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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "H: Geo-Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2023) | Viewed by 10129

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Alexey Cheremisin

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Guest Editor

Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Bolshoy Boulevard 30, bld. 1, Moscow 121205, Russia
Interests: enhanced oil recovery; chemical EOR; gas EOR; thermal EOR; digital rock; reservoir physics; multiphase flow; hydraulic fracturing; special core analysis; microfluidics; hydrogen production

Prof. Mikhail Spasennykh

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Guest Editor

Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology, Nobel Street 3, Moscow 121205, Russia
Interests: unconventional reservoirs; hard-to-recover reserves; petrophysics; lithology; geochemistry; isotope geochemistry; enhanced hydrocarbon recovery; reactive transport modeling
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Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Oil and gas resources are non-renewable, and the demand for energy sources will grow on a medium- and long-term timescale. The reserve of the word’s hydrocarbon resources decreased and enhanced hydrocarbon recovery (EHR) technologies have become more and more important. The EHR technologies improve the efficiency of oil and gas recovery, both in technological and economic performance. Moreover, EHR technologies significantly reduce the carbon footprint of hydrocarbon production. The aim of this Special Issue is to exchange ideas, technologies, and field trials to ensure the stability of hydrocarbon production and carbon footprint reduction.

To overcome the restrictions in hydrocarbon production, the key is to use the latest developments in enhanced hydrocarbon recovery technologies. We invite students, scientists, and technology leaders to share their last achievements and ideas.

Prof. Dr. Alexey Cheremisin
Prof. Mikhail Spasennykh
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

enhanced oil recovery
enhanced hydrocarbon recovery
chemical EOR: surfactant, polymer, alkali, nanoparticles, microbial, foams and solvent
gas EOR: immiscible/miscible gas injection (hydrocarbon, N₂, CO₂, flue gas)
thermal EOR: steam, in-situ combustion, high-pressure injection, hybrid methods, in situ oil upgrading, in-situ generation
low-salinity water flooding, smart water, engineered water
fluid flow in porous media
advances in hydrocarbon recovery
data science for enhanced oil-recovery applications
special core analysis

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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21 pages, 8139 KiB

Open AccessArticle

An Experimental Study of High-Pressure Microscopy and Enhanced Oil Recovery with Nanoparticle-Stabilised Foams in Carbonate Oil Reservoir

by Ayomikun Bello, Anastasia Ivanova, Alexander Rodionov, Timur Aminev, Alexander Mishin, Denis Bakulin, Pavel Grishin, Pavel Belovus, Artem Penigin, Konstantin Kyzyma and Alexey Cheremisin

Energies 2023, 16(13), 5120; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16135120 - 02 Jul 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1225

Abstract

Foams have been successfully implemented to overcome the challenges associated with gas-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) over time. Generally, the foam helps to increase the viscosity of the injected gas, which in turn improves the effectiveness of EOR. However, this technology has rarely been applied in the oilfield due to technological and economical limitations. It is widely considered that nanoparticles may be added to foam to enhance its performance in harsh reservoir conditions to overcome some of these limitations. In this study, we employed high-pressure microscopy (HPM) as an advanced technique to examine the stability of

N_{2}

and

C O_{2}

foams at reservoir conditions, both with and without nanoparticles. The experiments were conducted under vapour and supercritical conditions. Our results indicated that foams produced at 80% quality were more stable than foams produced at 50% quality because the bubble size was significantly smaller and the bubble count was higher. Additionally, foams under supercritical conditions (sc) exhibited greater stability than foams under vapour conditions. This is because at supercritical conditions, the high density of gases helps to strengthen the foam lamella by enhancing the intermolecular contacts between the gas and the hydrophobic part of the liquid phase. Furthermore, core flooding studies were performed to investigate their effect on oil displacement and mobility control in both real and artificial core samples. Rather than focusing on precise quantitative results, our objective was to assess the effect of foams on oil recovery qualitatively. The results indicated that foam injection could significantly increase displacement efficiency, as foam injection raised total displacement efficiency from an initial 48.9% to 89.7% in the artificial core sample. Similarly, in the real core model,

C O_{2}

foam injection was implemented as a tertiary recovery method, and a recovery factor of 28.91% was obtained. These findings highlight the potential benefits of foams for EOR purposes and their ability to mitigate early gas breakthrough, which was observed after injecting approximately 0.14 PV during

s c C O_{2}

injection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery)

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11 pages, 3070 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Crude Oil Pyrolysis Studies: Application to In Situ Superheat Steam Enhanced Oil Recovery

by Eric N. Coker, Burl Donaldson, Brian Hughes and Nadir Yilmaz

Energies 2023, 16(3), 1544; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031544 - 03 Feb 2023

