2015-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS 2015 Volume 7: Ionic Liquids & Energy Production
| Editors: | Kongoli F, Gaune-Escard M, Mauntz M, Rubinstein J, Dodds H.L. |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2015 |
| Pages: | 310 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-30-0 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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Optimization of Smart Water Injection in Sandstone Reservoirs Using Different Injected Water Salinities for Enhance Oil Recovery
Abdollah Esmaeili1;1KHAZAR UNIVERSITY - AZERBAIJAN, Omiodieh, Iran (Islamic Republic of Iran);
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 97
Topic: 17
Abstract:
Optimization of Smart Water Injection in Sandstone Reservoirs using Different Injected Water Salinities for Enhance Oil Recovery
Water injection is one of the most common oil recovery methods, and indeed, thousands of successful water injection is operated in many oil fields. This is a proven technology, which is reliable, low-risk, and economically successful even at low recovery levels. However, optimizing its performance and extending its application specifically to sandstone oil reservoirs is an important research area, which has received less attention. Studies during these years have proven that enhanced oil recovery in sandstone reservoirs can be obtained by water injection, where the injected water has a composition different from the formation water. This "smart water" is simply made by modifying the ion composition of the water, and results in improved wetting properties of the reservoir causing an optimized oil recovery during production. The overall goal by injecting smart water into a porous sandstone reservoir is to displace remaining oil, increase the oil recovery, which at the end will provide more money for the oil companies and improving the countries welfare. It has been shown that the brine, crude oil and rock all play an important role in the oil recovery process. However, these interactions are complex and not easy to understand. Several mechanisms, both physical and chemical, behind the smart water EOR process have been proposed the last decade, but none of them has so far been generally accepted as the main one responsible for the observed salinity effect. <br />One promising trend is low salinity water injection. The impact of brine salinity on oil recovery has been an area of research in recent years. Evidence from laboratory studies, supported by some field, has distinctly shown that injecting low-salinity water has a significant impact on oil recovery, although the potential for sandstone reservoirs has not been thoroughly investigated. Recent lab and field work has illustrated that low salinity water injection can significantly improve oil recovery; while many recovery mechanisms are proposed, many questions and uncertainties remain. In this paper, we will focus on understanding physics of smart water which will improve the ability to optimize the injected water in sandstone reservoirs in the way of improving oil recovery. The "smart water" injection strategy is based on laboratory experimental observations that variation of the injected water salinity may result in large additional recovery. The idea is to inject chemistry-optimized water in terms of salinity and ionic composition into the reservoir instead of any available water that may currently be injected or planned to be injected. This process, if successfully applied, can significantly increase recovery efficiency, reserves, and production for the majority of sandstone oil reservoirs and maybe for many other oil reservoirs. Here, we will focus on sandstone oil reservoirs. Our main objective of this is to test and optimize the new process: "Smart water injection by altering the injected water salinity" for sandstone oil reservoirs aiming on enhancing oil recovery from these reservoirs and define the recovery mechanisms.