SPE-190026-MS

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Extension of Existing Screening Criteria Tables for Thermal Enhanced Oil
Recovery Methods Through Compositional Analyses of Heavy Oils

I. Al-Atwah, M. Alshaikh, S. T. Sweet, A. Knap, and B. Hascakir, Texas A&M University

Copyright 2018, Society of Petroleum Engineers

This paper was prepared for presentation at the SPE Western Regional Meeting held in Garden Grove, California, USA, 22-27 April 2018.

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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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
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Abstract
Heavy oil extraction via thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods is a challenging task due to low
mobility of oil at reservoir conditions and high petroleum processing cost due to high impurity content of
heavy oils. This task becomes more difficult with the decrease in oil prices. Hence, any effort to decrease the
recovery or refinery cost of heavy oil production can make the extraction of these unconventional resources
more feasible.
Existing screening criteria tables are still in use to find the optimum thermal EOR methods to recover
heavy oil reservoirs. However, since those tables ignore the role of oil and rock compositions in the success
and failure of oil recovery through thermal methods, generally the thermal EOR response is different than
expected. This study aims to extend existing screening criteria tables for thermal EOR methods by including
the impact of oil and rock composition and investigates the produced oil quality originated from different
EOR techniques. First, lab-scale steam assisted gravity drainage, in-situ combustion (ISC), steam injection,
hot-water injection, and steam/solvent injection experiments were conducted on two different heavy oil
samples. The success of each EOR process, the impact of oil type and reservoir rock were interpreted based
on the variations between initial and the produced oil viscosity, density, and SARA (Saturates, Aromatics,
Resins, and Asphaltenes) fraction content.
Hydrocarbon composition of initial and produced oil samples was compared using Gas Chromatography-
Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS). The differences in the molecular signatures were analyzed by a Fourier
Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy on initial and produced oil samples. GCMS analyses of initial oil
samples indicated the biodegradation of the two crude oils were different and they showed high (low lighter
component content) and slight (high lighter component content) biodegradation. In terms of produced oil
quality, highly biodegraded oil sample responded to ISC better than the slightly biodegraded oil sample.
Steam processes upgraded the highly biodegraded oil for the reservoir without clay.
Thermal EOR methods are costly especially at the current price environment. Furthermore, because of the
differences in the response of different thermal EOR methods to different reservoirs due to compositional
variations in reservoir oil and rock, the thermal EOR methods are not widely applied. Our study is a step
taken to improve the existing screening criteria tables to determine the successful thermal EOR candidates
through inclusion of oil and rock compositions.
2 SPE-190026-MS

Introduction
There are approximately 3.4 trillion barrels of original oil in place known as heavy oil accumulation and
around 5.5 trillion barrels of oil originally in place known as bitumen. These resources are distributed in
192 basins containing heavy oil and 89 basins with natural bitumen around the world (Meyer et al. 2007).
The largest accumulations are in Canada (3 trillion bbls) and Venezuela (2 trillion bbls) (Farouq Ali 2003).

