An in-depth study of the fundamental aspects of enhanced oil recovery (EOR), this book brings together detailed analyses of proven techniques. It begins with the current theories of the origin of oil and ends with a treatise on waterflooding which is the basis of the majority of EOR processes. Two and three-phase relative permeability relationships are discussed since they form the basis for fluid flow processes in porous media. The advent of EOR has increased the need for a better understanding of three-phase flow because this has become an integral part of carbon dioxide and steam injection, yet is an area of experimental study that has been seriously neglected. The book gives a complete review and theoretical analysis of two- and three-phase fluid flow, plus a basic introduction to single-well pressure transient testing which is essential to the evaluation of volume, intrinsic reservoir pressure, reservoir discontinuities, in situ permeability and many other data required for complete reservoir evaluation. A discussion of oilfield waters is followed closely by the chemical and physical properties of employing various current EOR techniques.The book will interest a wide range of readers. Teachers of petroleum engineering will find it a ready reference to basic requirements for implementation of various EOR processes. Petroleum engineering researchers can use it to review the current state-of-the-art of the basic premise of EOR and find in it the necessary background analyses for projection of future research. The field-oriented, practical petroleum engineer will discover it to be a reliable reference to criteria for pre-EOR reservoir analysis.

This book aims at presenting, describing, and summarizing the latest advances in polymer flooding regarding the chemical synthesis of the EOR agents and the numerical simulation of compositional models in porous media, including a description of the possible applications of nanotechnology acting as a booster of traditional chemical EOR processes. A large part of the world economy depends nowadays on non-renewable energy sources, most of them of fossil origin. Though the search for and the development of newer, greener, and more sustainable sources have been going on for the last decades, humanity is still fossil-fuel dependent. Primary and secondary oil recovery techniques merely produce up to a half of the Original Oil In Place. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) processes are aimed at further increasing this value. Among these, chemical EOR techniques (including polymer flooding) present a great potential in low- and medium-viscosity oilfields. • Describes recent advances in chemical enhanced oil recovery. • Contains detailed description of polymer flooding and nanotechnology as promising boosting tools for EOR. • Includes both experimental and theoretical studies. About the Authors Patrizio Raffa is Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen. He focuses on design and synthesis of new polymeric materials optimized for industrial applications such as EOR, coatings and smart materials. He (co)authored about 40 articles in peer reviewed journals. Pablo Druetta works as lecturer at the University of Groningen (RUG) and as engineering consultant. He received his Ph.D. from RUG in 2018 and has been teaching at a graduate level for 15 years. His research focus lies on computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

The use of microorganisms and their metabolic products to stimulate oil production is currently receiving renewed interest worldwide. This technique involves the injection of selected microorganisms into the reservoir and the subsequent stimulation and transportation of their in situ growth products, in order that their presence will aid in further reduction of residual oil left in the reservoir after secondary recovery is exhausted. Although unlikely to replace conventional microbial enhanced oil recovery, this unique process seems superior in many respects. Self-duplicating units, namely the bacteria cells, are injected into the reservoir and by their in situ multiplication they magnify beneficial effects.This new approach to enhancement of oil recovery was initiated in 1980 and the first results were published in the proceedings of two international conferences. This book evolved from these conferences, and was designed to encompass all current aspects of microbial enhanced oil recovery: the development of specific cultures, increase of the population for field application, various methods for field applications and the results, and the environmental concerns associated with this newly developed technology. It provides a comprehensive treatise of the subject, and is arranged to show the laboratory development of microbes suited to microbial enhanced oil recovery and the perpetuation of the special cultures in a petroleum reservoir. Thus, this book has specific usefulness in the laboratory, the oilfield and the classroom. Although not written as a text book, it can be used as a reference volume for graduate studies in enhanced oil recovery.

ACOUSTIC AND VIBRATIONAL ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY Oil and gas is still a major energy source all over the world, and techniques like these, which are more environmentally friendly and inexpensive than many previous development and production technologies, are important for making fossil fuels more sustainable and less hazardous to the environment. Based on research they did in the 1970s in Russia and the United States, the authors discovered that oil rate production increased noticeably several days after the occurrence of an earthquake when the epicenter of the earthquake was located in the vicinity of the oil producing field. The increase in oil flow remained higher for a considerable period of time, and it led to a decade-long study both in the Russia and the US, which gradually focused on the use of acoustic/vibrational energy for enhanced oil recovery after reservoirs waterflooded. In the 1980s, they noticed in soil remediation studies that sonic energy applied to soil increases the rate of hydrocarbon removal and decreases the percentage of residual hydrocarbons. In the past several decades, the use of various seismic vibration techniques have been used in various countries and have resulted in incremental oil production. This outstanding new volume validates results of vibro-stimulation tests for enhanced oil recovery, using powerful surface-based vibro-seismic sources. It proves that the rate of displacement of oil by water increases and the percentage of nonrecoverable residual oil decreases if vibro-energy is applied to the porous medium containing oil. Audience: Petroleum Engineers, Chemical Engineers, Earthquake and Energy engineers, Environmental Engineers, Geotechnical Engineers, Mining and Geological Engineers, Sustainability Engineers, Physicists, Chemists, Geologists, and other professionals working in this field

