Prediction of Asphaltene Precipitation during Pressure Depletion and CO2 Injection for Heavy Crude

Abstract

In this work, a thermodynamic approach is used for modeling the phase behavior of asphaltene precipitation. The precipitated asphaltene phase is represented by an improved solid model, and the oil and gas phases are modeled with an equation of state. The Peng-Robinson equation of state (PR-EOS) was used to perform flash calculations. Then, the onset point and the amount of precipitated asphaltene were predicted. A computer code based on the solid model was developed and used for predicting asphaltene precipitation data reported in the literature as well as the experimental data obtained from high-pressure, high-temperature asphaltene precipitation experiments performed on Sarvak reservoir crude, one of Iranian heavy oil reserves, under pressure depletion and CO₂ injection conditions. The model parameters, obtained from sensitivity analysis, were applied in the thermodynamic model. It has been found that the solid model results describe the experimental data reasonably well under pressure depletion conditions. Also, a significant improvement has been observed in predicting the asphaltene precipitation data under gas injection conditions. In particular, for the maximum value of asphaltene precipitation and for the trend of the curve after the peak point, good agreement was observed, which could not be found in the available literature.     

Experimental Study of Asphaltene Deposition During Different Production Mechanisms

Abstract

Sudden changes in key parameters such as pressure, temperature, and fluid composition may result in asphaltene precipitation and deposition, consequently reducing permeability and porosity as well as well injectivity and productivity. Sandstone cores of an Iranian reservoir were studied under high pressure and temperature. Asphaltene deposition was studied in recycled gas injection, CO₂ injection, and natural depletion experiments. The authors observed that these processes could be ranked for the deposition severity viewpoint in the aforementioned order. Qualitatively investigation of cores indicated nonuniform deposition of precipitated asphaltene along a flooded core and reducing deposition from entering core terminal to the core outlet.     

Asphaltene Deposition under CO2 Injection: An Experimental Study of the Bangestan Reservoir of Ahwaz Oilfield,SW Iran

Abstract

It is essential that precipitation of asphaltenes is recognized early in the planning stage of any CO₂ enhanced oil recovery (EOR) project so that appropriate testing can be performed to evaluate whether there will be a negative impact on reservoir performance. This article presents detailed evaluations of slim tube data that were obtained during CO₂ injection using a medium-gravity Iranian crude oil.

A crude oil from Bangestan reservoir of Ahwaz oilfield containing 18.2% asphaltenes with ~31.5 °API gravity was flooded by purified CO₂ (>96% CO₂) in a slim tube apparatus under 2,700 psi at 110°C. We were going to determine the minimum miscibility pressure (MMP) of the sample oil under injection of CO₂ flood, but when a CO₂ slim tube test was performed for this oil at 2,700 psi, less than half of the saturated oil in the tube was recovered, which implied that the displacement process was immiscible. At this pressure, the asphaltene deposition in the slim tube apparatus was so severe that even a pressure gradient of 6,200 lb/in² was not able to displace any fluid through the capillary tube. Therefore, we abandoned MMP determination with this sample and investigated the problem.

Due to the high percentage of asphaltenes in the sample, using the slim tube MMP as an apparatus for determining minimum miscibility pressure of CO₂ and sample oil can be misleading.     

The Impact of CO2 Injection and Pressure Changes on Asphaltene Molecular Weight Distribution in a Heavy Crude Oil: An Experimental Study