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 1340

Abstract

This work focuses on the occurrence and composition of flammable pyrolysis gases which can be expected from stimulation of heavy oil with superheat steam. These gases can have commodity value or be used to fire a conventional boiler to generate steam vapor for superheater feed. Seven oil samples taken from different US locations were tested via thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) with off-gas analysis of light hydrocarbons via mass spectrometry (MS). The samples were heated up to 500 °C at 5 °C/min in a gas flow of moist carbon dioxide and held at 500 °C until no further mass loss was noted. Then, carbonaceous residue was exposed to air at 500 °C to determine enthalpy of combustion by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). To demonstrate that pyrolysis was indeed occurring and not simple de-volatilization, a high-molecular-weight reagent-grade organic molecule, lactose, was first demonstrated to produce components of interest. After treatment under moist CO₂ at 500 °C, all samples were found to lose around 90% of mass, and the follow-up combustion process with air further reduced the residual mass to between 2% and 12%, which is presumed to be mineral matter and char. The light hydrocarbons methane, ethane, and propane, as well as hydrogen, were detected through MS during pyrolysis of each oil sample. Heavier hydrocarbons were not monitored but are assumed to have evolved, especially during periods where additional mass loss was occurring in the isothermal process, with minimal light hydrocarbon evolution. These results correspond to a possible concept of subsequent in situ combustion drive with or without heat scavenging following high-temperature pyrolysis from in situ superheat steam injection. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery)

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14 pages, 8096 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Pore-Scale Investigation of Low-Salinity Nanofluids on Wetting Properties of Oil Carbonate Reservoir Rocks Studied by X-ray Micro-Tomography

by Anastasia Ivanova, Azhar Kuandykova, Alexander Rodionov, Andrey Morkovkin, Alexander Burukhin and Alexey Cheremisin

Energies 2023, 16(3), 1400; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16031400 - 31 Jan 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1139

Abstract

Low-salinity surfactant nanofluids have recently shown promising results in the wettability alteration of reservoir rocks from oil-wet state towards more water-wet state. However, the investigation of pore-level interactions of nanofluids injection in real oil carbonate rocks at reservoir conditions, which determines the overall fluid dynamics, is lacking. Therefore, in this work, we studied the effect of nanoparticles augmented low-salinity surfactant flooding on the wettability alteration of hydrophobic carbonate rocks with harsh reservoir conditions via X-ray micro-tomography. The designed experiment scheme involved core flooding with an X-ray transparent core-holder developed for studying the flow properties of fluids at the micro level (pore scale). The wettability was quantified by measuring the differences in contact angles after the injection of low salinity, low-salinity surfactant, and low-salinity surfactant nanofluid. The findings illustrate that surfactant flooding with silica nanoparticles had a more pronounced influence on the contact angle among other injected fluids. The contact angle of the rock fell from 144° to 49°, corresponding to the water-wet conditions of carbonate rocks. The results show that the addition of a low concentration (0.005 wt.%) of SiO₂ nanoparticles was enough for wettability changes in oil carbonate rocks. This study illustrates that a combination of surfactant, low-salinity, and nanoparticle features has a more pronounced effect on the three-phase contact angle than if applied separately. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery)

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Review

Jump to: Research

27 pages, 3436 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperReview

In Situ Combustion: A Comprehensive Review of the Current State of Knowledge

by Juan D. Antolinez, Rahman Miri and Alireza Nouri

Energies 2023, 16(17), 6306; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16176306 - 30 Aug 2023

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1764

Abstract

In situ combustion or fire flooding is a promising enhanced oil recovery (EOR) technique designed to produce heavy oils and bitumen. This method involves the in-place heating and combustion of hydrocarbons, resulting in reduced viscosity and increased mobility for improved flow toward the production wellbore. Despite its potential, widespread commercial implementation of in situ combustion has been hindered due to technical and economic challenges like inadequate project design and improper reservoir selection. This literature review paper provides a comprehensive overview of the current knowledge of in situ combustion by addressing its principles, historical development, combustion processes, underlying kinetics, and testing methods. Additionally, the review tackles existing gaps in the literature, as well as the challenges associated with modeling and implementation in field applications. It also suggests solutions drawn from historical field experiences of the technology. Finally, the review paper proposes comprehensive screening guidelines derived from various literature sources for the implementation of in situ combustion. This framework underscores the technique’s potential for efficient and sustainable hydrocarbon extraction, shaping its future as a transformative enhanced oil recovery technology. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery)

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52 pages, 2567 KiB

Open AccessReview

Foam EOR as an Optimization Technique for Gas EOR: A Comprehensive Review of Laboratory and Field Implementations

by Ayomikun Bello, Anastasia Ivanova and Alexey Cheremisin

Energies 2023, 16(2), 972; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16020972 - 15 Jan 2023

Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3698

Abstract

Foam-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is poised to become one of the most promising tertiary recovery techniques to keep up with the continuously increasing global energy demands. Due to their low sensitivity to gravity and permeability heterogeneities that improve sweep efficiency, foams are the preferred injection fluids over water or gas. Although foam injection has been used in the field to improve oil recovery and control gas mobility, its success is still hindered by several conceptual and operational challenges with regard to its stability and foamability under reservoir conditions. This can be attributed to the insufficient attention given to the mechanisms underlying foam generation and stability at the microscopic level in many studies. For a deeper understanding, this study reviews the most pertinent published works on foam-EOR. The major objective is to provide a broad basis for subsequent laboratory and field applications of foam-EOR. In this work, we highlighted foam classification and characterization, as well as the crucial factors impacting foam formation, stability, and oil recovery. Additionally, the principal mechanisms of foam generation are thoroughly explained. Finally, the most recent developments in foam generation and stability improvement are discussed. Foam-EOR is comprehensively reviewed in this work, with an emphasis on both theoretical and practical applications. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Enhanced Hydrocarbon Recovery)

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