BP's LoSal Technology | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
Operators are always looking for cost effective ways to extend the lives of mature oil fields and stimulate production. Waterflooding, which involves injecting water into the reservoir, restores pressure and pushes oil toward producing wells. Both fresh and saltwater have been used in waterflood projects, and each has its strengths and weaknesses.
Freshwater can make the clays in the reservoir swell, thereby blocking the pores in the reservoir rock and preventing further movement of oil molecules. Freshwater can be scarce, and desalination of formation brine or seawater expensive.
High salinity saltwater, on the other hand, can cause oil molecules to form divalent (double-charged) bonds between clay particles and oil molecules inhibiting the flow of oil to the producing wells.
However, “Rigzone” reports the BP has developed a LoSal (low salinity) process which relaxes the bond between the clay particles and the oil molecules, freeing the latter to be swept toward producing wells. Reducing, but not eliminating, salinity hopefully will provide the best of both worlds.
Not only is LoSal a revolutionary approach in terms of injection fluid, it is also unique in that BP is not waiting for a field to mature before using waterflood. Rather, the company is using LoSal on its new Clair Ridge field which is scheduled for start-up in 2016. The operator predicts that this approach will result in the cost effective recovery of an additional 40 million barrels of oil over the life of the field. This would increase the ultimate field recovery to 640 million barrels.
LoSal desalination facilities will cost an estimated $120 million out of a total project cost of $7.2 billion at Clair Ridge. BP is so confident that LoSal will provide impressive results that it plans to use the technology at its Mad Dog Phase 2 project in the Gulf of Mexico.
If LoSal lives up to expectations, it could have far reaching implications for future field develops in mature basins like the North Sea and the Gulf of Mexico.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=140671&utm .
