Submit to Energies Review for Energies Propose a Special Issue

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

► Journal Browser

Oil Recovery

Special Issue Editors
Keywords
Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue
Related Special Issue
Published Papers

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 April 2010) | Viewed by 123068

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Peter E. Clark

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

A130 Bevill, Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL35487, USA
Interests: petroleum engineering, enhanced oil recovery, carbon sequestration

Keywords

petroleum engineering
recovery

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Ease of navigation: Grouping papers by topic helps scholars navigate broad scope journals more efficiently.
Greater discoverability: Special Issues support the reach and impact of scientific research. Articles in Special Issues are more discoverable and cited more frequently.
Expansion of research network: Special Issues facilitate connections among authors, fostering scientific collaborations.
External promotion: Articles in Special Issues are often promoted through the journal's social media, increasing their visibility.
Reprint: MDPI Books provides the opportunity to republish successful Special Issues in book format, both online and in print.

Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Related Special Issue

Biosurfactants in International Journal of Molecular Sciences (10 articles)

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers

Order results

Result details

Show export options Show export options

Select all

Export citation of selected articles as:

29 pages, 390 KiB

Open AccessReview

Stability Proxies for Water-in-Oil Emulsions and Implications in Aqueous-based Enhanced Oil Recovery

by Vladimir Alvarado^*

, Xiuyu Wang and Mehrnoosh Moradi

Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming, Dept. 3295, 1000 E. University Ave, Laramie, WY 82071, USA

Energies 2011, 4(7), 1058-1086; https://doi.org/10.3390/en4071058 - 18 Jul 2011

Cited by 67 | Viewed by 16220

Abstract

Several researchers have proposed that mobility control mechanisms can positively contribute to oil recovery in the case of emulsions generated in Enhanced-Oil Recovery (EOR) operations. Chemical EOR techniques that use alkaline components or/and surfactants are known to produce undesirable emulsions that create operational problems and are difficult to break. Other water-based methods have been less studied in this sense. EOR processes such as polymer flooding and LoSal^TM injection require adjustments of water chemistry, mainly by lowering the ionic strength of the solution or by decreasing hardness. The decreased ionic strength of EOR solutions can give rise to more stable water-in-oil emulsions, which are speculated to improve mobility ratio between the injectant and the displaced oil. The first step toward understanding the connection between the emulsions and EOR mechanisms is to show that EOR conditions, such as salinity and hardness requirements, among others, are conducive to stabilizing emulsions. In order to do this, adequate stability proxies are required. This paper reviews commonly used emulsion stability proxies and explains the advantages and disadvantage of methods reviewed. This paper also reviews aqueous-based EOR processes with focus on heavy oil to contextualize in-situ emulsion stabilization conditions. This context sets the basis for comparison of emulsion stability proxies. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oil Recovery)

▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

15 pages, 313 KiB

Open AccessReview

A Simple Analytical Approach to Simulate Underbalanced- drilling in Naturally Fractured Reservoirs—The Effect of Short Overbalanced Conditions and Time Effect

by Siroos Salimi^1,*, Ali Ghalambor², Johan Tronvoll³ and Knut Inge Andersen⁴

¹ Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU)/N-7491, Trondheim, Norway

² Department of Petroleum Engineering University of Louisiana at Lafayette/ P.O. Box 44408 Lafayette, LA 70504, USA

³ Weatherford Petroleum Consultants, Stiklestadveien 1, N-7041 Trondheim, Norway

⁴ Statoil ASA, 4035 Stavanger, Norway

Energies 2010, 3(10), 1639-1653; https://doi.org/10.3390/en3101639 - 29 Sep 2010

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 10986

Abstract

This paper describes an analytical approach to investigate the nature of short overbalanced conditions and time effects during underbalanced drilling (UBD) in a naturally fractured reservoir. This study uses an analytical model which is developed for kinetic invasion of mud into the fractures. The model is based on fluid flow between two parallel plates, which is further extended to model the fluid flow in a fractured formation. The effect of short overbalanced pressure and the time effect during UBD as well as the aspects of well productivity and flow efficiency are explained. This model is an Excel-based program and provides a fast and convenient tool for analysis and evaluation of drilling conditions (mud properties, time, and pressure of drilling) in a fractured formation. The model can also predict the impact of the fracture and mud properties on the depth of invasion in the fractured formations. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oil Recovery)

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

47 pages, 339 KiB

Open AccessReview

Enhanced Oil Recovery: An Update Review

by Vladimir Alvarado^1,*

and Eduardo Manrique²

¹ Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, University of Wyoming, Department 3295, 1000 E. University Ave, Laramie, WY, USA

² TIORCO (NALCO & STEPAN Company), 2452 Trenton Way, Suite M, Denver, CO 80231, USA

