SPE-187855-MS

Study of the Efficiency of Methods for Enhanced Condensate Recovery,

Based on Reservoir Simulation Models

E. S. Makarov, A. Y. Yushkov, and A. S. Romanov, Tyumen Petroleum Research Centre

Copyright 2017, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Russian Petroleum Technology Conference held in Moscow, Russia, 16-18 October 2017.

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
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Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to assess the technological efficiency of methods for increasing condensate
recovery from the Achimov deposits of the Urengoy Oil and Gas Condensate Field (Аch52-3 reservoir within
the East Urengoy License Area). The distinctive features of the Achimov reservoirs are the low permeability
(of the order of 1 mD) and abnormally high initial reservoir pressure (≈ 600 atm.).
The technological performance was simulated using the ECLIPSE 300 composite flow model. To
simulate the condensate recovery improvement methods at one of the Аch52-3 sections, the authors selected
a development element the average parameters of which corresponded to the parameters of a full-scale
model. The performance of various methods was evaluated by comparing the selected methods to the
baseline scenario, which represents a traditional gas development process, i.e. the depletion. The methods for
maintaining reservoir pressure by injecting various agents into the reservoir were considered as alternative
scenarios for reservoir engineering: dry gas (cycling), nitrogen, water, WAG. In addition, the optimal ratio
of injection and production wells, the voidage replacement, and gas recovery rate were selected.
The economic efficiency of various development scenarios was estimated using an economic model. The
complex approach was used to rank the options, taking into account both the technological results (gas /
condensate recovery ratios) and economic indicators (NPV, state discounted revenue).
The results of the studies on condensate recovery improvement confirm the technological applicability
of unconventional technologies for the development of gas condensate fields, in particular, injection of
nitrogen into the reservoir. These technologies make it possible to achieve a relative increase in condensate
recovery by 40-50% compared to the baseline scenario. On the other hand, under current macroeconomic
conditions, the conventional depletion method for gas-condensate recovery remains more attractive.

Introduction
The majority of gas condensate fields in Russia are being developed by depletion of reservoir energy. With
this method of development, liquid HC condensate drops out from the formation gas (C5+ higher). On the pore
scale, the amount of dropeed-out liquid is insignificant, but the liquid phase is immobile and can not be
extracted from the formation. About 50-60% of the initial condensate content in the formation gas can turn
into liquid phase in a reservoir. This leads to a significant reduction in the final condensate recovery ratio.
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The only reservoir development method in which the fluid will not turn into a two-phase state, is the
maintenance of reservoir pressure. For gas condensate deposits, the produced gas dried from condensate
or non-hydrocarbon gases, such as nitrogen, can be used as an injection agent. According to the results of
numerous studies by other authors [2-6], the economic efficiency of gas re-injection (cycling process) is
very low or negative. However, no engineering evaluation of the nitrogen injection options was carried out.
Taking into account the development of nitrogen production technologies, these development options can
be quite promising. These options are discussed in this paper.

Methods of Study
A gas condensate deposit of the Urengoy Oil and Gas Condensate Field (Аch52-3 reservoir in the area of the
East Urengoy License Area) has been selected as a study target. The average depth of the deposit is 3600
m, the permeability is about 1 mD. The reservoir is characterized by abnormally high reservoir pressure
(AHRP) of about 600 bar, the averages initial potential content of condensate in the formation gas is 380
g/m3.
To model the condensate recovery improvement methods, a development element (sector model) was
selected in which the average parameters corresponded to the parameters of a full-scale reservoir model
(Figure 1).

Figure 1—Study target – Аch52-3 reservoir and the development element, chosen for modeling
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The annual rate of gas recovery during the plateau period within the baseline scenario (depletion) is
3.3% of the initial in-place gas reserves. This corresponds to the accepted planned value, justified for the
development of the entire deposit within the license area. The number of production wells in the sector model
(36) is determined based on the planned recoverable gas reserves per well. The sector model reproduces
the "scaled history" of gas production (15 years), and the estimated period of full-scale development is 35
years. The production plateau is reached in two stages by the introduction of two modules of a gas treatment
unit (GTU).

