Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Enhanced Oil Recovery E-Book

M. R. Islam

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 1147

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Beschreibung

There have been many books on the topic of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) over the last 100 years. They all, however, focus on how to recover more oil faster, taking a rather myopic approach. The solutions presented all work fantastically in theory and even in the laboratory, but each fails to produce results in the field with long-term success. The petroleum industry is almost resigned to the belief that for an EOR technique to be successful, it must be propped up with public funds or must compromise environmental integrity. In line with modern engineering practices, previous books discuss how existing technologies can be tweaked to accommodate for any shortcomings that just came to light. This book is unlike any other book on the topic of recovery in particular and engineering in general. This groundbreaking volume is a continuation of the author's and his research group's work that started publishing on the subject of global sustainability involving energy and the environment, dating back to early 2000s. Starting with a paradigm shift in engineering that involves a long-term focus, rather than looking for short-term solutions, the methods and theories presented here delve into applying green engineering and zero waste principles to EOR. Historically, EOR has received mixed success, mainly because innovations in these disciplines relied heavily on processed materials, which are both uneconomical and toxic to the environment. This book explains how engineers missed entirely the causes of unsustainability in these technologies due to the prevalence of many myths that are embedded in modern engineering. Once these myths are deconstructed, the appropriate technologies emerge and the merits of them both in terms of economic and environmental benefits become clear. The book reveals how previous practices in EOR can be replaced with their sustainable versions while saving in material costs. A number of innovative technologies are introduced that can render well known technologies, such as steam flood, in situ combustion, chemical flooding, and microbial EOR environmentally sustainable and economically attractive. A triple dividend is received once these technologies are applied in otherwise marginal reservoirs, unconventional plays and even abandoned formations. The overall reserve, which reflects recoverable oil with new technologies, goes up drastically. Further benefits are drawn when processes such as value addition of waste material is performed. Overall this book shows how EOR can be rendered green while increasing the profitability. This is in stark contrast to the past practices that considered environmental integrity as a drain on profitability. This book proves that a paradigm shift can turn a "technological disaster" into a technological marvel.

Leseprobe

Table of Contents

Cover

Preface

1 Introduction

1.1 Opening Remarks

1.2 The Prophets of the Doomed Turned Into Scientists

1.3 Paradigm Shift in Sustainable Development

1.4 Questions Answered in This Book

2 Petroleum in the Big Picture

2.1 Introduction

2.2 Pre-Industrial Revolution Period

2.3 Beginning of the Petroleum Culture

2.4 The Information Age

2.5 The Energy Crisis

2.6 Conclusions

3 Natural Resources of the Earth

3.1 Introduction

3.2 Characteristic Time

3.3 Organic and Mechanical Frequencies

3.4 The Nature of Material Resources

3.5 The Science of Water and Petroleum

3.6 Nitrogen Cycle: Part of the Water/Nitrogen Duality

3.7 Conclusions

4 Growth Potential of Petroleum Reservoirs

4.1 Introduction

4.2 Toward Decarbonization

4.3 The Current State of the World of Oil and Gas

4.4 World Oil and Gas Reserve

4.5 Organic Origin of Petroleum

4.6 Scientific Ranking of Petroleum

4.7 Reserve Growth Potential of an Oil/Gas Reservoir

4.8 Conclusions

5 Fundamentals of Reservoir Characterization in View of Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery

5.1 Introduction

5.2 Role of Fractures

5.3 Natural and Artificial Fractures

5.4 Developing Reservoir Characterization Tools for Basement Reservoirs

5.5 The Origin of Fractures

5.6 Seismic Fracture Characterization

5.7 Reservoir Characterization During Drilling

5.8 Reservoir Characterization with Image Log and Core Analysis

5.9 Major Forces of Oil and Gas Reservoirs

5.10 Reservoir Heterogeneity

5.11 Special Considerations for Shale

5.12 Conclusions

6 Future Potential of Enhanced Oil Recovery

6.1 Introduction

6.2 Background

6.3 Types of EOR

6.4 Enhanced Oil Recovery in Relation to Oil and Gas Reserve

6.5 Current Oil Fields

6.6 Need for EOR

6.7 Conclusions

7 Greening of Enhanced Oil Recovery

7.1 Introduction

7.2 Carbon Dioxide Injection

7.3 Thermal Methods

7.4 Chemical Methods

7.5 Gas Injection

7.6 Recap of Existing EOR Projects

7.7 Downhole Refinery

7.8 Conclusions

8 Toward Achieving Total Sustainability EOR Operations

8.1 Introduction

8.2 Issues in Petroleum Operations

8.3 Critical Evaluation of Current Petroleum Practices

8.4 Petroleum Refining and Conventional Catalysts

8.5 Current Practices in Exploration, Drilling and Production

8.6 Challenges in Waste Management

8.7 Greening of EOR Operations

8.8 Zero-Waste Operations

8.9 Conclusions

9 Conclusions

9.1 The Task

9.2 Conclusions

References and Bibliography

Index

End User License Agreement

List of Tables

Chapter 2

Table 2.1 Classification of the procedures use by Al-Razi in Book of Secrets.

Table 2.2 Mercury contents after cinnabar and HgCl

2

administration for 10 day...

Table 2.3 Mercury contents after cinnabar and HgS administration for 10 days ...

Table 2.4 Abundance number for various elements present in the universe (from...

Table 2.5 Per capita energy consumption (in TOE) for certain countries (From ...

Table 2.6 US crude oil and natural gas reserve (Million barrels) (From Islam,...

Chapter 3

Table 3.1 The tangible and intangible nature of yin and yang (from Islam, 201...

Table 3.2 Characteristic frequency of “natural” objects.

Table 3.3 Estimated global water distribution (from Shiklomanov, 1993).

Table 3.4 Contrasting features of water and petroleum.

Table 3.5 Contrasting properties of hydrogen and oxygen.

Table 3.6 Similar and contrasting properties of hydrogen and oxygen.

Table 3.7 Characteristic properties of carbon (from Islam, 2014).

Table 3.8 Major organic compounds and their functions.

Table 3.9 Natural polymers and their bonds.

Table 3.10 Contrast in reservoir in oxygen and carbon reservoirs.

Table 3.11 Contrasting and unifying features of oxygen and carbon (from Islam...

