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Al-Kalbani, Chandan, Saqri, Ravula, Choudhuri, Hashmi, 2014
Al-Kalbani, Chandan, Saqri, Ravula, Choudhuri, Hashmi, 2014
This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE EOR Conference at Oil and Gas West Asia held in Muscat, Oman, 31 March–2 April 2014.
This paper was selected for presentation by an SPE program committee following review of information contained in an abstract submitted by the author(s). Contents of the paper have not been
reviewed by the Society of Petroleum Engineers and are subject to correction by the author(s). The material does not necessarily reflect any position of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, its
officers, or members. Electronic reproduction, distribution, or storage of any part of this paper without the written consent of the Society of Petroleum Engineers is prohibited. Permission to
reproduce in print is restricted to an abstract of not more than 300 words; illustrations may not be copied. The abstract must contain conspicuous acknowledgment of SPE copyright.
Abstract
The first field scale Polymer flood project in the Middle East region is under operation in an oil field of The Sultanate of
Oman since early 2010. The oil field discussed here contains viscous oil (90 cp) was discovered in 1956 and is located in
eastern part of South Oman Salt basin. First commercial production started in 1980 from this field. The field has gone through
different development phases in its 30 years of history prior starting tertiary recovery phase by polymer flooding.
This Polymer flood project comprises of 27 patterns coversing about one third of the total field IOIP (initial oil in place). It is
worth mentioning that whole field is under water flooding and water injection was going on prior to initiation of Polymer flood
in 27 injectors.
So far, this project has been running successfully with good performance contributing to significant oil gain. During this
successful journey of about 4 years, the project has passed through many expected and unexpected challenges. The well and
reservoir management team has been working actively in all those challenges with novel approaches to increase efficiency of
this project.
One of the key challenges encountered is reduction in productivity of producer wells in comparison to earlier water flood with
same injection volume. In a few polymer wells production rates even dropped by more than 50%. The main challenges for
these wells seeing higher drop in liquid rate is that there is no or minimal oil gain in-spite of reduction in water cut due to dis-
proportionate decline in liquid rate.
This reduction in production rate smay be attributed to decrease in producible fluid mobility, high fluid density with polymer
slug and skin formation near wellbore. At the same pressure drawdown of the artificial lift pump withdraws less fluid due to
increase in fluid density with polymer breakthrough. There are also possibilities of plugging as a result of moving solid fines
from the more viscous fluids near the well bore. These caused more drawdown and less fluid produced and resulted in high
gross reduction in some wells. In order to overcome these gross decline, chemical treatment using mutual solvent has been
carried out in a few wells as trial and has given good result. A detailed analysis is going on to investigate possible causes and
accordingly design suitable remedial actions. This paper describes briefly about the principles involved in this solvent
stimulation jobs and results of field implementation with real field examples.
2 SPE-169714-MS
The Al Khalata reservoir is divided into several catchment areas on the basis of reservoir characterization, development of sub
layers and reservoir drive mechanism. Accordingly, field development strategy in this reservoir varies from one catchment
area to another. Basic reservoir properties, crude properties and reservoir catchments areas have been discussed in detail by
Choudhuri et al [1]. The historical performance of Al Khlata reservoir is also presented in Figure
1. Field has been on regular
production since 1980. Primary development with vertical oil producer’s started initially in the field from early 80’s.
In mid 80’s three EOR pilots – Steam Injection, Steam soaking and Polymer Injection were executed in different parts of this
field. The results of all these field pilots carried out during 1985-92, indicated polymer flooding as best EOR option for this
reservoir development.
The field scale Polymer flood project phase-1 was implemented in 26 water flood patterns of Al Khalata reservoir and 1
pattern in Haima reservoir by converting them to Polymer injectors from early 2010. The Al khalata polymer wells is shown
in Figure
2. The cumulative production from the reservoir was about 18% at the time of Polymer flood project was
implemented. The effectiveness of Polymer flood was one of the prime challenges for this project as most of the part of
reservoir already swept by injected water. On the other hand, significant water-flooding history has resulted in better
understanding of the flood system like connectivity to the producer, injection performance and setting surveillance
benchmarks.
Polymer injection started from early 2010 in all 27 injectors. Polymer response has been observed in well level as well as in
pattern level. The expected behaviors of polymer flooding to oil producer wells are
• Reduction in water cut due to decrease in injected water mobility with increase in viscosity,
• Increase in oil cut due to improvement in sweep efficiency and
• Reduced gross inflow due to reduction in water phase effective permeability and
• Back production of polymer
Accordingly the key parameters used to monitor for polymer response in producer wells are water cut, oil cut, liquid
withdrawal rate and polymer break through concentration. A typical response on well level and pattern level is shown in
Figurex and Figure y respectively.
