SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR PRODUCING OIL AND/OR GAS

• US 20120292025A1
• Filed: 01/18/2011
• Published: 11/22/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Shell Oil Company (Shell Plc)
• Original Assignee: Shell Oil Company (Shell Plc)
• Inventors: Stoll, Werner Martin
• Application Number:
  US13/522,595
• Publication Number:
  US 20120292025A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 166/269
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 43/16 Enhanced recovery methods for obtaining hydrocarbons
• CPC Class Codes: E21B 49/00 Testing the nature of borehole walls; Formation testing; Methods or apparatus for obtaining samples of soil or well fluids, specially adapted to earth drilling or wells
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 11/00 Prospecting or detecting by methods combining techniques covered by two or more of main groups G01V1/00 - G01V9/00
• CPC Class Codes: G01V 2210/66 Subsurface modeling

Abstract

A method for producing oil and/or gas from an underground formation comprising locating a suitable reservoir in a subsurface formation; creating a model of the reservoir; populating the model with laboratory data; modeling the reservoir to determine fluid displacements based on fluids injected and fluids produced; determining an optimum fluid mixture for the fluids to be injected based on a series of sensitivity analyses performed with the model; drilling a first well in the formation; injecting the optimum fluid mixture into the first well; drilling a second well in the formation; and producing oil and/or gas from the second well.

Claims

1. A method for producing oil and/or gas from an underground formation comprising:

locating a suitable reservoir in a subsurface formation;

creating a model of the reservoir;

populating the model with laboratory data;

modeling the reservoir to determine fluid displacements based on fluids injected and fluids produced;

determining an optimum fluid mixture for the fluids to be injected based on a series of sensitivity analyses performed with the model;

drilling a first well in the formation;

injecting the optimum fluid mixture into the first well;

drilling a second well in the formation; and

producing oil and/or gas from the second well.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first well is at a distance of 25 meters to 1 kilometer from the second well.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimum fluid mixture comprises water, a surfactant, a polymer, and an alkali.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising a mechanism for injecting a water based mixture into the formation, after the optimum fluid mixture has been released into the formation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein populating the model with laboratory data further comprises determining an optimum salinity of a surfactant in the optimum fluid mixture.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein populating the model with laboratory data further comprises determining an optimum salinity of a soap formed by a reaction of an alkali in the optimum fluid mixture with the oil in the formation.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein drilling a first well further comprises drilling a first array of wells comprising from 5 to 500 wells, and wherein drilling a second well further comprises drilling a second array of wells comprising from 5 to 500 wells.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein populating the model with laboratory data further comprises determining a viscosity of the optimum fluid mixture based on a volume of polymer added to the mixture.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising mixing the optimum fluid mixture prior to injecting the mixture.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the underground formation comprises an oil having a viscosity from 0.5 to 250 centipoise, prior to the injection of the optimum fluid mixture.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first well comprises a ASP mixture profile in the formation, and the second well comprises an oil recovery profile in the formation, the method further comprising an overlap between the ASP mixture profile and the oil recovery profile.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein populating the model with laboratory data further comprises performing a core flood experiment with a core sample from the formation comprising oil from the formation.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein performing the series of sensitivity analyses with the model comprises modifying each ingredient in the mixture and determining an optimum value for each said ingredients.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the oil in the formation comprises a first viscosity, and the optimum fluid mixture comprises a second viscosity, the first viscosity is within 75 centipoise of the second viscosity.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the oil in the formation comprises a first viscosity, and the optimum fluid mixture comprises a second viscosity, the second viscosity is from about 25% to about 200% of the first viscosity.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the second well produces the optimum fluid mixture, and oil and/or gas.

17. The method of claim 1, further comprising recovering the optimum fluid mixture from the oil and/or gas, if present, and then optionally re-injecting at least a portion of the recovered optimum fluid mixture into the formation.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the optimum fluid mixture is injected at a pressure from 0 to 37,000 kilopascals above the initial reservoir pressure, measured prior to when injection begins.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the underground formation comprises a permeability from 0.0001 to 15 Darcies, for example a permeability from 0.001 to 1 Darcy.

20. The method of claim 1, further comprising converting at least a portion of the recovered oil and/or gas into a material selected from the group consisting of transportation fuels such as gasoline and diesel, heating fuel, lubricants, chemicals, and/or polymers.