Table 3.12 Sun composition (Chaisson and McMillan, 1997).

Table 3.13 Wavelengths of various visible colors (From Islam, 2014).

Table 3.14 Wavelengths of known waves (from Islam

et al.

, 2015).

Table 3.15 Contrasting and unifying characters of oxygen and nitrogen.

Table 3.16 Major users of nitrogen fertilizer (from FAO, n.d.).

Table 3.17 Nutrients present in a typical fertile soil (from Holt and Wilson,...

Chapter 4

Table 4.1 U.S proven reserves, and reserves changes, 2016-17 (From EIA, 2019)...

Table 4.2 Crude oil and lease condensate production and proved reserves from ...

Table 4.3 Total U.S. proved reserves of natural gas, wet after lease separati...

Table 4.4 World proved reserves (From EIA, 2019).

Table 4.5 Summary of Proven Reserve Data as of (Dec) 2016 (From Islam

et al

., ...

Table 4.6 CIA factbook data on oil reserve.

Table 4.7 CIA factbook gas reserve.

Table 4.8 Gas reserve with various methods.

Table 4.9 Chemical composition (wt%) of minerals from plagiogneis (from Ivano...

Table 4.10 Published isotopic mineral ages for Precambrian basement in southw...

Table 4.11 Depositional environments and rock units selected for study of res...

Table 4.12 Norphlet Formation, Gulf of Mexico Basin—Summary of geological cha...

Table 4.13 Minnelusa Formation, Powder River Basin—Summary of geological char...

Table 4.14 Frio Formation, Gulf of Mexico Basin—Summary of geological charact...

Table 4.15 Morrow Formation, Anadarko and Denver Basins—Summary of geological...

Table 4.16 Barnett Shale, Fort Worth Basin—Summary of geological characterist...

Table 4.17 Bakken Formation, Williston Basin—Summary of geological characteri...

Table 4.18 Ellenburger Group, Permian Basin—Summary of geological characteris...

Table 4.19 Mackover Formation, Gulf Coast region—Summary of geological charac...

Table 4.20 Spraberry Formation, Midland Basin—Summary of geological character...

Table 4.21 Location of, number of fields and wells in, cumulative production ...

Chapter 5

Table 5.1 Various stages of fracture data collection.

Table 5.2 Quality ranking scheme for borehole breakouts in a single well inte...

Table 5.3 Quality ranking scheme for drilling induced fractures from image lo...

Table 5.4 Elastic parameters used by Shen (1998).

Table 5.5 Elastic parameters and fracture parameters of Model 1 and Model 2.

Table 5.6 Length of lateral sections, average true vertical depth of lateral ...

Table 5.7 Results of fracture identification in Well A-1.

Table 5.8 Results of fracture identification in Well A-2.

Table 5.9 Comparison of estimated fracture aperture between pairs of conducti...

Table 5.10 List of borehole imaging tools from which BGS holds digital data, ...

Table 5.11 Geological characterization from GR Spectralog (From Islam

et al

., ...

Table 5.12 Physical characteristics of the reservoir rock (Batini

et al

., 2002...

Table 5.13 Core analysis results (Batini

et al

., 2002).

Table 5.14 Well test results (from Islam

et al

., 2018).

Table 5.15 Comparison between geophysical logs and well testing (from Islam

et

...

Chapter 6

Table 6.1 Selection criteria for

in situ

combustion (from Kujawa and Lechtenbe...

Table 6.2 Summary of proven reserve data as of 2018 (Data from CIA Factbook a...

Table 6.3 Reserve recovery ratios for different countries (Data from BP, 2017...

Table 6.4 Variation in reserves for top oil producing countries (data from BP...

Table 6.5 Variations in reserve/production ratios for various countries (Data...

Table 6.6 Global RPR of oil, natural gas and coal (BP, 2018).

Table 6.7 History of largest oil reservoirs worldwide.

Chapter 7

Table 7.1 Screening criteria for CO

2

projects as used in the United States (f...

Table 7.2 Recent history of bitumen production (from AER, 2018).

Table 7.3 Polymers in heavy oil applications.

Table 7.4 Selection criteria of polymer injection candidates.

Table 7.5 Screening criteria for ASP (from Sheng, 2015).

Table 7.6 Summary of alkali-surfactant projects worldwide (from Sheng, 2015).

Table 7.7 Properties of certain surfactants (From Olajire, 2014).

Table 7.8 Advantages and disadvantages of the ASP process (from Olajire, 2014...

Table 7.9 Overall performance of various EOR techniques (from A.A. Olajire, 2...

Table 7.10 List of MEOR Laboratory and field applications (from Shibulal

et al

Table 7.11 Alkaline leachate and their pH (table from Asakura

et al

., 2010).

Table 7.12 Types of alkaline waste and their properties (from Gomes

et al

., 20...

Table 7.13 Selected projects involving CO

2

injection.

Table 7.14 Various EOR projects in USA.

Table 7.15

In situ

combustion projects in carbonate reservoirs of the United Stat...

Table 7.16 Miscible and immiscible nitrogen floods (continuous or WAG) in the...

Table 7.17 Hydrocarbon injection projects in carbonate reservoirs of the Unit...

Table 7.18 Examples of steamfloods in carbonate reservoirs of the United Stat...

Table 7.19 Chemical floods in carbonate reservoirs of the United States.

Table 7.20 Examples of chemical floods in carbonate reservoirs of the United ...

Chapter 8

Table 8.1 Emission from a refinery (Environmental Defense, 2005).

Table 8.2 Primary wastes from oil refinery (Environmental Defense, 2005).

Table 8.3 The HSS

®

A

®

pathway in energy management schemes.

Table 8.4 Overview of Petroleum Refining Processes (U.S. Department of Labour...

Table 8.5 Wave length and quantum energy levels of different radiation source...

List of Illustrations

Chapter 1

Figure 1.1 Chapter 4 solves the puzzle of what really is the fossil fuel ass...

Chapter 2

Figure 2.1 Various steps involved in petroleum technology.

Figure 2.2 The usefulness of metal depends on its concentration as well as s...

Figure 2.3 Relative output spectra of low- and medium pressure mercury arc l...

Figure 2.4 Scientific pathway of a chemical reaction modified from Kalbarczy...

