Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Enhanced Oil Recovery

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M. R. Islam. Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Enhanced Oil Recovery

Table of Contents

List of Tables

List of Illustrations

Guide

Pages

Economically and Environmentally Sustainable Enhanced Oil Recovery

Preface

Note

1. Introduction. 1.1 Opening Remarks

1.2 The Prophets of the Doomed Turned Into Scientists

1.3 Paradigm Shift in Sustainable Development

1.4 Questions Answered in This Book. 1.4.1 Where to Look for in the Quest of Sustainable Energy Solutions?

1.4.2 How Do Energy and Mass Evolve in Sustainable System?

1.4.3 What Real Natural Resource Do We Have?

1.4.4 Can the Current Reserve be Expanded without Resorting to EOR?

1.4.5 How Do We Characterize Complex Reservoirs?

1.4.6 When Should We Plan for EOR?

1.4.7 How to Achieve Environmental and Economic Sustainability?

1.4.8 Do We Need to Sacrifice Financially to Assure Environmental Sustainability?

2. Petroleum in the Big Picture. 2.1 Introduction

2.2 Pre-Industrial Revolution Period

2.2.1 Mercury

2.2.2 Sal Ammoniac

2.2.3 Sulphur

2.2.4 Arsenic Sulphide

2.2.5 Refining Techniques

2.3 Beginning of the Petroleum Culture

2.4 The Information Age

2.5 The Energy Crisis

2.5.1 Are Natural Resources Finite and Human Needs Infinite?

2.5.2 The Finite/Infinite Conundrum

2.5.3 Renewable vs Non-Renewable: No Boundary-As-Such

2.6 Conclusions

Notes

3. Natural Resources of the Earth. 3.1 Introduction

3.2 Characteristic Time

3.3 Organic and Mechanical Frequencies

3.3.1 Redefining Force and Energy

3.3.2 Transition of Matter from the Sun to the Earth

3.4 The Nature of Material Resources

3.5 The Science of Water and Petroleum

3.5.1 Comparison Between Water and Petroleum

3.5.2 Contrasting Properties of Hydrogen and Oxygen

3.5.3 The Carbon-Oxygen Duality

3.5.4 The Science of Lightening

3.6 Nitrogen Cycle: Part of the Water/Nitrogen Duality

3.7 Conclusions

Notes

4Growth Potential of Petroleum Reservoirs. 4.1 Introduction

4.2 Toward Decarbonization

4.3 The Current State of the World of Oil and Gas

4.4 World Oil and Gas Reserve

4.4.1 Changes in Reserve in 2018

4.5 Organic Origin of Petroleum

4.6 Scientific Ranking of Petroleum

4.7 Reserve Growth Potential of an Oil/Gas Reservoir

4.7.1 Reservoir Categories in the United States

4.7.2 Eolian Reservoirs

4.7.3 Interconnected Fluvial, Deltaic, and Shallow Marine Reservoirs

4.7.4 Deeper Marine Shales

4.7.5 Marine Carbonate Reservoirs

4.7.6 Submarine Fan Reservoir

4.7.7 Fluvial Reservoir

4.7.8 Quantitative Measures of Well Production Variability

4.8 Conclusions

Notes

5. Fundamentals of Reservoir Characterization in View of Enhanced Oil and Gas Recovery. 5.1 Introduction

5.2 Role of Fractures

5.3 Natural and Artificial Fractures

5.3.1 Interpretation of Borehole Images to Identify Breakouts

5.3.2 Overall In Situ Stress Orientations

5.4 Developing Reservoir Characterization Tools for Basement Reservoirs

5.5 The Origin of Fractures

5.6 Seismic Fracture Characterization

5.6.1 Effects of Fractures on Normal Moveout (NMO) Velocities and P-Wave Azimuthal AVO Response