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Extraction of heavy oil and bitumen is difficult due to low API gravity and high viscosity (McCollum and
Quick 1977; Prats 1982). Viscosity is highly temperature sensitive, as temperature increases the viscosity
of the oils decreases drastically (Bird et al. 1960). Thermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods offer
the most effective extraction choice for the vast high viscosity oil resources (Green and Willhite 1998;
Prats 1982). However, especially at the current low oil price environment and due to complexity of these
methods, thermal EOR methods lose their popularity (Ismail et al. 2016). To reduce the complexity of
these processes, laboratory trials are suggested which increase the cost of the process and interpretation of
the experimental results requires expertise (Burger et al. 1985; Sarathi 1998). To reduce the cost and for
practical purposes, prior to application of any EOR method, some screening criteria tables are applied (Al
Adasani and Bai 2011; Taber et al. 1997a; Turta et al. 2000). Nevertheless, limited experience in thermal
EOR applications often results in failures for many fields (Alvarado and Manrique 2010). The main reason
for operational failures in estimation of the real field performance of thermal EOR is that most only consider
physical properties (depth, porosity, permeability, initial oil saturation etc.) of reservoir rock and fluids (Al-
Adasani and Bai 2010; Taber et al. 1997a, 1997b). Successful application of thermal EOR is controlled
primarily by the chemical composition of reservoir rock and fluids; as the temperature of the thermal EOR
method increases, the chemical reactions become more important (Hascakir 2015; Mukhametshina et al.
2014; Stape et al. 2016). Thus, it is critical to extend the existing screening criteria tables to include the
impact of reservoir rock and fluids compositions.
Crude oils are complex hydrocarbon mixtures (Fernandez-Lima et al. 2009; Lewis 1934; Speight 1999)
making it impractical to determine every single molecule in crude oils (McCain 1973). There are several
grouping methods applied to simplify the characterization of hydrocarbons present in crude oils (Bae
1977; Speight 1999). SARA (Saturates, Aromatics, Resins, and Asphaltenes) fractionation is one the most
common grouping techniques which categorizes the crude oil compositions under four subgroups based on
their solubility in different solvents (ASTM 2011; Jewell et al. 1972). There are several SARA fractionation
methods reported in the literature (Fernandez-Lima et al. 2009; Lewis 1934; Speight 1999). Most of them
start by separating asphaltenes first from crude oil by using an asphaltenes insoluble solvent (normal
alkanes) (Bissada et al. 2016; Coelho et al. 2017; Fan et al. 2002; Mullins 2008; Punase and Hascakir 2016).
Another method which gives important and diagnostic information on oil composition is the
determination of petroleum origin by using Gas Chromatography (GC) (Al Atwah et al. 2017; Peters et al.
2005). Gas Chromatography equipped with Flame Ionization Detector (GC-FID) is a common analytical
technique used to qualitatively determine the saturated hydrocarbons (mainly normal, branched, and cyclic
alkanes) present in crude oils. The overall distribution of alkanes (the alkanes envelope) offers insight
into crude-oil source, maturity, and the level of biodegradation (Kaufman 1990; Slentz 1981; Thompson
1983). For example, bimodal distribution of normal alkanes which maximize at around nC-27-29 and nC-31
represents a typical fingerprint of terrigenous higher-plant kerogen (Eglinton and Hamilton 1967). GC-FID
technique alone can be challenging to characterize heavily-biodegraded or low maturity hydrocarbons, a
combination of GC-FID and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectroscopy (GC-MS) is advisable especially for
biodegraded or low maturity fluids (Peters et al. 2005).
Gas Chromatography equipped with Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) is a more sensitive and selective
analytical tool, providing intuition into crude oil composition by revealing the biomarkers composition.
Biomarkers, are chemical fossils that usually consist of cyclic hydrocarbons found in crude-oil which can
be linked to a specific biological precursor compound (Eglinton and Calvin 1967; Peters et al. 2005).
SPE-190026-MS 3

Geochemists use biomarkers as tool in both petroleum exploration and production, such as to generate
crude-oil source-rock correlation and to find production allocation (Al Atwah et al. 2017; Peters and Fowler
2002). Biomarkers also can be used as a tool to investigate the extent of biodegradation level of severely
biodegraded crude oils (Larter et al. 2012; Peters and Moldowan 1993).
This manuscript, first, analyzes the responses of different reservoirs to different thermal EOR methods
experimentally. The relationship of the oil kerogen-origin, thermal maturity, and secondary alteration

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processes to the success of thermal EOR methods is investigated through integration of crude oil
composition and diagnostic biomarker signatures. The objective is to extend the existing EOR screening
tools by including the role of crude oils composition to increase the successful application of thermal EOR
methods.

Materials and Methods

Previously, Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), In-situ combustion (ISC), steam flooding, hotwater
flooding, and steam/solvent flooding experiments were conducted on four different crude oil samples
from Canada, Mexico, and USA. The results of those experimental studies were reported before (Coelho
2016; Coelho and Hascakir 2015; Coelho et al. 2017; Kozlowski et al. 2015; Kudryavtsev and Hascakir
2014; Mukhametshina and Hascakir 2014; Mukhametshina et al. 2014; Stape et al. 2016). The physical
characterization of crude oils which were subjected to several different EOR methods is given in Table 1.
API gravity and viscosity of the crude oils were determined by following ASTM D4052-16 and ASTM
D4889 methods, respectively (ASTM 2015, 2016). SARA fractionation is based on ASTM-D2007-11
(ASTM 2011) which uses n-pentane to separate asphaltenes first (Speight 1999).