Figure 2.5 Pathway followed by arsenic chemicals.

Picture 2.1 The refining technique used by the Alchemists.

Figure 2.6 History of natural gas production from New York.

Figure 2.6a History of oil production in New York (from EIA, 2018).

Picture 2.2 Typical proppants, used during fracturing.

Figure 2.7 Effect of proppant geometry on fracturing efficiency.

Figure 2.8 Public perception toward energy sources (Ipsos, 2011).

Figure 2.9 Energy outlook for 2040 as compared to 2016 under various scenari...

Figure 2.10 There are different trends in population growth depending on the...

Figure 2.11

Per capita

energy consumption growth for certain countries.

Figure 2.12 A strong correlation between a tangible index and per capita ene...

Figure 2.13 While population growth has been tagged as the source of economi...

Figure 2.14 Population and energy paradox for China (From Speight and Islam,...

Figure 2.15 Energy content of different fuels (MJ/kg) (from Spight and Islam...

Figure 2.16 Fossil fuel reserves and exploration activities.

Figure 2.17 Discovery of natural gas reserves with exploration activities (F...

Chapter 3

Figure 3.1 Water-fire yin yang, showing how without one the other is meaning...

Figure 3.2 The sun, earth, and moon all are moving at a characteristic speed...

Figure 3.3 Orbital speed vs size (not to scale) (From Islam, 2014).

Figure 3.4 The heart beat (picture above) represents natural frequency of a ...

Figure 3.5 Maximum and minimum heart rate for different age groups (From Isl...

Figure 3.6 Tangible/intangible duality continues infinitely for mega scale t...

Figure 3.7 The transition from time/matter yin yang to energy/mass yin yang....

Picture 3.1 It is reported that two galaxies are in a collision course (Cowa...

Figure 3.8 Characteristic speed (or frequency) can act as the unique functio...

Figure 3.9 Rendering real value into artificial loss, while profiteering.

Picture 3.2 The difference between charcoal and diamond can be captured in t...

Figure 3.10 Yin yang feature of the various components of water and petroleu...

Picture 3.3 This single-celled green diatom won Rogelio Moreno Gill of Panam...

Picture 3.4 Diatoms.

Figure 3.11 Phase diagram of hydrogen (From Service, 2017).

Figure 3.12 Phase diagram of oxygen (from Yen and Nicol, 1987).

Figure 3.13 The water-food-energy nexus (from Lal, 2013).

Figure 3.14 Carbon-oxygen duality is linked to fire water duality.

Figure 3.15 Depiction of thermo-nuclear reactions.

Figure 3.16 Temperature profile of the atmospheric layer (data from NASA).

Figure 3.17 Spectrum of the greenhouse radiation measured at the surface (mo...

Figure 3.18 Conceptual model of the electrical structure in mature, mid-lati...

Picture 3.5 Plasma state in the surface of the sun (credit NASA).

Figure 3.19 Time-height plot of kinematic, electrical, and cloud microphysic...

Figure 3.20 World map of the frequency of lightening (From NASA, 2019).

Figure 3.21 Yin yang behaviour in natural elemental ‘particles’.

Figure 3.22 The nitrogen cycle.

Figure 3.23 Of many different kinds exist within the earth’s waters, soil, a...

Figure 3.24 the production of sustainable and unsustainable ammonia.

Figure 3.25 Long term variation of the amount of N internationally traded th...

Figure 3.26 Amount of extra biomass accumulated for usage of fertilizer.

Figure 3.27 The world rise in millions of metric tons (Tg) of N in fertilize...

Figure 3.28 The world rise in millions of metric tons (Tg) of N in fertilize...

Figure 3.29 World fertilizer use for various types (data from FAO, n.d.).

Figure 3.30 Approximate composition of soil.

Figure 3.31 Schematic of amino acid metabolism in plants (Redrawn from Fagar...

Figure 3.32 Structures of certain amino acids with uncharged side chains (fr...

Figure 3.33 Structures of certain amino acids with charged side chains (from...

Figure 3.34 Possible reaction mechanisms for nitrogenase. Shown are two poss...

Figure 3.35 Ammonification and its relation to other processes.

Figure 3.36 Schematic representation of the marine nitrogen cycle and its co...

Chapter 4

Figure 4.1 Energy outlook for 2040 as compared to 2016 under various scenari...

Figure 4.2 Public perception toward energy sources (Ipsos, 2011).

Figure 4.3 Petroleum is the driver of world economy and driven by political ...

Figure 4.4 Oil prices in history since Second World War until 2018 (From Isl...

Figure 4.5 Unconventional oil and gas production. (a) oil; (b) gas from EIA ...

Figure 4.6 Oil price during the most recent conflict and civil war in Libya ...

Figure 4.7 Discounts and correlation with political events (From Cheong, 201...

Figure 4.8 Short-term energy outlook (From EIA, 2019a).

Figure 4.9 Gas price (in $/million BTU) (From EIA, 2018).

Figure 4.10 Gas price (in $/1000 Cuft) (From EIA, 2017).

Figure 4.11 $/million BTU gas price history of recent years (from EIA, 2019a...

Figure 4.12 USA energy outlook (EIA, 2018).

Figure 4.13 Long term projections based on past performace in USA (from EIA,...

Figure 4.14 Overall energy trade (From EIA, 2019).

Figure 4.15 Role of technology on US oil production (From EIA, 2019).

Figure 4.16 Significant because shows the coupling between technology and pr...

Figure 4.17 Natural gas trade (EIA, 2019).

Figure 4.18 Electricity generation for various energy sources (EIA, 2019).

Figure 4.19 US energy consumption by sector and by fuel type (EIA, 2019).

Figure 4.20 World energy consumption during 1992–2017 (From BP, 2018), milli...

Figure 4.21 Actual global oil production (surface mined tar sand not include...

Figure 4.22 Global energy consumption through power generation (BP, 2018), e...

Figure 4.23 Reserve to production ratio for various regions. (BP, 2018).

Figure 4.24 Proved reserve for various regions. (BP, 2018).

Figure 4.25a Crude oil production continues to rise overall (From EIA, 2017)...

Figure 4.25b U.S. reserve variation in recent history (From Islam

et al

., 20...

Figure 4.26 Technically recoverable oil and gas reserve in the United States...

