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Types of Recovery
Oil recovery operations traditionally have been subdivided into three stages: primary,
secondary, and tertiary.
1. Primary Recovery
Primary recovery results from the use of natural energy present in a reservoir as the
main source of energy for the displacement of oil to producing wells. These natural
energy sources are:
i. solution gas drive,
ii. gas-cap drive,
iii. natural waterdrive,
iv. fluid and rock expansion,
v. gravity drainage.
2. Secondary Recovery
Secondary recovery results from the augmentation of natural energy through injection of
water or gas to displace oil toward producing wells. Gas injection, in this case, is either
into a gas cap for pressure maintenance and gas-cap expansion or into oil-column wells
to displace oil immiscibly according to relative permeability and volumetric sweepout
considerations.
3. Tertiary Recovery
Any technique applied after secondary recovery can be termed as tertiary recovery.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
We need all forms of EOR the maintain reserves at an acceptable level. This is because
each process, even commercially successful ones, has demonstrated success on only a
part of the EOR target thus far.
RESERVES
Reserves are petroleum (crude and condensate) recoverable from reservoirs under
prevailing economics and technology. They are given by the following material balance
equation:
Clearly, reserves can change with time because the last two terms can change with time.
Adding to Reserves
The four categories of adding to reserves are:
1. Discovering new fields.
2. Discovering new reservoirs.
3. Extending reservoirs in known fields.
4. Redefining reserves because of changes in economics of extraction technology.
Now comparing categories 1 to 3 with category 4 which is EOR. It is observed that applying
categories 1 to 3 results in greater chances of drilling dry holes as only 3 out of 10 wells
drilled are profitable while the rest are waste of money. On the other hand, EOR is more
feasible as it is applied on known reservoirs whose past history is known so they give
much successful results.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
𝑬 = 𝑬𝑫 × 𝑬𝑽
where
E=overall displacement efficiency (oil recovered by process/ oil in place at start of
process),
ED =microscopic displacement efficiency expressed as a fraction,
EV=macroscopic (volumetric) displacement efficiency expressed as a fraction.
A typical waterflood sweep efficiency, Ev, at the economic limit is 0.7. Therefore,
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
It is desirable in an EOR process that the values of ED and Ev, and consequently E, approach
1.0. An idealized EOR process would be one in which the primary displacing fluid (primary
slug) removed all oil from the pores contacted by the fluid (Sor -> 0), and in which the
displacing fluid contacted the total reservoir volume and displaced oil to production wells.
A secondary fluid slug used to displace the primary slug would behave in a similar manner
in that it would displace the primary slug efficiently both microscopically and
macroscopically.
Several physical/chemical interactions occur between the displacing fluid and oil that can
lead to efficient microscopic displacement (low Sor). These include miscibility between
the fluids, decreasing the IFT between the fluids, oil volume expansion, and reducing oil
viscosity. The maintenance of a favorable mobility ratio between displaced and displacing
fluids also contributes to better microscopic displacement efficiency. EOR processes are
thus developed with consideration of these factors.
𝑘𝑘𝑟𝑜
𝑀𝑜𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑜𝑖𝑙 =
𝜇𝑜
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
CAPILLARY FORCES
1. SURFACE AND INTERFACIAL TENSION
Whenever immiscible phases coexist in a porous medium as in essentially all processes of
interest, surface energy related to the fluid interfaces influences the saturations,
distributions, and displacement of the phases.
Surface tension is the elastic tendency of a fluid surface which makes it acquire the
least surface area possible. It may be defined as the contractile tendency of a liquid surface
exposed to gases.
The term "surface tension" usually is reserved for the specific case in which the surface is
between a liquid and its vapor or air. If the surface is between two different liquids, or
between a liquid and a solid, the term "interfacial tension" is used.
A free liquid surface is illustrated in Fig. 2.2, where A, B, and C represent molecules of the
liquid. Molecules that are well below the surface such as A are, on average, attracted
equally in all directions owing to cohesive forces, and their movement therefore tends
to be unaffected by cohesive forces. Molecules B and C, however, which are at or near the
liquid/air interface, are acted on unequally. A net downward force tends to pull these
molecules back into the bulk of the liquid. The surface thus acts like a stretched membrane,
tending to shorten as much as possible.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
This surface force, which is a tensile force, is quantified in terms of surface tension, a, the
force acting in the plane of the surface per unit length of the surface. Surface tension can
be visualized as shown in Fig. 2.3, where a force F is acting normal to a liquid surface of
length L. The force per unit length, F/L, required to create additional surface area (that is,
to extend the surface) is the surface tension, usually expressed in dynes/cm.
