DOE - Fossil Energy Techline - Issued on:  October 26, 1998

DOE Selects Six Universities to Advance Oil Recovery Technologies, Boost Domestic Oil Production

Projects are Fourth Group Selected from Five Major Energy Department Petroleum Research Competitions

Heavy Oil Recovery - Heavy oil is thick and resistant to movement. By heating the oil with steam to reduce its viscosity and make it flow more easily, nearly 600,000 barrels per day are produced in the United States. However, steam flooding and other heavy oil recovery processes lack efficient sweep -- the ability to move oil through the individual rock pores and along reservoir flow pathways. Improved ability to model and simulate oil flow is needed to design more efficient recovery processes using foams and additives, and in conjunction with horizontal wells.

• University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
  Lead Researcher: Yanis Yortsos, 213-740-0317

  Project: Investigation of Multiscale and Multiphase Flow, Transport and Reaction in Heavy Oil Recovery Processes - DOE will provide the University of Southern California with $790,000 to investigate the effects of heavy oil recovery process interactions on reservoir fluid flow and their impact on production. Interactions to be examined include oil-gas-water flow, gravity drainage, condensation, vaporization, and the formation and movement of combustion fronts and steam foams in various recovery processes. Flow efficiencies of these mechanisms at the rock pore scale and in the larger reservoir flow pathways will provide a measure of overall process efficiency. Successful completion of this research is expected to improve aspects of heavy oil recovery, including the optimization of steam foams, production of oils with foamy oil behavior, and of heavy oils from fractured reservoirs, and the design of both steam injection processes with horizontal wells and in-situ combustion processes in reservoirs with discontinuous oil-bearing horizons. The University will provide cost sharing of $198,000.

Novel Processes - Novel Processes are those which do not fit into the general area of Gas, Chemical or Microbial Flooding, Heavy Oil Recovery or Reservoir Simulation. Some processes which are now accepted as standard were, early in their development, considered as novel-horizontal drilling, carbon dioxide and steam flooding. Additionally, innovative combinations of current oil recovery processes may be considered novel processes.

• University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
  Lead Researcher: Dr. Michael L. Wiggins, 405-325-6781

  Project: Development of Reservoir Characterization in Techniques and Production Models for Exploiting Naturally Fractured Reservoirs - DOE will provide the University of Oklahoma with $763,000 to develop methods for systematically collecting detailed information on oil reservoirs that can be used to implement strategies for more efficient well placement and enhanced oil recovery projects in naturally fractured reservoir systems. The University anticipates participation by a number of major and independent oil companies in providing reservoir data and wells for field testing, and establishing a pilot field study for transfer of the technology developed in the project. The Oklahoma researchers will incorporate the systematic procedure for characterizing fracture systems in a reservoir and horizontal well simulator model, which will be used to select well locations and effective EOR processes that will optimize the recovery of the oil and gas reserves from such complex reservoirs. The University of Oklahoma will provide $226,000 cost sharing.

Chemical Flooding - Chemical flooding involves the addition of chemicals -- usually surfactants or polymers -- to a reservoir waterflood. Surfactants, which are partially soluble in both water and oil, reduce the tension between the two fluids, making it easier for the oil to flow through the reservoir rock pores. Polymers, on the other hand, are used to thicken and increase the viscosity of the injected water so that it can more easily "sweep" the oil through the reservoir to a production well. The polymers can also act to control reservoir fluid flow by forming gels to plug the more permeable zones and redirect the waterflood to areas from which the oil has not been recovered. DOE supports continued research in chemical flooding because of the high recovery potential of these methods for both large and small producers.

• University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc., Lawrence, KS
  Lead Researcher: Dr. Paul Willhite, 785-864-2906

  Project: Increased Oil Recovery From Mature Oil Fields Using Gelled Polymer Treatmentsprocess. The effect of the aggregates on gel placement will be modeled so that design of the treatments can be made more reliable. Development of successful treatments will provide oil operators with important cost savings, since water production commonly represents a significant portion of oil field operational expenses. The University of Kansas will provide $712,000 cost sharing.unrecoverable"

Microbial Flooding - Microbial flooding techniques consist of injecting microbes into a waterflooded reservoir to generate surfactants, polymers or gases which interact with the oil, reservoir fluids and rock to increase oil recovery by either decreasing the viscosity of the oil to facilitate its flow, or by blocking reservoir zones with gels to redirect the waterflood to areas of the reservoir that still contain recoverable oil. These techniques have good potential for recovering oil, particularly for smaller independent producers, as they are relatively inexpensive and easy to apply.

• Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS
  Lead Researcher: Dr. Lewis R. Brown, 601-325-7593

  Project: Augmenting a Microbial Selective Plugging Technique with Polymer Flooding to Increase the Efficiency of Oil Recovery - a Search for Synergycost-effective process for recovering oil that is otherwise unrecoverable by present day technology. Mississippi State University will provide $187,000 cost sharing. category, and almost 45 percent of this oil has already been permanently abandoned.