Figure 4.27 Sulfur content of U.S. crude over last few decades (From EIA, 20...

Figure 4.28 Declining API gravity of U.S. crude oil (EIA, 2016).

Figure 4.29 Worldwide crude oil quality (from EIA, 2016).

Figure 4.30 Even in the short term, the modern age is synonymous with decoup...

Figure 4.31 Whole rock Rb-Sr isochron diagram, basement samples (from Islam

Figure 4.32 Natural processing time differs for different types of oils.

Figure 4.33 Natural processing enhances intrinsic values of natural products...

Figure 4.34 The volume of petroleum resources increases as one moves from co...

Figure 4.35 Cost of production increases as efficiency, environmental benefi...

Picture 4.1 Images of burning crude oil from shale oil (left) and refined oi...

Figure 4.36 Overall refining efficiency for various crude oils (modified fro...

Figure 4.37 Crude API gravity and heavy product yield of the studied US and ...

Figure 4.38 Current estimate of conventional and unconventional gas reserve....

Figure 4.39 Abundance of natural resources as a function of time.

Figure 4.40 As natural processing time increases so does reserve of natural ...

Figure 4.41 ‘Proven’ reserve is miniscule compared to total potential of oil...

Figure 4.42 Gulf of Mexico Basin region, the petroleum-producing region of t...

Figure 4.43 General region from which petroleum is produced from formations ...

Figure 4.44 Area from which petroleum is produced from the Frio Formation, B...

Figure 4.45 Three phases of conventional reserve.

Figure 4.46 Unconventional reserve growth can be given a boost with scientif...

Figure 4.47 Probability distributions for production from wells of an oil or...

Figure 4.48 Production data of gas wells in fields in the Ellenburger Group ...

Chapter 5

Figure 5.1 Reservoir images; (a) natural setting; (b) dual-porosity modeling...

Figure 5.2 The knowledge model: The abstraction process must be bottom up.

Figure 5.3 Schematic cross-sections of borehole breakout and drilling-induce...

Figure 5.4 Onshore map of distribution of wells logged with borehole imaging...

Figure 5.5 Comparison of resistivity images visualising Drilling Induced ten...

Figure 5.6 Comparison of methods of visualizing a 4 m long borehole breakout...

Figure 5.7 Section of resistivity images visualizing 3 distinct borehole bre...

Figure 5.8 Total SHmax orientation from borehole breakouts from two differen...

Figure 5.9 Rose diagrams comparing stress field orientations from this study...

Figure 5.10 Map highlighting orientations of SHmax derived from breakouts ob...

Figure 5.11 Map highlighting orientations of S

Hmax

derived from breakouts ob...

Figure 5.12 Map highlighting orientations of S

Hmax

derived from breakouts ob...

Figure 5.13 Diagram of fractures radius and dip angle for the generated subs...

Figure 5.14 Schematic representation of reservoir pressure (Top) after (a) 1...

Figure 5.15 The different steps used in optimizing the subsurface fracture m...

Figure 5.16 Plot of fracture intensity versus mean square permeability (from...

Figure 5.17 Pressure change and pressure derivatives after inversion at well...

Figure 5.18 Reconstructing fracture history.

Picture 5.1 Surface fractures (Akbar

et al

., 1993).

Figure 5.19 The fracture orientations commonly found in the Middle East (Mah...

Figure 5.20 Different types of fractures. (a) intercrystal fractures; (b) un...

Figure 5.21 Illustration of the fracture sets in: a folded environment with ...

Figure 5.22 Illustration of the fracture sets in a reference environment (fr...

Figure 5.23 Schematic of the two zones on the Earth’s crustal region.

Figure 5.24 Variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fracture den...

Figure 5.25 Variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fracture den...

Figure 5.26 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.27 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.28 Variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fracture den...

Figure 5.29 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.30 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.31 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.32 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.33 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.34 Range of variation in anisotropic parameter as a function of fra...

Figure 5.35 Depiction of Warren and Root model .

Figure 5.36 Schematic of mud flow in a tight formation with fractures (after...

Figure 5.37 Data from a well drilled overbalanced until a certain depth and ...

Figure 5.38 Mud log data from a portion of a well drilled underbalanced in t...

Figure 5.39 Schematic of the model used by Norbeck (2012).

Figure 5.40 Locations of conductive natural fractures along the lateral of W...

Figure 5.41 Cross-plot of mud pit volume peak vs. gas peak corresponding to ...

Figure 5.42 Locations of conductive natural fractures along the lateral of W...

Figure 5.43 Cross-plot of mud pit volume peak vs. gas peak corresponding to ...

Figure 5.44 Plan view of Field A. Wells A-1 and A-2 are parallel wells drill...

Figure 5.45 Natural fracture system orientation #1 for Field A. A dominant p...

Figure 5.46 REV in fractured reservoirs is greater than core size (redrawn f...

Picture 5.2 (a) Example of borehole breakout taken by a downhole camera. (b)...

Figure 5.47 Comparison of methods of visualizing a 4 m long borehole breakou...

Figure 5.48 Comparison of resistivity images visualizing Drilling Induced te...

Figure 5.49 Example of an AFIT image log. The horizontal axis is azimuth aro...

Picture 5.3 Micro logger.

Figure 5.50 These figures illustrate the concept that critically stressed na...

Figure 5.51 Processing flow chart of density and acoustic well logging data ...

Figure 5.52 Processing flow chart for fracture analyses from well logging.

Figure 5.53 Temperature profile shows the existence of a fractured zone (red...

Figure 5.54 Fracture signatures from geophysical logs (from Batini

et al

., 2...

Figure 5.55 Fracture analysis from CBIL (from Batini

et al

., 2002).

Figure 5.56 Fracture asset mapped as pole density (from Batini

et al

., 2002)...

Figure 5.57 Core permeability vs. core porosity for a heterogeneous formatio...

Figure 5.58 Developing filter out of NMR data.

Figure 5.59 Filter for Well “A” (from Hamada, 2009).

Figure 5.60 Filter for “Well B” (Hamada, 2009).

Figure 5.61 Filter for “Well C” (from Hamada, 2009).

Figure 5.62 Correlation between core permeability and core porosity (from Ha...

