New chemical recovery technologies and their applicability in Colombian fields

Abstract

In the last decade, progress has been made in the implementation of chemical recovery processes in Colombia, including sealing gels injection pilots for chemical conformance, colloidal dispersion gels, polymers, alkali and surfactants. These processes have been of marked relevance both for the promise of increasing the Colombian fields recovery factor and for reviewing fields in their abandonment plans through the application of new technologies. However, experimental studies at reservoir conditions have shown that there are limitations for the application of these technologies, mainly in relation to: injection water quality, formation water salinity, temperature, among others; This makes it difficult to establish the technical and/or economic viability of its implementation in assets with high reserve potential and possible expansion scenarios. For to the above, and due the need to increase crude oil reserves, contributing to the understanding and development of enhanced oil recovery in the country; this paper presents a review of the limitations of conventional chemical recovery technologies, the opportunities of emerging technologies that allow overcoming technical and operational limitations and an estimate of the emerging technologies potential evaluated in the national context. For this, by comparing the operational windows of the technologies with the petrophysical properties of the Colombian fields, it was possible to establish the potential for increased reserves due to the application of new technologies. In addition, the needs in the design and installation of new equipment for the storage, chemicals injection and their associated costs were identified, taking as a premise that the application of a new recovery technology, in this case, is conditional on technical - economic feasibility, that allow to take advantage of the existing facilities in the field optimizing the possible CAPEX (Capital Expenditures) associated with the projects.