Water cut reduction due to polymer response has been observed in most of the pattern wells. Water cut reduction trend ranges
from 2 to 30% in well level. The water cut reduction trend in well level varies depending on well type, permeability-thickness
in the pattern area, position in patterns and water flood history. More effective reduction in water cut observed in uniform
vertical patterns in comparison to horizontal injectors or irregular vertical patterns that is combination of vertical as well as
horizontal off take. In addition, the oil producers located centrally, thus getting support from more than one polymer injectors
have also been found as most effective in water cut reduction.
Decline in productivity
All oil producers in the field produce with artificial lift and many wells show indication of reduction in inflow after polymer
flooding started. Overall liquid withdrawal from the polymer flood area shrinks by more than 10% in comparison to earlier
SPE-169714-MS 3
water flood with similar volume of injection. At well level about 50% of the polymer pattern producers have seen reduction in
liquid withdrawal rate from 5 to 40%. This effect is also seen in pattern level as shown in pattern performance Figure
3.
Similar decline in production rate by 20 to 50% was also described in polymer flooding performance of Regan reservoir by
Christopher et al (1988) [2].
In a few wells liquid withdrawal rate even dropped by more than 50%. This group of wells also recorded higher concentration
of polymer breakthrough indicating communication to polymer injectors through high permeability streaks or fractures. The
main challenges for these wells seeing higher drop in liquid rate is that was no or minimal oil gain inspite of reduction in water
cut due to dis-proportionate decline in liquid rate. The well perforamace of decline few well to be cosndiered for investigation
is shown in Figure
5.
This reduction in production rate may be attributed to decrease in producble fluid mobility, high fluid density with polymer
slug and skin formation near wellbore. At the same pressure drawdown the artificial lift pump withdraws less fluid due to
increase in fluid density with break through polymer. There are also possibilities of plugging as a result of moving solid fines,
asphaltenes and possibly heavy oil from un-swept zone to the wellbore. Chemical treatment using mutual solvent has been
carried out in a few wells as trial and has given good result.
Investigation methodology:
The decline in polymer wells investigation is shown in Figure
6. The main investigations are as follow and will be discussed
in details:
1. Confirm inflow or out flow issues. This is to confirm no issues with artificial lift methods.
2. Obtain further data including well head sample, pressure data, and viscosity and API gravity data.
3. Model wells in a commercial well performance package to understand well performance.
4. Industry and literature check on analogues for commercially large size polymer floods.
Literature Review
Despite the little publications on commercial large scale polymer floods, the decline in polymer wells has been reported by
Christopher et all [2] on Polymer flood of Sleepy Hollow Reagan Unit. The decline was reported to have been restored by the
treatment of xylene and mutual solvent regadless of the cause, which was thought to be polymer effect nearby the well bore.
The back produced polymer on the wells with large decline indicate possible effect of polymer nearby effect on the producer
from sweeping more of the less mobile phase towards the offtake point.
Analytical work:
The well performance relative to start of the plymer flood is is shown in Figure
7, which shows that many wells showed gross
decline. Furthermore, larger decline in gross in more well was noticed in the subsequent year, indicating many wells will
behave similarly.
The operating envelope to make the oil gain from polymer flood is shown in Figure
8. The Figure shows to what extent the
water cut need to reduce to offset the large gross reduction in order to not to loose oil from polymer flood. The decline of
wells that showed the effect was marked on the plot and it fit well within the envelope.
The wells with large reduction on liquid rate were reviewed to ensure no issues with the artificial lift. Furthermore, samples
were taken for API check and it was find not changing. It was then assumed that the production decline was due to nearby well
bore effects.
The wells were modeled in a commercial well performance package to cofirm if the decline is nearby well effect. There was
no inflow model for “Non Newtonian Effects” and the modlleing was implicitly by chnagin the viscosity manually on PVT
tables, and by implicit effect modeling on Real Perm Tables. The inflow Performance relationship with viscoisty change is
4 SPE-169714-MS
shown in Figure
9. The modeling indicate the the wells are constrained by a neaby well bore effect. Furthermore, numircial
simulation was suggested to address the problem, but was not done and focus was put on industy experience.