Figure 5.63 Correlation between pereambility and BG (from Hamada, 2009).

Figure 5.64 Correlation of permeability vs. S

gx0

(from Hamada, 2009).

Figure 5.65 Permeability distribution (track 6) for Well “A” (from Hamada, 2...

Figure 5.66 Permeability distribution (track 6) for Well “B” (from Hamada, 2...

Figure 5.67 Permeability distribution (track 6) for Well “C” (from Hamada, 2...

Figure 5.68 Correlation between core Pc (blue dots) and NMR Pc (pink line) (...

Figure 5.69 Typical relative permeability (y-axis) and capillary pressure cu...

Figure 5.70 Representation of the relationships of the relationships between...

Figure 5.71 Porosity is only slightly affected by net stress for carbonate f...

Figure 5.72 Porosity variation with effective stress (after Okiongbo, 2011)....

Figure 5.73 Effect of geological age on porosity (from Ehrenberg

et al

., 200...

Figure 5.74 Porosity variation under net overburden conditions (from Petrowi...

Figure 5.75 Effect of overburden stress on matrix and fracture permeability ...

Figure 5.76 General trend of N

c

vs. residual saturation.

Figure 5.77 Several correlations between capillary number and residual oil s...

Figure 5.78 General trend of breakthrough recovery and instability number.

Figure 5.79 Instability number vs. breakthrough recovery for immiscible gas ...

Figure 5.80 Correlation of mobility ratio with oil recovery for waterflood (...

Figure 5.81 Correlation between breakthrough recovery and Peters-Flock stabi...

Figure 5.82 There is no correlation between capillary number and water break...

Picture 5.4 Viscous fingering in a miscible displacement process.

Figure 5.83 Typical CO

2

WAG process.

Figure 5.84 Breakthrough recovery vs. instability number for miscible flood....

Figure 5.85 End-point relative permeability correlates with residual oil sat...

Figure 5.86 Relative permeability curves are altered by lowering of interfac...

Figure 5.87 Permeability jail can be removed with thermal or chemical altera...

Picture 5.5 Outcrops often show how fractures must be prevalent in consolida...

Picture 5.6 Thin section photomicrographs of sandstones illustrating A, occu...

Picture 5.7 Thin section photomicrographs of sandstones depicting A, open (n...

Picture 5.8 Slabbed sandstone displaying reticulated fracture network on wet...

Figure 5.88 Critical gas saturation for various permeability values of a gas...

Figure 5.89 Permeability vs. porosity correlation depends largely on the nat...

Figure 5.90 Correlation of porosity vs. permeability for various types of fo...

Figure 5.91 Improvement factor due to open fractures.

Figure 5.92 The effect of fractures on k

v

/k

h

.

Figure 5.93 Pore size can be affected by fracture distribution and thereby i...

Picture 5.9 Commercial softwares can help identify fractures in FMS logs.

Figure 5.94 Rose diagram helps quantify the role of fractures.

Figure 5.95 Transiting from macro-pore scale to an initial reservoir model, ...

Figure 5.96 REV for a reservoir is much larger than the core samples collect...

Picture 5.10 The idea is to transit from microscopic to reservoir scale, fol...

Figure 5.97 Laboratory test results under an overburden pressure of 50 MPa....

Figure 5.98 Determination of the nature of fractures from hk data.

Figure 5.99 Flow chart for Poisson’s ratio determination.

Picture 5.11 Different scenarios in fractured shale formation (from Islam

et

...

Figure 5.100 Flow chart for Young’s modulus determination.

Chapter 6

Figure 6.1 US oil production in million barrels/day (data from EIA, 2019).

Figure 6.2 Global production and consumption (From EIA, 2019). Liquids fuels...

Figure 6.3 Number of EOR projects during 1971-2006 (from Alvarado and Manriq...

Figure 6.4 EOR projects in post Cold war era (from IEA, 2018).

Figure 6.5 Global EOR projects (From IEA, 2018).

Figure 6.6 Global oil production due to EOR activities.

Figure 6.7 Solar EOR of Oman.

Figure 6.8 (a) status quo; (b) Sustainable (from IEA, 2018b).

Figure 6.9 Various available EOR methods, with their typical percentage incr...

Figure 6.10 Various EOR techniques with subcategories.

Figure 6.11 Reserve-to-production ratios (R/P) for various regions and over ...

Figure 6.12 US oil production under different categories in 2000 (Data from ...

Figure 6.13 Incremental recovery owing to EOR (data from IEA, 2017).

Figure 6.14 US reserve/production (R/P) ratio variation over the years (Data...

Figure 6.15 US reserve/production (R/P) ratio variation over the years (Data...

Figure 6.16 Crude oil production continues to rise overall (Enerdata, 2018)....

Figure 6.17 History of US crude oil and lease condensate proved reserve (Dat...

Figure 6.18 USA reserve variation in recent history (From EIA, 2018).

Figure 6.19 US Gas production history (EIA, 2018).

Figure 6.20 US gas reserve-production history (Data from EIA, 2018).

Figure 6.21 Sulfur content of the U.S.A. crude over the last few decades (Fr...

Figure 6.22 Declining API gravity of USA crude oil (from EIA, 2019a).

Figure 6.23 Decline in high-sulfur fuel consumption (From EIA, 2019).

Figure 6.24 Worldwide crude oil quality (From Islam, 2014).

Figure 6.25 Projection of tight oil under different conditions (from EIA, 20...

Figure 6.26 Technically recoverable oil and gas reserve in USA (From Islam

e

...

Figure 6.27 US projections of utilization of various energy sources for elec...

Figure 6.28 Last few decades have seen an increase in efficiency of refineri...

Figure 6.29 US refining capacity (from EIA, 2018a).

Figure 6.30 R/P Ratio vs. proven reserve for top oil producing countries.

Figure 6.31 Declared reserve for various countries (Updated from Islam

et al

Figure 6.32 Changes in global reserve shares (From BP, 2018).

Figure 6.33 Distribution of proved reserve for various regions (From BP, 201...

Figure 6.34 Distribution of proved reserve for various regions (From BP, 201...

Figure 6.35 Global R/P ratios during 1980-2017 (data from BP reports).

Figure 6.36 Recovery rates decline around the world (From Speight and Islam,...

