New Tracers and Methods for Single Well Chemical Tracer Test

The project has been organized in four major tasks. Tasks one and two has been addressing the need for new SWCTT tracers and detection methods. The aim of task three has been to develop an improved simulation tool for SWCTT planning and interpretation. The developments made in tasks one to three has been tested in task four, a field pilot test. The project has now developed four new tracer families with a potential of twelve new single tracers. The four tracer families have been accepted when it comes to important SWCTT criteria as HSE/operational, detectability, phase distribution and hydrolysis rate. New methods for chemical analysis of the tracers have been developed. I June 2015 four single tracers were used in a field pilot, and the results were in good agreement with existing methods which are less preferable as SWCTT tool. The injection amount was below 100 g, and such low amounts must be considered as a completely new and improved situation for future SWCTT operations. Thus, the project has delivered results according to the plan. The project is now finalized.

The project addresses the challenge of producing immobile oil left after water injection currently used on Norwegian petroleum fields. Improved oil recovery (IOR) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methodology, such as low-salinity water injection and chemic al flooding, can yield as much as 2.5 Gm3 additional oil from the Norwegian continental shelf (NCS), according to recent government estimates. To establish reliable estimates of the EOR-potential and to evaluate the effect of EOR, a secure, robust and rel iable method to measure in-situ oil saturation will be developed, based on existing single-well chemical tracer tests (SWCTTs). Available methodology represent serious hazard due to large amounts of flammables and must target a narrow set of temperature a nd chemical conditions. To make a robust and secure technology, the project will develop new chemicals and methods that can reduce injected amounts from tonnes to grams, thus allowing for easy handling and chemical cocktails that can handle all conditions . For interpretation of the tracer data a specialized SWCTT simulator will be developed. The simulator will be designed for easy use with standard commercially available reservoir simulator software (Eclipse). The project will be conducted by IFE and NTN U and guided by a steering committee consisting of members from five participating oil companies as well as IFE and NTNU. The methodology will be tested in a field pilot in cooperation with the operator (one of the participating oil-companies). The main deliverable from the project is a robust, reliable and secure single well test methodology with relevant simulation and evaluation tools. In addition, the project will train one post-doctoral fellow, educate one PhD fellow and offer summer-internships to MSc students. It will be used to initialize international collaboration with the University of Texas at Austin. The budget is 13.3 MNoK over 3 years and will be financed by RCN (66%) and five oil companies (34%)