Figure 2—Simulation of the base case of the full scale development of the Ah5

To compare the development options to each other, the total number of wells in all the options remained
unchanged (36 wells). The economic efficiency of various development scenarios was evaluated on a
specially developed economic model.
To evaluate the technological and economic efficiency of reservoir pressure maintenance methods, the
following development options were considered:

• Group 1 options - depletion options, differing by the gas recovery rate during the full-scale
development period (3.3 and 4.9%)
• Group 2 options - options with re-injection of "dry" gas (cycling), differing both by the rate of
recovery during the full-scale development period, and by the injector/producer ratio
• Group 3 options - nitrogen injection options, differing both by the rate of recovery during the full-
scale development period, and by the injector/producer ratio.
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In addition to the listed options, a number of additional options with water injection, WAG, etc. was
considered. They are not described in this paper, since their performance was low. To compare the options,
the final condensate and gas recovery ratios, as well as the economic performance indicators (NPV, state
discounted revenue) were used for each of the development scenarios.

Evaluation of dried gas re-injection options

At the first stage of the feasibility study, the authors compared the estimated dry gas injection options
(cycling process, group 2 options) relative to the baseline scenario (reservoir energy depletion).
At first, the authors attempted to reproduce full-cycling development options, when the entire produced
gas after the commissioning of new GTU lines should be sent for re-injection. In the model runs, a 1:1
injector/producer ratio was used. Based on the existing number of wells (36), a grid of 18 producers and
18 injectors was formed. It turned out that when the producers are reduced in half, the target gas extraction
level (3.1%) is reached and even maintained at a constant level, as this is facilitated by a complete gas re-
injection and the reservoir pressure does not drop. At the same time, all 18 producers are operated at high
drawdowns and constant (minimum) wellhead pressure of 100 bar without additional compression before
the GTU. With regard to injectors, the model runs demonstrated super-high wellhead pressures required for
gas injection exceeding 800 bar. This is too high pressure, both for a Christmas tree, and for the world-wide
line of compressors (there are no industrial designs yet). Besides, the bottomhole pressure of 1,000 bar is
much higher than the fracturing pressure.
To obtain allowable injection pressures (550-600 bar) and, accordingly, bottomhole pressures, the number
of wells could be increased, say, up to 50, with the injector/producer ratio of 25:25. However, this would
mean that to compare the effectiveness of the "cycling" and "depletion" options, it would be required to
again perform all the previous runs (depletion), but not with 36, but with 50 wells. Instead of increasing
the number of wells, it would be possible to reduce the target recovery level and, correspondingly, the gas
injection rate, for example, by a factor of two. But this would also require re-running the base option with
two GTU modules instead of one.
Thus, apart from the difficulties related to the "efficiency comparison", the practical implementation of
full cycling at the beginning of development in the Achimov deposits will require drastic changes in the
decisions already taken on gas production. Therefore, in all subsequent options, the authors followed both
the "principle of comparability" and the "principle of non-interference", namely:
1. The number of wells should be unchanged and comply with the decisions taken
2. Use the existing well design, with the X-mas tree designed for working wellhead pressure of not more
than 600 bar
3. Commissioning of at least two gas treatment modules.
4. In gas injection options ("dry" gas or nitrogen), additional surface equipment (compressors, pipelines
for supplying gas to injection wells) can be used.
Taking these conditions into account, option 2 was considered, which is characterized by an optimal gas
re-injection profile to maintain the technologically acceptable injection pressure at the level of 500-450 bar
and the load of both GTU modules. Partial cycling will be implemented first (50% of the produced gas
volume) with the subsequent transition to full cycling. The "dry" gas injection starts in 2018, that is, at the
time of plateau gas production. After 22 years of injection, the injection wells are converted to production,
and further development is carried out in depletion. Options 2A, 2B, 2B differ by the ratio of producers and
injectors. The estimated production profile is shown in Figure 3.
SPE-187855-MS 5

Figure 3—Forecast dynamis of hydrocarbon production on options with re-injection of "dry" gas (cycling)

The technology for implementing option 2 is rather complex (Figures 4, 5). First of all, this is due to
compressors used for gas re-injection. They should be placed directly on the well sites, since the injection
pressure of 500-600 bar will significantly complicate the gas supply directly from the GTU - this will require
the construction of metal-intensive pipelines with very thick walls. Therefore, option 2 assumes that the
re-injected gas is supplied through separate pipes from the GTU with a pressure of c. 50 bar. Then it is
compressed in six stages (Figure 5). Note that currently available industrial centrifugal compressors allow
gas to be compressed to 700 bar (Figures 6, 7). The example considered in the article, includes an assembly
of 7 units selected for each group of four injection wells (Figure 6).

