CHAPTER-16

ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY (EOR)

Primary
Secondary
Tertiary or EOR / IOR

In the primary process, the oil is forced out of the petroleum reservoir by existing natural
pressure of the trapped fluids in the reservoir. When the reservoir pressure is reduced
to a certain point where it is no longer effective, producing wells may be put on suitable
artificial lifts, namely gas' lift, SRP, etc. Water is also injected to maintain the existing
pressure in the reservoir. This is termed as primary recovery stage.(Fig:16-01)
At this stage, pressure may further be augmented through water flooding using some
existing wells or newly drilled injectors. The recoveries achieved at this stage are referred
to as secondary stage. The oil recovered by both primary & secondary processes ranges
from 20 to 50 % depending on oil and reservoir properties.
(Fig:16-01
This shows that still at this stage, a huge quantum of oil remains to be exploited in the
reservoir and thus clearly establishes the need and justification of designing and
implementing new techniques to harvest some additional oil. The recovery thus achieved
will be termed as enhanced oil recovery and the corresponding techniques termed as
EOR processes. Since all the reservoirs are unique in nature, EOR process has to be case
specific. Further, EOR processes being cost intensive, proper selection/ execution of the
process becomes very crucial. (Fig:16-01)
The enhanced oil recovery processes can be divided into three major categories:

Chemical
Miscible/ Immiscible
Thermal

Thermal processes have been used extensively for the displacement of heavy oils,
whereas chemical and miscible displacement processes have been employed for the
recovery of light oils. Among the various processes for oil recovery, thermal processes
have the least uncertainty, and offer a promising approach for about 70% of the world's
EOR production. At present, surfactant flooding is the most complex and, therefore,
has the highest degree of uncertainty. However, if the surfactant formulation for oil
recovery is properly designed and controlled in the reservoir, it has a high potential for
achieving maximum oil recovery.
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Chemical Processes:
There are broadly two categories:

Polymer Flooding
Surfactant Flooding

Polymer Flooding:
Polymer flooding is very useful to control the mobility of displacing phase i.e water. The
fingering process is controlled and good amount of water free oil can be produced. In
ONGC, polymer flooding has been successfully implemented in Sanand field of
Ahmedabad Asset.(Fig:16-02)
Surfactant Flooding:
The mechanism of oil displacement by surfactant is based on reducing the interfacial
tension and is useful in bringing into main stream the irreducible oil component which as
such is not possible with water injection alone. Addition of caustic injected into the reservoir
reacts chemically with the fatty acids and forms in-situ sodium salts of fatty acids. The
formation of these surfactants results in ultra-low interfacial tension which brings globules
of oil back in continuous phase and pushes towards producers to enhance recoveries. In
ONGC, ASP (Alkaline Surfactant Polymer) flooding is successfully implemented in Viraj
field of Ahmedabad Asset.(Fig16-02)
Miscible/ Immiscible Processes:
The miscible displacement process involves the injection of a solvent such as alcohol,
refined hydrocarbons, condensed hydrocarbon gases, LPG, hydrocarbon gases and
carbon dioxide gas etc. which can dissolve in the reservoir oil. In ONGC, miscible gas
injection has been used for GS-12 sand of Gandhar field of Ankleshwar Asset. The results
are highly encouraging and recoveries are expected to be around 60%. Even immiscible
gas processes also give good amount of additional recoveries.(Fig:17-03)
Thermal Processes:
When petroleum reservoirs contain a low gravity (less than 20o API), highviscosity oil
and have a high porosity, secondary recovery methods are not effective for displacement
of oil. For such reservoirs, thermal processes have received the most attention. All the
processes used basically reduce the viscosity of the crude and thus lead to increased
mobility of reservoir oil. Depending on the way in which heat is generated in the reservoir,
the thermal processes can be divided into three categories. (Fig: 16-04)

In-Situ Combustion
Steam Injection
Wet Combustion

In-situ Combustion:
For in-situ combustion, the crude oil near the wellbore is ignited using chemicals, downhole
electric heaters or downhole gas burners. After completing ignition in the vicinity of the
wellbore, continuous air injection promotes movement in the burning zone toward the
producing wells. Propagation of a continuous burning zone results in almost complete
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removal of all reservoir liquids and leaves behind hot, clean rock, which heats the injected
air before it reaches the burning zone ahead. In ONGC, in-situ combustion is successfully
implemented in Santhal & Balol fields of Mehsana Asset with highly encouraging results.
(Fig:16-04)
Steam Injection:
In steam injection process, steam is injected into the reservoir either continuously or in
cycles. Continuous steam injection involves both injection and production wells, whereas
cyclic injection involves one well only which serves as both injection and production well.
For the same pattern size, the response time is 25-50% lower than the response time
for additional production by in-situ combustion. Duri field of Indonesia is a classic case
of steam injection which is monitored rigorously with the help of 4-D seismics.(Fig:16-05)
Wet Combustion:
In the in-situ combustion process, a large amount of heat is left behind in the
swept formation as waste heat. The heat utilization and efficiency of the process
can be improved by water injection. Water is injected with the air. Superheated
steam forms in an evaporation front and travels behind the combustion front. The
important advantage of this process is that the amount of residual oil left to be
burned as fuel by the burning front is considerably decreased, which in turn
displaces more oil and less air is required to burn a unit volume of oil in the
reservoir.
MEOR, an Unconventional EOR Process:
Microbial Enhanced Oil recovery process is known to the industry for long. However,
some recent advancement has been attempted for reservoirs having quite high
temperatures. Micro-organisms and their metabolic products stimulate oil production. The
technique involves injection of selected micro-organisms into the reservoir and the
subsequent stimulation and transportation of their in-situ growth products. Their presence
aids in further reduction of residual oil left in the reservoir after secondary recovery.
MEOR process in unlikely to replace conventional EOR processes because MEOR itself
has certain constraints. In ONGC, MEOR has been attempted in Kosamba (Western
Onshore), Badarpur (Silchar) and very recently in Charada field of Mehsana Asset.
Points to ponder over EOR Processes:
AS observed, EOR processes are very case specific and require large initial investments
and careful monitoring during application. The selection of appropriate process itself
asks for a rigorous study. The process is studied in laboratory and then taken to field
on pilot scale. If found successful and commercial, it is then implemented in the field. It
is quite often observed that even encouraging results at both laboratory and pilot scales
do not yield good results at field level. Handling of environment is also a big issue
when using EOR processes.
Although these constraints to EOR processes cause hesitancy in their
applications, yet the lure of getting additional recoveries from established results
remains a major point of attraction. This gets still more importance keeping in
minds the uncertainties in international market and those days of discovering
easy oil are gone.

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IOR Methods:
As such all EOR processes are IOR processes. Whereas, EOR methods use one
process or the other being implemented on reservoir scale, IOR also covers
augmentation of recoveries through drilling of high tech wells. This as well makes use
of infill wells to produce by-pass oil which as such is not possible through existing
wells. Mumbai High, a giant ONGC field is making use of IOR process through
drilling of high tech and infill wells to gain additional recovery.

Fig: 16-01

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Fig:16-02

Fig: 1

Fig 6-03
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Fig:16-04

Fig: 16-03

Fig:16-05

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