Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer Flood: From the Laboratory to the Field (2010)

Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer Flood: From the Laboratory to the Field W. M. Stoll; W. M. Stoll Shell Technology Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar H.. al Shureqi; H.. al Shureqi Shell Technology Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar J.. Finol; J.. Finol Shell Technology Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar S. A. Al-Harthy; S. A. Al-Harthy Petroleum Development Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar S.. Oyemade; S.. Oyemade Petroleum Development Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar A.. de Kruijf; A.. de Kruijf Petroleum Development Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar J.. van Wunnik; J.. van Wunnik Petroleum Development Oman Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar F.. Arkesteijn; F.. Arkesteijn Shell International EP Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar R.. Bouwmeester; R.. Bouwmeester Shell International EP Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar M. J. Faber M. J. Faber Shell International EP Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Paper presented at the SPE EOR Conference at Oil & Gas West Asia, Muscat, Oman, April 2010. Paper Number: SPE-129164-MS https://doi.org/10.2118/129164-MS Published: April 11 2010 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Twitter LinkedIn Get Permissions Search Site Citation Stoll, W. M., al Shureqi, H.. , Finol, J.. , Al-Harthy, S. A., Oyemade, S.. , de Kruijf, A.. , van Wunnik, J.. , Arkesteijn, F.. , Bouwmeester, R.. , and M. J. Faber. "Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer Flood: From the Laboratory to the Field." Paper presented at the SPE EOR Conference at Oil & Gas West Asia, Muscat, Oman, April 2010. doi: https://doi.org/10.2118/129164-MS Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex Search nav search search input Search input auto suggest search filter All ContentAll ProceedingsSociety of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)SPE EOR Conference at Oil and Gas West Asia Search Advanced Search Abstract After two decades of relative calm, chemical EOR technologies are currently revitalized globally. Techniques such as alkaline surfactant-polymer flooding, originally developed by Shell, have the potential to recover significant fractions of remaining oil at a CO2 footprint that is low compared to, for example, thermal enhanced oil recovery, and they do not depend on a valuable miscible agent such as hydrocarbon gas. On the other hand, chemical EOR technologies typically require large quantities of chemical products such as surfactants and polymers, which must be transported to, and handled safely in, the field.Despite rising industry interest in chemical EOR, until today only polymer flooding has been applied on a significant scale whereas applications of surfactant-polymer (SP) or alkaline surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding were limited to multi-well pilots or to small field scale. Next to the oil price fluctuations of the past two decades, technical reasons that discouraged the application of chemical EOR are excessive formation of carbonate or silica scale and of strong emulsions in the production facilities.Having identified significant target oil volumes for ASP flooding, Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), supported by Shell Technology Oman, carried out a sequence of single-well pilots in three fields, sandstone and carbonate, to assess the flooding potential of tailor-made chemical formulations under real subsurface conditions, and to quantify the benefits of full- field ASP developments.The paper discusses the extensive design process that was followed. Starting from a description of the optimisation of chemical phase behaviour in test tubes as well as core-flood experiments, we elaborate how the key chemical and flow properties of an ASP flood are captured to calibrate a comprehensive reservoir simulation model. Using this model we evaluate PDO's single-well pilots and demonstrate how these results are used to design a pattern-flood pilot. Keywords: polymer drive, experiment, oil bank, petroleum soap, upstream oil & gas, carbonate, surfactant concentration, emulsion phase, chemical flooding methods, enhanced recovery Subjects: Improved and Enhanced Recovery, Chemical flooding methods Copyright 2010, Society of Petroleum Engineers You can access this article if you purchase or spend a download.