Figure 4—Scheme of arrangement in case with re-injection of "dry" gas (cycling)

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Figure 5—Scheme of gas compression in case with re-injection of "dry" gas (cycling)
SPE-187855-MS 7

Figure 6—Current line of compressors of one of the manufacures. A red

line circled a set of compressors for a single cluster pad (see Figure5)
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Figure 7—The effective centrifugal compressor with an outlet pressure fo about 500 bar

Figure 5 shows that each well pad will resemble a technological platform, which, in the ideal case, should
be managed remotely. After 20 years of gas re-injection, the deposit's depletion begins, and compressors
on the well site will be no longer necessary.
Summarizing the results, a number of points can be highlighted. From the point of view of HC
recovery, an average 40-45% increase in the condensate recovery ratio was obtained. The largest increase
in condensate production was obtained at a 1:2 injector/producer ratio, but in all types of cycling, the
condensate recovery losses will be about 7-8%. In spite of the additional volumes of condensate production,
all the cycling options are inferior to the depletion option by economic indicators. The results of the
feasibility study and a brief description of the options are shown in Figure 8 and in Table 1.
SPE-187855-MS 9

Figure 8—Economical assessment of cases with re-injection of "dry" gas (cycling)

Table 1—Comparison of technological development indicators. Scenarios with re-injection of "dry"gas

Scenarios

Re-injection of "dry" gas (cycling)

Indicators
Ratio of inj./ prod. wells The depletion

1/1 1/2 1/3

Gas recovery ratio 0.789 0.799 0.798 0.864

Condensate recovery ratio 0.377 0.404 0.397 0.271

Evaluation of nitrogen injection options

The next step was to evaluate the effectiveness of nitrogen injection options (Group 3 options). As
noted above, the engineering evaluation of the nitrogen injection options was not carried out. Given the
development of nitrogen production technologies, these development options could be quite promising.
In addition to the fundamental difference in the type of agent for maintaining reservoir pressure, the
nitrogen injection options differ from cycling options by the absence of the final depletion stage. In this case,
nitrogen is injected until the very end of field development. The estimated production profile is shown in
Figure 9. From the point of view of condensate recovery, the best of the presented options was the scenario
with a ratio 1:2 injector/producer ratio.
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Figure 9—Forecast dynamics of hydrocarbon production in nitrogen injection options

Implementation of nitrogen injection technology requires higher capital investments than the cycling
options. In addition to the existing equipment and planned under the current development option (depletion),
the surface facilities should include the equipment for generating and injecting nitrogen into the formation
(Figure 10). The simplest and most affordable way of generating nitrogen is to get it from the air during its
separation into components due to countercurrent mass and heat exchange between vapor and liquid.

Figure 10—Scheme of arrangement with nitrogen injection

This process (rectification) is based on the difference in the boiling points of the components that make
up the air. The rectification is carried out in tower rectification columns equipped with contact devices (trays
or packing) which are the rectification columns in which multiple contacts are made between the flows of
vapor and liquid phases. In the world, the technology of pumping nitrogen into the reservoir is realized in
the Gulf of Mexico. The existing N2 generation plant serves offshore fields (Figure 11).
SPE-187855-MS 11

Figure 11—One of the existing plants for the production of nitrogen capacity of 35 MSm3/day (Pemex)

Another major additional infrastructure unit will be a gas liquefaction plant to separate nitrogen from the
produced gas. Taking into account the fact that the hydrocarbon gas is planned to be transported through a
pipeline, it will additionally require its reverse regasification. All additional capital expenditures for high-
pressure compressors, a plant for the production of nitrogen and a gas liquefaction plant are accounted for in
technical and economic calculations. The cost of a plant for the production of nitrogen and a gas liquefaction
plant is the same as the cost of a planned unit for gas preparation, together with a de-ethanization unit for
condensate, i.e. the total capital expenditures for gas preparation are increased threefold.
The results of technical and economic calculations are shown in Figure 12 and in Table 2. The relative
increase in condensate recovery factor is about 50%. In addition, in the options with injection of nitrogen
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and the ratio of injection to production wells equal to 1/2 and 1/3, an increase of 0.5 and 0.4% of the values
of gas recovery factors is observed.