Energies 2010, 3(9), 1529-1575; https://doi.org/10.3390/en3091529 - 27 Aug 2010

Cited by 967 | Viewed by 57505

Abstract

With the decline in oil discoveries during the last decades it is believed that EOR technologies will play a key role to meet the energy demand in years to come. This paper presents a comprehensive review of EOR status and opportunities to increase final recovery factors in reservoirs ranging from extra heavy oil to gas condensate. Specifically, the paper discusses EOR status and opportunities organized by reservoir lithology (sandstone and carbonates formations and turbiditic reservoirs to a lesser extent) and offshore and onshore fields. Risk and rewards of EOR methods including growing trends in recent years such as CO₂ injection, high pressure air injection (HPAI) and chemical flooding are addressed including a brief overview of CO₂-EOR project economics. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oil Recovery)

▼ Show Figures

Graphical abstract

3 pages, 77 KiB

Open AccessCommentary

Oil and the Best Brain of the 20^th Century

by Ferdinand E. Banks

Department of Economics, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden

Energies 2010, 3(5), 940-942; https://doi.org/10.3390/en3050940 - 30 Apr 2010

Viewed by 7780

Abstract

If you meet someone at a party who says that he is Napoleon, you don’t start discussing cavalry tactics at Waterloo ─ Professor Robert Solow

Well that depends, Robert. If he is the gentleman who gave the party, and you would like to receive another invitation from him some day, you might feel it wise to suggest that if his boys had been riding elephants or dinosaurs instead of horses, he might have enjoyed another few years in swinging Paris instead of being turned over to that nasty Sir Hudson Lowe on St. Helena. [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oil Recovery)

24 pages, 269 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) by Miscible CO₂ and Water Flooding of Asphaltenic and Non-Asphaltenic Oils

by Edwin A. Chukwudeme and Aly A. Hamouda^*

Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway

Energies 2009, 2(3), 714-737; https://doi.org/10.3390/en20300714 - 2 Sep 2009

Cited by 45 | Viewed by 15208

Abstract

An EOR study has been performed applying miscible CO₂ flooding and compared with that for water flooding. Three different oils are used, reference oil (n-decane), model oil (n-C10, SA, toluene and 0.35 wt % asphaltene) and crude oil (10 wt % asphaltene) obtained from the Middle East. Stearic acid (SA) is added representing a natural surfactant in oil. For the non-asphaltenic oil, miscible CO₂ flooding is shown to be more favourable than that by water. However, it is interesting to see that for first years after the start of the injection (< 3 years) it is shown that there is almost no difference between the recovered oils by water and CO₂, after which (> 3 years) oil recovery by gas injection showed a significant increase. This may be due to the enhanced performance at the increased reservoir pressure during the first period. Maximum oil recovery is shown by miscible CO₂ flooding of asphaltenic oil at combined temperatures and pressures of 50 °C/90 bar and 70 °C/120 bar (no significant difference between the two cases, about 1%) compared to 80 °C/140 bar. This may support the positive influence of the high combined temperatures and pressures for the miscible CO₂ flooding; however beyond a certain limit the oil recovery declined due to increased asphaltene deposition. Another interesting finding in this work is that for single phase oil, an almost linear relationship is observed between the pressure drop and the asphaltene deposition regardless of the flowing fluid pressure. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oil Recovery)

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 205 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Effect of Temperature, Wettability and Relative Permeability on Oil Recovery from Oil-wet Chalk

by Aly A. Hamouda^* and Omid Karoussi

Department of Petroleum Engineering, University of Stavanger, 4036 Stavanger, Norway

Energies 2008, 1(1), 19-34; https://doi.org/10.3390/en1010019 - 6 Jul 2008

Cited by 90 | Viewed by 14146

Abstract

It is customary, for convenience, to use relative permeability data produced at room temperature. This paper shows that this practice underestimates oil recovery rates and ultimate recovery from chalk rocks for high temperature reservoirs. Above a certain temperature (80°C in this work) a reduction of oil recovery was observed. The reduction in oil recovery is reflected by the shift of relative permeability data towards more oil-wet at high temperature (tested here 130°C). However, both IFT and contact angle measurements indicate an increase in water wetness as temperature increases, which contradict the results obtained by relative permeability experiments. This phenomenon may be explained based on the total interaction potential, which basically consists of van der Waals attractive and short-range Born repulsive and double layer electrostatic forces. The fluid/rock interactions is shown to be dominated by the repulsive forces above 80°C, hence increase fine detachment enhancing oil trapping. In other words the indicated oil wetness by relative permeability is misleading. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Oil Recovery)

▼ Show Figures

Journal Menu

Journal Browser

Oil Recovery

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editor

Keywords

Benefits of Publishing in a Special Issue

Related Special Issue

Published Papers (6 papers)

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI