E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Laboratory Program (Modified Injection Brines for Waterfloods)

Geoffrey Thyne

Haifeng Jiang

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Improved

Recovery

Screen to

assess

potential for

WY

Reservoir-

specific Lab

tests

Field

scale

models

Field

Testing

Identify

Promising

Technique

for WF

EORI Lab

Program

Components

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

EORI Lab Program Project Basis

Procedure Project Time

Standard waterflood 10-12 experiments 3-4 months

CO2-WAG waterflood 10-12 experiments 4-5 months

Development of new capability/equipment 9-12 months

Regular Maintenance 1 month/year

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Modified Injection Brines Methodologies being investigated

• Low Salinity Waterflood – Looking for potential reservoirs

in Wyoming based on research and field experiences

• Designer WF– Experimental Evaluation of new

technique for Wyoming

• Advantages – Both are inexpensive and easy to

implement.

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

The fundamental objective is to change wettability in

the reservoir to increase oil recovery by changing the

chemistry of the injected water.

Low salinity appears to have multiple mechanisms

that include wettability alteration, demonstrated field-

scale success and failure.

Designer Waterfloods appears to be wettability

alteration only.

Waterfloods (Modifying Injection Brine)

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

SPE 143550

Yousef et al. 2011 -Saudi Aramco

Carbonate reservoir (calcite and

dolomite mineralogy)

NMR shows change in

Wettability with change in salinity

Low Salinity Waterflooding - Carbonates

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Low Salinity Screening

• Apply experimental and literature results to develop screening. – Lab experiments and field data show inverse relationship between

temperature of flooding and incremental recovery.

– Lab experiments show no incremental recovery without fines migration potential.

• Cumulative Oil, Salinity, Temperature, Rock Composition, are screening criteria for Wyoming.

.

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Wyoming – Low Salinity Screen Top 20

Field Name Reservoir T (°C) TDS (ppm)

Cumulative

Production Oil

(bbls)

Basin

HALVERSON MINNEKAHTA 74 195,919 16,731,354 E. FLANK PBR

DONKEY CREEK MINNEKAHTA 68 194,509 16,810,691 E. FLANK PBR

BEAVER CREEK PHOSPHORIA 96 104,264 59,197,373 SW WRB

POISON SPIDER WEST CODY 88 99,833 12,230,606 SE WRB

BIRCH CREEK NUGGET 85 99,108 90,470,790 GREEN RIVER

TIP TOP NUGGET 84 88,557 8,753,207 GREEN RIVER

HOGSBACK NUGGET 90 84,902 8,927,619 GREEN RIVER

SAGE CREEK MADISON 40 81,191 13,623,968 NE FLANK BIGHORN

TIP TOP PHOSPHORIA 103 71,007 8,753,207 GREEN RIVER

WORLAND EMBAR 88 68,305 19,492,765 SE BIGHORN

PATRICK DRAW FOX HILLS 45 55,928 10,500,764 GREEN RIVER

GREEN RIVER BEND FRONTIER 68 55,095 13,871,835 GREEN RIVER

LITTLE BUFFALO BASIN CURTIS 43 53,499 137,106,832 WESTERN BIGHORN

BRADY NUGGET 98 50,000 70,358,174 GREEN RIVER

BEAVER CREEK MESAVERDE-2 47 48,422 59,197,373 SW WIND RIVER

BRADY WEBER 115 43,719 70,358,174 GREEN RIVER

WORLAND PHOSPHORIA 87 42,999 19,492,765 SE BIGHORN

OREGON BASIN CHUGWATER 40 41,503 471,127,847 W. FLANK BIGHORN

GRASS CREEK CHUGWATER 43 35,420 212,370,226 SW BIG HORN

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Emerging Technique – Designer Waterfloods

• Change in wettability (more water-wet) by changing

injected water chemistry. – ‘We're at the beginning here. It's an emerging technology. It's very new. We at

Shell think it's very exciting'.

– Advanced Ion Management (ExxonMobil), Smart WaterFlood (Saudi Aramco),

Designer Water (Shell), Smart Water (Stavanger), BP, Total, Statoil.

– Change in inorganic water chemistry to alter wetting e.g. addition of sulfate,

phosphate and borate ions make carbonate surfaces more water-wet.

• To date experimental work has focused on carbonate

reservoir rock.

• Addition of SO42-, PO4

2- and B(OH)4- has produced

incremental oil in experiments using chalk, limestone

and dolomite.

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Proposed Mechanism for Altering Carbonate Wettability

+ Carbonate Surface

+

S

O-

O

O-

O

O-

O

Oil

C

P

O-

O

O-

O

B

OH

OH

O-

OH

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Proposed Mechanism for Altering Carbonate Wettability

+ Carbonate Surface

+

S

O-

O

O-

O O-

O

Oil

C

P

O-

O-

O-

O B

OH

OH

O-

OH

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

SPE 142668

Gupta et al. 2011 – ExxonMobil

Limestone and Dolomite cores

5-9% increment with sulfate

15% with Borate

21% with Phosphate

Designer Waterfloods

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Screen potential of technique for Wyoming Modified Injection Brine for Carbonates

Are there reservoirs that could benefit?

Prod Zone Name

Sum of Oil

Cum

Sum of Gas

Cum

Sum of Wtr

Cum

BBLS MCF BBLS

MADISON 477,789,462 6,029,426,158 6,591,240,789

EMBAR 344,900,918 172,251,426 3,429,183,519

PHOSPHORIA 259,456,919 332,502,221 1,731,066,310

NIOBRARA 13,598,344 10,637,033 5,791,752

10% OOIP Increment = 100 Million Barrels

Wyoming Carbonate Reservoirs - Cumulative Production

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

• DWF Screening (focus on Madison fields)

– What is dominant salinity?

– What is dominant temperature?

– Are fields currently below saturation

with gypsum and anhydrite?

Screening and Experimental Design

TDS

Frequency

21000180001500012000900060003000

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

Histogram of Madison produced water TDS

10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 1100

5000

1e4

15000

2e4

25000

Temperature (C)

Dis

solv

ed s

olid

s (m

g/k

g)

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ƒ ƒƒƒƒƒ ƒ

ƒƒƒƒƒ

ƒ ƒƒƒ

ƒƒ

Screen shows that

low TDS (≤ 5000

ppm) and low T

(≤50°C) describe

conditions for most

reservoirs

0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000.01

.1

1

Dissolved solids (mg/kg)

Anhydrite

(Q

/K)

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E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

• Laboratory program

– Standard core flood methodology already developed for low salinity

– Evaluate performance in dolomite with WY brines and oils

– Determine effects of adding SO4 below limit of gypsum/anhydrite saturation

DWF Program for in Carbonates

1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

.3

.4

.5

.6

.8

1

SO4-- in fluid (mg/kg)

Satu

ration,

som

e m

inera

ls (

Q/K

)

Anhydrite

Gypsum

Initial Synthetic Brine

Average of low TDS Madison Reservoirs

Sulfate Addition to Brine

Na K calc Ca Mg HCO3 SO4 Cl TDS

465 51 421 120 702 1242 498 3499

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

EORI Lab Program

DWF Preliminary Evaluation

Procedure Project Time

Standard waterflood 10-12 experiments 3-4 months

Dolomite core + LSU Oil + Synthetic Brine

Baseline single phase (2 cores) 2 experiments

Sulfate Enrichment 10 experiments

(base solution plus 2 modifications with 3000 and 6000 ppm SO4)

Evaluate incremental recovery and potential formation damage

E N H A N C E D O I L R E C O V E R Y I N S T I T U T E

Moving MIB Waterfloods Forward

• Continue to test techniques for Wyoming reservoirs.

• Build Strategic Relationships with Producers.

• Provide producers with reservoir specific test data and

projected performance.

• Provide incentives for producers to implement field

demonstration.