Polymer flooding offshore

Dovan, H.T., Hutchins, R.D., and Terzian, G.A. 1990. Dos Cuadras Offshore Polymer Flood. Paper SPE 20060 presented at the SPE California Regional Meeting, Ventura, California, USA, 4-6 April. DOI ... 

Polymer selection for the offshore polymer flood was made by comparing three emulsion polyacrylamides during a 30-day injectivity test. ATI three polymers were chosen for field testing based on laboratory studies. The chosen polymer was selected based on lower overall cost and ease of injection even though some samples failed the core plug test for injectivity. Polymer injectivity was a critical parameter because of the severe pressure limitations of the shallow reservoir. No additional chemicals were required to assist the inversion of the chosen polymer, as were needed for the other candidates. This feature requires one less pump per skid and substantially reduces the possibility of injecting uninverted polymer into the well, which can result in major formation damage. 

Ayer. P. M., Peterson, R. R., Hutchins, R. D, and Dovan, H. T., "Implementing an Offshore Polymer Flood," presented at the American Petroleum Institute Joint Chapter Meeting, Ventura, California, November 7, 1985. 

The world s first deep-offshore polymer flooding injection has started in Angola on the Dalia/Camelia reservoir early 2009. 

One economic impact of polymer flooding that has been less discussed is the reduced amount of water injected and produced compared with water-flooding. Because polymer improves mobility ratio and sweep efficiency, less water is injected and less water is produced. In some situations such as offshore environments and desert areas, water and the treatment of water could be costly. 

Ayirala, S., Uehara-Nagamine, E., Matzakos, A., Chin, R., Doe, R, van Den Hoek, R, 2010. A designer water process for offshore low salinity and polymer flooding applications. Paper SPE 129926 presented at the SPE Improved Oil Recovery Symposium, Tulsa, 24-28 April. 

Zhou, S.W., Han, M., Xiang, W.T., Zhang, J., Zhou, W., Jiang, W, 2006. Application of polymer flooding technology in a Bohai Offshore Field. China Offshore Oil and Gas 18... 

Maitin, B.K. and Volz, H. Performance of Deutsche Texaco AG s Oerrel and Hankensbuettel Polymer Floods, paper SPE 9794 presented at the 1981 Offshore Technology Conference, Houston, May 4-7. 

Extensive integrated architecture and geosciences feasibility studies of polymer flooding started in 2003, three years before production start-up. Many challenges needed to be addressed as no EOR or polymer project had ever been implemented in deep offshore conditions. 

Polymer flooding being a proven EOR technique in high permeable sandstones onshore, it is assttmed that if the in-situ viscosity of the polymer is in line with the retained design, after passing through the whole set of injection facihties specific to deep offshore implementation, incremental recovery should be as expected. 

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