Brief about Petroleum
Activities at IFE
Tor Bjørnstad
Chief Scientist
Institute for Energy Technology (IFE)
tor.bjornstad@ife.no
Subjects not to be treated here
• Multiphase flow in wells and pipelines (OLGA etc.)
• CO2 and H2S corrosion in transportation systems
• Hydrate prevention (MEG-technology) and most
other flow assurance aspects
• Geology/geochemistry/diagenesis/stable isotope
signatures
• Micropaleontology/biomarkers/production allocation
• Basin modelling
• CCS
• Application of tracer technology during exploration
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Reservoir
evaluation
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Reservoir characterization
Reservoir modelling
Seismics
Production data
Geological
(or static)
reservoir
model
Geochemistry
Sedimentology
Well logs
Biostratigraphy
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Tracer data
Water expelling oil –should be traced
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Tracer Technology Research Themes
TRACER DISPERSION PROFILES
 Development of radioactive
from laboratory examinations of
S CN and HTO in carbonate rock
COOH
and chemical tracers.
COOH
H
H
 Testing and verification in
F
F
laboratory experiments
S14CNH
H
H
 Development of hyperH
F
H
sensitive analytical
COOH
techniques for tracers in
F
COOH
highly diluted field samples
HTO
 Practical implementation in
Producer
F
F
the field
Injector
F
 Development of simulation
ELUTED PORE VOLUME
tools
NORMALIZED FRACTIONAL COUNTING RATE, R/R0
14
-
0.07
0.06
TEMPERATURE = 90 C
PRESSURE = 190 BAR
0.05
MOBILE PHASE: SEA WATER
LINEAR FLOW RATE = 20 cm/d
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
0
0
Tor Bjørnstad
6
0.4
0.8
1.2
1.6
2
2.4
2.8
The «Tracer Club»
The ”core” of the tracer development is the ”Tracer Club” which is an
industry-supported program (JIP) which are being carried out in welldefined development phases:
IFE Tracer Research
ADVanced
IFE SOR
Co-operation
(ITRC
Reservoir Tracing
program (ADVISOR)
Tracers in EOR
1991-1996
Intelligent tracers
1997-2002 (ResTrac) operations
Main focus on pasMain focus on2002-2007 (TracEOR) (TracIntel)
sive water tracers
Main focus on2008-2012 2013-2017
and new gasphase-partitioning
tracers
Main focus on
tracers environmentally
Main focus on
acceptable tracers
trac. for functional
tracers
EOR
operationsfor reservoar
properties
«Industry standard» interwell water tracers
H
COOH
F
H
H
H
COOH
F
F
H
H
PETRAD
seminar Vietnam
9
H
H
COOH
H
H
H
F
H
COOH
H
H
H
F
COOH
F
H
H
H
F
H
COOH
H
COOH
H
COOH
F
F
F
H
H
H
F
F
H
F
F
F
“Industry standard” non-radioactive
gas tracers
Perfluorinated
cyclic hydrocarbons with
coordinated light
hydrocarbon
(methyl) groups
are excellent gas
tracers
PDCB
10
PMCH
CARBON
FLUORINE
1,3-PDMCH
PETRAD
seminar Vietnam
PMCP
1,2,4-PTMCH
Fluorescent and radioactive nano-particles
Particle core
emission
PETRAD
seminar Vietnam
11
Particle core and
functional layer
emission
Particle core and
multifunctional
layer emission
Nano-particle tracers
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12
Interwell tracer simulator
• Successful implementation of ARTSim tracer simulator
• Tested by IFE, Statoil and Total on 5 field cases. Conclusion:
very fast (5% of reservoir simulator CPU), simple to use
• 3 journal publications, 7 conference presentations last 3 years
• Presently coupled to Eclipse E100 (black-oil) simulator
ARTSim results in FloViz (Eclipse suite visualization tool)
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Tracers in reservoirs
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Tracing of
injection
fluids
Injection
well
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Preferential flow
directions
Production
Horizontal
and vertical
communication
well between
wells
Permeability strata
Sweep volumes
StratifiedLarge-scale
reservoir heterogeneities
Tracer response after WAG
I2
PMCH
P4
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P8
P7
P5
Todays workflow
Petromaks KMB, technical content
History matched
model.
Used for predictions /
decisions
φ,k
Geostatistical
modeling
Reservoir
model
Assisted HM
Proposed workflow
History matched
model.
Used for predictions /
decisions
φ,k
Geostatistical
modeling
Add tracer and
production data
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Reservoir
model
Assisted HM
Communicate lessons learned back to geo-model
Remaining oil saturation
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Passive and partitioning tracer flow in a
flooding pore of formation rock
FORMATION ROCK
The partitioning tracer becomes delayed with
respect to the passive water tracer.