In recent years, enhanced oil recovery techniques have received much attention in the oil industry. Enhanced oil recovery methods can be divided into three major categories: thermal processes which include steam flooding, steam stimulation, and in-situ combustion; chemical processes which include surfactant-polymer injection, polymer flooding, and caustic flooding; and miscible displacement processes which include miscible hydrocarbon displacement, carbon dioxide injection of large amounts of rather expensive fluids into oil bearing reservoir formations. Commercial application of any enhanced oil recovery process relies upon economic projections that show a decent return on the investment. Because of high chemical costs, it is important to optimize enhanced oil recovery processes to provide the greatest recovery at the lowest chemical injection cost.The aim of this book is to develop an optimal control theory for the determination of operating strategies that maximize the economic attractiveness of enhanced oil recovery processes. The determination of optimal control histories or operating strategies is one of the key elements in the successful usage of new enhanced oil recovery techniques. The information contained in the book will therefore be both interesting and useful to all those working in petroleum engineering, petroleum management and chemical engineering.

Oil recovery efficiency can be increased by applying the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) processes, which are based on the improvement of mobility ratio, reduction of interfacial tension between oil and water, wettability alteration, reduction of oil viscosity, formation of oil banks, and so forth. This book describes the different EOR methods and their mechanisms, which are traditionally used after conventional primary and secondary processes. The present scenario of different EOR processes, at both the field application stage and research stage, is also covered. Further, it discusses some of the recent advances in EOR processes such as low-salinity water flooding, the application of nanotechnology in EOR, microbial EOR, carbonated water injection, etc. Features: Comprehensive coverage of all enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods Discussion of reservoir rock and fluid characteristics Illustration of steps in design and field implementation as well as the screening criteria for process selection Coverage of novel topics of nanotechnology in EOR and hybrid EOR method and low-salinity waterfloods Emphasis on recent technologies, feasibility, and implementation of hybrid technologies This book is aimed at graduate students, professionals, researchers, chemists, and personnel involved in petroleum engineering, chemical engineering, surfactant manufacturing, polymer manufacturing, oil/gas service companies, and carbon capture and utilization.

This book presents the fundamentals of the reservoir and interfacial engineering. The book systematically starts with the basics of primary, secondary and tertiary (enhanced) oil recovery and emphasizes on the theory of microbial-enhanced oil recovery (MEOR) and its potential toward recovery of oil in place. Different approaches of MEOR such as in-situ, ex-situ, and integration of chemical- and microbial-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) are discussed in detail. This book highlights the link between the effectiveness of MEOR and the local reservoir conditions, crude oil characteristics, and indigenous microbial community. The latest implementations of MEOR across the globe are highlighted as case studies to outline the potential as well as the scope of MEOR. Given the topics covered, this book will be useful for professionals and researchers working in the areas of petroleum science and engineering, chemical engineering, biotechnology, bioengineering, and other related fields.

Enhanced-Oil Recovery (EOR) evaluations focused on asset acquisition or rejuvenation involve a combination of complex decisions, using different data sources. EOR projects have been traditionally associated with high CAPEX and OPEX, as well as high financial risk, which tend to limit the number of EOR projects launched. In this book, the authors propose workflows for EOR evaluations that account for different volumes and quality of information. This flexible workflow has been successfully applied to oil property evaluations and EOR feasibility studies in many oil reservoirs. The methodology associated with the workflow relies on traditional (look-up tables, XY correlations, etc.) and more advanced (data mining for analog reservoir search and geology indicators) screening methods, emphasizing identification of analogues to support decision making. The screening phase is combined with analytical or simplified numerical simulations to estimate full-field performance by using reservoir data-driven segmentation procedures. - Case Studies form Asia, Canada, Mexico, South America and the United States - Assets evaluated include reservoir types ranging from oil sands to condensate reservoirs - Different stages of development and information availability are discussed

Commercial application of chemical enhanced oil recovery (cEOR) processes is expected to grow significantly over the next decade. Thus, Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery (cEOR): A Practical Overview offers key knowledge and understanding of cEOR processes using an evidence-based approach intended for a broad audience ranging from field operators, researchers, to reservoir engineers dealing with the development and planning of cEOR field applications. This book is structured into three sections; the first section surveys overall EOR processes. The second section focuses on cEOR processes, while the final section describes the electrorheology technology. These sections are presented using a practical and realistic approach tailored for readers looking to improve their knowledge and understanding of cEOR processes in a nutshell.

Fossil fuels, especially petroleum, are still the primary energy source all over the world. With the advent of hydraulic fracturing (i.e. "fracking"), directional drilling, and other technological advances, petroleum and reservoir engineers all over the world have been able to produce much greater results, in much more difficult areas, than ever before, to meet higher global demand. "Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)" is one of the hottest and most important topics in this industry. New technologies and processes must be continually discovered and developed, even as renewable energy begins to grow and become more fruitful, as the demand for more and more energy continues to grow worldwide. This groundbreaking and highly anticipated study discusses the scientific fundamentals of resonance macro- and micro-mechanics of petroleum reservoirs and its petroleum industry applications. It contains an overview of the research and engineering results of resonance macro- and micro-mechanics of petroleum reservoirs, which provide the scientific and applied foundations for the creation of groundbreaking wave technologies for production stimulation and enhanced oil recovery. A valuable tool for the petroleum or reservoir engineer in the field, this volume is also intended for students, teachers, scientists and practitioners who are interested in the fundamentals, development, and application of leading-edge technologies in the petroleum industry and other industrial sectors.