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Enhanced heavy oil recovery using pyrrolidine solution as a bitumen emulsifier
Problem statement Bitumen is highly viscous because of its asphaltene content (e.g., 20 wt% n-pentane insoluble), and it is often immobile at reservoir conditions. Steam injection is widely used to recover bitumen, in which the latent heat injected can effectively mobilize the bitumen near thermal fronts. However, steam injection methods, such as cyclic...
Published: 1/12/2021
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Inventor(s): Ryosuke Okuno, Kwang Baek, Upali Weerasooriya
Keywords(s): Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), Oil & gas upstream
Category(s): Physical sciences > Energy > Oil & gas > Enhanced oil recovery
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Novel wettability modifier for waterflooding in carbonate reservoirs
Problem statementThe efficiency of waterflooding depends significantly on the rock wettability in fractured carbonate reservoirs, which often are mixed- or oil-wet. The rock wettability is determined by the interactions among crude oil, brine, and rock minerals. The current technologies for wettability alteration in carbonate rocks, such as surfactant...
Published: 1/12/2021
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Inventor(s): Ryosuke Okuno, Gayan Abeykoon
Keywords(s): Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), Oil & gas upstream, Wettability
Category(s): Physical sciences > Energy > Oil & gas > Enhanced oil recovery
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Accurate 3D reconstruction of oil reservoirs based on rock classification
Problem statement3D description of a hydrocarbon reservoir and its petrophysical and fluid properties is required for optimal, cost-effective administration of hydrocarbon reservoirs. Conventional methods for reservoir characterization are based on 3D continuous discretization of the subsurface hydrocarbon reservoir into volume pixels of various shapes....
Published: 1/6/2021
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Inventor(s): Carlos Torres-Verdin, Zoya Heidari
Keywords(s): Enhanced oil recovery (EOR), Oil & gas upstream, Petrophysics
Category(s): Physical sciences > Energy > Oil & gas > Upstream oil & gas
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Low-cost, energy-efficient heavy oil recovery using a closed-loop well architecture
Problem statementOil production from heavy crude oil and bitumen reserves depends on enhanced thermal and chemical extraction methods like Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS), and high-pressure CSS. However, these methods have several known disadvantages. SAGD and CSS consumes much higher levels of water and natural...
Published: 12/9/2020
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Inventor(s): Larry Lake, Babafemi Ogunyomi
Keywords(s): Drilling, Enhanced oil recovery (EOR)
Category(s): Physical sciences > Energy > Oil & gas > Upstream oil & gas
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