g
RESIDUAL OIL
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K-value (partition coefficient)
• Partitioning tracer in water
and oil
• Non-partitioning tracer
only in water
• Water moves, oil is (close
to) stagnant in EOR cases
K = (CTr)o/(CTr)w
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Partitioning tracer – Lab Experiments
Relative respons to peak concentration
1,2
WTP-1
Silica-packed
column
prepared with
residual oil
1
0,8
WTP-2
WTP-3
WTP-4
WTP-5
WTP-6
T = 40 C
P = 170 bar
SOR = 15.7 %
0,6
HTO
0,4
0,2
0
40
50
60
70
80
90
Eluted amount (g)
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100
110
120
130
140
Estimation of So by scaling x-axis
Scaling x-axis of the partitioning tracer : x' = x / (1+b)
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b = 0.6 gives match (So=0.24)
b=0.6, K=1.9 gives saturation: So = b/(b + K) = 0.6/(0.6+1.9) = 0.24
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RTD analysis of PITTs
Must first correct for re-injection & extrapolate to
infinity
LAV-1 results
Tracer
𝛽
𝐾
IFE-WTP8
0.6
1.9
24
IFE-WTP7
0.75
2.4
24
IFE-WTP3
0.50
1.5
25
IFE-WTP2
0.50
1.5
25
IFE-WTP1
0.70
2.1
25
IFE-WTP4
0.80
2.9
22
Results are consistent
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𝑆𝑜 [%]
LAV-2 results
Tracer
𝛽
𝐾
IFE-WTP8
0.55
1.9
22
IFE-WTP7
0.65
2.4
21
IFE-WTP3
0.45
1.5
23
IFE-WTP2
0.45
1.5
23
IFE-WTP1
0.60
2.1
22
IFE-WTP4
0.70
2.9
19
Results are consistent
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𝑆𝑜 [%]
SWCTT stage 1 injection
NPA
EtAc
NPA
EtAc
EtAc
EtAc
NPA
NPA
Water and ester is injected into watered out section
SWCTT stage 2 hydrolysis shut-in
NPA
EtAc
EtAc
NPA
EtOH
EtOH
Some of the ester hydrolyses to alcohol
NPA
NPA
SWCTT stage 3 back production
NPA
EtAc
EtAc
NPA
NPA
EtOH
EtOH
NPA
The ester partition to oil and is delayed, compared to the alcohol
The water tracer is catching up on the partitioning tracer.
Single Well Chemical Tracer Test
Production Curve
2000
300
Material Balance Tracer
1800
Product
Alcohol
Tracer
1400
200
1200
Unreacted Ester
Tracer
1000
150
800
100
600
400
50
200
00
0
00
500
1000
1500
Volume Produced (bbls)
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2000
Concentration Tracers (ppm)
Concentration Tracers (ppm)
250
1600
Partitioning interwell tracer test (PITT)
• Exploits the delay of partitioning tracers compared to
non-partitioning tracers
• Works by injecting partitioning & non-partitioning
tracer simultaneously
• Saturation can be estimated by:
𝑺𝒐 = (𝑻𝒑 − 𝑻𝒊 )/(𝑻𝒑 + 𝑻𝒊 (𝑲 − 𝟏))= 𝜷/(𝜷+K)
where 𝑻𝒑 = 𝑻𝒊 (𝟏 − 𝜷)
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EOR-methods
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Enhanced oil recovery
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CO2–EOR challenges
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Synthesis of 35S-labeled surfactant
• Synthesis of the sulfonation agent acetylsulfate:
H235SO4 + CH3-COOOC-CH3 
CH3-COO35SO3H + CH3-COOH
• Sulfonation of 1-dodecene to get the surfactant:
CH3-COO35SO3H + R-CH2-CH=CH2 
R-CH=CH-CH2-35SO3H + CH3-COOH
(R = C9H19)
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Less liquid, more CO2
1.0
CO2
14
C
H
35
S
3
Tracer response/a.u.
0.8
Water
0.6
Surfactant
0.4
0.2
0.0
0.0
0.5
1.0
1.5
2.0
Number of pore volumes
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2.5
3.0
Using 22Na+ tracer to monitor water front
2000
Water containing 22Na+ displacing water
1800
Front end of core
Flow: 1ml/min
Pressure: 307bar
1600
Temp.: 89.5oC
Counts
1400
1200
t = 100min
t = 66min
t = 40min
1000
800
t = 19min
600
0
100
200
300
Position of scanner (mm)
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400
500
How can CO2 sweep efficiency be
improved ?
 CO2/foam: What kind of surfactant?
 Increasing viscosity by polymers:
What kind of polymer?
 WAG: How long (frequency of) slugs?
 What are the displacement
mechanisms with supercritical or
dense-phase CO2?
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What injection strategy to follow?
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• Foam stability
• Foam quality
• Surfactant retention
• Component separation
Water
Gas
CO2 foam flooding: Parameters
Production and
flow assurance
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Well inflow monitoring
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Complex well inflow monitoring
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Generator principles (2)
Aqueous solution
(complexing agent,
salinity, pH)
Mother nuclide
Aqueous solution
+ complexed
daughter possibly
extractable into
organics
Example:
52Fe  52mMn
Anion exch.column,
elution with tartrate
Aqueous or
organic tracer
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Tor Bjørnstad
46
Experimental setup measurements
of scaling kinetics
Balance
Heating
cabinet
Line
pressure
Diff.
pressure
Brine 1
HCO3-
H2O
Balance
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Computer
logging
pH
electrode
p
BPR
Pump
Heating
fluid Heating
Brine2
coil
+ tracer
= 47Ca2+
Sandfilled
Al pipe
Gamma
detector
Sample
collection
Column scans
Counts per 100 s
100000
Column scans
Time: 25 – 90 h
T = 99 C, SR = 4.46
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
-10
10
30
50
70
90
110 130 150 170 190 210 230
Position X (mm)
Selected column scans
Counting rate (cp100s)
120000
Selected CaCO3
precipitation curves
100000
to + to,y
80000
97,38 h
81,04 h
72,58 h
62,71 h
52,84 h
44,38 h
37,33 h
31,69 h
26,84 h
60000
40000
20000
0
-10
40
90
140
Position (mm)
190
240
True scaling rates at xi and xj
Counting rate (cp100s)
120000
Xi = 30 mm
Xj = 90 mm
100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Time (to+ to,y+ xitc , hours)
70
80
Shale gas and
hydrofracturing
Tor Bjørnstad
51
Tracer projects and contacts world-wide
Field experience
Tor Bjørnstad
Common R&D projects
52
Technology contacts
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