Surface and Subsurface Requirements for Successful Implementation of Offshore Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery

Author:

Raney Kirk1,Ayirala Subhash1,Chin Robert1,Verbeek Paul1

Affiliation:

1. Shell International Exploration & Production

Abstract

Summary Chemical enhanced oil recovery (EOR), including polymer and surfactant-based processes, is a method that operators consider to maximize oil recovery from onshore and offshore reservoirs. Because of the logistical, operational, and environmental differences and the footprint and required weight needed for additional injection and production equipment, offshore chemical EOR processes are challenged by greater complexity and costs as compared with onshore applications of the same technologies. Chemical EOR commonly requires large volumes of injection chemicals, as well as demulsifiers to break produced-water/oil emulsions and inhibitors to control scale, resulting in high shipment and storage costs. The use of seawater and/or produced water for injection of the chemicals into offshore fields mandates stringent processing of both streams to allow optimal injectivity, sweep efficiency, and chemical effectiveness in the reservoir. Offshore production of saleable oil and clean water requires space- and weight-efficient oil/water-separation equipment. Currently, conventional methods for processing produced fluids fall short in both efficiency and compactness. High offshore drilling costs lead to relatively large well spacing and more difficulty in monitoring the EOR subsurface process, and lead to restrictions on the number of disposal wells. Finally, environmental restrictions limit the overboarding of toxic or poorly biodegradable EOR chemicals. The industry is currently investigating the limiting factors pertinent to offshore chemical EOR. As a result of these efforts, new enabling chemistries and technologies are being examined for improving surface operations to allow cost-effective offshore chemical EOR to be performed in an environmentally sound and safe manner. Some of these recent chemical- and fluids-processing developments are described in this paper. Subsurface challenges to implementing offshore chemical EOR are also highlighted, along with potential solutions.

Publisher

Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE)

Subject

Energy Engineering and Power Technology,Fuel Technology

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3