Table 1—Physical characterization of crude oil samples used in EOR experiments (Punase and Hascakir 2016)

It is clear that initial oil composition varied across the total 4 crude oil samples listed in Table 1. The
chemical composition of crude oils was determined by using several different techniques. Fourier Transform
InfraRed (FTIR) analysis of the initial oil samples are given in Figure A-1 in the appendix section. Peaks at
2953, 2924 and 2853 cm-1 indicate CH aliphatic stretches while peaks at 1458 and 1376 cm-1 are because of
CH2 and CH3 bends (Morrow et al. 2014). Heteroatoms like sulfur and chlorine are indicated by small peaks
in the fingerprint region between 1000 and 600 cm-1 (Coates 2000). Comparing all the FTIR graphs given
in Figure A-1, Oil2, Oil3, and Oil4 shows higher peaks in the fingerprint region (1000 - 600 cm-1) which
indicates higher heteroatom content. Heteroatoms (elements other than hydrogen and carbon) are expected
to be mainly in asphaltenes fractions. Because Oil2, Oil3, and Oil4 have higher asphaltene content than Oil1
(Table 1), it is also expected from these three oil samples to have higher heteroatom content.
The crude oil compositions were also determined using Agilent 7890B gas chromatograph (GC) equipped
with flame ionization detector (FID). Chromatographic separations were achieved using a DB-1 fused silica
(30 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm) capillary column at a flow rate of 1.3ml/min and temperature programming
held at 35°C for 2 minutes then ramped to 375°C at 2°C/min. The analysis was performed under split
injection mode with a 50:1 ratio. This analysis provides overall abundance of light hydrocarbons, n-alkanes
and isoprenoids.
4 SPE-190026-MS

Saturates and aromatics fractions of the crude oil samples were analyzed using Agilent 7890B gas
chromatograph (GC) interfaced to an Agilent 5977A mass spectrometer detector (GC-MS), with a DB-1
fused silica (60 m × 0.25 mm × 0.25 µm) capillary column with helium as a carrier gas. The GC-MS oven
was temperature programmed at an initial temperature of 35 °C for 2 minutes and increased at a rate of
2°C/minute to 80°C, then 3°C/minute from 80°C to 320°C, followed by 15 minutes at 320°C. Analysis was
carried out using 70 eV ionization potential. GC/MS data were acquired in single ion monitoring (SIM)

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mode with 50 – 100 msec dwell times for ions of interest. Cycle time was approximately 0.7s. Compound
ratios were calculated directly from peak areas or peak heights of targeted-biomarkers. This analysis was
used to determine distribution of terpane and sterane biomarkers, together with the presence of aromatics
compounds.
The physical and chemical analyses of the crude oil samples were then used to extend the existing
screening criteria tables for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods. On different crude oil samples,
the feasibility of in-situ combustion (ISC), steam flooding, steam assisted gravity drainage (SAGD),
miscible flooding, immiscible flooding, solvent-steam flooding, and solvent-SAGD was investigated with
21 different laboratory-scale EOR experiments on four different crude oil samples.
In all EOR experiments, 20-40 mesh size Ottawa Sand was used to prepare the reservoir rock. In some
experiments, the impact of clay presence in the reservoir rock was examined, hence, the reservoir rock for
those experiments was prepared by blending 97:3 weight ratios sand:clay. As clay, a kaolinite and illite
mixture was used. The porosity of the reservoir rock with sand was measured 39.1% and with sand and clay
was measured 32%. The pore space was filled with 60% of crude oil and 40% of deionized water for most of
the 21 EOR experiments that were conducted. Table 2 summarizes the initial and experimental conditions
of the EOR experiments.

Table 2—Initial and experimental conditions for EOR experiments (Coelho 2016; Coelho
and Hascakir 2015; Coelho et al. 2017; Kozlowski et al. 2015; Kudryavtsev and Hascakir
2014; Mukhametshina and Hascakir 2014; Mukhametshina et al. 2014; Stape et al. 2016)
SPE-190026-MS 5

The cumulative fluid (oil/water/gas/solvent/etc.) production and temperature profiles data were collected
and analyzed to determine the success of each EOR method. At the end of each experiment, produced oil
samples were characterized to observe the chemical changes in crude oil structures.