Abstract

This work concerns observing the pressure as well as CO₂ mole percentage effects on asphaltene molecular weight distributions at reservoir conditions. A high-pressure, high-temperature asphaltene measurement setup was applied, and the amount of precipitated asphaltene at different pressures as well as CO₂ mole percentage in an Iranian heavy crude oil was measured. Moreover, the asphaltene molecular weight distributions during titration of crude oil with different n-alkanes were investigated. The gel permeation chromatography (GPC) apparatus was used for characterization of asphaltene molecular weight under different conditions. It has been observed that some thermodynamic changes such as pressure depletion above the bubble point increase the average molecular weight of asphaltene and cause the asphaltene molecular weight distributions changes from a bimodal curve with two maxima to a single maxima curve. One the other hand, below the bubble point, pressure reduction causes a decrease in the average molecular weight of asphaltene and also causes the shape of asphaltene molecular weight distributions to restore, which might be due to dissolution of asphaltene aggregates. An interesting result is that asphaltene molecular weight distribution at the final step of pressure reduction tests, ambient condition, shows approximately the same trend as the distribution of asphaltene molecular weight obtained at reservoir condition. This behavior explains the reversibility of the asphaltene precipitation process under pressure depletion conditions. In the case of CO₂ injection, the graphs of asphaltene molecular weight distributions always show a single modal trend and shift toward larger molecular weight values when CO₂ mole percentage increases. The results of this work can be imported to thermodynamic models that use polydisperse data of heavy organic fractions to enhance their performance at reservoir conditions. The distributions obtained by this method are good indicators of asphaltene structures at reservoir conditions.     

Experimental and Modelling Investigations of Asphaltene Precipitation During Pressure Depletion and Gas Injection Operations

Asphaltene precipitation problems manifest themselves in different stages of oil reservoirs production. Experimental and modeling investigations are, therefore, employed as promising tools to assist in predictions of asphaltene precipitation problems and selection of proper production facilities. This study concerns experimental and modeling investigations of asphaltene precipitation during natural production and gas injection operations for a heavy Iranian crude oil at reservoir conditions. First, with design and performance of high pressure–high temperature experiments, asphaltene precipitation behavior is comprehensively investigated; the effects of pressure and temperature are fully studied during pressure depletion tests and the role of injection gas composition on precipitation is described in gas injection experiments. In the next stage, the obtained experimental results are fed into a commercial simulator to develop the asphaltene precipitation model. The results for the pressure depletion experiments indicate that the maximum amount of asphaltene precipitation takes place at fluid bubble point pressure. Increase in the temperature, as seen, causes to reduce the amount of precipitation for the entire range of pressures. For gas injection experiments, the onset of precipitation for CO₂, associated, and N₂ gases takes place at around 0.20, 0.28, and 0.50 gas to mixture mole ratios, respectively. Carbon dioxide shows the highest asphaltene precipitation values and nitrogen has the lowest amounts for the whole range of gas mole fractions. Finally, the results for modeling indicate successful asphaltene precipitation predictions for both pressure depletion and gas injection processes.     

The Effects of Miscible CO2 Injection on Oil Biomarker Parameters

The purpose of this research was to study the effect of CO₂ injection on the geochemistry of crude oil in order to determine the probability of using geochemical parameters for monitoring CO₂ injection. In this process, four oil samples from different offshore oil fields were collected, synthetic steady state oil reservoir (porous media) were made by slim tube apparatus, then CO₂ injection process was done in different pressures. Various geochemical analyses were also carried out on the injected oil before and after the injection. The results show that the bulky changes on oil sample by CO₂ injection. CO₂ injection is more likely to precipitate complex and large molecules such as asphaltenes-resins and also large normal alkanes. In this case, the percentage of aromatic molecules was increased during injection. In general view on chromatograms, the height and abundance of all saturated compound peaks after CO₂ injection were significantly decreased. However, biomarker analysis shows that CO₂ injection has a tendency to change source and maturity biomarker parameters.     

An Experimental Investigation of Asphaltene Precipitation During Natural Production of Heavy and Light Oil Reservoirs: The Role of Pressure and Temperature

