eor by SNF
Enhanced Oil Recovery
AUGUST 2020
EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION
A COST-EFFECTIVE EOR TECHNIQUE TO REDUCE CARBON INTENSITY WITH POLYMER FLOODING AND MODULAR SKIDS
BY GUILLAUME DUPUIS AND JAN NIEUWERF EOR @ SNF . COM
The COVID-19 crisis has led to an unprecedented situation in the oil industry , with severe oil price depreciation due to sudden demand reduction and failed production cut agreements . Oil companies have been forced to reduce their budgets , and oil exploration has been cut or reduced . Upon return to pre-COVID-19 demand levels , more oil production , and reserves bookings will be required from the existing wells . In this context , quickly and easily maximizing production and proven reserves of existing assets in a cost-efficient way is paramount . Polymer flooding can increase the recovery factor ( RF ) over waterflooding by up to 20 % of the original-oil-in-place ( OOIP ) at only $ 3 to $ 6 per extra barrel of oil .
At the same time , societal pressure is growing and requires immediate action to reach the net-zero production emission target by 2050 . Polymer flooding can contribute towards meeting that target by reducing CO 2 emissions per barrel by 3 – 6 times . This reduction is primarily achieved through a more efficient sweep of oil within the reservoir , resulting in water cut reduction and , ultimately , a decrease
30 in required pumping energy at the producers and less taxing on fluid separation equipment and processes . A reduction in produced water can help lower Greenhouse Gas ( GHG ) emissions 1 . Operators report significant water
Polymer flooding can contribute towards meeting net-zero production emission target by 2050 by reducing CO 2 emissions per barrel by 3 – 6 times .
cut reduction during polymer EOR operations , with the reversal in fluid cut resulting in increased oil production . It is not uncommon for mature reservoirs to reduce the water-tooil ( WOR ) ratio by a factor of six 2 , 3 . For green or less mature fields , polymer flooding is more efficient in terms of utility factor ( UF ) 4 , which is defined as kg of polymer required per barrel of incremental oil . This results in both a recovery and cost efficiency on the EOR process . With the acceleration in the recovery of oil , several years of water and energy consumption are avoided for the overall surface facility operations 5 , which would include all operational factors ( e . g ., fuel , travel , utilities , supply , etc .). Thus , the carbon intensity of crude oil can be further reduced .
Currently , 60 % of global brownfield production is from water injection , either as pressure support or in flooding operations , delivering recovery factors from 20 to 40 %, OOIP . Polymer flooding is a proven technology with more than 300 projects worldwide . These projects recover more oil , in a shorter timeframe , and at a reduced environmental footprint compared to water-flooding projects . This EOR technique has been economically and technically successful in full-field projects , such as India ( Mangala ), Canada ( Pelican Lake , Suffield , Medicine Hat ), Argentina ( Diadema , Grimbeek ), China ( Daqing , Shengli , Dagang , etc .), the Middle East ( Marmul ) and Eastern Europe ( Patos Marinza , Kazakhstan fields ).
In the 1990s , SNF partnered with CNPC in China in the Daqing EOR full-field project . There , SNF built and commissioned the world ’ s