Results and Discussions

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The total experimental time and the cumulative oil recovery for all EOR experiments are compared in
Figure 1. In-situ combustion (ISC) yielded the greatest oil recovery with the shortest experiment time. Clay
presence in the sand mixture affected the overall recovery of ISC (E1 to E6 experiments in Table 2). This
is due to varying reactions causing higher carbon dioxide production (Kozlowski et al. 2015). The second
most affective thermal EOR methods are steam injection and steam-solvent injection (SSF). The greatest oil
recovery is about 52% for propane-steam injection with 9:1 (solvent-to-steam) ratio. Adding clay, decreases
oil recovery to 30%. Similarly, oil recovery was decreased from 34% to 21% with clay additions for steam
injection. For SAGD and solvent-SAGD (ES-SAGD), oil recovery from SAGD alone was the lowest, 32%.
Adding n-hexane as a solvent increases the recovery to 36% while combining nhexane with toluene resulted
in the highest recovery of 45%. Oil recovery from miscible flooding was reported the lowest among EOR
methods that applied to heavy oil.

Figure 1—The total experimental time versus the cumulative oil recovery comparisons for all EOR
experiments (refer to Table 2 for EOR types and experimental conditions used in each experiment)

Along with oil composition variation, the stage of biodegradation level also varied (Table 3).

Table 3—Initial crude-oil biodegradation rank, scale with explaining the stage of biomarkers degradation (Peters and Moldowan, 1993)

Based on saturates and aromatics compounds, the crude oils can be classified into three main groups
(Figure 2). The first group consists of Oil2. This sample represent non-biodegraded oil, which can be
6 SPE-190026-MS

characterized by full preservation of n-alkanes clearly evident in their chromatograms (Figure A-2 in
the appendix section). The second group consists of samples Oil3 and Oil1. These samples represent
moderate biodegradation signatures based on the PM biodegradation scale (Peters and Moldowan 1993).
The evidence of moderate degradation of the second group include the preservation of diasteranes, while
partial degradation of regular sterane biomarkers, such as C27 αα 20R cholestane, C28 αα 20R ergostane
and C29 αα 20R stigmastane. Lastly, the third oil group exhibited the heaviest biodegradation rank, this

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includes sample Oil4. These oils are characterized by the degradation of sterane, and partial degradation
of diasterane and terpane biomarkers.

Figure 2—Biodegradation-sensitive biomarker ratios showing three major curde-oil groups ranging from
non-biodegraded to heavily-biodegraded samples, Steranes ratio: C27 βα 20S+20R diacholestane/(C27
βα 20S+20R diacholestane + C27 αα 20S+20R & ββ 20S+20R cholestane), Terpane ratio: C24 tetracyclic
terpane/C30 17α-hopane, Hopane ratio: C29 17α 25-norhopane/C30 17α-hopane (Peters and Moldowan 1993)

Table 4 compares key biomarker ratios that are sensitive to organic-matter source and secondary
alteration processes. It is apparent that isoprenoid to n-alkane ratios (i.e. pristane and n-C17; phytane
and n-C18) are lower for non-biodegraded oil sample where there is a relative abundance of n-alkanes
compared with isoprenoids. These ratios from GC-FID data are primarily a way to separate between non-
biodegraded and biodegraded samples. The GC-MS technique provides more diagnostic information to
classify biodegradation status using diagnostic ratios or biodegradation scale (Peters and Moldowan 1993).
As shown in Figure 2, the key biomarker ratios helped delineate the biodegradation level and the overall
oil grouping

Table 4—Key biomarker ratios that are sensitive to crude oil biodegradation and thermal maturity (Peters et al. 2005)
SPE-190026-MS 7

Clay minerals in source rock play a major role in the diagenetic reactions and the composition of generated
hydrocarbon (Espitalie et al. 1980; Espitalié et al. 1984; Johns and Shimoyama 1972). More importantly,
clay minerals in the source rock can act as a catalyst influencing the kinetics of hydrocarbon generation
(Johns 1979). In this study, we looked for clay sensitive biomarkers such as diasterane biomarkers, which
tend to be enriched as a function of the relative amount of organic-matter to clay content (van Kaam-Peters
et al. 1998). Table 4 shows the diasterane/sterane ratio which can be used as a proxy to infer if the oil sample

