CARBON DIOXIDE FLOODING - APPLICATIONS

N. MUNGAN

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JCPT82-06-07 RESERVOIR ENGINEERING Carbon dioxide flooding-applications NECMETTIN MUNGAN Mungan Petroleum Consultants Ltd. Calgary, Alberta ABSTRACT This is the second part of a two-part paper and will deal with the reservoir engineering aspects of field applications. First, certain criteria which may be useful in identifying a good can- didate reservoirfor C02flooding together with the limitations of the so-called screening procedures are discussed. Second, calculationsfor C02 slug size are given, and thefollowingfac- tors dealt with: diffusion, dispersion and solubility phenom- ena;
injectionlproduction rates and their effect on pressure distribution and maintenance of miscibility in the reservoir,- the rate of advance of the displacementfront and stability con- siderations, and oil recovery efficiency. Finally, recommended ways of testing the C02 flooding process are detailed. Introduction Carbon dioxide flooding is generally regarded as the most pro- mising enhanced oil recovery process(l). At present, there are about forty field applications underway, most having been started in the past few years. The United States leads in the N. Mungan Dr. Mungan holds a
Bachelor's degree in mathematics, and a Master's and Doctorate in petroleum engin!e@',ng, all with high honours from the 'u niver- sity of Texas. He worked for brief periods in the oil fields of Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana. From 1961 to 1966, he headed the Oil Recovery and Displacement Processes Section of the Research Center of Sinclair Oil Corporation, where he was responsible for enhanced oil recovery.
In 1966, he was hired to start a new research center, The Petroleum Recovery Institute, in Calgary, Alberta, and served as the chief and a member of the board of directors. In 1978,
he formed Mungan Petroleum Consultants Ltd., which specializes in enhanced oil and gas recovery, clay damage problems and the teaching of specialized petroleum courses for the industry.
Dr. Mungan has done work in the U.S.A., Canada, Mexico, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Scotland, England, Holland, France, Yugoslavia, the U.S.S.R., Turkey and the People's Republic of China. Most recently, he spent some time in India on behalf of the United Nations to formulate a research program on enhanced oil and gas recovery specific to the needs of India and gave a series of lectures on chemical and
miscible floods at the NATO Advanced Institute Seminar in Turkey. Keywords: Reservoir engineering, Flooding, Carbon dioxide, Diffu- sion, Dispersion, Solubility, Miscibility, Oil recovery, Well spacing. number of field applications. There are no C02 floods in Canada at the moment. Although the Judy Creed Beaverhill Lake A Pool was proposed and approved for C02 flooding, _ the economics appear to have caused cancellation of that pro- jeCt(2). Husky Oil Ltd. is conducting C02 stimulation/ soak in a few wells. The first C02 flood in Canada may well be in the Joffre Viking Pool and will be
undertaken by Vikor Resources Ltd.(3).
An earlier paper dealt with the fundamentals and the re- search considerations of carbon dioxide flooding(4). In this paper, selectic)n of reservoirs suitable for C02 flooding, deter- mining the (@02 requirements, injection and production strategies, problematic areas in the field and recommendations regarding pilot testing are presented. Selecting a Suitable Reservoir A number of screening criteria have been suggested in order to select a reservoir that is best suited for carbon dioxide flooding(5). Although screening criteria serve some purpose
and usefulness in looking at a large number of reservoirs from which one must choose the best candidates for C02 flooding, the use of such criteria in itself has many pitfalls and does not mean that a @;uccessful field application would result. If one has but only i few reservoirs to consider, then some standard reservoir engineering considerations are far superior to any general screeriing criteria. The first reservoir engineering con- sideration ha,; to do with whether the displacement is to be miscible or immiscible C02 flooding. In light and medium- gravity oils one would aim at
miscible C02 displacement and laboratory experiments would have already indicated whether or not the mi!,cibility can be achieved within realistic pressure ranges. Especially old pools should not be subjected to high in- jection pressures which may cause casing or cement failure, premature brt,-akthrough of the injected fluids due to viscous fingering or coning problems. If the miscibility is not the ob- ject, but rather swelling of the oil, reduction of oil viscosity and interfacial effects are the principal phenomena which may lead to increa@;ed oil recovery, the reservoir to be selected
could have different@ properties than one which may have been suit- able for a mis@cible displacement process.
A second ii-nportant consideration in choosing a candidate reservoir is whether or not the displacement would be horizon- tal or vertical. In horizontal displacement, mobility control is very important and therefore the C02 flooding would likely in- volve alternating C02/ water injection in order to control the '02 mobility of C'
- In vertical floods, the gravity segregation assumes importance and consequently the chase fluid could be a gas in downward displacement or
water in an upward-dis- placement sitiiation. However, in either case, there will not Paper reviewed and accepted for publication by the Editorial Board of the Iournal of Canadian Petroleum Technology. 112
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