ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY (EOR) FIELD DATA LITERATURE SEARCH

There has been considerable enhanced oil recovery (EOR) activity in the North Sea. Eighteen of the 19 reported EOR projects have been gas processes. Most importantly, 16 of the 18 projects are economic successes. The outlook for EOR in the North Sea is promising. In a contract signed August 27, 2007, we were authorized to conduct an EOR literature search and carry out model development work. This contract was preceded by an proposal dated August 24, 2007, and entitled " Proposal: Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) Field Data Literature Search. " Not all reservoirs are amenable to EOR. Effective screening practices must be employed to identify suitable candidates. Economic evaluations require an estimate of the recovery performance. Empirical methods are invariably used to predict performance for early evaluations. The objective of our literature search was to collect enough field data to develop an empirical model to predict the oil-rate history of a prospect reservoir. Owing to past and current EOR trends in the North Sea, efforts focused on miscible gas EOR. We have successfully developed an EOR rate model. This model is based on hyperbolic decline curves and material balance. The model effectively matches the production history of tertiary miscible floods. The model can easily be incorporated into pre-existing discounted cash-flow models. The public literature is rich in EOR field data references. Over 390 papers were collected on 70 separate miscible gas projects. Our search sought rate history data with specific supplemental information. The process of gathering and analyzing papers was very time-consuming but informative. In the end, seven case histories suitable for validating the empirical model were identified. All of the cases were onshore U.S. CO 2 floods. Additional testing, however, is needed as new data becomes available. The model is simple enough to add such data. The work here also includes compiled sets of screening criteria from our literature search. The screening criteria are informative. In summary, the results of this work should be helpful in evaluating prospects for gas injection EOR. APPENDICES " A " Paper Inventory (pg. 40) " B " Catalogue of Miscible-Flood Case Histories (pg.53) " C " Supplemental Empirical Correlations (pg. 85) " D " Estimating Incremental Recovery (pg. 90) " E " Catalogue of EOR Screening Criteria (pg. 93)

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