5.6.2 Effects of Fracture Parameters on Properties of Anisotropic Parameters and P-Wave NMO Velocities

5.7 Reservoir Characterization During Drilling

5.7.1 Overbalanced Drilling

5.7.2 Underbalanced Drilling (UBD)

5.8 Reservoir Characterization with Image Log and Core Analysis

5.8.1 Geophysical Logs

5.8.2 Circumferential Borehole Imaging Log (CBIL)

5.8.3 Petrophysical Data Analysis Using Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)

5.8.4 Core Analysis

5.9 Major Forces of Oil and Gas Reservoirs

5.10 Reservoir Heterogeneity

5.10.1 Filtering Permeability Data

5.10.2 Total Volume Estimate

5.10.3 Estimates of Fracture Properties

5.11 Special Considerations for Shale

5.12 Conclusions

6. Future Potential of Enhanced Oil Recovery. 6.1 Introduction

6.2 Background

6.3 Types of EOR

6.3.1 Gas Injection

6.3.2 Thermal Injection

6.3.3 Chemical Injection

6.3.4 Microbial Injection

6.3.5 Other Techniques

6.4 Enhanced Oil Recovery in Relation to Oil and Gas Reserve

6.4.1 Role of US Leadership

6.4.2 Pivotal Criterion for Selection of EOR Projects

6.5 Current Oil Fields

6.5.1 Largest Conventional Oilfields

6.5.2 Unconventional Oil and Gas

6.6 Need for EOR

6.7 Conclusions

Notes

7. Greening of Enhanced Oil Recovery. 7.1 Introduction

7.2 Carbon Dioxide Injection

7.2.1 Canadian Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) Projects

7.2.2 Projects in United States

7.2.3 Greening of the CO2-EOR Process

7.3 Thermal Methods

7.3.1 Steam and Its Hybrids

7.3.2 In Situ Combustion (ISC)

7.3.3 Greening of Thermal EOR

7.4 Chemical Methods

7.4.1 Alkali-Sufactant-Polymer Injection

7.4.2 Greening of ASP

7.4.2.1 Microbial Applications

7.4.2.2 Natural Surfactants

7.4.2.3 In Situ Generation

7.4.2.4 Surface Active Agents from Commercial Waste

7.5 Gas Injection

7.5.1 Suitability of CO2 Injection

7.5.2 Greening of CO2 Injection

7.5.3 Carbon Sequestration Enhanced Gas Recovery (EGR)

7.6 Recap of Existing EOR Projects. 7.6.1 EOR by Lithology

7.6.2 EOR in Sandstone Formations

7.6.3 EOR in Carbonate Formations

7.6.4 Offshore EOR

7.7 Downhole Refinery

7.8 Conclusions

Note

8. Toward Achieving Total Sustainability EOR Operations. 8.1 Introduction

8.2 Issues in Petroleum Operations

8.2.1 Pathways of Crude Oil Formation

8.2.2 Pathways of Oil Refining

8.2.3 Pathways of Gas Processing

8.2.3.1 Pathways of Glycol and Amines

8.3 Critical Evaluation of Current Petroleum Practices

8.3.1 Management

8.3.2 HSS®A® Pathway in Economic Investment Projects

8.4 Petroleum Refining and Conventional Catalysts

8.4.1 Catalytic Cracking

8.4.2 Isomerisation

8.4.3 Reforming

8.5 Current Practices in Exploration, Drilling and Production

8.6 Challenges in Waste Management

8.7 Greening of EOR Operations. 8.7.1 Direct Use of Solar Energy

8.7.2 Effective Separation of Solid from Liquid

8.7.3 Effective Separation of Liquid from Liquid

8.7.4 Effective Separation of Gas from Gas

8.7.5 Natural Substitutes for Gas Processing Chemicals (Glycol and Amines)

8.7.6 Membranes and Absorbents

8.7.7 A Novel Desalination Technique

This process is a significant improvement over an existing US patent. The improvements are in the following areas:

