Agenda
Tuesday, June 15
Mohamed Al Marzouqi
Senior Vice President
Development Function
ADNOC
cEOR has been around since the 1960s. Thousands of papers were published, many field tests of cEOR were performed, and cEOR was implemented in a number of fields. Despite all of these activities, cEOR only contributes less than 1 % to the total world oil production. However, in the last couple of years, a growing number of cEOR projects were sanctioned on almost all continents. What is new in cEOR that leads to the increasing interest in the application of the technology? This session will shed some light on the latest advances, the development of new chemicals for EOR, new applications of cEOR, the use of cEOR in different rock lithologies, the application of digital technologies, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to reduced uncertainty and risk of cEOR applications.
Lessons learnt from the field case studies will help bridge the gap between theory and practice in a range of real-world cEOR techniques. The key to an effective enhanced oil recovery project is to anticipate the differences between the plans and the realities on the field. The case studies cover practical problems, underlying theoretical and modelling methods, operational parameters, solutions and sensitivity studies, and performance optimisation strategies.
This session intends to bring about the key lessons learnt by the experts, the main technical and operational challenges in designing and implementation cEOR pilots, modelling and simulation of cEOR projects. Other topics covered in this session such as the key aspects for EOR scalability from pilot to full field implementation, the challenges in monitoring and surveillances, and the parameters of flow assurance, and conformation of well treatment.
Proper reservoir conformance implementation results in better volumetric sweep, reduction of excess water production and accelerated oil and gas production in most cases. Growing challenges of curbing water production and stricter environmental enforcement on water disposals worldwide are pushing companies for identifying environment friendly conformance solutions to reduce project OPEX, Carbon footprint and deliver sustainable solutions. To realise this goal, advancements in AI/ML techniques could contribute as one of the more novel option to develop screening algorithms to aid the implementation of relevant conformance strategies. This session aims to bring together topics and advances in reservoir conformance applications involving but not limited to the mitigation of water highways for clastics and carbonates, ‘green’ solutions for reservoir conformance, development in chemical systems (e.g. polymers, gels, foams etc.), gas conformance, role of AI/ML in conformance applications.
Wednesday, June 16
Ken Sorbie
Professor
Institute of GeoEnergy Engineering
Heriot-Watt University
Bringing EOR from small scale pilots to full field implementation still raises many challenges in the oil and gas industry. Designing and conceiving fit-for-purpose facilities at accessible costs and delivering them with a clear de-risking and operational strategy will be key for the industry to move towards large scale EOR implementation. This session will cover EOR developments strategies from polymer deployment, low salinity implementation to hybrid methods including low salinity and polymer, polymer and CO2, WAG and (A)SP. EOR pilots to full field developments will be addressed with the intent of sharing successful technological and operational concepts and advancements. What are the main operational challenges for cEOR and hybrid methods? How will back produced EOR fluids impact facilities? How to mitigate and safeguard asset integrity? What can we optimise to lower costs?
In the context of decreasing greenhouse gas emissions for limiting global warming, the energy intensity and the CO2 emissions of oil and gas production schemes is now part of the decision-making process. The energy consumption and the CO2 footprint of the different recovery techniques can be quantified by exergy balance and life cycle assessment of the chemicals used. By accelerating and increasing the oil recovery, cEOR techniques can lead to better economics and a more sustainable recovery. Reservoir management and development would be highly influenced by CO2 emission price. This session is dedicated to the potential benefits of EOR as low carbon footprint recovery technique.
The session covers laboratory and field studies on hybrid EOR methods where two or more EOR processes are combined to optimize their effectiveness in terms of oil recovery and cost. hybrid methods include combinations of chemicals (surfactants, polymers, and alkali), gases (CO2, N2, CH4, lean and rich hydrocarbons), low salinity waterflooding, and nanoparticles. The term hybrid could be also considered in a broader sense including other novel applications. The session is a great opportunity to learn from experts in industry and academia the latest breakthroughs in this hybrid EOR domain based on both laboratory results and field trials.