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was generated from clay-rich kerogen or clay-poor kerogen (Wang et al. 2015). The ramifications of this
ratio is significant when used as a screening criteria to determine EOR success and recovery improvement.
Crude-oil thermal maturity and secondary alteration processes can hinder the oil quality resulting in heavy
crude-oil. The latter is very likely to affect the composition of heavy crude-oil, and hence, its bulk physical
properties is affected. Heavy crude oil can result from microbial biodegradation, low thermal maturation,
water washing and evaporative fractionation with the loss of light hydrocarbon (Talukdar et al. 1990). Most
importantly is biodegradation as it seems to affect most of the examined crude-oil samples, except Oil2.
Biodegradation at the molecular level is considered a quasi-stepwise process, therefore, biodegradation
consume n-alkanes followed by saturates then aromatic biomarkers (Peters and Moldowan 1993). The
biodegradation scale reflects the sequence of compound degradation that is observed from subsurface
degraded oil samples at different biodegradation stages (Peters et al. 2005; Wenger et al. 2002). Heavily
biodegraded samples such as Oil4 is usually depleted in saturate and aromatic compounds, while enriched in
polar compounds such as NSO and asphaltenes (Table 1). However, not all heavy crude-oils are biodegraded,
in this study, the non-biodegraded heavy crudes are likely due to low thermal maturity as indicated from
maturity ratios of monoaromatic and triaromatic steroids (Table 4). The nonbiodegraded oil exhibit ratios of
0.31 for triaromatic steroid hydrocarbons (TAS) and 0.41 for monoaromatic steroid hydrocarbons (MAS),
suggesting low maturity crude oil reflecting early expulsion pulses of heavily generated hydrocarbons from
the source rock (Peters et al. 2005). Therefore, understating crude-oil composition at the molecular level
can help with providing a valuable insight with regards to EOR screening criteria.
Chemical composition including normal alkanes and isoprenoid together with saturate and aromatic
biomarkers showed some correlation with different EOR experiments. The heavily biodegraded sample
(Oil4) has an API degree of 8.19 and mostly enriched in asphaltenes (Table 1). The best EOR experiment
resulting in high oil recovery is E15 (at 80%) used in-situ combustion (ISC) with the presence of clays, as
indicated in Table 2 and Figure 1. Table 2 and Figure 1 suggest that ISC is the most effect EOR method
with the presence of clay. Therefore, we suggest that asphaltene and resins cracking using ISC with clays
is the preferred EOR method for use with heavily biodegraded oils. Also, Oil4 exhibited a high disterane
to regular sterane ratio (0.79) which is usually used as a proxy to estimate original kerogen clay presence
Additionally, ISC experiment on moderately biodegraded sample Oil3 and non-biodegraded sample Oil2
did not show significate improvement with clays, in fact Oil2 showed a drop of 2% with the addition of clay.
Interestingly, this observation corresponds with low diasterane to regular sterane biomarkers ratio which
ranged from 0.11-0.21 (Table 4). Table 5 shows the screening criteria for in-situ combustion for heavy crude
oils with different biodegradation stage.
8 SPE-190026-MS

Table 5—Screening criteria table for in-situ combustion EOR for crude oils with different biodegradation stage

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Table 6 shows the heavily-biodegraded oils (Oil4) screening criteria. Other EOR techniques could be
more effective than ISC for non-biodegraded oils, we believe that the presence and preservation of n-alkanes
in these samples points to choosing a well-suited solvent type might result in an enhanced recovery.

Table 6—Screening criteria Table for Heavily-biodegraded oils (Oil4)

SPE-190026-MS 9

Conclusions
Successful EOR screening criteria necessitates including molecular composition in addition to traditional
characterization (SARA, API gravity, viscosity) to mitigate risk. In this study, we examined molecular
composition by measuring n-alkanes, isoprenoids, saturate and aromatic biomarkers. With the objective
to integrate and understand the role that those molecular indicators have on different EOR experiments,

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the composition of four different heavy crudes was determined. Based on the biomarker results, oils were
grouped based on biodegradation stage. We found heavily biodegraded oil is best treated with ISC in the
presence of clay. Clay sensitive biomarker ratios appear to reflect the effectiveness of using clay during ISC
technique; a high diasterane ratio suggests the use of clay would improve oil recovery. A low diasterane ratio
would indicate that clay should not be added as it could hinder recovery especially with non-biodegraded
oils. While most currently used EOR screening criteria tables relay heavily on bulk physical properties, this
study highlights the value that chemical composition can add to improve EOR screening parameters.

Acknowledgement
We acknowledge the financial support and the opportunity provided by the Heavy Oil, Oil shales, Oil
sands, & Carbonate Analysis and Recovery Methods (HOCAM) Research Team at Texas A&M University,
Petroleum Engineering Department. We also acknowledge Geochemical & Environmental Research Group
at Texas A&M for their support to collect gas chromatography results.

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Figure A-1—FTIR spectra of bulk oil samples

Appendix
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distribution, Pr: pristane, Ph: phytane, UCM: unresolved complex mixture

Figure A-2—GC-FID chromatograms showing overall normal alkanes
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