An Integrated Operations Framework for Enhanced Oil Recovery EOR Management

Abstract

The Oil Industry has been implementing Integrated Operations (IO), with several fields documenting value achieved from past and present IO initiatives. Largely, these documented IO initiatives have focused on well and equipment performance and general planning. However, Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) methods including thermal, chemical and gas injection which are increasingly being pursued in many fields globally require additional meticulous reservoir surveillance to understand and quantify the effectiveness of the EOR scheme which adds to the value of such projects. Interpretation and integration of all available data and processes into clear, structured and reproducible EOR well and reservoir management workflows to support decision making is still challenging due to the variety of disciplines, data acquisition, processing, analysis, and modeling techniques and technologies involved, and the level of collaboration required. Using an EOR-IO framework as a companion to the Reservoir Management Plan (RMP) can help address these challenges and increase the likelihood of project success. This paper describes such an EOR-IO framework which can be adapted for a wide variety of EOR processes as well as any general injection scheme (including water or gas) and presents a case study where this framework was implemented. The framework is a system for generating a clear framing and mapping of the EOR equipment, data, required analyses and decision processes using an assessment involving all EOR stakeholders and based on the Reservoir Management Plan (RMP). The framework enables all stakeholders to unambiguously understand and agree on how EOR performance will be quantified, what surveillance methods are required and what decisions will need to be taken. The framework facilitates a way for EOR management decision processes to be mapped onto technology-and-people enabled workflows that will help organize data, streamline analysis, define roles and enable efficient management of the EOR implementation in 5 clearly defined layers: Physical, Technology/Infrastructure, Process/Computational, Visualization and Organizational. Depending on the asset and project, the number of workflows may vary but they should fall into one of 3 groups: Operational Group: a system to support implementation of strategy at the operational level using real-time and in-time data.Tactical Group: a system that supports quantification of the overall effectiveness of the EOR scheme in the subsurface in terms of sweep, displacement, pressure, chemical loss, etc. using in-time analysis results.Strategic Group: a system to support identification of situations when an adjustment in EOR strategy is required and enable optimization of the strategy adjustment. This framework was successfully applied to a Field in Malaysia where a total of 6 EOR workflows were designed for managing the EOR scheme. The framework was flexible enough to enable design, development and implementation of the workflows to help ensure that the EOR is managed as an integrated, holistic system.