8.7.8 A Novel Refining Technique

8.7.9 Use of Solid Acid Catalyst for Alkylation

8.7.10 Use of Bacteria to Breakdown Heavier Hydrocarbons to Lighter Ones

8.7.11 Use of Cleaner Crude Oil

8.7.12 Use of Gravity Separation Systems

8.7.13 A Novel Separation Technique

8.8 Zero-Waste Operations

8.8.1 Zero Emissions (Air, Soil, Water, Solid Waste, Hazardous Waste)

8.8.2 Zero Waste of Resources (Energy, Material, and Human)

8.8.3 Zero Waste in Administration Activities

8.8.4 Zero Use of Toxics (Processes and Products)

8.8.5 ZeroWaste in Product Life Cycle (Transportation, Use, and End-of-Life)

8.8.6 Zero Waste in Reservoir Management

8.9 Conclusions

9. Conclusions. 9.1 The Task

9.2 Conclusions

9.2.1 Where to Look for in the Quest of Sustainable Energy Solutions?

9.2.2 How Do Energy and Mass Evolve in Sustainable System?

9.2.3 What Real Natural Resource Do We Have?

9.2.4 Can the Current Reserve be Expanded without Resorting to EOR?

9.2.5 How Do We Characterize Complex Reservoirs?

9.2.6 When Should We Plan for EOR?

9.2.7 How to Achieve Environmental and Economic Sustainability?

9.2.8 Do We Need to Sacrifice Financially to Assure Environmental Sustainability?

References and Bibliography

Index

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Captain Edwin L. Drake, a career railroad conductor who devised a way to drill a practical oil well, is usually credited to have drilled the first-ever oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859. Curiously, initial “thirst” for oil was for seeking a replacement of natural oils (e.g. from whales) as a lubricating agent. Recall the need for such oil owing to a surge of mechanical devices in mid 1800s. Even if one discards the notion that petroleum was in use for thousands of years, there is credible evidence that the first well in modern age was drilled in Canada. Canadian, Charles Nelson Tripp, a foreman of a stove foundry, was the first in North America to have recovered commercial petroleum products. The drilling was completed in 1851 at Enniskillen Township, near Sarnia, in present-day Ontario, which was known as Canada West at that time. Soon after the “mysterious” “gum bed” was discovered, first oil company was incorporated in Canada through a parliamentary charter. Unlike Captain Drake’s project, this particular project was a refining endeavor in order to extract fuel from bitumen. Tripp became the president of this company on December 18, 1854. The charter empowered the company to explore for asphalt beds and oil and salt springs, and to manufacture oils, naphtha paints, burning fluids. Even though this company (International Mining and Manufacturing) was not a financial success, the petroleum products received an honorable mention for excellence at the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1855. Failure of the company can be attributed to several factors contributed to the downfall of the operation. Lack of roads in the area made the movement of machinery and equipment to the site extremely difficult. And after every heavy rain the area turned into a swamp and the gum beds made drainage extremely slow. This added to the difficulty of distributing finished products. It was at that time that need for processing petroleum products in order to make it more fluid surfaced.

In 1855, James Miller Williams took over the business of refining petroleum in Lambton County from Charles Nelson Tripp. At that time, it was a small operation, with 150 gallon/day asphalt production. Williams set out during a drought in September 1858 to dig a drinking water well down-slope from it but struck free oil instead, thereby becoming the first person to produce a commercial oil well in North America, one year before Edwin Drake. Also of significance the fact that he set up Canada’s first refinery of crude oil to produce kerosene, based on the laboratory work of Abraham Gesner. Interestingly, Gesner was a medical doctor by training (from London) but took special interest in geology. He is the one credited to have invented kerosene to take over the previous market, saturated with whale oil - a wholly natural product. It was this Gesner, who in 1850 created the Kerosene Gas Light Company and began installing lighting in the streets in Halifax and other cities. By 1854, he had expanded to the United States where he created the North American Kerosene Gas Light Company at Long Island, New York. Demand grew to where his company’s capacity to produce became a problem, but the discovery of petroleum, from which kerosene could be more easily produced, solved the supply problem. This was the first time in recorded history artificial processing technique was introduced in refining petroleum products. Gesner did not use the term “refined” but made fortune out of the sale of this artificial processing. In 1861, he published a book titled: A Practical Treatise on Coal, Petroleum and Other Distilled Oils, which became a standard reference in the field. As Gesner’s company was absorbed into the petroleum monopoly, Standard Oil, he returned to Halifax, where he was appointed a professor of natural history at Dalhousie University. It is this university that was founded on pirated money while other pirates continued to be hanged by the Royal Navy at Point Pleasant Park’s Black Rock Beach as late as 1844.6

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