Abstract

Many oil reservoirs encounter asphaltene precipitation as a major problem during natural production. In spite of numerous experimental studies, the effect of temperature on asphaltene precipitation during pressure depletion at reservoir conditions is still obscure in the literature. To study their asphaltene precipitation behavior at different temperatures, two Iranian light and heavy live oil samples were selected. First, different screening criteria were applied to evaluate asphaltene instability of the selected reservoirs using pressure, volume, and temperature data. Then, a high pressure, high temperature filtration (HPHT) setup was designed to investigate the asphaltene precipitation behavior of the crude samples throughout the pressure depletion process. The performed HPHT tests at different temperature levels provided valuable data and illuminated the role of temperature on precipitation. In the final stage, the obtained data were fed into a commercial simulator for modeling and predicting purposes of asphaltene precipitation at different conditions. The results of the instability analysis illustrated precipitation possibilities for both reservoirs which are in agreement with the oil field observations. It is observed from experimental results that by increasing the temperature, the amount of precipitated asphaltene in light oil will increase, although it decreases precipitation for the heavy crude. The role of temperature is shown to be more significant for the light crude and more illuminated at lower pressures for both crude oils. The results of thermodynamic modeling proved reliable applicability of the software for predicting asphaltene precipitation under pressure depletion conditions. This study attempts to reveal the complicated role of temperature changes on asphaltene precipitation behavior for different reservoir crudes during natural production.     

向油藏中注CO2时引起的沥青质沉淀研究

在充分调研国内外关于注CO2引起油藏中沥青质沉淀资料的基础上，对注CO2引起的沥青质沉淀的实验、数值模型的发展现状进行了概述，并比较了各种方法的优缺点，分析了注CO2引起的沥青质沉淀性质，并对今后注CO2引起油藏中沥青质沉淀的发展方向提出了建议。     

Prediction of Oil Recovery Factor in CO2 Injection Process

In this study, prediction of recovery factor (RF) for CO₂ injection into oil reservoirs based on artificial neural networks (ANNs) and mathematical models were investigated. To design the optimum ANN model, number of neurons, hidden layers, and training function were studied. Finally, efficiency of the models was evaluated using new data. As a result of this work, it can be concluded that it is possible to predict RF in CO₂ injection process by ANN and mathematical model. However, values that obtained from ANN were in the best agreement with the actual values than regression model. The proposed artificial neural network predicted RF during CO₂ injection with error about 0.396%.     

The Feasibility of Lab-scale Cyclic CO2 Injection in Fractured Porous Media

A comprehensive analysis of the CO₂ Huff-n-Puff process with application to representative light oil system contained within a fractured porous media is present in this article. To accomplish this work, a simulation model representative of the laboratory experimental model was built and constrained under similar laboratory conditions. Six sets of CO₂ Huff-n-Puff experiments were conducted at injection pressures of 1723–10342 kPa; moreover, additional sensitivity analysis was performed on the 5170 and 6894 kPa conditions for different permeability and porosity. Results of this study demonstrate that cyclic injection of CO₂ under miscible conditions performs more favorably than under immiscible injection conditions.     

Study on the blockage in pores due to asphaltene precipitation during different CO2 flooding schemes with NMR technique

CO₂ flooding is an effective way in the tertiary oil recovery. While asphaltene often precipitates from the crude oil during the CO₂ flooding, and the mechanisms of blockage resulting from asphaltene precipitation is still unclear in different CO₂ flooding schemes. In this work, pure-CO₂ flooding, water-alternating-CO₂ flooding (WAG), and CO₂-foam flooding were applied to conduct the core-flooding experiments. Then, as for each flooding scheme, we quantitatively investigated the blockage degree in different pores due to asphaltene precipitation with nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) technique. Tests results show that CO₂-foam flooding has a relatively higher blockage degree both in the smaller pores and the larger pores than WAG and pure-CO₂ flooding. Although pure-CO₂ flooding has the least asphaltene precipitation and blockage degree among three flooding schemes, its oil recovery degree is far less than the other two flooding schemes. Compared with pure-CO₂ flooding and CO₂-foam flooding, WAG flooding has the highest oil recovery and an acceptable asphaltene precipitation.     

The Application of a New Association Equation of State (AEOS) for Prediction of Asphaltenes and Resins Deposition During CO2 Gas Injection

Abstract

Asphaltene deposition is a serious problem that can cause fouling in the reservoir, well, pipeline, and the oil production and processing facilities. An association equation of state (AEOS) is one of the most useful models used to predict asphaltene phase behavior and asphaltene deposition conditions. For an AEOS, it is assumed that the total compressibility factor consists of physical and chemical parts. The authors apply the conventional form of compressibility factor developed by G. Soave (1972) Soave, G. 1972. Equilibrium constants from a modified Redlich-Kwong equation of state. Chem. Eng. Sci., 27: 1197–1203. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] to the physical compressibility factor. However, for the chemical compressibility factor a new form is proposed. The total compressibility factor obtained is then used to calculate the asphaltene and resin deposits. The amounts of deposited asphaltenes calculated through the proposed model along with the experimental results are used to calculate resin deposit. A comparison with the experimental results shows that the new proposed model can be used to predict the amounts of deposited resins and asphaltenes within an acceptable range of accuracy.     

