AndreaBozzo/ceres-open-data-index huggingface dataset:
INTEGRATED APPROACH TOWARDS THE APPLICATION OF HORIZONTAL WELLS TO IMPROVE WATERFLOODING PERFORMANCE

This annual report describes the progress during the second year of the project on Integrated Approach Towards the Application of Horizontal Wells to Improve Waterflooding Performance. This project is funded under the Department of Energy's Class I program which is targeted towards improving the reservoir performance of mature oil fields located in fluvial-dominated deltaic deposits. The project involves an integrated approach to characterize the reservoir followed by the drilling of horizontal injection wells to improve production performance. The type of data we have integrated include cross bore hole seismic surveys, geological interpretation based on logs and cores, and engineering information. This report covers the second phase of the project which includes a detailed reservoir description of the field by integrating all the available information,  followed by flow simulation of the Self Unit under various operating conditions. Based on an examination of the various operating parameters, we observed that the best possible solution to improve the Self Unit performance is to recomplete and stimulate most of the wells followed by an increase in the water injection rate. Drilling of horizontal injection well, although helpful in improving the  performance, was not found to be economically feasible. The proposed reservoir management plan will be implemented shortly.

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RESPONSIVE COPOLYMERS FOR ENHANCED PETROLEUM RECOVERY

Advanced copolymer and terpolymer systems are being studied under a coordinated research program in the Polymer Science Laboratories at the University of Southern Mississippi. In this report we described second year efforts in synthesis, characterization, and rheology to develop polymers with significantly improved efficiency in mobility control and conformance as compared to conventional systems. Key features of these microstructually tailored systems allow triggered response to environmental stimuli including pH, ionic strength, electrolyte concentration, and shear. Ampholytic and/or hydrophobic interactions between polymer chains can be designed for desired reological response. The polymers have potential to circumvent problems inherent in traditional EOR polymers where molecular weight must be compromised to allow sufficient permeation without plugging of the porous reservoir network. Most conventional polymers fail in high calcium, barium, or sodium concentrations, precluding use in high salinity fields or off-shore. By contrast, these advanced polymer systems would maintain high viscosities or behave as virtual gels under low shear conditions and at elevated electrolyte concentrations. At high fluid shear rates, associates would deaggregate yielding low viscosity solutions, reducing problems of shear degradation or face plugging during injection. Other promising polymer systems developed during the past year are polymeric surfactants with potential for use in higher salt, higher temperature reservoirs for mobilization of entrapped oil. Since 1978, DOE-sponsored research projects in our laboratories have been directed at establishing unifying concepts regarding interrelationships between tailored polymer structures and fluid behavior under controlled salinity, pH, concentration, shear, and flow through porous media. We have demonstrated that nearly every significant behavioral characteristic of polymer solutions in mobility control can be related to macromolecular architecture and hydrodynamic volume. These include: ? concentrations required for mobility control ? viscosity in the presence of electrolytes ? phase stability as a function of ionic strength and temperature ? adsorption to porous media ? network pore clogging ? sweep efficiency and slug dispersion ? shear thinning effects ? G molecular associations ? polymer/surfactant interactions

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OIL RECOVERY FROM NATURALLY FRACTURED RESERVOIRS BY STEAM INJECTION METHODS

The United States of America has naturally fractured reservoirs containing many tens of billions of barrels of oil. When secondary and enhanced recovery methods are applied, fractures tend to channel injected fluids through the reservoir to production wells, resulting in much of the oil in the matrix blocks being bypassed and not recovered. This results in a low recovery efficiency from fractured reservoirs. Because of the large size of this resource, any new technology that improves recovery efficiency from naturally fractured reservoirs by as little as a few percent could result in a significant increase in overall oil production from existing petroleum formations. Oil recovery by steam injection is a proven, successful technology for nonfractured reservoirs, but has received only limited study for fractured reservoirs. Preliminary studies suggest recovery efficiencies in fractured reservoirs may be increased by as much as 50% with the application of steam relative to that of low temperature processes. The key mechanisms enhancing oil production at high temperature are the differential thermal expansion between oil and the pore volume, and the generation of gases within matrix blocks. Other mechanisms may also contribute to increased production. These mechanisms are relatively independent of oil gravity, making steam injection into naturally fractured reservoirs equally attractive to light and heavy oil deposits. The objectives of this research program are to quantify the amount of oil expelled by these recovery mechanisms and to develop a numerical model for predicting oil recovery in naturally fractured reservoirs during steam injection. The experimental study consists of constructing and operating several apparatuses to isolate each of these mechanisms. The first measures thermal expansion and capillary imbibition rates at relatively low temperature, but for various lithologies and matrix block shapes. The second apparatus measures the same parameters, but at high temperatures and for only one shape. A third experimental apparatus measures the maximum gas saturations that could build up within a matrix block. A fourth apparatus measures thermal conductivity and diffusivity of porous media The numerical study consists of developing transfer functions for oil expulsion from matrix blocks to fractures at high temperatures and incorporating them, along with the energy equation, into a dual porosity thermal reservoir simulator. This simulator can be utilized to make predictions for steam injection processes in naturally-fractured reservoirs. Analytical models for capillary imbibition have also been developed.

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Oil Program Implementation Plan

The United States has led the world in oil production and refining for most of this century. Early development and use of innovative technologies by domestic oil companies resulted in indisputable technical dominance. Today the United States is considered a mature oil province where easily found, produced, and processed oil is rapidly being depleted. Although production is decreasing, the remaining domestic oil resource is large enough to maintain the United States as a top petroleum producer for the foreseeable future, if cost-effective technology and prudent energy policies are applied. Unfortunately, the domestic demand for cheap, abundant oil has risen over time to twice the production capability of the domestic oil industry. This leaves the country dependent on foreign oil, a situation that adversely affects the balance of trade and domestic jobs.

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DISPERSION MEASUREMENT AS A METHOD OF QUANTIFYING GEOLOGIC CHARACTERIZATION AND DEFINING RESERVOIR HETEROGENEITY

The main objective of this research project is to investigate dispersion as a method of quantifying geological characterization and defining reservoir heterogeneity in order to enhance crude oil recovery. The dispersion of flow of a reservoir rock (dispersion coefficient and dispersivity) was identified as one of the physical properties of a reservoir rock by measuring the mixing of two miscible fluids, one displacing the other in a porous medium.

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EVALUATION OF THE FREEZE-THAW / EVAPORATION PROCESS FOR THE TREATMENT OF PRODUCED WATERS

The use of freeze-crystallization is becoming increasingly acknowledged as a low-cost, energy-efficient method for purifying contaminated water. Freeze-crystallization has been shown to be effective in removing a wide variety of contaminants from water. Water purification by using natural conditions to promote freezing appears to be an extremely attractive process for the treatment of contaminated water in many areas where natural climatic conditions will seasonally promote freezing. The natural freezing process can be coupled with natural evaporative processes to treat oil and gas produced waters year round in regions where subfreezing temperatures seasonally occur.

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CO2 HUFF-n-PUFF PROCESS IN A LIGHT OIL SHALLOW SHELF CARBONATE RESERVOIR

Texaco E&P and the U.S. Department of Energy have teamed up in an attempt to develop the CO2 Huff-n-Puff process in a light oil, shallow shelf carbonate  reservoir within the Permian Basin.  This cost-shared  effort is intended to  demonstrate the viability of this underutilized technology in a specific class of domestic reservoirs that are considered at risk of abandonment.

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INTEGRATION OF ADVANCED GEOSCIENCE AND ENGINEERING TECHNIQUES TO QUANTIFY INTERWELL HETEROGENEITY IN RESERVOIR MODELS

The goal of this project is to provide a more quantitative definition of reservoir heterogeneity. This objective will be accomplished through the integration of geologic, geophysical, and engineering databases into a multidisciplinary understanding of reservoir architecture ad associated fluid-rock and fluid-fluid interactions. The intent is to obtain a quantitative reservoir description incorporating outcrop, field, well-to-well, and laboratory core and fluid data of widely varying scales. This interdisciplinary effort will integrate geological and geophysical data with engineering and petrophysical results through reservoir simulation to quantify reservoir architecture and the dynamics of fluid-rock and fluid-fluid interactions. A more accurate reservoir description will allow greater accuracy and confidence during simulation and modeling as steps toward gaining greater recovery efficiency from existing reservoirs.

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CO2 Huff-n-Puff Process in a Light Oil Shallow Shelf Carbonate Reservoir

Texaco E & P Inc. and the U. S. Department of Energy have teamed up in an attempt to develop the CO2 Huff-n-Puff process in a light oil, shallow shelf carbonate reservoir within the Permian Basin. This cost-shared effort is intended to demonstrate the viability of this underutilized technology in a specific class of domestic reservoirs that are considered to be at risk of abandonmentl,2. The selected site for the demonstration project is the Central Vacuum Unit waterflood in Lea County, New Mexico..

