Brief about Petroleum

Activities at IFE

Tor Bjørnstad

Chief Scientist

Institute for Energy Technology (IFE)

tor.bjornstad@ife.no

Subjects not to be treated here

• Multiphase flow in wells and pipelines (OLGA etc.)

• CO2 and H2S corrosion in transportation systems

• Hydrate prevention (MEG-technology) and most

other flow assurance aspects

• Geology/geochemistry/diagenesis/stable isotope

signatures

• Micropaleontology/biomarkers/production allocation

• Basin modelling

• CCS

• Application of tracer technology during exploration

11.06.2013

11.06.2013

Reservoir

evaluation

11.06.2013

Reservoir characterization

Geological

(or static)

reservoir

model

Well logs

Biostratigraphy

Sedimentology

Geochemistry Seismics

Reservoir modelling

Tracer data

Production data

11.06.2013

Water expelling oil –should be traced

6

Tracer Technology Research Themes

Development of radioactive and chemical tracers.

Testing and verification in laboratory experiments

Development of hyper-sensitive analytical techniques for tracers in highly diluted field samples

Practical implementation in the field

Development of simulation tools

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TRACER DISPERSION PROFILES from laboratory examinations of

S14CN- and HTO in carbonate rock

TEMPERATURE = 90 C

PRESSURE = 190 BAR

MOBILE PHASE: SEA WATER

LINEAR FLOW RATE = 20 cm/d

S14CN-

HTO

Injector Producer

H

F

COOH

H

H H

F

H

COOH

F

H H

F

F

COOH

COOH

F F

Tor Bjørnstad

The «Tracer Club»

IFE Tracer Research

Co-operation (ITRC

1991-1996

Main focus on pas-

sive water tracers

and new gas tracers

ADVanced IFE SOR

program (ADVISOR)

1997-2002

Main focus on

phase-partitioning

tracers

Reservoir Tracing

(ResTrac)

2002-2007

Main focus on

environmentally

acceptable trac.

Tracers in EOR

operations

(TracEOR)

2008-2012

Main focus on

tracers for EOR

operations

The ”core” of the tracer development is the ”Tracer Club” which is an

industry-supported program (JIP) which are being carried out in well-

defined development phases:

Intelligent tracers

(TracIntel)

2013-2017

Main focus on

functional tracers

for reservoar

properties

PETRAD

seminar Vietnam

2008

9

H

F

COOH

H

H H

H F

COOH

H H H

H

F

COOH

H

H H

F

H

COOH

F

H H

H

F

COOH

H

H F

H

H

COOH

F

F H

H

H

COOH

H

F F

H

F

COOH

F

F F

«Industry standard» interwell water tracers

PETRAD

seminar Vietnam

2008

10

“Industry standard” non-radioactive gas tracers

Perfluorinated

cyclic hydro-

carbons with

coordinated light

hydrocarbon

(methyl) groups

are excellent gas

tracers

PMCP PMCH

CARBON

FLUORINE

1,2,4-PTMCH

PDCB

1,3-PDMCH

PETRAD

seminar Vietnam

2008

11

Particle core emission

Particle core and functional layer

emission

Particle core and multifunctional layer emission

Fluorescent and radioactive nano-particles

Nano-particle tracers

12 Tor Bjørnstad

11.06.2013

Interwell tracer simulator

• Successful implementation of ARTSim tracer simulator

• Tested by IFE, Statoil and Total on 5 field cases. Conclusion:

very fast (5% of reservoir simulator CPU), simple to use

• 3 journal publications, 7 conference presentations last 3 years

• Presently coupled to Eclipse E100 (black-oil) simulator

ARTSim results in FloViz (Eclipse suite visualization tool)

11.06.2013

Tracers in reservoirs

11.06.2013

Injection

well

Production

well

Stratified reservoir

Tracing of

injection

fluids Preferential flow directions

Horizontal and vertical communication between wells

Permeability strata

Sweep volumes

Large-scale hetero-geneities

11.06.2013

P4 P8 P7 P5

I2

PMCH

Tracer response after WAG

11.06.2013

Petromaks KMB, technical content

Geostatistical

modeling

φ,k

Reservoir

model

History matched

model.