The surface tension of water in contact with its vapor at room temperature is about 73
dynes/cm. IFT's between water and pure hydrocarbons are about 30 to 50 dynes/ cm at
room temperature. Mixtures of hydrocarbons such as crude oils will have lower IFT's that
depend on the nature and complexity of the liquids. IFT's and surface tensions are relatively
strong functions of temperature.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
Where,
r = capillary-tube radius, cm;
h = height of water rise in the capillary, cm;
pw = water density, g/cm3;
Pa = air density, g/cm3;
g = gravity acceleration constant, 980 cm/s2; and
ϴ = contact angle between water and capillary tube.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
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The wetted length L of the plate is equal to its perimeter. To measure the force F, the
plate is attached to a force sensor of a tensiometer.
2. WETTABILITY
Wettability is the tendency of one fluid to spread on or adhere to a solid surface in the
presence· of a second fluid. When two immiscible phases are placed in contact with a
solid surface, one phase usually is attracted to the solid more strongly than the other
phase. The more strongly attracted phase is called the wetting phase.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
Rocks are also known to have intermediate and/or mixed wettability, depending on the
physical/ chemical makeup of the rock and the composition of the oil phase.
Intermediate/neutral wettability occurs when both fluid phases tend to wet the solid,
but one phase is only slightly more attracted than the other.
Mixed/Fractional wettability results from a variation or heterogeneity in chemical
composition of exposed rock surfaces or cementing-material surfaces in the pores.
Because of this mixed chemical exposure, the wettability condition may vary from point
to point. In fact, water sometimes wets the solid over part of the surface and oil over the
remaining part.
Wettability can be quantitatively treated by examining the interfacial forces that exist
when two immiscible fluid phases are in contact with a solid. Fig. 2.8 shows a water drop
placed in contact with a homogeneous rock surface in the presence of an oil phase.
The water drop spreads on the solid until forces are balanced, as shown in Fig. 2.8. A force
balance at the line of intersection of solid, water, and oil yields:
Where,
σos, σws and σow = IFT's between solid and oil, water and solid, and water and oil,
respectively, dynes/cm,
ϴ = contact angle, measured through the water.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
Adhesion Tension
In a system with two immiscible fluids in contact with a solid, the difference in the two
fluid-solid surface tensions is called the adhesion tension. In thermodynamic equilibrium
this difference is equivalent as a result of the Young-Laplace equation to the product of
the interfacial tension between the two fluids and the cosine of the contact angle at the
fluid/fluid/solid interface.
𝝉 = 𝝈𝒐𝒔 − 𝝈𝒘𝒔
𝝉 = 𝝈𝒐𝒘 𝒄𝒐𝒔𝜽
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
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Measurement of wettability
Wettability is measured practically by two methods:
1. Amott-Harvey Method
2. USBM (U.S Bureau of Mines) Method
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
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3. CAPILLARY PRESSURE
Capillary pressure is the difference in pressures between two immiscible fluids across a
curved surface at equilibrium. Curvature of the interface is the consequences of
preferential wetting of the capillary walls by one of the phase.
The capillary pressure can also be defined as the pressure difference between the non-
wetting and the wetting phase.
𝑷𝒄 = 𝑷𝒏𝒘 − 𝑷𝒘
Fig. 2.10 shows water rise in a glass capillary. The fluid above the water is an oil, and
because the water preferentially wets the glass of the capillary, there is a capillary rise.
Two pressures, Po and Pw are identified in the figure; Po is oil-phase pressure at a point
just above the oil/water interface, and Pw is water-phase pressure just below the
interface. Force balances yield the following:
And,
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
Where,
Patm = atmospheric pressure, dynes/ cm2;
h and h1 = fluid heights, cm;
𝜌o and 𝜌w=oil and water densities, g/cm3; and
g=gravity acceleration constant, 980 cm/s2.
The water pressure is calculated by summing pressure heads through the oil and
subtracting the water head in the capillary. The pressure at the oil/water interface in the
container is assumed the same as the water pressure at the same elevation in the
capillary.
