Using Spoolable Composite Pipe in a Large CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery Project to Reduce Flowline Installation and Lifecycle Costs

Abstract

Abstract Historically, steel pipe has been the primary material used in oil and gas production gathering applications. More than 25 years ago, glass fiber-reinforced epoxy (ORE) pipe was introduced to the oil and gas industry, and this material has been used in applications where internal or external corrosion was causing high failure rates and maintenance costs in steel pipelines. ORE pipe (commonly called stick fiberglass) is produced in joints typically just over 9 m (30 ft) in length, which are mechanically joined together during installation. Overall construction costs for steel and ORE pipe are similar. In both steel and ORE, the underlying pipe and construction technologies are mature, and thus it is difficult to reduce total installed costs beyond small increments. More recently, spoolable composite pipe has become a widely accepted alternative to these materials demonstrating lower capital and operating costs for infield gathering and injection applications, as well as improved pipe integrity and field performance. This paper describes a major operator's experience using Fiberspar ® spoolable composite pipe in place of steel and stick fiberglass in one of Canada's most highly visible CO2 enhanced oil recovery (EOR) projects. Fiberspar LinePipe ™ enabled this operator to reduce flowline costs while eliminating corrosion related failures and problems with joint integrity in this hostile producing environment. This paper summarizes actual field experience showing how LinePipe can substantially reduce costs and improve pipe integrity over the producing life of a field. Weyburn Project Overview The Weyburn Oil Field is operated by EnCana and lies on the northwestern rim of the Williston Basin. It is 16 km (10 mi) southeast of Weyburn in southern Saskatchewan. Production began in 1954, and currently there are approximately 990 production and water injection wells in operation. The average daily crude oil production is 2,900 m3/d (c. 18,200 bbl/d). Over its lifetime, the field has produced roughly 55 million m3 (c. 346 million bbl) of oil from primary and waterflood production. The field is currently in production decline, having produced approximately 25% of the estimated recoverable oil reserves. EnCana announced in 1997 that it would develop an EOR project to extend the life of the Weyburn Field by more than 25 years. The project involves a CO2 miscible flood, which is expected to extract an additional 19 million m3 (122 million bbl) or more of oil from the field. Waterflood injection is used to increase reservoir pressure, while pushing oil to producing wells to improve recovery. A miscible flood is an enhanced oil recovery technique where a fluid (CO2) is injected into the reservoir to expand and sweep the oil to the producing wells, increasing recovery rates beyond waterflooding. The Weyburn project is highly significant for three reasons:Apart from giving new life to an old field, the use of CO2 as a miscible flood agent makes Weyburn Canada's largest greenhouse gas sequestration project. For this reason, the Weyburn project is the site of a world-scale research initiative operated under the auspices of the International Energy Agency, which is studying the sequestering of CO2 in an oil reservoir.