Table 2—Comparison of technological development indicators. Scenarios with nitrogen injection

Scenarios

Re-injection of "dry" gas (cycling)

Indicators
Ratio of inj./ prod. wells The depletion

1/1 1/2 1/3

Gas recovery ratio 0.807 0.868 0.868 0.864

Condensate recovery ratio 0.377 0.406 0.392 0.271

Figure 12—Economical assessment of cases with nitrogen injection

Despite the additional volumes of condensate production, all the options with maintaining reservoir
pressure are inferior to the "depletion" development option from the point of view of economic efficiency.
The maximum increases in condensate recovery factor and gas recovery factor are observed for the options
with the ratio of injection to production wells equal to 1/2. When comparing the two injection technologies
("dry" gas and nitrogen) by technological and economic indicators, the most promising option is the injection
of nitrogen.
SPE-187855-MS 13

With the same increase in condensate recovery factor, the scenario with the injection of nitrogen turned
out to be better from the economic point of view, since the options with the cycling are inferior in the
aggregate income due to the loss of revenue, obtained by the sale of products, as a result of the re-injection
of extracted dry gas into the formation. In terms of total revenue (state discounted revenue plus NPV), the
options with reservoir pressure maintenance by nitrogen injection are in the positive area, unlike the cycling
options.
Cía. de Nitrógeno de Cantarell, SA de CV (CNC), the local Linde affiliate, supplies 50,000 metric tons
(1,200 million cubic feet) per day of nitrogen from five air separation units on Atasta peninsula, near Ciudad
del Carmen in the State of Campeche to maintain pressure at the Cantarell and Ku Maloob Zaap oil reservoirs

Summary
Thus, basing on the analysis of publications, the authors identified the most effective ways to increase the
extraction of condensate from gas condensate reservoirs. Some of them are reproduced on a compositional
simulation model of an area of one of the Achimov formations of the Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field.
For this, the following was done:
1. Taking into account the similarity criteria, a sector model was prepared.
2. Parameters of the basic development option ("depletion") were predicted. The production profile
obtained on the sector model fully imitates the full-scale development scenario of the Ach52-3
formation.
3. A series of development options was prepared, including ways to increase condensate recovery factor.
4. Simulation modeling and technical and economic assessment of the main methods of increasing the
condensate recovery factor based on maintaining reservoir pressure by injection of hydrocarbon and
non-hydrocarbon agents, water injection, and combined injection of water and gas were performed.
The obtained results indicate that with the injection of nitrogen into the Achimov formations of the
Urengoy oil, gas and condensate field, a relative 40% to 50% increase in the condensate recovery is expected.
At the same time, this option is more effective than "cycling", which allows talking about the prospects of
its evaluation for the development of other gas condensate reservoirs. As additional results, the following
points can be noted:
1. The authors developed a matrix of applicability and effectiveness of methods for increasing the
component recovery using the numerical criterion estimation technique.
2. Based on the results of calculations on the sector simulation model, in the options with nitrogen
injection, not only a 40-50% gain in condensate production is expected in relation to the base
development case, but also a small increase in the production of dry gas.
3. As a recommended scenario for injecting nitrogen, the option with the ratio of injection to production
wells equal to 1/2 stands out, with compensation of production by injection equal to 100%.
4. The concept of arrangement of suface facilities, providing reverse injection of "dry" gas into the
formation, as well as nitrogen injection, has been worked out. Additional capital expenditures are
taken into account in economic calculations.
5. The efficiency of the injection of nitrogen has also been confirmed at later stages of field development.

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permeable reservoirs] // SPE-136380. 2010 (in Russian).
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