General Meeting – Stuart Scott – Unconventional Enhanced Oil Recovery; A Bakken Case Study

Host:  Society of Petroleum Engineers, Denver Section

Event:  May 17, 2023 General Meeting (Breakfast)

Time:  May 17, 2023 7:00am-8:30am

Speakers:  
Stuart L Scott, Co-Founder and Advisor (EOR ETC LLC)  

David S Schechter, George and Joan Voneiff Professor of Petroleum Engineering (Texas A&M University), Technical Advisor and member of the Board of Directors (EOR ETC LLC)  

Title:  New Gas-Water Co-Injection Process Provides Solution for EOR in Unconventionals

Presentation Abstract:

A new Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) process, termed “Rapid-Switched, Stacked-Slugs (RSSS)”, has been developed and field tested. This process dramatically reduces surface injection pressures and compression costs/emissions for Huff & Puff EOR. Low pressure gas injection is made possible via a patent-pending process that drops surface injection pressure in the range of 100-1,300 psig, thereby eliminating the need for large surface compressors. While surface pressure is reduced, the hydrostatic weight of the liquid, which is injected as precisely manufactured liquid slugs, allows the process to create pressures above the Minimum Miscibility Pressure (MMP) in the reservoir. In addition, surfactant designed to alter wettability is delivered via the slugs of water. Thus, the recovery mechanism is not only due to multi-contact miscibility, but also surfactant assisted spontaneous imbibition (SASI) as a result of wettability alteration. Uniquely, this process can be delivered as a leased service, using a modular, selfcontainedsurface system that can be quickly installed. The first pilot of this new process was executed in the Bakken formation. The single injection cycle reached a bottomhole pressure of 4,600 psig, which was significantly greater than the approx. 2,450 psig MMP; a first for an EOR process in the Bakken. Over 46 MMscf of rich gas was co-injected along with 40,000 bbl of fresh water with surfactant. The pilot also demonstrated the ability of co-injection to reduce gas mobility in the reservoir and prevent gas breakthrough in adjacent wells. The RSSS process resulted in approximately 10,000 barrels of incremental EOR recovery over a 1-year period for the pad, which translates into an impressive Gas Utilization Factor (GUF) of less than 5 Mscf/bbl EOR, a significant improvement when compared with most gas injection projects. While only one injection cycle was conducted in the pilot, this process is best applied in a roundrobin fashion in a pad of 4-6 wells with each well experiencing multiple injection cycle.

Speaker Biographies:

Dr. Stuart L. Scott ([email protected]) is Co-Founder of EOR ETC LLC and currently serves as an Advisor. He is a Distinguished Member of SPE and an ASME Fellow. Before founding EOR ETC, he managed the Deepwater Artificial Lift Technology Program for Shell Oil and served as the Artificial Lift / Pumping Principal Technical Expert (PTE) for Shell globally. Before coming to Shell, Scott held the Bethancourt Professorship of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University, was a faculty member at Louisiana State University (LSU) and worked for Phillips Petroleum Company in a variety of roles. He holds B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Petroleum Engineering and a M.S. degree in Computer Science all from The University of Tulsa.

Dr. David S. Schechter ([email protected]) is a Technical Advisor and member of the Board of Directors for EOR ETC LLC. He is a Distinguished Member of SPE. Schechter is George and Joan Voneiff Professor of Petroleum Engineering at Texas A&M University. He has been involved in laboratory and field applications of gas injection and surfactant EOR for 30+ years. He holds a B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and a Ph.D. degree in Physical Chemistry from Bristol University.

Registration: Click HERE

Dr. Stuart Scott

Dr.David Schechter