Upscaling Process for Nanofluids Usage for Heavy Oil Mobility Enhancement: Experimental Design and Field Trial Application

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Abstract Heavy oil (HO) production and transportation has been one of the major concerns for the oil and gas industry in recent years. In this sense, nanotechnology has raised as a promising solution for enhancing heavy oil mobility at surface and subsurface conditions. However, its implementation in real field applications at midstream conditions is still underexplored. Thus, the primary objective of this study is to expose the methodology applied for carrying out an upscaling from a technology readiness level (TRL) of 3 up to a TRL–8 for the nanotechnology implementation at a real field application, going through the experimental design and the initial field trial results. Thereby, nanoparticles of different chemical nature and textural properties such as surface area and diameter were evaluated in HO viscosity reduction. A nanofluid composed of the nanoparticles with the best performance and a carrier fluid was designed and the viscosity reduction was assessed again as well as the treatment perdurability. Finally, a field trial application in a Colombian field was carried out through a continuous capillary-injection of the nanofluid (with a concentration of 1000 mg/L of nanoparticles), reducing its dosage from 3200 to 2700 mg/L. The initial rheological measurements were performed with a fixed concentration of 1000 mg/L of the nanoparticles. The results showed a trend between the viscosity reduction and the nanoparticles adsorptive capacity as higher values (30% of reduction) were obtained with the material that leads to a higher amount adsorbed of asphaltenes. The nanofluid evaluation showed a treatment perdurability enhancement compared to the carrier fluid alone as it was observed a viscosity increase of 26 and 116% for the HO-nanofluid and the HO-carrier fluid mixtures, respectively after 10 days. From the field trial application, it was observed a viscosity reduction of at least 60% which was maintained through time due to the continuous nanofluid injection. Furthermore, well-testing exhibited an oil production rate increase of 10%. At last, a rigorous economic analysis was made, which indicated that the process profits would yield the 400,000 USD per year for a single well application, while several operational expenses would be reduced derived from naphtha consumption reduction in the upstream and midstream stages.