  The projects draw on the expertise of several top university petroleum engineering departments across the country:

  Gas Flooding<> - Oil recovery by gas flooding consists of injecting gas -- generally carbon dioxide, natural gas or flue gas -- into a reservoir, usually in conjunction with a waterflood. The gas mixes and interacts with the oil to reduce the oil's viscosity, facilitating its ability to flow. Overall, recovery by gas flooding is low. Although production from miscible carbon dioxide (CO2) flooding has increased to over 170,000 barrels per day, CO2 recovery efficiency is still in the low 10-20% range, and the amount of CO2 used is high. Barriers to higher recovery rates include the low viscosity of the gas, especially miscible CO2, that affects "sweep" efficiency, and the minimum pressure required to effect mixture of the gas with the oil, which is difficult to maintain in shallow reservoirs.

  • The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas
    Lead Researcher: Dr. William R. Rossen, 512-471-3246

    Project: Development of More-Efficient Gas Flooding Applicable to Shallow Reservoirs - DOE will provide The University of Texas at Austin with $888,000 to enhance the performance of gas flooding processes by improving both the gas/oil mixing reaction and gas "sweep" -- the ability of gas to move oil through the reservoir. To improve process designs, the researchers will perform highly detailed, accurate simulations to determine how reservoir fluid dispersion and crossflow affect the mixing of oil with gas that has been enriched with oil-miscible components, and assess the advantages of various alternating water and gas injection strategies in combination with foams and foam-polymer or foam-surfactant mixtures. The University of Texas will provide $245,000 cost sharing.

  - End of TechLine -

  For more information, contact:
  Hattie Wolfe, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Fossil Energy Headquarters, (202)586-6503; e-mail address: hattie.wolfe@hq.doe.gov

  Technical Contact:
  Herb Tiedemann, Technology Transfer Officer, National Petroleum Technology Office, (918)699-2017; e-mail address: htiedema@npto.doe.gov

  >< STRONG>Stanford University, Stanford, CA, will extend reservoir simulation capabilities to include analysis of nonstandard wells, incorporating improvements in an existing simulator to provide quick assessment of nonstandard well performance and real-time drill bit guidance while drilling;

  • University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, will determine how interactions that occur during heavy oil recovery affect reservoir fluid flow and assess their impact on production to improve aspects of heavy oil recovery;

  • University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, will develop methods for collecting detailed information on oil reservoirs that can lead to better strategies for more efficient well placement and enhanced oil recovery projects in naturally fractured reservoirs;

  • University of Kansas Center for Research, Lawrence, KS, will improve the performance of polymer gels used with waterflooding to modify reservoir fluid flow paths and improve waterflood efficiency.

  • Mississippi State University, Mississippi State, MS, will improve the selective redirection of reservoir fluid flow using combined microbial and polymer technologies;

  • The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, will improve the performance of gas flooding processes, using computer simulation studies to examine ways to increase gas/oil mixing, enhance the efficiency of the process to sweep left-behind oil out of the reservoir, and assess water-gas injection techniques.

  The six research teams will receive $5.5 million in federal petroleum research funds from DOE's Office of Fossil Energy and will provide $2.2 million in cost sharing. Projects will typically last from three to six years.

  The selections mark the completion of the fourth of five major petroleum-related competitions announced last March by DOE's National Petroleum Technology Office in Tulsa, Oklahoma. In the last several weeks, DOE has announced new research projects for improved oil prospecting technologies, environmentally cleaner oil refining, and advanced diagnostics and imaging systems.

  These competitions are intended to provide a vital segment of DOE's oil research program for the next several years. Technologies emerging from these projects will be transferred to the nation's oil producers, particularly to assist the smaller independent operators in recovering their increasingly larger share of domestic oil production.

  With oil prices expected to remain at current levels for some time, it will be increasingly important for oil operators to minimize their operational costs. New approaches to producing crude oil -- including reservoir modeling, data gathering and process design - can contribute significantly to reducing costs and increasing operational efficiency, especially in marginally producing fields where costs are proportionally higher.

  One project was selected in each of the six technical topics included in the production research category:

  Reservoir Simulation - Computer simulation is used to model oil recovery processes under varying conditions, using either default data or reservoir specific information obtained in the field. Simulation provides cost-effective computer models needed to design the best recovery methods, making costly and time-consuming trial-by-error field operation unnecessary. Realistic simulation requires accurate, detailed descriptions of reservoir rocks, fluids and their interactions at scales ranging from rock pore size to the reservoir scale of between-well flow paths. An additional complication is the recent spreading of "nonstandard" well types -- such as horizontal and multilateral -- which has increased the difficulty of simulation because of their more complex geometry.

  • Stanford University, Stanford, CA
    Lead Researcher: Dr. Lou Durlofsky, 650-723-4142

    Project: Advanced Techniques for Reservoir Simulation and Modeling of Nonconventional Wellsprovide real-time optimization of well path and length, which would result in significant cost reductions for nonstandard wells. Stanford will supply $605,000 cost sharing.