOR Global Markets Immense EOR Market Potential (1) “Worldwide unrecoverable
oil about 2,000 billion barrels. Much of it is recoverable by Chemical
EOR.” – Society of Petroleum Engineers
2,000 billion barrels Market value at $50/bbl
$100 Trillion SPE ST200601
EOR Global Markets Immense EOR Market Potential (2) Original Oil in Place (U.S.): 649 Billion Barrels
170 Billion Barrels Already Abandoned
Target for EOR
NETL-DOE, 2005
EOR Global Markets Major EOR Applications and New Markets
New Market
EOR Global Markets World EOR Market Summary
North America (Good Potential) o USA: slowly picking up o Canada: picking up Asia (Great Potential) o China: very active (hot!!!) o Indonesia: slow but moving forward o India: pushing forward, but small market size Middle East (Great Potential) o Oman: very aggressive o Other countries: considering it New Markets with Great Potential: South America, Russia, Africa
EOR Global Markets - USA USA EOR Market Summary
Chem-EOR started in US in early70’s and reached peak in early 1986, then decreased tremendously, primarily due to the oil price collapse. Currently accounting only about 1% of total oil production! Miscible Gas EOR (CO2, HC, N2) leading EOR, accounting about 10% of US oil production Chem-EOR recently picking up due to high oil price Majors are fully equipped with “know-how” and $, but invest large capital in high return projects such as deepwater, shale gas, outside of US Many old oilfields are in waterflood with high water cut and most of them are operated by middle-small size companies (easy to work with!)
EOR Global Markets - USA USA EOR Market Summary
EOR Global Markets - USA USA EOR Market Summary
EOR Global Markets - USA EOR Is Very Sensitive to Oil Price
EOR Global Markets - USA Major States with Chem-EOR Projects Texas
Oklahoma Wyoming California Illinois Kentucky New Mexico
EOR Global Markets China EOR Market Summary
National policy to “squeeze out” every possible barrel of oil
Largest fields in decline: o 85% of China’s oil production - onshore mature fields o Major oilfields are over 40 years old with high water cut as high as 85-95% on average
Improved on US Technology: o Commercial polymer flooding started in 90’s o 46% of CNPC new reserves added by polymer flooding o New EOR technologies being continuously invented RESULT: Over 60% Recovery Rate Being Reached China Leads the World in Chemical EOR
EOR Global Markets - China Major EOR Projects In China Huabei
Daqing
Zhongyuan Liaohe Xinjiang Dagang Henan
Shengli
EOR Global Markets - China Chemical EOR will be the Dominant EOR Method for Future EOR Reserves in China
Total 2 billion tons (14 billion barrels) recoverable EOR reserves in China
EOR Global Markets - China EOR in Daqing Oilfield
The largest oil-producing field in China with a total cumulative oil production of 2 billion tons (14 billion barrels), accounting about 40% of China total onshore oil production Peak annual production of 50 million tons (1 mmbopd) for 27 years and currently about 40 million tons per year (0.85 mmbopd) About 90% water cut in main oil-producing reservoirs. About 25% of the total oil production from the application of EOR (polymer flooding, SP and ASP flooding) 50-60% recovery percentage in major oil producing reservoirs The world largest EOR application
EOR Global Markets - China Daqing Polymer Flooding Process Optimization
EOR Challenges and Opportunities Major Challenges in Gas/Waterflood (Pre-EOR)
Poor Conformance
Poor areal sweep by injected fluid and early breakthrough at offset producers Uneven vertical sweep due to channeling of injected fluid through thief zones or fractures
We have to “recondition” the reservoir before doing EOR
EOR Challenges and Opportunities Favorable Characteristics for Polymer Flooding
• High remaining oil saturation (>25%) • High permeability (>10 md) and porosity (>15%) • Light oil with viscosities less than 500 cp? • Good results in sandstones over carbonates • Reservoir is not highly fractured • Short project life due to favorable combination of small well spacing and/or high injectivity • Fresh water and/or soft water ( Salinity) • Reservoir temperatures less than 250 F
What or could you do EOR if the above conditions are not there?
EOR Challenges and Opportunities Polymer Technology Comparison Aspect
EOR Efficiency Chemical Cost Operation Cost Scaling Problem Economics
Polymer Flood
SurfactantPolymer Flood
AlkaliSurfactantPolymer Flood
EOR Challenges and Opportunities ASP Challenges
Scale in the producing well can form due to the alkali mixing with produced water from different zones or from reaction by-products due to the alkali reacting with the reservoir rock.
Because alkali shrinks the size of the polyacyrlamide polymer in solution, a higher concentration of polymer is needed compared to that required for a solution with no alkali.
Alkaline
agents are a hazardous material and must be handled with care when mixing.
More difficult to treat the produced water (or fluids)
