Successful crosswell field test of fluorescent carbogenic nanoparticles

Abstract

This manuscript reports the industry's first proven reservoir nanoagents' design and describes a successful crosswell field trial using these inexpensive and environmentally friendly nanoparticles that offer an important advantage of fast and cheap fluorometric detection. Our fundamental nanoparticle tracer template, A-Dots, is intentionally geared towards the harsh but prolific carbonate reservoir environment of 100 °C temperature, 150,000 ppm salinity, and an abundant presence of divalent ions in the connate water. The A-Dots were manufactured on a scale of one metric ton from affordable and easily available commodity chemicals. They were injected into a watered-out part of the field and monitored at four nearby producer wells for two years. Monitoring of four neighboring producer wells over a period of 26 months confirmed nanoparticles' breakthrough at a single producer nearly 500 m from the injector at the reservoir level, thus, proving the nanoparticles' mobility and transport capability. The maximum concentration of the nanoagent in produced water was observed about 10 months after the injection matching the behavior of conventional small-molecule tracers used in the same pai4 of wells previously.This test supported our previous observations of satisfactory recovery of A-Dots in a single-well test by confirming their reservoir stability on industry relevant time scales and demonstrating the feasibility of their industrial production. The importance of this accomplishment is not in how sophisticated the sensing functionality of the tracer design is but rather in the nanoparticle stability, mobility, scalability, and field application potentials. Our findings render the concept of having active, reactive, and even communicative, in-situ reservoir nanoagents for underground sensing and intervention a well anticipated near-future reality.