We know that;
𝑃𝑐 = 𝑃𝑜 − 𝑃𝑤
The capillary pressure is thus related to the fluid/fluid IFT, the relative wettability of the
fluids (through ϴ), and the size of the capillary, r. The capillary pressure may be positive
or negative; the sign merely expresses in which phase the pressure is lower. The phase
with the lower pressure will always be the phase that preferentially wets the capillary.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
Notice that Pc varies inversely as a function of the capillary radius and increases as the
affinity of the wetting phase for the rock surface increases.
Here,
σw is fluid property,
cos ϴ is rock and fluid property, depends on wettability,
r is porous media property.
VISCOUS FORCES
Viscous forces in a porous medium are reflected in the magnitude of the pressure drop
that occurs as a result of flow of a fluid through the medium. One of the simplest
approximations used to calculate the viscous force is to consider a porous medium as a
bundle of parallel capillary tubes. With this assumption, the pressure drop for laminar
flow through a single tube is given by Poiseuille's law.
where
p =pressure drop across the capillary tube, P2 -PI, Ibf/ft2;
L=capillary-tube length, ft;
r=capillary-tube radius, ft;
𝑣̅ =average velocity in the capillary tube, ft/sec,
µ=viscosity of flowing fluid, lbm/(ft-sec), and
gc=conversion factor.
where
D..p is in psi, r is in inches, vis in feet per day, /-t is in centipoise, and
L is in feet.
Viscous forces in a porous medium can be expressed in terms of Darcy's law,
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
Where
p=pressure drop across the porous mediumP2 -PI' psi;
v=average velocity of fluid in the pores of the porous medium, ft/D;
µ=fluid viscosity, cp;
L=length of the porous medium, ft;
Ø=porosity of the porous medium, and
k=permeability of the porous medium, darcies.
where
k=permeability of the bundle of capillary tubes, darcies;
d=diameter of the capillary tubes, in.; and
Ø=effective porosity of the bundle of capillaries.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
Examples 2.2 and 2.3 illustrate that viscous forces yield pressure gradients in reservoir
rocks on the order of O. 1 to > 1 psi/ft. These are typical values for the bulk of the reservoir
volume. Values can be significantly higher for the regions around injection and production
wells.
PHASE TRAPPING
Trapping of oil or other fluids in a porous medium such as a reservoir rock is not
understood completely and cannot be rigorously described mathematically. The
trapping mechanism, however, is known to depend on:
(1) the pore structure of the porous medium,
(2) fluid/rock interactions related to wettability, and
(3) fluid/fluid interactions reflected in IFT and sometimes in flow instabilities.
Trapping and mobilization are related to these factors in a complex way.
It has been recognized for some time that the pressure required to force a non-wetting
phase through a capillary system, such as a porous rock, can be quite high. This
phenomenon, called the Jamin effect. The phenomenon can be described most easily by
analyzing a trapped oil droplet or gas bubble in a preferentially water-wet capillary, as
shown in Figs. 2.13 and 2.14.
Fig. 2.13 shows two possible conditions of drop size. In Fig. 2.13a, a very long, continuous
water filament is in contact with a continuous oil filament. The system is static, with
different pressures existing at Points A and B because of capillary forces. The static
pressure difference must be exceeded for flow to occur. In Fig. 2.13b, water contacts both
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
By: Muhammad Ahmed (pe-033)
sides of a finite oil drop. Again, the static pressure difference, PB -PA, if one exists, must
be overcome to initiate flow.
For the condition in Fig. 2.13a, the pressure across the interface is just the capillary
pressure, Pc:
Fig. 2.14 shows three variations of the case shown in Fig. 2.13b, the finite drop in contact
with water on both sides of the drop. In Fig. 2.14a, the capillary tube size varies and
therefore the radius is smaller on one side of the drop than on the other. Fig. 2.14b shows
a situation where the contact angle is different on the two sides of the drop, which could
result, for example, if the drop were displaced in one direction, causing an advancing
contact angle different from the receding angle. Finally, in Fig. 2.14c, a gas drop is trapped
between water on one side and oil on the other. Again, determining the static pressure
differences between Points A and B is important because this value must be exceeded to
initiate flow.
For the other cases in Figs. 2.13 and 2.14, a generalized expression can be written by
simply adding pressure drops across each interface. An assumption is made that the
pressure within the oil or gas drop is constant from one end of the drop to the other.
Subscripts A and B indicate that the values are determined for the interfaces at Points A
and B, respectively. Application of Eq. 2.17 to the cases in Figs. 2.13b and 2.14a through
2.14c yields the following forms, respectively.
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ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY PE-405
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