Used for predictions /

decisions

Add tracer and

production data Communicate lessons learned back to geo-model

Proposed workflow

Geostatistical

modeling

φ,k

Reservoir

model

History matched

model.

Used for predictions /

decisions

Assisted HM

Todays workflow

Assisted HM

11.06.2013

Remaining oil saturation

11.06.2013

Passive and partitioning tracer flow in a flooding pore of formation rock

Two main tracer

categories:

FORMATION ROCK

RESIDUAL OIL

Active tracers (sorbing to rock, partitioning

between liq. phases,

reacting….)

Passive tracers (conservative, non-reacting)

The partitioning tracer becomes delayed with

respect to the passive water tracer.

11.06.2013

K-value (partition coefficient)

• Partitioning tracer in water

and oil

• Non-partitioning tracer

only in water

• Water moves, oil is (close

to) stagnant in EOR cases

K = (CTr)o/(CTr)w

11.06.2013

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tive r

esp

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s t

o p

eak c

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trati

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Eluted amount (g)

WTP-1

WTP-2

WTP-3

WTP-4

WTP-5

WTP-6

HTO

Partitioning tracer – Lab Experiments

Silica-packed

column

prepared with

residual oil

T = 40 C

P = 170 bar

SOR = 15.7 %

Estimation of So by scaling x-axis

11.06.2013

Scaling x-axis of the partitioning tracer : x' = x / (1+b)

b = 0.6 gives match (So=0.24)

11.06.2013

b=0.6, K=1.9 gives saturation: So = b/(b + K) = 0.6/(0.6+1.9) = 0.24

RTD analysis of PITTs

Must first correct for re-injection & extrapolate to

infinity

LAV-1 results

Results are consistent

11.06.2013

Tracer 𝛽 𝐾 𝑆𝑜 [%]

IFE-WTP8 0.6 1.9 24

IFE-WTP7 0.75 2.4 24

IFE-WTP3 0.50 1.5 25

IFE-WTP2 0.50 1.5 25

IFE-WTP1 0.70 2.1 25

IFE-WTP4 0.80 2.9 22

LAV-2 results

Results are consistent

11.06.2013

Tracer 𝛽 𝐾 𝑆𝑜 [%]

IFE-WTP8 0.55 1.9 22

IFE-WTP7 0.65 2.4 21

IFE-WTP3 0.45 1.5 23

IFE-WTP2 0.45 1.5 23

IFE-WTP1 0.60 2.1 22

IFE-WTP4 0.70 2.9 19

SWCTT stage 1 injection

Water and ester is injected into watered out section

EtAc EtAc NPA NPA

NPA NPA EtAc EtAc

SWCTT stage 2 hydrolysis shut-in

Some of the ester hydrolyses to alcohol

EtAc

EtOH EtOH

EtAc

NPA NPA

NPA NPA

SWCTT stage 3 back production

The ester partition to oil and is delayed, compared to the alcohol

The water tracer is catching up on the partitioning tracer.

EtAc

EtOH EtOH

EtAc

NPA

NPA

NPA

NPA

11.06.2013

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Unreacted Ester

Tracer

Volume Produced (bbls)

Material Balance Tracer

Product

Alcohol

Tracer

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pp

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ce

rs (

pp

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Single Well Chemical Tracer Test

Production Curve

Partitioning interwell tracer test (PITT)

• Exploits the delay of partitioning tracers compared to

non-partitioning tracers

• Works by injecting partitioning & non-partitioning

tracer simultaneously

• Saturation can be estimated by:

𝑺𝒐 = (𝑻𝒑 − 𝑻𝒊)/(𝑻𝒑 + 𝑻𝒊(𝑲 − 𝟏))= 𝜷/(𝜷+K)

where 𝑻𝒑 = 𝑻𝒊(𝟏 − 𝜷)

11.06.2013

11.06.2013

EOR-methods

11.06.2013

Enhanced oil recovery

11.06.2013

CO2–EOR challenges

11.06.2013

Synthesis of 35S-labeled surfactant

• Synthesis of the sulfonation agent acetylsulfate:

H235SO4 + CH3-COOOC-CH3

CH3-COO35SO3H + CH3-COOH

• Sulfonation of 1-dodecene to get the surfactant:

CH3-COO35SO3H + R-CH2-CH=CH2

R-CH=CH-CH2-35SO3H + CH3-COOH

(R = C9H19)

11.06.2013

Less liquid, more CO2

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er re

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Number of pore volumes

14

C

3H

35

S

CO2

Water

Surfactant

11.06.2013

Using 22Na+ tracer to monitor water front

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CenterWidth

106,3518,497106,7018,136

Conditions:

Pressure: 305.5bar

Diff.pres.: 123mbar

Temp.: 89.6oC

Flow: 1.06mL/min

Flow cell: 500L

Scint.flow: 4.0mL/min

Scint.: Ultima Gold XR

Pulse of HTO and 35S-labelled surfactant

measured with flow-cell detector

HTO

Co

un

ts

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35S-labelled surfactant

2.5% solution

500L pulse

Flooded volume (mL)

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Position of scanner (mm)

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Flow: 1ml/min

Pressure: 307bar

Temp.: 89.5oC

Water containing 22Na+ displacing water

t = 100min

t = 66min

t = 40min

t = 19min

Front end of core

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CenterWidth

106,3518,497106,7018,136

Conditions:

Pressure: 305.5bar

Diff.pres.: 123mbar

Temp.: 89.6oC

Flow: 1.06mL/min

Flow cell: 500L

Scint.flow: 4.0mL/min

Scint.: Ultima Gold XR

Pulse of HTO and 35S-labelled surfactant

measured with flow-cell detector

HTO

Co

un

ts

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2000

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6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

35S-labelled surfactant

2.5% solution

500L pulse

Flooded volume (mL)

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un

ts

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Flow: 1ml/min

Pressure: 307bar

Temp.: 89.5oC

Water containing 22Na+ displacing water

t = 100min

t = 66min

t = 40min

t = 19min

Front end of core

11.06.2013

How can CO2 sweep efficiency be

improved ?

CO2/foam: What kind of surfactant?

Increasing viscosity by polymers:

What kind of polymer?

WAG: How long (frequency of) slugs?

What are the displacement

mechanisms with supercritical or

dense-phase CO2?

What injection strategy to follow?

11.06.2013

CO2 foam flooding: Parameters

11.06.2013

• Foam stability

• Foam quality

• Surfactant retention

• Component separation

Gas

Wate

r

11.06.2013

Production and

flow assurance

11.06.2013

Well inflow monitoring

11.06.2013

Complex well inflow monitoring

11.06.2013 Tor Bjørnstad 46

Generator principles (2)

Mother nuclide

Aqueous solution

(complexing agent,

salinity, pH)

Aqueous solution

+ complexed

daughter possibly

extractable into

organics

Aqueous or

organic tracer

Example: 52Fe 52mMn

Anion exch.column,

elution with tartrate

Brine 1

HCO3-

Experimental setup measurements

of scaling kinetics

11.06.2013

Heating

fluid Sandfilled

Al pipe

Gamma

detector Balance

H2O Pump

p

Balance

Line

pressure

Diff.

pressure

Computer

logging

BPR

Sample

collection

pH

electrode

Brine2

+ tracer

= 47Ca2+

Heating

coil

Heating

cabinet

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un

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Column scans

Time: 25 – 90 h

T = 99 C, SR = 4.46

Column scans

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un

tin

g r

ate

(c

p1

00

s)

to + to,y

97,38 h 81,04 h 72,58 h 62,71 h 52,84 h 44,38 h 37,33 h 31,69 h 26,84 h

Selected CaCO3

precipitation curves

Selected column scans

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Time (to+ to,y+ xitc , hours)

Co

un

tin

g r

ate

(c

p1

00

s) Xi = 30 mm

Xj = 90 mm

True scaling rates at xi and xj

Shale gas and

hydrofracturing

51 Tor Bjørnstad

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Field experience Common R&D projects Technology contacts

Tracer projects and contacts world-wide

Tor Bjørnstad

Warning: Spider on drugs

Drug Free Spider Exposed to mescaline\Peyote Exposed to LSD

Exposed to Marijuana Exposed to Benzedrine/

Speed

Exposed to Caffeine