Investigation of immiscible CO2 and C1 injection and comparison with water injection for enhanced oil recovery in naturally fractured reservoirs

Reservoir oil and gas content tends to rise up to the surface as long as their potential energy levels are sufficient. In order to amplify this energy, either during the time when oil is uprising on its inherent energy or since after, so as to facilitate the traveling of oil to the surface, enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods come into play. Furthermore, the increasing demand for oil from one hand, and the shrinkage of producible reserves on the other hand, have made it unavoidable to undertake EOR techniques. Built in this research was a 10-element model of reservoir fluid to simulate its behavior. Furthermore, slim tube simulation was undertaken to determine minimum miscibility pressure for various gases. Then, different scenarios of natural depletion, CO₂ injection, methane injection, and water injection were simulated by ECLIPSE 300 software package with the results of different scenarios compared. The results indicated water injection to be associated with higher recovery factor.     

The Evaluation of Variable-Injection Rate Waterflooding,Immiscible CO2 Flooding,and Water-alternating-CO2 Injection for Heavy Oil Recovery

Abstract

Despite the existence of studies for separate evaluation of waterflooding, immiscible CO₂ flooding, and CO₂ water-alternating gas (WAG) for heavy oil recovery, there is a lack of an experimental, comparative evaluation of these three methods. The authors conducted tests for comparative evaluation of variable-injection rate waterflood (VIWF), immiscible CO₂ flood, and CO₂ WAG. The results illustrate the (a) effectiveness of VIWF, immiscible CO₂ flood, and CO₂ WAG; (b) effect of permeability and oil viscosity on VIWF, immiscible CO₂ flood, and CO₂ WAG; (c) effect of injection rate on VIWF; and (d) effect of slug ratio on CO₂ WAG.     

Experimental Investigation of Miscible CO2 Flooding

Abstract

Management of water alternating gas (WAG) injection projects requires making decisions regarding the WAG ratio, half-cycle-slug size, and ultimate solvent slug size. The impact of these decisions affects the capital cost and ultimate incremental oil recovery. Core flooding runs were conducted on 2 and 4 ft core samples. Injection scheme (continuous gas injection [CGI] vs. WAG), WAG ratio, and slug size were investigated. In addition, miscible WAG flooding as a secondary process was investigated and its efficiency was compared to the conventional tertiary miscible gas flooding. Miscible gas flooding at different miscible WAG parameters (WAG ratio and slug size) indicate that 1:2 WAG ratio at 0.2 PV slug size is the best combination yielding the highest recovery and tertiary recovery factors. Miscible WAG flooding as a secondary process indicated a higher ultimate recovery compared to the conventional tertiary WAG flooding. However, a larger amount of gas injection is consumed particularly in the early stages of the injection process. Miscible CGI mode conducted using n-Decane as oleic phase appears to have better performance than miscible WAG injection in term of recovery. When light Arab crude oil was used as oleic phase, higher recovery was obtained for miscible WAG flooding. The reversal trend seen in is believed to be due to the presence of crude oil, which alters the rock wettability toward an oil-wet condition, preventing the water blockage during the WAG process.     

Prediction of Asphaltene Precipitation in Live and Tank Crude Oil Using Gaussian Process Regression

The study of asphaltene precipitation properties has been motivated by their propensity to aggregate, flocculate, precipitate, and adsorb onto interfaces. The tendency of asphaltenes to precipitation has posed great challenges for the petroleum industry. Since the nature of asphaltene solubility is yet unknown and several unmodeled dynamics are hidden in the original systems, the existing models may fail in prediction the asphaltene precipitation in crude oil systems. The authors developed some Gaussian process regression models to predict asphaltene precipitation in crude oil systems based on different subsets of properties and components of crude oil. Using feature selection techniques they found some subsets of properties of crude oil that are more predictive of asphaltene precipitation. Then they developed prediction models based on selected feature sets. Results of this research indicate that the proposed predictive models can successfully predict and model asphaltene precipitation in tank and live crude oils with good accuracy.     