Figure 6.37 Future prospect of unconventional gas (EIA, 2019).

Figure 6.38 Future prospect of unconventional oil and gas in various countri...

Figure 6.39 Global unconventional shale oil and gas (dark spots: with resour...

Figure 6.40 Three is a lot more oil and gas reserve than the ‘proven’ reserv...

Figure 6.41 Major investment in oil sands in Canada (From Islam

et al

., 2018...

Figure 6.42 Past emissions and projected emissions of Alberta, Canada.

Figure 6.43 Oil production rate history for top oil producers (from EIA, 201...

Figure 6.44 Key to sustainability in energy management.

Figure 6.45 Distribution of World’s proven reserve (from Alboudwarej

et al

.,...

Figure 6.46 Viscosity change invoked by temperature (From Alboudwarej

et al

....

Figure 6.47 Much more oil can be recovered with double dividend of environme...

Figure 6.48 The need for EOR is evident in production and oil quality declin...

Figure 6.49 For the same investment, return is much different depending on t...

Figure 6.50 Drilling activities in the United States for various years (EIA,...

Figure 6.51 Uncompleted drilling activities in USA (from EIA, 2019).

Figure 6.52 Locations of uncompleted drilled wells (from EIA, 2019).

Chapter 7

Figure 7.1 Projected recovery with thermal and CO

2

injection schemes.

Figure 7.2 Evolution of oil production (1000 bbl/day) of EOR projects in the...

Figure 7.3 Evolution of CO

2

projects and oil prices in the United States. Fr...

Figure 7.4 CO

2

-EOR recovery in the United States throughout history (from Is...

Figure 7.5 Update information and future prediction of CO

2

-EOR (data from EI...

Figure 7.6 Alberta government strategy.

Figure 7.7 Natural gas production with CO

2

injection schemes. From Khan

et a

...

Figure 7.8 Alberta’s plan to implement comprehensive Carbon management schem...

Figure 7.9 CO

2

sequestration demonstration projects around the world.

Figure 7.10 Canada’s greenhouse gas emission status (data from Canada Climat...

Picture 7.1 Petra Nova Project.

Figure 7.11 Carbon intensity of the Petro Nova project (EIA, 2018).

Figure 7.12 Rendering CO

2

zero-waste.

Figure 7.13 Bitumen production, past and future prediction (from AER, 2018)....

Figure 7.14 Annual crude oil production from Oil Sands by Technology (Holly

Figure 7.15 Schematic of the SAGD process.

Figure 7.16 Average permeability for various formation and their depth. From...

Figure 7.17 Schematic of bitumen extraction and processing.

Figure 7.18 Phase diagram for various process reactions (from Bose, 2015).

Figure 7.19 Removal of sulphur.

Figure 7.20 As environmental regulations have become more stringent, natural...

Figure 7.21 Change in viscosity for change in temperature.

Figure 7.22 Surface tension changes with temperature with different slopes f...

Figure 7.23 Residual oil saturation as a function of temperature. Modified f...

Figure 7.24 Residual oil reduction with temperature for pre- and poststeamfl...

Figure 7.25 Comparison between LASER and cyclic steam injection (modified fr...

Figure 7.26 First pilot results of LASER (AER, 2017).

Figure 7.27 LASER in second cycle (AER, 2017).

Figure 7.28 Greenhouse gas dividend related to Cold Lake project (Bayestehpa...

Figure 7.29 Various zones with principal reactions.

Figure 7.30 Trends in ISC and HPAI. From Alvarado and Manrique (2010).

Figure 7.31 Schematic of THAI process (from Greaves and Xia, 2004).

Figure 7.32 Upgrading with THAI and CAPRI (from Greaves and Xia, 2004).

Figure 7.33 True boiling points of THAI and upgraded oils (from Hart and Woo...

Figure 7.34 Classes of catalytic upgrading reaction pathways for large aliph...

Figure 7.35 The process of surfactant manufacturing.

Figure 7.36 Increasing temperature leads to decreasing stability

Figure 7.37 Basic chemical structure of KYPAM. (R1, R2, and R3=H or C1‐C12 a...

Figure 7.38 Turning synthetic to natural will accomplish both environmental ...

Figure 7.39 A trehalose ester (from Holmberg, 2001).

Figure 7.40 Dynamic IFT for two types of surfactants.

Figure 7.41 pH and soap concentration profiles along fractional distance at ...

Figure 7.42 Pressure maintenance program involves artificially boosting pres...

Figure 7.43 Various components of CSEGR.

Figure 7.44 Density of CO

2

and CH4 as a function of pressure for various tem...

Figure 7.45 Viscosity of CO

2

and CH4 as a function of pressure for various t...

Figure 7.46 Crosssection of the CSEGR site (from Islam, 2014).

Figure 7.47 Distribution of EOR methods in various lithologies (1500 EOR pro...

Figure 7.48 Potential benefits of coupling CO

2

EOR with storage. CCS, carbon...

Figure 7.49 Examples of EOR in offshore fields: (a) North Sea EOR Projects (...

Figure 7.50a Field pressure of SWAG with low injection rate (from Nangacovie...

Figure 7.50b Comparison between WAG and SWAG in North Sea formation. From Na...

Figure 7.51 Recovery with various flood scheme (from Kumar and Mondal, 2017)...

Figure 7.52 Simplified schematic of a refinery.

Figure 7.53 Primary reaction in catalytic reforming.

Figure 7.54 The temperature dependence of various components of crude oil (f...

Chapter 8

Figure 8.1 Crude oil formation pathway (After Chhetri and Islam, 2008).

Figure 8.2 General activities in oil refining (Chhetri and Islam, 2007b).

Figure 8.3 Pathway of oil refining process (After Chhetri

et al.,

2007).

Figure 8.4 Natural gas “well to wheel” pathway.

Figure 8.5 Natural gas processing methods (Redrawn from Chhetri and Islam, 2...

Figure 8.6 Ethylene glycol oxidation pathway in alkaline solution (After Mat...

Figure 8.7 Schematic showing the position of current technological practices...

Figure 8.8 Different phases of petroleum operations which are seismic, drill...

Figure 8.9 Economic models have to retooled to make price proportional to re...

Figure 8.10 Summary of the historical development of the major industrial ca...

