Maximising Reservoir Potential: The Evolution and Impact of Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques

Posted on Mar 24, 2024 at 01:03 AM

Finding new techniques for oil recovery is becoming more and more necessary with the high demand for energy sources, thus, the need for enhanced techniques or innovations such as enhanced oil recovery became necessary.

More than that, the enhanced oil recovery (EOR) has the flexibility to be used in various techniques and locations, as it works efficiently in new or mature fields.

Today, we are going to introduce you to the enhanced oil recovery concept, with details of the most used techniques, and amazing EOR benefits.

What Is Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR)?

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technique, also known as tertiary oil recovery, is the used term to refer to all the used techniques and processes to increase the amount of oil that can be extracted from an oil reservoir.

Moreover, the enhanced oil recovery is used to extract or recover remaining oil in the reservoir, to reach what is unreachable through primary and secondary methods. Making it an effective way to improve oil refineries.

There are different methods in EOR, yet each method has its advantages and limitations, and choosing among them totally depends on factors such as the characteristics of the reservoir, gas and oil investment

ment considerations, and environmental concerns.

However, till now, and with all the development in the enhanced oil recovery techniques, yet, it is still considered an expensive way with some serious environmental impacts.

5 Popular Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques:

According to professional oil and gas courses in Dubai, there are many effective and popularly used techniques for oil recovery with enhanced oil recovery methods, including:

1. Gas Injection: 

The enhanced oil recovery gas injection technique includes injecting gases into the reservoir to increase pressure and transfer oil towards production wells.

This technique helps oil and gas recovery professionals to push trapped oil towards production wells, improve work process efficiency, and reduce remaining oil saturation in the reservoir.

2. Steam Injection: 

Steam injection, also known as the thermal method, is where steam is injected into the reservoir to heat the oil and lower its viscosity. Making it easier for the oil to flow towards production wells.

Moreover, steam injection is often used in high-viscosity or heavy oil reservoirs where traditional extraction methods are less effective.

3. Chemical Injection:

Chemical injection involves injecting various chemicals, such as surfactants, polymers, and alkalis, into the reservoir to modify the properties of the oil and improve its flow characteristics.

Additionally, the commonly used chemicals in this process can help reduce interfacial tension, increase sweep efficiency, and mitigate conformance issues in the reservoir.

4. CO2 Injection: 

CO2 injection is one of the most popular gas injection methods, it involves injecting carbon dioxide into the reservoir. To dissolve into the oil and reduce its viscosity, making it easier than ever to maximise efficiency in oil industry.

Moreover, the CO2 can displace oil by increasing reservoir pressure and reducing remaining oil saturation. Making it mostly effective in mature oil fields.

On the other hand, the CO2 injection enhanced oil recovery technique has some environmental benefits by isolating CO2 underground.

5. Plasma Pulse Technology: 

Plasma pulse technology is the most recent innovative method in enhanced oil recovery. It involves the generation of high-energy plasma pulses to stimulate oil production.

These pulses create fractures and improve permeability in the reservoir, enhancing the flow of oil towards production wells.

However, this plasma pulse technology is still in the experimental stage, yet, it is showing a promising potential for enhancing oil recovery in certain reservoir types.

The Benefits of Enhanced Oil Recovery Techniques:

We can say that enhanced oil recovery, is still a developing method, and new techniques are growing every day, with promising benefits, including:

• Maintain and Increase Production for Mature Fields: 

Enhanced oil recovery techniques help maintain and even increase production levels in mature oil fields by stimulating reservoirs that have experienced declining production rates. By employing methods to encourage additional oil recovery, leading to better output levels over time.

• Maximise the Oil Reserves Recovered: 

The known enhanced oil recovery techniques enable the extraction of a greater portion of the oil reserves present in a reservoir. As operators can access trapped oil more effectively, increasing the recovery factor and improving the use of the available resources.

• Extend The Life of Fields: 

By implementing enhanced oil recovery techniques, operators can extend the productive life of oil fields beyond what would be possible with primary and secondary oil recovery methods alone. Through keeping reservoir pressure, improving sweep efficiency, and accessing previously unrecoverable oil.

To sum up,

Most recent insights are saying that enhanced oil recovery techniques are considered the future of oil recovery, especially with all the efforts to lower costs and environmental impacts.

However, these techniques come with more advanced tools and methods, making training your team with updated courses more than necessary.