Based on industry experience, it was deciced to try solvent to assess if it can improve production. The solvent trial were
planned to address the following:
The solvent that was considered for the polymer wells was mixtures xylene and diesel with initial volume of 8 m3/d based on
radial flow model to enable well bore removal of skin. The deployment methods considered were as follow:
The wells have rod lifting and single completion, apart from few wells, and therefore, the completion need to be pulled to
access the reservoir. A typical well completion is shown in Figure 10. The type of completion added high cost to the
Concentric Coil Tubing option as the wells need to be prepared first and then re-completed.
A comparsion of the solvent deployment method is shown in Table 1. The comparison will be reviewed again once the results
of the trials have been disciussed. The coil tubing option, despite known to be more expensive, was considred if selective
solvent deployment is adding more production gains relative to the cheaper bullheading option. The deployment method is
shown graphically in Figure 11.
The solvent will be displaced by brine and the well will be kept down for half day. The operation programme for solvent jobs
is as follow:
1. The well need to be shut-down, and if the well has Beam Pump it is preferably advised to shut down the well on the
downstoke pump so the standing valve is closed.
2. Rig up the tanks, pumping unit, pumps and pressure test surface lines.
3. Start pumping the solvent throught the annlus slowly at steady rate.
4. Displace the solvent with brine, and watching pressure not to exceed maximum allowable pressure.
5. Once pumping has been done, rig down & keep the well closed for half day.
The solvent trials were done for 5 wells in 2012 and 7 wells in 2013. The Phase one objectives were as follow:
The phase 2 results were really an extension of Phase 1 to answer more questions:
There will be further variation on solvent trials related to concentration, ratio of xyelene and dieslel, and soak time. These will
not be discussed in this paper.
So
in
summary
3
out
of
5
wells
showed
improvements
in
gross
by
30
%
to
200
%
,
one
well
result
was
not
clear
and
no
well
showed
no
response
at
all.
The
deployment
method
of
concentric
coil
tubing
does
not
show
better
performance
and
hence,
it
is
more
economic
to
do
casing
pumping,
as
the
cost
of
such
solvent
deployment
is
nearly
10-‐15
%
of
the
cost
of
concentric
coil
tubing.
1. Repeat
well
1:
the
double
volume
solvent
added
additional
50
%
gross
rate
&
well
gross
increased
3
times
before
solvent
jobs.
This
is
the
well
with
first
200
%
increase
in
gross
from
Phase
1.
2. Repeat
well
2:
The
double
volume
solvent
added
some
improvements.
The
Fluid
level
measured
indicates
lots
of
improvmements.
This
is
the
well
that
does
not
show
any
gross
improvements
from
phase
1.
3. Repeat
well
3:
The
well
responded
more
with
double
solvent
volume.
The
well
has
high
FAP
but
was
not
yet
beaned
up.
6 SPE-169714-MS
4. The
third
well,
was
not
a
good
candidate,
but
was
considered
to
try
solvent
as
cheaper
option
as
the
well
has
sand
infill
&
fishing
issues
above
the
reservoiur.
The
solvent
was
not
be
pumped
due
high
pressure.
5. The
fourth
well
showed
70
%
increase
in
gross.
This
well
was
nearby
pumping
off
gradually
after
polymer
reached
the
well.
The
well
was
then
operated
at
low
speed.
After
the
solvent,
the
well
inflow
improved
and
well
was
then
ramped
up.
The
well
showed
great
response
and
now
stable
for
3
months.
The
results
of
well
is
shown
in
Figure
15.
6. The
fifth
well,
was
just
done
and
was
not
yet
assessed.
Conclusions
The
solvent
has
been
done
to
establish
if
production
decline
canbe
restored,
and
to
to
decide
on
best
solvent
design
and
deployment
method.
The
main
results
from
the
trials
are
as
follow:
1. Polymer
flooding
in
a
brown
oil
field
with
water
flooding
history
shows
successful
results
with
significant
incremental
oil
gain
2. Typical
polymer
response
was
observed
in
producer
wells-‐
reduction
in
water
cut
due
to
decrease
in
overall
system
mobility
and
increase
in
oil
cut
due
to
improvement
in
sweep
efficiency.
3. One
of
the
key
challenges
is
drastic
reduction
in
productivity
in
few
producer
wells.
In
house
designed
solvent
formulations
and
treatment
techniques
have
resulted
in
productivity
restoration
in
many
wells.
4. Results
shows
Solvent
jobs
help
in
increasing
efficiency
of
polymer
flood
5. Variation
of
solvent
volume
showed
more
improvement
on
production.
