(Tech Connections Column, July 2006, American Oil and Gas Reporter)

It is no secret we are all getting older, a fact obvious to those working in the oil and gas industry. Mark Rubin, executive director of the Society of Petroleum Engineers, says the average age of working members in the United States is 52 and that 70 percent of members working in the exploration and production industry are between the ages of 41 and 65, while only 20 percent are 36 or younger.

As oil prices remain strong and oil discoveries become smaller and harder to find, the independents that operate the vast majority of mature domestic reservoirs are taking another look at improved oil recovery (IOR) processes. The prize is substantial. The Department of Energy estimates that while 197 billion barrels of oil have been produced in the United States, more than 400 billion barrels of known reserves remain in the ground, while only 116 billion barrels remain to be discovered.

Nowhere was the interest in IOR more evident than at the April SPE/DOE IOR Symposium in Tulsa. Seven hundred delegates from 26 countries attended (20 percent more than 2004) to hear experts in plenary sessions discuss issues in carbon dioxide, chemical and polymer flooding. Those presentations are available online at www.ior2006.org/speaker_presentations.asp.

More than 100 papers were presented to packed rooms in sessions on thermal recovery, miscible and immiscible gas injection, reservoir conformance, field applications, reservoir simulation, CO₂ injection, and chemical, polymer and microbial flooding. Proceedings are available through www.ior2006.org, or individual papers can be purchased through www.spe.org. Eight short courses giving practical, hands-on information were similarly well attended.

Turnout at the PTTC-organized Independents Day session was strong. With a focus on the Mid-Continent, speakers presented case studies on horizontal drilling, dewatering, alkalinesurfactant- polymer flooding, gas-assisted (CO₂) gravity stable flooding, and fluid pulsation. A summary of the session is available at www.pttc.org/solutions/sol_2006/554.pdf, and a pdf of the session workbook can be obtained by contacting klovendahl@pttc.org.

As is customary, the Oil & Gas Journal’s biennial IOR survey was published in its April 17 edition preceding the symposium. Several changes were evident from the 2004 survey. Eleven new CO₂ projects were initiated and overall production was up 32,000 barrels of oil a day, in large part because of Anadarko’s new Wyoming projects. Sixteen additional CO₂ projects are under way in Mississippi, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan and Kansas. Five new in-situ combustion projects were initiated in North and South Dakota, with two more planned. Two surfactant-polymer pilots are under way in Oklahoma and are described in the Independents Day presentations. The biggest decline came in steamflood production, which is down 54,000 bbl/d.

Air injection (in-situ combustion) is an example of a process that was tried in the 1970s, but fell out of favor because of generally poor technical and economic results, although an exception is the activity in North and South Dakota. With an improved understanding of the process and modern technology, there is renewed interest. At a PTTC West Coast Region workshop on the topic, several experts reviewed the California projects from the 1970s–at one time there were dozens producing several thousand barrels of oil a day from heavy oil reservoirs.

They reviewed the mechanisms and processes that provided the pressure, crude upgrade, and viscosity reduction to move the oil. Also discussed were the reasons these projects seldom lived up to expectations: the rusting and plugging of injectors with asphaltene, emulsions, subsurface scale and corrosion, as well as gas buildup at the producers.

However, given the billions of barrels of heavy oil remaining in place–61-69 percent of the original oil–and modern technology such as horizontal drilling, better production procedures and equipment, and a better understanding of the process mechanisms, this technology may prove viable today. The new projects in North and South Dakota suggest this is the case. The workshop was attended by researchers, producers and royalty owners, several of whom were looking for information that would help them determine whether their heavy oil holdings were good candidates and how to undertake engineering studies.

PTTC also is facilitating additional CO2 flooding. At a Midwest Regional workshop last November, speakers discussed the reservoir mechanics, economic factors and operational issues involved in initiating and producing a CO₂ flood. The history of activity in the Michigan Basin was reviewed and potential anthropogenic sources of CO₂ were identified. The planned Michigan CO₂ project cited in the Oil & Gas Journal survey will utilize CO2 from a local refinery.

PTTC also hosted a day-long “state-of-the-art” meeting that highlighted best practices for CO₂-enhanced oil recovery earlier this year in Houston as a preproposal meeting to introduce a DOE solicitation for enhanced oil and gas production through CO2 injection. Presentations are posted along with a workshop summary that provides participants’ perceptions of future technology needs at www.pttc.org/workshop_doe_co2/DOE_CO2_EOR_Presentations.htm.

This gives a picture of what is happening in “conventional” IOR, but industry is actively working in the “unconventional” realm of oil shale also. In January, the Bureau of Land Management announced the names of eight applicants (http://www.blm.gov/nhp/news/releases/pages/2006/pr060117_oilshale.htm) whose proposals for oil shale R&D were judged eligible for continued consideration. It’s interesting to note that 20 nominations were submitted to BLM in that solicitation.