TY - GEN
T1 - Tight reservoir stimulation for improved water injection - A novel technique
AU - Alklih, Mohamad Yousef
AU - Ghosh, Bisweswar
AU - Al-Shalabi, Emad W.
PY - 2014
Y1 - 2014
N2 - Among the emerging technologies in the petroleum industry is the application of electro-kinetic phenomena to enhance oil recovery from tight heavy sandstone reservoir, which has been reported to yield technical and commercial success in some of the North American oil fields. The basic theory behind the stimulation effect is predicted to be the colloidal movement of pore lining clays that results in widening of pore throats and/or opening new flow tunnels. Nevertheless, few works have been performed on its applicability to water injection wells. This paper investigates the effect of electrokinetics on improving water injectivity in tight sandstone reservoirs. Two sets of experiments were conducted. In the first set, the DC potential is varied and optimized during the water injection. In the second set, the DC potential is kept constant and the injection rate is varied to determine the hydrodynamic effect on clay movement. The core plugs and liberated clays were characterized through size exclusion micro-filtration and ICP-MS analysis. The Joule heating phenomena associated with electrokinetics is also studied during the entire injection period. Results showed that several folds (up to 152%) apparent increase of core permeability could be achieved. Some of the experiments were more efficient in terms of dislodgement of clays and enhanced stimulation which is supported by produced brines analysis with higher concentration of clay elements. The results also showed larger quantity of clay elements in the produced brines in the initial periods of water injection, prior to the stabilization of differential pressure and electrical current, implying that the stimulation effect stops when the voltage gradient and flow rate values are no more able to remove additional clays. Additionally, fluid flow temperature measurements showed an increasing trend with the injection time and direct proportionality with applied voltages.
AB - Among the emerging technologies in the petroleum industry is the application of electro-kinetic phenomena to enhance oil recovery from tight heavy sandstone reservoir, which has been reported to yield technical and commercial success in some of the North American oil fields. The basic theory behind the stimulation effect is predicted to be the colloidal movement of pore lining clays that results in widening of pore throats and/or opening new flow tunnels. Nevertheless, few works have been performed on its applicability to water injection wells. This paper investigates the effect of electrokinetics on improving water injectivity in tight sandstone reservoirs. Two sets of experiments were conducted. In the first set, the DC potential is varied and optimized during the water injection. In the second set, the DC potential is kept constant and the injection rate is varied to determine the hydrodynamic effect on clay movement. The core plugs and liberated clays were characterized through size exclusion micro-filtration and ICP-MS analysis. The Joule heating phenomena associated with electrokinetics is also studied during the entire injection period. Results showed that several folds (up to 152%) apparent increase of core permeability could be achieved. Some of the experiments were more efficient in terms of dislodgement of clays and enhanced stimulation which is supported by produced brines analysis with higher concentration of clay elements. The results also showed larger quantity of clay elements in the produced brines in the initial periods of water injection, prior to the stabilization of differential pressure and electrical current, implying that the stimulation effect stops when the voltage gradient and flow rate values are no more able to remove additional clays. Additionally, fluid flow temperature measurements showed an increasing trend with the injection time and direct proportionality with applied voltages.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84900306097&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.2523/iptc-17536-ms
DO - 10.2523/iptc-17536-ms
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:84900306097
SN - 9781632660053
T3 - Society of Petroleum Engineers - International Petroleum Technology Conference 2014, IPTC 2014: Unlocking Energy Through Innovation, Technology and Capability
SP - 2776
EP - 2786
BT - Society of Petroleum Engineers - International Petroleum Technology Conference 2014, IPTC 2014
T2 - International Petroleum Technology Conference 2014: Unlocking Energy Through Innovation, Technology and Capability, IPTC 2014
Y2 - 19 January 2014 through 22 January 2014
ER -