Figure 8.11 Natural chemicals can turn an sustainable process into a sustain...

Figure 8.12 Schematic of wave length and energy level of photon (From Islam

Figure 8.13 Breakdown of the no-flaring method (Bjorndalen

et al.,

2005).

Figure 8.14 Supply chain of petroleum operations (Khan and Islam, 2007).

Figure 8.15 Typical steam power plant.

Figure 8.16 Collector efficiency at different direct normal irradiance (DNI)...

Figure 8.17 The thermal loss of the collector with respect to fluid temperat...

Figure 8.18 Parabolic Trough.

Figure 8.19 Cross section of collector assembly (Redrawn from Odeh

et al.,

1...

Figure 8.20 Constructed parabolic trough.

Figure 8.21 Experimental solar trough (from Khan and Islam, 2016).

Figure 8.22 Water vapor absorption by Nova Scotia clay (Chhetri and Islam, 2...

Figure 8.23 Decrease of pH with time due to sulfur absorption in de-ionized ...

Figure 8.24 Schematic of sawdust fuelled electricity generator.

Figure 8.25 The schematic of the separation unit (from Chaalal and Islam, 20...

Figure 8.26 Unconventional reserve growth can be given a boost with scientif...

Figure 8.27 Profitability grows continuously with time when zero-waste oil r...

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Scrivener Publishing

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Beverly, MA 01915-6106

Publishers at Scrivener

Martin Scrivener ([email protected])

Phillip Carmical ([email protected])

Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Enhanced Oil Recovery

M. R. Islam

This edition first published 2020 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA and Scrivener Publishing LLC, 100 Cummings Center, Suite 541J, Beverly, MA 01915, USA© 2020 Scrivener Publishing LLCFor more information about Scrivener publications please visit www.scrivenerpublishing.com.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN 978-1-119-47909-3

Cover image: All images supplied by Dreamstime.com; Rainbow Smoke: Nantapong Kittisubsiri | Oil Drop: Amnat Buakeaw | Trees: Christos Georghiou |Leaves: Nadezda Kostina I Orange Flower Wreath: Darya SmirnovaCover design by Kris Hackerott

This book is dedicated to the three creative geniuses that I have been blessed to call ‘my children’. They are: Elif Hamida Islam, Ali Omar Islam, and Jaan Sulaiman Islam.

M. R. Islam

Preface

“But what good will another round of corefloods and recovery curves do?”, quipped a Chemical Engineering professor over 3 decades ago. For a graduate student, whose PhD thesis (in Petroleum Engineering) is devoted to enhanced oil recovery in marginal reservoirs, that comment struck me with mixed emotions. My PhD supervisor was someone I would later characterize as academia’s most impactful petroleum engineering professor. The project that I was working on at the time was well funded by the government and industry consortium (translation: it was anything but a stale academic exercise). Even at its initial phase, the project was proving to be an academic masterpiece (it eventually broke the record for refereed publications for a PhD dissertation – at least for that University). Yet, this project was reduced to a set of ‘corefloods and recovery curves’.

I had immense respect for the chemical engineering professor (I still do – to this date), with whom I had a number of ground-breaking publications (that emerged from classwork), so I couldn’t even garner enough courage to confront him or ask for an explanation. Fast forward a 2 decades, I was giving a pep talk to industry and government delegates on sustainable engineering, upon which a mechanical engineering professor turned into a quasi-administrator, with no background in energy research, exclaimed, “Why are you focusing so much on society, where is engineering?” Thankfully, it was the government partner that quieted down the vociferous colleague, schooling him, “I thought sustainability is all about society…”

Fast forward another decade, I was lecturing on sustainable Enhanced Oil Recovery (the very same topic of this book) when I was ceremonially interrupted, “But where is the research in it, Professor Islam?” This time it was a physicist-turned materials engineer-turned Third World university administrator. Sadly, there was no government official to quiet him down, and to make it worse, a Third World-trained petroleum engineering professor chimed in, “but where does petroleum engineering come in this?” Clearly, they were expecting me to show more coreflood results and recovery curves!

Suffice it to say, in the last 3 decades, the engineering world has not moved a needle toward knowledge. Just like 3 decades ago, chemical engineers want you to implement chemicals without research, and demand that you just take their word for it. Materials engineers want you to focus on how to turn the valve on the well head, trusting them with the material engineering part. Sadly, petroleum engineers are then convinced that their research focus should include only yet another coreflood test and another way to do the material balance Type-curve fitting. University administrators meanwhile are strictly focused on keeping engineers caged within their puny research domain, tightly focussed on drilling a copious number of holes through the thinnest part of the research plank.

Today, I am no longer the wide-eyed graduate student wondering about the meaning of what professors have to say. It has been well over a decade that I pointedly asked ‘how deep is the collective ignorance of the ‘enlightened’ academia?1 Ignorance – as I figured within years of stepping into academic life – doesn’t frighten me, it emboldens my resolve to write more. I decided to write a book on enhanced oil recovery that doesn’t teach another way to measure the minimum miscibility pressure – a phenomenon that doesn’t occur in the field. Upon hearing this, my former graduate student (currently a university professor) said with utter desperation, “But, Dr. Islam, that’s the only thing we teach in EOR classes?” The state of academia is not strong – not even close. It is no surprise that this book is over 700 pages. It doesn’t shy away from calling out the hollowness of the incessant theories and academic mumbo jumbo that produced storm in teacups. Of course, criticism is easy but one must answer the question, “where is the beef?” For every question raised, a comprehensive solution is given after demonstrating how modern-day researchers have failed and why they have failed. The book makes no apology for making a full disclosure of what true sustainability should be – a far cry from the theme that has been shoved down the throat of the general public in the name of: sustainability should come with a price. The book shows, true sustainability is free – as in sunlight. Why should that surprise anyone? Didn’t we know best water (rain), best air (breeze), best cleanser (clay), best food ingredient (carbon dioxide), best energy (sunlight) – they are all free?

