Future of Chemical EOR | Russell T. Rudy Energy LLC
“Rigzone” has published a three part series on Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). The first segment dealt with CO2 EOR, and was summarized in a previous blog. What follows is a synopsis of their Chemical EOR article which was written by Matthew Jones and Laura McIntyre with the research firm Visiongain. The third installment deals with Thermal EOR.
After primary (e.g. pumping) and secondary (e.g. waterflood) methods of recovery have been utilized, operators sometimes try more sophisticated measures to recover oil that is still trapped in the reservoir rock. Depending on a number of factors, including reservoir characteristics, these enhanced measures can vary. Chemical EOR involves injection of a displacing fluid gas into the reservoir to maintain pressure and help move residual oil toward producing wells for extraction. A range of chemicals have been used with varying results.
Chemical EOR is the least prevalent of the three types of EOR, but quite possibly might have the greatest potential for growth. In the mid 1980’s, high prices, and consequently hefty R&D budgets, led to a large number of pilot projects, especially here in the U.S. However, many of these became casualties of the ensuing oil glut and price drop later in the decade. Currently, only 375,000 barrels of oil per day are attributable to Chemical EOR and most of this is produced in China.
High capital and operating costs, as well as the need to customize Chemical EOR programs to individual reservoirs, have rendered this option costly and risky. However, technological advances, and until recently, high prices, have set the stage for a comeback. Three major factors have contributed to this renaissance of interest:
-The volumes of chemicals needed for successful EOR projects have been significantly reduced.
-The cost per unit for these chemicals has fallen.
-As we have learned more about individual reservoir characteristics, it has become easier to design effective programs.
Another thing that has changed since the 1980’s is the dominance of the U.S. in Chemical EOR. However, China has taken up the slack and is now the global leader. Large scale programs are well underway in the Daqing and Shengli fields and China will probably remain the leader in this area for the short to intermediate term.
However, there are 60 active Chemical EOR initiatives worldwide. Canada and Oman are playing major roles. Canada has two active commercial scale operations, as well as 15 pilots. Oman is currently producing the Marmul Field using Chemical EOR, and is studying three experimental applications. India, Malaysia, Indonesia and Russia also have ambitious plans, and projects of varying sizes are underway in at total of 14 countries.
In the short term Chemical EOR will remain a relatively small contributor to global production, but the potential in terms of both size and global scope is significant.
To read the article in its entirety, please go to www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?hpf=1&a_id=135683&utm .