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GEOLOGICAL AND PETROPHYSICAL CHARACTERIZATION OF THE FERRON SANDSTONE FOR 3-D SIMULATION OF A FLIJVIAL-DELTAIC RESERVOIR

The objective of this project is to develop a comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and quantitative characterization of a fluvial-deltaic reservoir which will allow realistic inter-well and reservoir-scale modeling to be developed for improved oil-field development in similar reservoirs world-wide. The geological and petrophysical properties of the Cretaceous Fenon Sandstone in east-central Utah (figure 1) will be quantitatively determined. Both new and existing data will be integrated into a three-dimensional representation of spatial variations in porosity, storability, and tensorial rock permeability at a scale appropriate for inter-well to regional-scale reservoir simulation. Results could improve reservoir management through proper infill and extension drilling strategies, reduction of economic risks, increased recovery from existing oil fields, and more reliable reserve calculations. Transfer of the project results to the petroleum industry is an integral component of the project.

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MULTIFREQUENCY CROSSHOLE EM IMAGING FOR RESERVOIR CHARACTERIZATION

Electrical conductivity of sedimentary rocks is controlled by the porosity, hydraulic permeability, temperature, saturation, and the pore fluid conductivity. These rock parameters play important roles in the development and production of hydrocarbon (petroleum and natural gas) resources. For these reasons, resistivity well logs have long been used by geologists and reservoir engineers in petroleum industries to map variations in pore fluid, to distinguish between rock types, and to determine completion intervals in wells. It is therefore a natural extension to use the electrical conductivity structure to provide additional information about the reservoir. Reservoir simulation and process monitoring rely heavily on the physical characteristics of the reservoir model. At present, numerical codes use point measurements of porosity, permeability, and fluid saturation and extrapolate these data throughout a three-dimensional (3-D) grid. The knowledge of a high-resolution geophysical parameter such as electrical conductivity would aid this extrapolation and improve the reservoir simulation effort. In addition, since conductivity is sensitive to changes in the composition and state of fluids in pores and fractures it becomes an ideal method for monitoring a reservoir process.

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SURFACTANT LOSS CONTROL IN CHEMICAL FLOODING SPECTROSCOPIC AND CALORIMETRIC STUDY OF ADSORPTION AND PRECIPITATION ON RESERVOIR MINERALS

The aim of this project is to elucidate the mechanisms underlying adsorption and surface precipitation of flooding surfactants on reservoir minerals. Effect of surfactant structure, surfactant combinations, other inorganic and polymeric species is being studied. A multi-pronged approach consisting of micro & Nano spectroscopy, microcalorimetry, electrokinetics, surface tension and wettability is used to achieve the goals. The results of this study should help in controlling surfactant loss in chemical flooding and also in developing optimum structures and conditions for efficient chemical flooding processes. During the second year of this three year contract, adsorption/desorption of single surfactants and select surfactant mixtures on alumina and silica was studied. Surfactants studied include the anionic sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), cationic tetradecyl trimethyl ammonium chloride (TTAC), nonionic pentadecylethoxylated nonyl phenol (NP-lS) and the nonionic octaethylene glycol ndodecyl ether (C1;EOg) of varying hydrocarbon chain length. The microstructure of the adsorbed layer in terms of micropolarity and aggregation numbers was probed using fluorescence spectroscopy . Changes of microstructure upon dilution (desorption) were also studied. Presence of the nonionic surfactant in the mixed aggregate led to shielding of the charge of the ionic surfactant which in-turn promoted aggregation but reduced electrostatic attraction between the charged surfactant and the mineral surface. Strong consequences of surfactant interactions in solution upon adsorption as well as correlations between monomer concentrations in mixtures and adsorption were revealed.

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Direct Coal Liquefaction Low Rank Coal Study

The overall objective of this part of the study was to develop a conceptual design for a direct coal liquefaction plant processing low rank coal, considering two production schemes for hydrogen. They are, hydrogen production by coal gasification and hydrogen production by steam reforming of natural gas. The first hydrogen production scheme was selected for the low rank coal study, whereas, the second hydrogen production scheme was considered as an optional case. Included for this study were development of a conceptual design, capital costs estimates, economics and an ASPEN/PLUS based computer simulation model of the coal liquefaction complex. Bechtel, with Amoco as team members, conducted the study.

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Results of Multi-Site Experimentation in the A-Sand Interval: Fracture Diagnostics, Fracture Modeling and Crosswell Tomography

A series of data acquisition operations and hydraulic fracture experiments were conducted in the A-Sand interval of the Mesaverde Group in October 1993 and included the following activities: characterization of the A-Sand velocity structure; remote-well microseismic data acquisition with multi-level accelerometers; development of automatic event detection and data processing capabilities; verification of treatment well fracture diagnostic techniques; and assessment of convective processes during hydraulic fracturing. The primary fracture diagnostics experiments established the viability of mapping hydraulic fractures with remote we1 l and treatment well microseismic techniques. These positive results provided the basis for continuing into the next phase of the project wherein a new offset wellbore will be drilled and instrumented with a comprehensive array of accelerometers and inclinometers for mapping hydraulic fracture dimensions.

