• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.16 no.3
• /
• pp.35-41
• /
• 2012

Manifold researches for carbon capture and storage (CCS) have been developed and large scale-carbon capture system can be performed recently. Hence, the technologies for $CO_2$ sequestration or storage become necessary to handle the captured $CO_2$. Among them, enhanced oil recovery using $CO_2$ can be a solution since it guarantees both oil recovery and $CO_2$ sequestration. In this study, the miscible flow of oil and $CO_2$ in porous media is modeled to analyze the effect of enhanced oil recovery and $CO_2$ sequestration. Based on Darcy-Muskat law, the equation is modified to consider miscibility of oil and $CO_2$ and the change of viscosity. Finite volume method is used for numerical modeling. As results, the pressure and oil saturation changes with time can be predicted when oil, water, and $CO_2$ are injected, respectively, and $CO_2$ injection is more efficient than water injection for oil recovery.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Mineral and Energy Resources Engineers
• /
• v.55 no.6
• /
• pp.660-669
• /
• 2018

Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is a method used to improve the recovery factor of remaining hydrocarbon in reservoir. Polymer and surfactant EOR techniques have limitations depending on reservoir or production conditions (temperature, salinity, etc.) because the polymer and surfactant are highly affected by the reservoir conditions. In this study, analysis of the current improvements to chemical substances and application technologies was performed based on recent research data. Conventional polymer is readily degraded by the conditions of high temperature and high salinity. Therefore, new polymers and injection techniques have been developed to remediate such problems. In addition, surfactant applicable to shale and carbonate reservoirs is developed as petroleum recovery expands to unconventional reservoirs. However, these chemical substances are not widely used in the current oil fields due to high costs. Therefore, further studies must be conducted to reduce the cost and thus increase the effectiveness of EOR techniques.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.27 no.3
• /
• pp.59-71
• /
• 2023

Carbon capture, and storage (CCS) is important for the reduction of greenhouse gases and achieving carbon neutrality. CCS focuses on storing captured CO₂ permanently in underground reservoirs. CO₂-enhanced oil recovery (CO₂-EOR) is one form of CCS, where CO₂ is injected into the underground to enhance oil recovery. CO₂-EOR not only aids in the extraction of residual oil but also contributes to carbon neutrality by storing CO₂ underground continuously. CO₂-EOR can be classified into miscible and immiscible methods, with the CO₂-water alternating gas (CO₂-WAG) technique being a representative approach within the miscible method. In CO₂-WAG, water and CO₂ are alternately injected into the reservoir, enabling oil production and CO₂ storage. The WAG method allows for controlling the breakthrough of injection fluids, providing advantages in oil recovery. It also induces hysteresis in relative permeability during the injection and production process, expanding the amount of trapped CO₂. In this study, the effects of enhancing oil recovery and storing CO₂ underground during CO₂-EOR were presented. Additionally, cases of CO₂-EOR application in relation to CCS were introduced.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
• /
• v.54 no.5
• /
• pp.606-611
• /
• 2016

Carbon dioxide injection is a widely known method of enhanced oil recovery (EOR). It is critical for the $CO_2$ EOR that the injected $CO_2$ to reach a condition fully miscible with oil. To reach the miscible point, a certain level of pressure is required, which is known as minimum miscibility pressure (MMP). In this study, a MMP prediction method using a process simulator is proposed. To validate the results of the simulation, those are compared to a slim tube experiment and several empirical correlations of previous literatures. Aspen HYSYS is utilized as the process simulator to create a model of $CO_2$/crude oil encounter. The results of the study show that the process simulator model is capable of predicting MMP and comparable to other published methods.

• 한국지구물리탐사학회:학술대회논문집
• /
• 2009.10a
• /
• pp.160-164
• /
• 2009

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
• /
• v.19 no.1
• /
• pp.37-44
• /
• 2016

$CO_2$-EOR (Carbon Dioxide-Enhanced Oil Recovery), one of the enhanced oil recovery methods, helps to not only enhance the production of oil, but also store carbon dioxide in underground. However, if micro fractures occur when during the injection of $CO_2$, it is difficult to make permanent storage of $CO_2$ in reservoir and can cause contamination of groundwater and soil. Therefore, in this study, we performed microseismic monitoring to investigate the occurrence of fractures during the $CO_2$ injection at the Meruap oil reservoir, Indonesia. To pick the first arrivals of microseismic events, Improved MER (Modified Energy Ratio) method was used. After picking the first arrivals, hodogram analysis was carried out by using the data recorded at three component geophones to calculate the back azimuth of events. Finally, locations of microseismic events were decided by using the results of first arrival picking and hodogram analysis. Estimated locations showed that all microseismic events were occurred at surface and any fracture did not occur around the reservoir. Moreover, by analyzing noise characteristic, we confirmed that almost of picked first arrivals were due to the repetitive mechanical noise.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
• /
• v.46 no.1
• /
• pp.51-61
• /
• 2013

