Browsing by Author "Ruteaga-Romero, Selene"

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    Laboratory Investigation of High Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) in a Dolomite Reservoir Core
    (2020-01-17) Ruteaga-Romero, Selene; Mehta, Sudarshan A. Raj; Moore, Robert Gordon Gord; Mehta, Sudarshan A. Raj; Moore, Robert Gordon Gord; Aguilera, Roberto F.; Hassanzadeh, Hassan
    In this thesis an Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process is presented, using thermal recovery by High Pressure Air Injection (HPAI) on a Mexican light oil reservoir. The main difference between HPAI and In Situ Combustion (ISC) is that the latter term is used to refer to air injection-based processes in heavy oil reservoirs, which require operation in the high temperature range (+350°C), for successful displacement of the oil by the oxidation zone. HPAI implies air injection into deep, light oil reservoirs, for which bond scission or combustion reactions are dominant in the 150 to 300°C or Low Temperature Range (LTR). Two combustion tube tests were performed and analyzed, with the goal to evaluate the physical, chemical (kinetics) and fluid flow process behavior, as well as the rock and oil system’s combustion characteristics, in a way to determine if this type of EOR would be suitable for the target reservoir, which is a Naturally Fractured Reservoir (NFR). The combustion tube tests were operated at the actual reservoir conditions of 2,213 psia (15.26 MPa) pressure and at the native temperature of 149°C with an air injection flux of 30 m3(ST)/m2h. For both tests, dolomite core plugs pre-saturated with dead oil were placed at specific intervals in the recombined core pack. Currently, Mexico is starting to consider HPAI as an EOR in some of its reservoirs. Combustion tube tests are a method measuring the oil recovery, air requirement, fuel requirement and oxygen consumption. Such information is needed to design a field project and to estimate the economic parameter. Based on the overall velocity of the combustion front, and produced gas composition history, there did not seen to be a strong effect on the burning performance between Test one which was initially fully saturated with liquids and Test two which had three different saturation regimes. The overall oil recovery based on the Original Oil in Place (OOIP) was 91.7% for Test one and 79.5% for Test two. For both tests, the oil saturation remaining in the core plugs was essentially zero.