A society that has heard for centuries that chemicals are chemicals, photons are photons, CO2’ is CO2, murders are murders, all backed by Nobel prize winning scientists and social scientists, how do you even use the term ‘collective ignorance’ when ignorance is all that the society has offered? Why such thoughts will be tolerated, let alone nurtured by the same establishment that has made economics – the driver of the society the most paradoxical discipline, ignorance into bliss, science into hysteria, secular philosophy into cult-like beliefs, Carbon into the ‘enemy’, humans into a liability, war into a profitable venture? These are not discreet problems that can be fixed individually. These webs of networks hidden behind hidden hands making it impossible to even mention what the core problem is. Thankfully, in the sustainability series of books from my research group, we have laid out the background. Starting from the dawn of the new millennium, we have published systematic deconstruction of Newtonian mechanics, quantum mechanics, Einstein’s energy theory, and practically all major theories and ‘laws’ in science and social science, after proving them to be more illogical than Trinity dogma, thus exposing the hopelessness of New Science. So, this book has a starting point based on fundamentally sound premises. As such it creates no paradox and when it recommends a new outlook, which is not just blue-sky research, it is the only recipe to reach true sustainability.

At this point, I don’t have to explain myself. As Ali Ibn Abu Talib (601– 661 CE), the 4th Caliph of Islamic Caliphate pointed out, “Never explain yourself to anyone, because the one who likes you would not need it, and the one dislikes you wouldn’t believe it.” It has been a while that I have written to impress anyone. It’s all about eliminating ignorance and give knowledge a chance to shine.

M. R. IslamHalifaxSeptember 2019

Note

1

How Long Is the Coast of Britain? Statistical Self-Similarity and Fractional Dimension” is a paper by mathematician Benoît Mandelbrot, first published in

Science

in 5 May 1967.

1Introduction

1.1 Opening Remarks

There have been many books on the topic of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) over the entire period of the plastic era, which spans over 100 years. Each book brings in incremental knowledge of how to recover more oil faster. They all follow the same approach – the approach that maximizes profit in the shortest possible term. This book is unlike any other book on the topic; petroleum engineering, of all disciplines, does not need another book on how to calculate minimum miscibility pressure. This book does not lecture on how to make calculations; rather, it presents how to make fundamental changes in a culture that has produced what Nobel laureate Chemist Robert Curl called a ‘technological disaster’.

1.2 The Prophets of the Doomed Turned Into Scientists

For well over a century, the world has been hearing that we are about to run out of fossil fuel in matter of decades. First it happened with coal. In 1865, Stanley Jevons (one of the most recognized 19th century economists) predicted that England would run out of coal by 1900, and that England’s factories would grind to a standstill. Today, after over 150 years of Jevons’ prediction of the impending disaster, US EIA predicts that the coal reserve will last another 325 years, based on U.S. coal production in 2017, the ‘recoverable coal’ reserves would last about 325 years (EIA, 2018c).

When it comes to petroleum, as early as 1914, U.S. Bureau of Mines predicted, “The world will run out of oil in 10 years” (quoted by Eberhart, 2017). Later, the US Department of Interior chimed in, claiming that “the world would run out of oil in 13 years” (quoted by Eberhart, 2017). Obviously, the world has not run out of oil, the world, however, has been accustomed to the same “doomsday warning” and whooped it up as ‘settled science’ (Speight and Islam, 2016). Starting with Zatzman and Islam’s (2007) work, this theme of ‘running out of oil’ has been deconstructed and over a decade later, the actual settled science has become the fact that it’s not a matter of if falsehoods are perpetrated it is a mater of why. In 2018a, Islam et al. made it clear that the entire matter is an economic decision, concocted to increase short-term profit. Science, let alone the science of sustainability, cannot be based on falsehood and deception.

It is the same story about ‘concerns’ of climate change and the hysteria that followed. All studies miraculously confirmed something scientists were paid to do whip up decades ago (Islam and Khan, 2019). Now that that ‘science’ has matured into settled science, carbon has become the enemy and the ‘carbon tax’ a universal reality.

If anything good came out of centuries of New Science, it is the fact that this ‘science’ and these scientists cannot be relied upon as a starting point (paradigm) for future analysis because each of those tracks will end up with paradoxes and falsehoods that would reveal themselves only as a matter of time.

1.3 Paradigm Shift in Sustainable Development

Both terms, ‘paradigm shift’ and ‘sustainability’ have been grossly misused in recent years. Paradigm shift, a phrase that was supposed to mean a different starting point (akin to the Sanskrit word, आमूलम, Amulam, meaning ‘from the beginning’) has repeatedly and necessarily used the same starting point as the William Stanley Jevons (1835-1882), John Maynard Keynes (1883-1946) the two most prominent alarmist of our time, both of whom were inspired by Adam Smith (1723-1790), the ‘father of Capitalism’ and virtually added nothing beyond what Adam Smith purported as the ‘ultimate truth’. Scientists, in the meantime, followed suit with regurgitating Atomism (a doctrine originally started by Democritus), recycled by Newton in name of New Science. The loop was completed when engineers blindly followed that science and defined ‘sustainability’ in a way that would satisfy politicians, whose primary interest lies in maintaining status quo – the antonym of progress. It is no surprise, therefore, our survey from over decade ago revealed that there is not a single technology that is sustainable (Chhetri and Islam, 2008). That leaves no elbow room for petroleum engineering to survive, let alone to thrive. Unsurprisingly, even petroleum companies have resigned to the ‘settled science’ that carbon is the enemy and petroleum resources have no place in our civilization (Islam et al., 2012; Islam and Khan, 2019).

The current book is a continuation of our research group’s work that started publishing on the subject of global sustainability involving energy and environment, dating back to early 2000s. In terms of the research monograph, we started the paradigm shift from economics, the driver of modern civilization, aptly characterized as the brainchild of Adam Smith. When our book, Economics of Intangibles (Zatzman and Islam, 2007) was published, it was perhaps the first initiatives to recognize the role of intangibles in economics and eventually all science and engineering. At that time, the very concept of intangibles in Economics was perceived to be an oxymoron. Ten years later, it became recognized as a natural process (Website 5), and a recognized branch of economics (Website 6). Now we know that without this approach, we cannot solve a single paradox. For that matter, economics is a branch that has the most number of paradoxes among all disciplines. It is quite revealing that after publishing some dozen of research monographs on the topic on sustainability in energy and environment, there had to be an encore of the original work on Economics to present specifically economics of sustainable energy (Islam et al., 2018a) – a book that solved all major paradoxes, included many cited by Nobel laureate economists.