Researches on the oil recovery enhancement using the nanotechnology has recently been studied in the United States. The previous researches has focused mainly on the flow characteristics of nanoparticles in porous media, and the stability of the nano-emulsion itself. However, the analysis did not deal with the size effects between a nano-emulsion and the pore size which has an important role when nano-emulsion flows in the porous media. In this research, nano-based emulsion was fabricated which is able to be applied for the enhanced oil recovery techniques and its characteristics was analyzed. In addition, in order to identify the characteristics of nano-emulsions flowing through the porous media, the size effect was analysed by filtering test. According to the results, when the emulsion was fabricated, SCA(Silane Coupling Agent) or PVA(Poly Vinyl Alcohol) are added to improve the stability of emulsion. As the ratio of the decane to water increased, the viscosity of emulsion and the droplet size also increased. For the filtering test at the atmospheric conditions, the droplet did not go through the filter; only the separated water from the emulsion was able to be filtered. This phenomenon occurred because the droplet was not able to overcome the capillary pressure. At the filtering test by suction pressure, most of the emulsion was filtered over the filter size of $60{\mu}m$. However, the ratio of filtration was rapidly degraded at less than $45{\mu}m$ filters. This is caused due to deformation and destruction of the droplet by strong shear stress when passing through the pore. The results from the study on the basic characteristic of nano-emulsion and filtering test will be expected to play as the important role for the fabrication of the stable nano-emulsion or the research on the recovery of residual oil in porous media.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.22 no.5
• /
• pp.53-61
• /
• 2018

Low-salinity water based polymerflooding (LSPF) is one of promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) method that has the synergetic effect of combining polymer injection method and low-salinity water injection method. In order to maximize EOR efficiency, it is essential to design low-salinity water appropriately considering the properties of polymer. In this aspect, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of pH and $SO_4{^{2-}}$ ion which one of PDI (Potential Determining Ion) on oil production when applying LSPF to carbonate oil reservoir. First, the stability and adsorption of polymer molecule were analyzed in different pH of injection water and $SO_4{^{2-}}$ concentration in injection water. As a result, regardless of pH and $SO_4{^{2-}}$ concentration, when $SO_4{^{2-}}$ ion was contained in injection water, the stability of polymer solution was obtained. However, from the result of polymer retention analysis, in neutral state of injection water, since $SO_4{^{2-}}$ interfered the adsorption of polymer, the adsorption thickness of polymer was thinner as $SO_4{^{2-}}$ concentration was higher. On the other hand, when injection water was acidic as pH 4, the amount of polymer adsorption increased with the injection of polymer solution, so the mobility of polymer solution was greatly lowered. From the results of wettability alteration due to low-salinity water effect, in the case of neutral injection water injected, as $SO_4{^{2-}}$ concentration was increased, more oil which attached on rock surface was detached, altering wettability from oil-wet to water-wet. On the other hand, in acidic condition, due to complex effect of rock dissolution and polymer adsorption, wettability of the entire core system was less altered relatively to neutral condition. Therefore, it was evaluated that better EOR efficiency was obtained when injecting low-salinity water based polymer solution containing high concentration of $SO_4{^{2-}}$ with neutral condition, enhancing the oil production up to 12.3% compared to low-salinity water injection method.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Gas
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.1-9
• /
• 2022

Selection of a suitable artificial lift is important in terms of efficient operation and economics for oil production. In general, process of well design includes the selection of artificial lift, but the oil recovery could be enhanced by use of hybrid system combined with two types of artificial lift method according to reservoir condition for oil production. Electric submersible pump (ESP), as a presentative artificial lift method, is a manner for supplying the pressure in the lower part of oil well by using of a multi-stage centrifugal pump with an electric energy. However, there is a disadvantage that has a limit to the application period because of mechanical defection on ESP. Accordingly, it is possible to reduce the shutdown time of production well by applying the ESP/Gas lift hybrid system, which is to switch to a gas lift when an ESP is defective. This study describes the effect of ESP/gas lift hybrid system compared with ESP method for a onshore horizontal well locating in the of Permian basin, USA. As a result of study, ESP/gas lift hybrid system could make more effective productivity than ESP method. Also, we quantitatively predicted how much economic benefit would be obtained when the hybrid system was applied in the production well.