Methodology to rank emerging technologies of chemical enhanced oil recovery method
No Thumbnail Available
Date
Advisors
Evaluators
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universidad Industrial de Santander
Abstract
Description
Debido al incremento en el consumo de combustibles y los retos que representa la reposición de reservas, la implementación de procesos de recobro mejorado juega un papel fundamental en el balance energético mundial, ya sea mediante el incremento del factor de recobro o la incorporación de reservas. Mejorar el desempeño de los procesos de recobro mejorado es una necesidad de la industria petrolera actual y por ello las investigaciones relacionadas con esta área de conocimiento crecen constantemente. Por esta razón, en el desarrollo de este trabajo se ha diseñado una metodología que permite priorizar tecnologías emergentes de recobro mejorado que permitan identificar aquellas con un mayor potencial de implementación en campo a mediano plazo ajustada a las necesidades de los yacimientos colombianos. La metodología desarrollada se puede aplicar a priorización de tecnologías en general, sin embargo, el enfoque inicial se centró en identificar tecnologías emergentes de recobro químico que incluyen: inyección de polímeros modificados y con diferentes funcionalidades, nanotecnología para recobro mejorado, nuevos surfactantes, inyección de agua modificada y disociaciones fuertes de sustancias químicas. Teniendo en cuenta lo novedoso de las tecnologías y lo embrionario de su simulación física y numérica, se definieron parámetros que permitirían su valoración en términos de viabilidad de aplicación: grado de madurez del proceso utilizando el concepto de Technology Readiness Levels (TRL), eficiencia de recobro esperada, reservas disponibles empleando el concepto de analogías de Security Energy Commission (SEC), costos asociados, comercialidad, alineación estratégica con las necesidades de la industria petrolera colombiana y por último, el potencial impacto ambiental. Finalmente, a partir de la definición de los parámetros de screening técnico para cada tecnología y la evaluación de los parámetros valorativos de la metodología, se realizó un proceso comparativo de la potencialidad de las tecnologías con las necesidades de los campos colombianos, obteniendo un ranking preliminar de tecnologías aplicables y donde la inyección de polímeros modificados y la inyección de agua modificada resultaron ser las tecnologías de mayor potencial de acuerdo a los criterios desarrollados en el presente trabajo. La priorización de estas tecnologías permite concentrar esfuerzos en la selección de aquellas con mayor potencial con el objetivo de materializar planes de producción en el mediano plazo, así como apalancar la incorporación de reservas.
Due to the increase in energy consumption and current challenges replacing reserves, the implementation of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes will continue playing a fundamental role in the global energy balance, either by increasing the recovery factor or by incorporating reserves. Therefore, increase the efficiency of EOR methods represents an important challenge in today’s oil industry and its research is showing a growing interest. For this reason, this work developed a methodology to rank emerging technologies of chemical EOR (CEOR) that can be implemented in Colombian fields in the mid-term. The proposed methodology can be implemented for the prioritization of technologies in general. However, this work is focused on identifying CEOR emerging technologies such as: modified polymers with different functionalities, nanotechnology for CEOR, new surfactants, modified water injection and strong dissociations of chemical substances. Taking into account the novelty of these technologies and the limited number of protocols available to properly evaluate it at laboratory and numerical scale, a set of parameters to assess these technologies in terms of viability for field implementation were defined. These parameters include: process maturity degree using Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) concept, expected recovery efficiency, available reserves and Security Energy Commission (SEC) reservoir analogy, associated costs, commercialization, strategic alignment with the Colombian oil industry needs and, finally, the potential environmental impact. Based on the definition of technical screening parameters for each technology and the evaluation of the set of parameters defined in the proposed methodology, a comparative process of the potential of each of the technologies evaluated with the needs of the Colombian fields was carried out. The results of this ranking methodology identified the injection of modified polymer with functionalities and the injection of modified water as the technologies with the largest potential for field implementation. Finally, the ranking of these CEOR technologies will allow focusing efforts in the selection of those with greater potential optimizing time and resources. In addition, it will contribute materializing field development plans, extending production life of Colombian assets as well as supporting the incorporation of oil reserves in the country.
Due to the increase in energy consumption and current challenges replacing reserves, the implementation of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes will continue playing a fundamental role in the global energy balance, either by increasing the recovery factor or by incorporating reserves. Therefore, increase the efficiency of EOR methods represents an important challenge in today’s oil industry and its research is showing a growing interest. For this reason, this work developed a methodology to rank emerging technologies of chemical EOR (CEOR) that can be implemented in Colombian fields in the mid-term. The proposed methodology can be implemented for the prioritization of technologies in general. However, this work is focused on identifying CEOR emerging technologies such as: modified polymers with different functionalities, nanotechnology for CEOR, new surfactants, modified water injection and strong dissociations of chemical substances. Taking into account the novelty of these technologies and the limited number of protocols available to properly evaluate it at laboratory and numerical scale, a set of parameters to assess these technologies in terms of viability for field implementation were defined. These parameters include: process maturity degree using Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) concept, expected recovery efficiency, available reserves and Security Energy Commission (SEC) reservoir analogy, associated costs, commercialization, strategic alignment with the Colombian oil industry needs and, finally, the potential environmental impact. Based on the definition of technical screening parameters for each technology and the evaluation of the set of parameters defined in the proposed methodology, a comparative process of the potential of each of the technologies evaluated with the needs of the Colombian fields was carried out. The results of this ranking methodology identified the injection of modified polymer with functionalities and the injection of modified water as the technologies with the largest potential for field implementation. Finally, the ranking of these CEOR technologies will allow focusing efforts in the selection of those with greater potential optimizing time and resources. In addition, it will contribute materializing field development plans, extending production life of Colombian assets as well as supporting the incorporation of oil reserves in the country.
Keywords
Emerging technologies, chemical enhanced oil recovery, screening, technology prioritization, modified polymers, modified water., Tecnologías emergentes, recobro químico, screening, priorización de tecnologías, polímeros modificados, agua modificada.