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GRl/DOE Multi-Sites Fracture Diagnostics Project: Monitor Well No. 1 Drilling, Data analysis and Instrument Emplacement

The Monitor Well No. 1 was drilled in February and March 1994 to a total depth of 5,000 ft; 9-518-in. casing was subsequently run and cemented to 2,120 ft. In the drilling phase of the Monitor Well, 103 ft of core were cut and recovered in the C and B sand intervals and used as the basis for a) description and orientation of natural or induced fractures; b) description of lithologic and geologic character; c) measurement of routine porosity and permeability data; and d) measurement of special core analyses including circumferential velocity anisotropy (CVA). Log analysis data were acquired for  characterization of natural and induced fractures, assessment of reservoir fluids and porosities, and development of a mechanical properties/stress profile. In October 1994, an instrumentation array composed of 30 accelerometers and 6 inclinometers was secured to a tubing string and run in the wellbore to the approximate depth interval between 4,014 and 4,882 ft. The tubing and attached instrumentation were cemented in place, thereby allowing comprehensive fracture diagnostics experiments to , be implemented.

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FOSSIL ENERGY VENEZUELA-MEM-USA-DOE FOSSIL ENERGY REPORT III-7 Supporting Technology For Advanced Oil Recovery INFILL PREDICTIVE MODEL

The Infill Drilling Predictive Model (IDPM) is in a style similar to previous Enhanced Oil Recovery Predictive Models which were developed for and in conjunction with the Chemical Task Group of the National Petroleum Council (NPC) for use in the 1982-1984 NPC study on enhanced oil recovery (EOR) potential. The model is designed to conform to the methodology and structure of the suite of models used in that study. This insures that all models calculate and report predicted oil recovery and economics in an identical manner. As do the other models, the IDPM contains an extensive set of default equations to calculate non-critical reservoir properties, flood properties, and economic criteria. The Department of Energy, Bartlesville Project Office, supported the NPC and has maintained the models since the NPC study was completed.

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Design, Capital Cost and Economics for the Low Rank Coal Study Volume 1B

The air separation package plants are cryogenic units producing oxygen at 99.5% {mol} purity and nitrogen at 99.SOA, (mol) purity. Oxygen will be delivered at the pressure required by the selected coal gasification process. Nitrogen will be used for purging, blanketing, and other utility purposes and will be delivered to the utility system at 150 psig. Liquid nitrogen will also be produced off the Air Separation Plant and stored for use during periods of high nitrogen demand.

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IMPROVED TECHNIQUES FOR FLUID DIVERSION IN OIL RECOVERY

This report describes work performed during the second year of the project, "Improved Techniques for Fluid Diversion in Oil Recovery." This project is directed at reducing water production and increasing oil recovery efficiency. In the United States, more than 20 billion barrels of water are produced each year during oilfield operations. An average of 7 barrels of water are produced for each barrel of oil. Today, the cost of water disposal is typically between $0.25 and $0.50 per bbl. Therefore, there is a tremendous economic incentive to reduce water production if that can be accomplished without sacrificing hydrocarbon production. Environmental considerations also provide a significant incentive to reduce water production during oilfield operations. This three-year project has two technical objectives. The first objective is to compare the effectiveness of gels in fluid diversion (water shutoff) with those of other types of processes. Several different types of fluid-diversion processes are being compared, including those using gels, foams, emulsions, and particulates. The ultimate goals of these comparisons are to (1) establish which of these processes are most effective in a given application and (2) determine whether aspects of one process can be combined with those of other processes to improve performance. Analyses and experiments are being performed to verify which materials are the most effective in entering and blocking high-permeability zones. The second objective of the project is to identify the mechanisms by which materials (particularly gels) selectively reduce permeability to water more than to oil. A capacity to reduce water permeability much more than oil or gas permeability is critical to the success of gel treatments in production wells if zones cannot be isolated during gel placement. Topics covered in this report include (1) comparisons of the use of gels, foams, emulsions, and particulates as blocking agents, (2) propagation of aluminum-citrate-HPAM gels through porous rock, (3) gel properties in fractured systems, (4) gel placement in unfractured anisotropic flow systems, and (5) an investigation of why some gels can reduce water permeability more than oil permeability. This project receives financial support from the U.S. Department of Energy, the State of New Mexico, and a consortium of 10 oil companies. The technology developed in this project has been transferred to the oil industry in several ways. First, project review meetings are held regularly, with 20 people from 10 oil companies attending the most recent review (November 10, 1994). Second, technical progress reports are issued quarterly and annually. Third, papers are regularly presented at meetings of the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) and are published in SPE and other journals (see Appendix J). Fourth, in conjunction with SPE's Distinguished Lecture Series, the presentation, "Cost-effective Methods to Reduce Water Production," has been given in 40 locations throughout the world.

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