6. Solvent
has
been
established
as
a
routine
acitivity
to
restore
gross
decline
in
polymer
wells.
7. Various
combination
of
solvent
recipe
may
be
tried
in
future,
examples
are
more
concentration
and
more
time
for
solvent
to
soak
before
the
well
is
opened
for
production.
8. The
deployment
method
for
concentric
coil
tubing
is
not
recommended
due
to
large
expenses
and
results
were
comparable
to
pumping
jobs
at
fraction
of
the
cost.
Acknowledgement
Authors would like to thank management of Petroleum Development Oman and Ministry of Oil and Gas (MOG), Sultanate of
Oman for reviewing the study and granting permission to publish this paper.
References
1. Choudhuri B, Al-Qarshubi I, Sadek E, Bharati S and Mahrooqi S : ‘Effective WRM reverse production
decline in a Major brownfield of South Oman’ SPE -101381; presented at IPEC in Abu Dhabi, Nov’2006
2. Christopher C A, Clark T J and Gibson DH: ‘Performance and Operation of a Successful Polymer Flood in
the Sleepy Hollow Reagan’ SPE-17395; presented at SPE EOR Symposium held at Tulsa, Apr’1988
3. Chandan Thakuria; Mohsin Amri; Kawthar Saqri; Henri Jaspers; Khalid Hashmi & Khalid Zuhaimi of P,
"Performance Review of Polymer Flooding in a Major Brown Oil Field of Sultanate of Oman”, SPE
165262, presented at the SPE Enhanced Oil Recovery Conference held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, 2-4
July 2013
SPE-169714-MS 7
Figures:
00 2008500
00 2007000
00 2005500
Water Injector
00 2004000
312000 313500 315000 316500 318000 319500
60 307 100
246 90
Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
45
123 70
15
61 60
0 0 50
2008 09 10 11 12 13
Date
600
Figure 3: Typical Polymer Response at well Level.
Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d ):Completion: MARMUL-213H1:03:0600-7400
450
Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d )
300
150
0
2008 09 10 11 12 13
Date
MARMUL-482H2:01:0600-7400
Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
60 300 105
240 90
Calendar Day Liquid Rate ( m3/d )
Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
45
180 75
Water cut (%)
30
120 60
15
60 45
0 0 30
JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR
450
Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d )
300
150
0
2009 10 11 12 13
SPE-169714-MS 9
MARMUL-51H1:01:0600-7400
75 200 100
Fishing Parted Rod (Bad diagno
60 160 80
Calendar Day Liquid Rate ( m3/d )
Bullheading
45 120 60
15 40 20
0 0 0
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
2012
Date
600
Figure 12: Results of first solvent job. Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d ):Completion: MARMUL-213H1:03:0600-7400 Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
Change pitted polish rod with
450 MARMUL-482H2:01:0600-7400
Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d )
75 150 105
300
CCT, Solvent Wash & Squeeze
60 120 90
Calendar Day Liquid Rate ( m3/d )
Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
150
Parted rods
45 90 75
Water cut (%)
Prepare for CTU
30 0
60 1981 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 2000 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13
60
15 30 Date 45
0 0 30
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
2012
Date
600
Figure 13: Results of third solvent job. Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d ):Completion: MARMUL-213H1:03:0600-7400
450
Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d )
300
150
0
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC
2012
Date
12 SPE-169714-MS
Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
MARMUL-427H2:01:0600-7400
50 200 105
40 160
Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
Pump Solvent/xylene
90
Workover - LOP
30 120
60
10 40
0 0 45
MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
2012 2013
Date
600
450 MARMUL-103H1:01:0600-7400
Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d )
160 80
Calendar Day Oil Rate ( m3/d )
Standalone pumping
150
120 60
0
80 MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC 40
2012
40 Date 20
0 0 0
JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT
2013
Date
600
450
Calendar Day Water Inj. ( m3/d )
300
150
0
AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV
2012 2013
Date
SPE-169714-MS 13
Tables
Year Wells solvent Deployment Gross increase Net increase Cost Remarks
m3/d
2012 Well 1 baseline NCP 200 % 200 % 20 K Great performance
2012 Well 2 baseline NCP No change No change 20 K No improvement
2012 Well 3 baseline CCT + 30 % I +30 % 200 K Good performance
2012 Well 4 baseline NCP +70 % +70 % offset by +3 % 20 K Great performance
2012 Well 5 baseline NCP Minor increase Minor increase 20 K Minor
improvements