Enhanced Oil Recovery methods - Moving Science into Applications

Nye utvinningsmetoder har vært utviklet gjennom prosjektet. Lav salt vanninjeksjon har blitt kombinert med surfaktant for å dempe kapillaritet. Likeså har lav salt vann også blitt kombinert med polymer injeksjon. Hensikten er at polymer injeksjon akkumulerer olje i det porøse mediet (dannelse av oljebank) som bidrar til fasekontinuitet og høyere oljeproduksjon enn ved lav salt vann alene. Det er hyggelig av ideene som er presentert gjennom publikasjoner har fanget interesse i oljeselskapene. Det kommer nå publikasjoner fra andre miljøer som følger våre ideer.

Focused projects on EOR methods are necessary in order to achieve the high ambitions for reserve replacement and recovery factors that have been set for the NCS fields. The regained interest in these methods has generated an increasing demand to design an d implement EOR measures for specific oil fields. Investigating the potential for EOR by improved microscopic displacement efficiency requires that the basic mechanisms governing the processes are well understood, and can be included into predictive model ling tools. At present, this is not the case for many EOR methods. Most of the Norwegian fields are developed with water flooding, and are therefore possible candidates for implementing water additives to enhance the recovery. This fact is also reflected in the balance of the proposed research project, where waterflood improvement is the dominant part. However, the focus on moving CO2 injection forward towards application is also an important national concern, and we think our approach could be a step i n this direction. The main tasks are directed against new and better methods for improving microscopic displacement. The application of EOR processes is prevented by among other the lack of possibilities to predict the gain for a specific oil reservoirs . This project focuses on describing the mechanisms involved and to upscale the EOR effect to the field scale. Cost and logistic challenges has also limited the use of EOR in the North Sea. Therefore, the project introduces several new concepts that coul d move the pilot and field implementation forward. For an oil field on decline, the chase for quick solutions to increase oil recovery will always be the driving force. This project, on the other hand, will ensure that the increased knowledge will be tr ansformed into scientific results that can be made available and will be directly practically applicable for later oil field projects