A New Strategy for Minimizing Precipitations during ASP Flooding in Carbonate Reservoirs

Authors: Khaled Abdalla Elraies, Shuaib Ahmed

Abstract:

A large quantity of world-s oil reserves exists in carbonate reservoirs. Carbonate reservoirs are very sensitive to chemical enhanced oil recovery process because of containing large amount of calcite, dolomite and calcium sulfate minerals. These minerals cause major obstacles during alkali-surfactant-polymer (ASP) flooding. Alkali reacts with these minerals and form undesired precipitations which plug effective porous openings, reduce permeability and cause scale occurrence at the wellbore. In this paper, a new chemical combination consists of acrylic acid and alkali was used to minimize precipitation problem during ASP flooding. A series of fluid-fluid compatibility tests were performed using acrylic acid and different concentrations of alkaline. Two types of alkalis namely; sodium carbonate and sodium metaborate were screened. As a result, the combination of acrylic acid and sodium carbonate was not effective in preventing calcium and magnesium precipitations. However, acrylic acid and sodium metaborate showed promising results for keeping all solutions without any precipitations. The ratio of acrylic acid to sodium metaborate of 0.7:1.0 was found to be optimum for achieving a compatible solution for 30 days at 80oC.

Keywords: Fluid-fluid compatibility test, Carbonate reservoirs, Precipitations and ASP flooding.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1329028

References:

[1] J. Vargo et al., "Alkaline-Surfactant-Polymer Flooding of the Cambridge Minnelusa Field," History, no. September, pp. 15-18, 2000.
[2] S. Liu, O. Oil, G. Corporation, R. F. Li, C. A. Miller, and G. J. Hirasaki, "Alkaline / Surfactant / Polymer Processes: Wide Range of Conditions for Good Recovery," SPE Journal, no. June, 2010.
[3] M. M. Ansarizad, "SP Alkaline S Surfactant Polymer Flood ding To R Revitalize e Oil Production from a Mature ater Flooded Field," Screening.
[4] D. B. Levitt, S. Dufour, G. Pope, D. Morel, and P. Gauer, "IPTC 14915 Design of an ASP flood in a High-Temperature , High-Salinity , Low- Permeability Carbonate," interactions, pp. 1-19, 2012.
[5] M. A. Bataweel and A. Texas, "SPE 143155 Alternatives to Minimize Scale Precipitation in Carbonate Cores Caused by Alkalis in ASP Flooding in High Salinity / High Temperature Applications," no. 1984, 2011.
[6] A. M. Al, H. A. Nasr, K. U. Raju, and S. Aramco, "SPE 80402 Scale Inhibitor Squeeze Treatment in a Tight Carbonate Reservoir - Problems and Solutions," Production, 2003.
[7] T. Larsen, P. Randhol, M. Lioliou, and I. C. E. Ht, "SPE 114045 Kinetics of CaCO 3 Scale Formation During Core Flooding," Pharmacia, 2008.
[8] S. P. E. Doe, "Spe/doe," Energy, 1990.
[9] V. Obiora, F. Fernartdez, W. Nofal, K. Fahd, and S. Arabia, "Alkaline Surfactant Polymer Formulation for Saudi Arabian Carbonate Reservoirs," Polymer, 1996.
[10] M. S. Zakaria, A. A. Yaacob, and U. Engineering, "SPE 109033 Meeting the Challenges in Alkaline Surfactant Pilot Project Implementation at Angsi," Water, 2007.
[11] K. A. Elraies, I. M. Tan, M. Awang, U. T. Petronas, M. T. Fathaddin, and U. Trisakti, "SPE 133004 A New Approach to Low-Cost , High Performance Chemical Flooding System," SPE Production And Operations, 2010.
[12] K. A. Elraies, I. M. Tan, and U. T. Petronas, "SPE 133005 Design and Application of a New Acid-Alkali-Surfactant Flooding Formulation for Malaysian Reservoirs," Society, 2010.
[13] K. Mohan, "SPE-129516-STU Alkaline Surfactant Flooding for Tight Carbonate Reservoirs," Society, no. October, pp. 4-7, 2009.
[14] A. Flaaten, Q. Nguyen, J. Zhang, H. Mohammadi, and G. Pope, "ASP Chemical Flooding Without the Need for Soft Water," Proceedings of SPE Annual Technical Conference and Exhibition, Sep. 2008.
[15] J. Zhang, Q. P. Nguyen, A. K. Flaaten, and G. A. Pope, "Mechanisms of Enhanced Natural Imbibition with Novel Chemicals," vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-12, 2008.