Smart EOR Screening, Breaching the Gap between Analytical and Numerical Evaluations

Abstract

Hydrocarbon’s exploration is reaching global frontiers pressuring for near and long term solutions to increase oil production from the existing assets. Field development drivers are shifting towards maintaining a high production plateau while effectively sweeping the reservoir hydrocarbon to maximize recovery. Enhanced oil recovery offers a substantial alternative to improve recovery of green and mature fields by means of enhancing pore level sweeping in the reservoir.While the principles of EOR schemes are not new; field implementation has been scarce and, as a consequence the physics governing the displacement process have not been completely understood. Highly heterogeneous reservoirs in particular pose a challenge for EOR. Geological features influence the EOR agent advancement and their influence needs to be considered on the early stages of EOR screening. A successful EOR selection requires a detailed understanding of the reservoir governing forces together with the reservoir architecture to maximize reservoir conformance.This paper focuses on these issues by proposing a new methodology to aid the EOR selection, addressing the influence of vertical and lateral heterogeneity at the early stages of the screening and providing guidance to maximize contacted oil in the reservoir by reconciling the reservoir driving forces and geological architecture. A comprehensive analysis of the present and past reservoir conditions is used to determine the EOR best suited for the reservoir; data mining, optimized numerical and analytical simulations are used to further substantiate the decision and help mitigate uncertainties by incorporating present and past EOR experience during the selection process.