what we know about eor today - university of wyoming
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What We Know About EOR Today
Larry W. LakeThe University of Texas at Austin
I was EOR before EOR was cool
The Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute2008 Wyoming EOR/IOR Conference
Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is…• Oil recovery by injection of fluids not normally
present in reservoir• Excludes pressure maintenance or waterflooding• Not necessarily tertiary recovery
Improved Oil Recovery (IOR) is…• EOR plus additional technologies dealing with drilling,
production, operations, and reservoir characterization• An attempt to avoid negative connotation of EOR
Recovery Mechanisms...
Source: Adapted from the Oil & Gas Journal, Apr. 23, 1990
ConventionalRecovery
EnhancedRecovery
TertiaryRecovery
Other
Chemical
Solvent
Thermal
Pressure Maintenance
Water - Gas Reinjection
SecondaryRecovery
Artificial LiftPump - Gas Lift - Etc.
Waterflood
Natural Flow
PrimaryRecovery
Primary Secondary Tertiary
Oil Rate
P
Ave. So
Lim
EL
Time
P_
Prod.
Inj.
0.100.25
0.10
Producing Phases...
EOR Observations….
• But still it moves
-The EOR target
Field Results... Slaughter Estate Unit
EOR Observations….
• EOR is a drag
• But still it moves
Beware the MOC (my son)...
EOR Observations….
• EOR is a drag• But still it moves
• Don't bank on it
Size and Ultimate Recovery…
0.0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1.0
Rock Volume, cubic m
MP TestsThermalAir-Spg.SEARISCO
10-5 10-3 10-1 101 103 105 107
EOR Observations….• But still it moves
• EOR is a drag
• Don't bank on it• Size matters
- More (wells) is better
Reinecke Unit Results
Also...
•Weeks Island
•Hawkins
•Wellman Unit
•W. Hackberry
•Cantarell
EOR Observations….
• Gravity is our friend
• But still it moves
• EOR is a drag
• Don't bank on it
• Size matters
0 5 10 15 20
Predicted Incremental Oil Recovery, % of OOIP
From Christensen, et al.From Holstein pers. comm.
0
5
10
15
20
Act
ual I
ncre
men
tal O
il R
ecov
ery,
% o
f OO
IP
Predicted vs. Actual...
WAG Solvent
EOR Observations….• But still it moves
• EOR is a drag
• Don't bank on it
• Size is important
• Gravity is our friend• Predicting is tough…
Especially about the future
Daqing Polymerflood….
0
20
40
60
80
100
0 40 80 120 160 200 240 280
Wat
er C
ut (%
)O
il Pr
oduc
tion
(t/d)
Amount of Polymer Injected (PV mg/L)
Water Cut
Oil Production
250 m500 m
750 m750 m
500 m
250 m
EOR Observations….• But still it moves
• EOR is a drag
• Don't bank on it
• Size is important
• Gravity is our friend
• Predicting is tough• Size is important II
- The more you inject, the more you get
Lost Soldier Tensleep Tertiary Project...From Brokmeyer et al., 1996
100
1,000
10,000
100,000
1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010
Bar
rels
/Day
PrimaryWater-flood
Infil and PatternWaterflood
CO 2Flood
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020
Perc
ent o
f OO
IP R
ecov
ered
Primary
PeripheralWaterflood
PatternWaterflood
CO 2 Tertiary
47.8 MMBO19.9% OOIP
86.1 MMBO35.6% OOIP
106.3 MMBO44.3% OOIP
130 MMBO54.2% OOIP
EOR Observations….• But still it moves
• EOR is a drag
• Don't bank on it
• Size is important
• Gravity is our friend
• Predicting is tough
• Size is important II• Not at any (great) rate
Stabilized Decline
From Jackson (JPT, 2007)
Undulating Plateau vs. Peak Oil
U.S. Production, Hubbert vs. Actual
The Bottom Line….EOR in combination with …
More wellsImproved reservoir characterizationIntelligent wellsReal time monitoringDecision analysis proceduresOther simulation technologies
And (of course) a high oil price
Will make ultimate recoveries of 65% possible and even routine
EOR Observations….• But still it moves
• EOR is a drag
• Don't bank on it
• Size is important
• Gravity is our friend
• Predicting is tough
• The more you inject, the more you get
• Not at any (great) rate• We’ll be seeing you
What We Know About EOR Today
Larry W. LakeThe University of Texas at Austin
I was EOR before EOR was cool
The Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute2008 Wyoming EOR/IOR Conference
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
2.5
3.0
3.5
4.0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800
Oil
Rat
e, M
MSt
b/m
o
Cumulative Oil Recovered Since WF, MMStb
WF Decline
Start CO2
West Texas Pre CO2 Flood...
The Success of History Matching (Bos, 2002)…
6
5
4
3
2
1
00.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4
Fore
cast
ing,
rms
History Matching, rms
Worstforecast
Bes
t mat
ch
No simplerelationship