76490480-EOR-Overview.pdf

EOR Global Markets, Challenges, and

Opportunities

Atlanta, Aug 5, 2011

Song Cao

Global Synergy Corporation

www.GlobalSynergyCorp.com

EOR Concept/Terminology Review

EOR Global Markets

EOR Challenges/Opportunities

Discussion

Presentation Topics


EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery) Terminology

IOR - Improved Oil Recovery

Tertiary Oil Recovery

CO2-EOR

Thermal EOR

Chemical EOR (CEOR)

Microbial EOR (MEOR)

Pre-EOR (Conformance Control)


IOR and EOR

Field-Proven Solution - Chemical EOR

Chemical 1: Surfactant (to increase microscopic displacement efficiency)

Chemical 2: Polymer (to increase volumetric sweep efficiency)





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)

Injector Producer

Common Problems with Mature Oilfields (1)

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


Homogeneous Reservoir



Heterogeneous Reservoir



Heterogeneous Reservoir



Solution: Conformance Control (or Pre-EOR)


EOR Global Markets

“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

Immense EOR Market Potential (1)

EOR Global Markets

Original Oil in Place (U.S.): 649 Billion Barrels

Target for EOR

170 Billion Barrels

Already Abandoned

NETL-DOE, 2005

Immense EOR Market Potential (2)

EOR Global Markets

Major EOR Applications and New Markets

New Market

EOR Global Markets

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

World EOR Market Summary

EOR Global Markets - USA

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!)

USA EOR Market Summary






EOR Is Very Sensitive to Oil Price


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

Daqing

Dagang

Shengli

Huabei

Xinjiang Liaohe

Henan

Zhongyuan

Major EOR Projects In China


Chemical EOR will be the Dominant EOR

Method for Future EOR Reserves in China

ASP50%

AP2%

Polymer24%

Thermal11%

Miscible8%

Immiscible5%

Total 2 billion tons (14 billion barrels) recoverable EOR reserves in 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


Daqing Polymer Flooding Process Optimization

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

EOR Challenges and Opportunities

We have to “recondition” the reservoir before doing EOR


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?

Aspect Polymer Flood Surfactant-

Polymer Flood

Alkali-

Surfactant-

Polymer Flood

EOR

Efficiency

Chemical Cost

Operation

Cost

Scaling

Problem

Economics

Polymer Technology Comparison


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)

Contact Information

Dr. Song Cao

President

Global Synergy Corporation

6161 Savoy Drive, Suite 1030

Houston, TX 77036

713.822.0661 cell phone

713.785.9588 office phone

713.785.9588 fax

Email: [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

Documents

76490480-EOR-Overview.pdf