ABOUT THE COURSE

This 5-day course covers improved oil recovery processes including waterflooding and immiscible gas flooding and additionally, provides an overview of enhanced oil recovery processes such as miscible gas floods, steam injection processes and other thermal recovery mechanisms and enhanced gas recovery for coalbeds and organic gas shale reservoirs. 

The emphasis of this 40-hours course is on the reservoir engineering aspects of the improved oil recovery processes including description of the process mechanisms, recovery efficiencies and techniques for forecasting waterflood performance. A key aspect of the course is the use of streamline-based simulation to analyze, design and optimize waterflooding for improved recovery. Several case studies will be presented to enable a better understanding of the complex interplay between fluid properties, reservoir geology and recovery efficiency. Other topics include miscible fluid displacement with an emphasis on CO2 flooding, steam injection and polymer flooding. A portion of the course will be devoted to understanding recovery mechanisms in unconventional gas reservoirs such as coalbeds and organic shales and a description of enhanced gas recovery processes applicable to these. 

The course content will place equal emphasis on conceptual theory and in-class practical exercises and is targeted towards petroleum engineers desiring a strong fundamental understanding of improved oil recovery with a view to practicing this discipline in their respective careers. 

WHO SHOULD ATTEND

This course targets petroleum engineers who wish to understand and apply classical techniques and the latest approaches to analyze and design improved oil recovery processes. Experienced users who wish to refresh their knowledge of improved recovery techniques, especially with the aid of streamline-based approaches, will also find the course useful. 

COURSE CONTENT 

1. OVERVIEW OF IMPROVED RECOVERY TECHNIQUES 

• Introduction to oil reservoir recovery mechanisms and efficiencies
• Brief history of recovery methods and current status.
• Potential for improved and enhanced oil recovery.
• Waterflood recovery and heterogeneity.

2. WATERFLOOD PERFORMANCE PREDICTION - I

• Review of classical waterflood models.
• Buckley Leverett method for single and multi-layer systems.
• Dykstra Parsons method for waterflood performance assessment.
• Craig-Geffen-Morse method for waterflood performance assessment.

3. WATERFLOOD PERFORMANCE PREDICTION - II

• Types of waterflood and flood patterns.
• Influencing factors for pattern selection.
• Estimation of injection rates using steady and unsteady state equations.
• Limitation of mathematical approaches.

4. RECOVERY EFFICIENCY AND RESERVOIR MODELING 

• Definition of displacement, areal sweep and vertical sweep efficiency.
• Factors governing sweep efficiency.
• Estimating recovery efficiencies.
• In class exercises.

5. SIMULATION - BASED WATERFLOOD PERFORMANCE PREDICTION 

• Introduction to streamline simulation.
• Modeling waterfloods with streamlines.
• Allocation factors and pattern optimization with streamlines.
• Practice Workshop.

6. SINGLE WELL AND INTERWELL TRACER TESTS  

• Overview and potential for tracer tests.
• Conservative and Partitioning tracers.
• Interpretation of tracer tests.
• Field case study and modeling exercise.

7. OVERVIEW OF EOR METHODS

• Introduction to EOR.
• Potential for EOR worldwide.
• Discussion of EOR methods

8. MISCIBLE FLOODING  

• Net-Pay, How to Cut-Off.
• Types of gas flooding (hydrocarbon solvent, inert gas, CO2, flue gas and nitrogen injection).
• Miscible and immiscible gas floods.
• Phase behavior issues.
• VAPEX method for heavy oil recovery.
• PVT tests for assessment of the potential for miscible gas floods.
• Compositional modeling exercise for miscible gas floods.

9. THERMAL RECOVERY AND POLYMER FLOODING

• Potential and applications for thermal recovery and polymer floods.
• Hot water and steam injection including SAGD.
• Air injection.
• Recovery efficiencies

10. ENHANCED GAS RECOVERY

• Potential for enhanced gas recovery in unconventional reservoirs.
• Recovery mechanisms in coalbed methane and shale gas reservoirs.
• Factors influencing enhanced gas recovery processes.
• Modeling exercise for enhanced coalbed methane and shale gas recovery.