An Experimental Study on the Applicability of Water-alternating-CO2 Injection in the Secondary and Tertiary Recovery in One Iranian Reservoir

Abstract

The objective of this study was to experimentally investigate the performance of water-alternating gas (WAG) injection in one of Iran's oil reservoirs that encountered a severe pressure drop in recent years. Because one of the most appropriate studies to evaluate the reservoir occurs generally on rock cores taken from the reservoir, core samples drilled out of the reservoir's rock matrix were used for alternating injection of water and gas. In the experiments, the fluid system consisted of reservoir dead oil, live oil, CO₂, and synthetic brine; the porous media were a number of carbonate cores chosen from the oilfield from which the oil samples had been taken. All coreflood experiments were conducted using live (recombined) oil at 1,700 psi and reservoir temperature of 115°F. A total of four displacement experiments were performed in the core, including two experiments on secondary WAG injection and others on the tertiary water and gas invaded zones WAG injections. Prior to each test porosity and permeability of dried cores were calculated then 100% water-saturated cores were oil-flooded to obtain connate water saturation. Therefore, all coreflooding tests started with the samples at irreducible water saturation. Parameters such as oil recovery factor, water cut, and gas-oil ratio and production pressure of the core were recorded for each test. The most similar experimental work with the main reservoir condition, indicated that approximately 64% oil were recovered after 1 pore volume of WAG process at 136,000 ppm brine salinity. Although tests show ultimate recovery of 79% and 55% for secondary and tertiary injection in gas and water invaded zones, respectively, immiscible WAG injection efficiency in the gas and water invaded zones will not be proper. In the similar test to field properties, the average pressure difference about 70 Psig was observed, which shows stable front displacement. These experiments showed that there was significant improvement in the oil recovery for alternating injection of water and CO₂, especially in the secondary recovery process. Water breakthrough time in almost all of the tests shows frontal displacement of injected fluid in cores and produced gas-oil ratio changes a little whenever the injection is miscible and increases rapidly in immiscible processes.     

An Efficient Methodology for Performance Optimization and Uncertainty Analysis in a CO2 EOR Process

Abstract

A pragmatic technique is proposed and successfully applied to determine the optimal production–injection scheme in a CO₂ flooding reservoir under uncertainty. Well rates of injectors and bottomhole pressures of producers are chosen as the controlling variables. Geological uncertainty is accounted for using the multiple reservoir models. An objective function associated with net present value (NPV) is defined, and a modified genetic algorithm is employed to determine the optimal production–injection scheme. It is shown from a field case study that the optimized scheme can not only increase the expected oil recovery and NPV by 7.8 and 6.6%, respectively, but can also achieve a considerably small range of possible NPVs.     

Economical Evaluation of CO2-EOR Projects in the Middle East

Abstract

Recently, there is a growing interest the in oil industry to utilize carbon dioxide (CO₂) to enhance oil production from mature reservoirs. Conversely, there is a rising global attention to reduce CO₂ emissions from burning fossil fuels due to environmental concerns. Synchronization between these two objectives is promising through CO₂ Capture and Storage (CCS) projects where CO₂ is captured from large emission sources and then storedin safe geological structures. Economical evaluation of CO₂-EOR projects is a crucial measure in order to ensure a project's viability.

In this study, an efficient model was developed to predict the economics of CO₂-EOR projects. The developed model consists of five modules that are linked together to allow for fast prediction of CO₂-EOR economics.

The model was used to predict the economics of a case study where CO₂-EOR application is considered for a Middle Eastern reservoir. Moreover, the case study was subjected to sensitivity analyses to evaluate the effects of several parameters on the various economical components of CO₂-EOR projects.