Khaled Z. Abdelgawad

Using high- and low-salinity seawater injection to maintain the oil reservoir pressure without damage

The oil reservoir pressure declines due to oil production, and this decline will lead to reduction in the oil productivity. The reservoir pressure maintenance is a practice in the oil industry in which seawater is injected into the aquifer zone below the oil zone to support the reservoir pressure. Calcium sulfate scale is one of the most serious oilfield problems that could be formed in sandstone and carbonate reservoirs. Calcium sulfate may precipitate during the injection of seawater with high sulfate content into formation brine with high calcium content. Mixing seawater and formation water may cause precipitation of calcium sulfate, barium sulfate, and/or strontium sulfate. Seawater treatment does not remove the entire sulfate ions from the injected water. Low sulfate concentrations may cause damage. Enhanced oil recovery processes such as smart water injection, which originally is diluted seawater, may cause calcium sulfate precipitation as the reduction of water salinity will increase the sulfate precipitation and decrease its solubility. This study was conducted to investigate the damage caused by the deposition of calcium sulfate precipitation. A solution is proposed to prevent the damage due to calcium sulfate by using chelating agents. Several coreflooding experiments were conducted using Berea sandstone and Indiana limestone cores at reservoir conditions of pressure and temperature using seawater (high and low salinity) and formation water. Chelating agents used in this study are: EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid), HEDTA (hydroxyethylenediaminetriacetic acid), and HEIDA (hydroxyethyliminodiacetic acid). HEDTA and HEIDA chelating gents are environmentally friendly and can be used in marine environment. High-salinity water injection caused severe formation damage, and the injectivity will decline faster compared to the low-salinity water injection. HEDTA and EDTA chelating agents at low concentrations performed better than HEIDA chelating agents in both Berea sandstone and Indiana limestone cores. HEDTA and EDTA chelating agents were able to prevent the damage due to calcium sulfate precipitation and enhanced the core permeability.

New approach to evaluate the equivalent circulating density (ECD) using artificial intelligence techniques

The equivalent circulation density (ECD) is a very important parameter in drilling high-pressure high-temperature and deepwater wells. ECD is a key parameter during drilling through formations where the margin between the pore pressure and the fracture pressure (FP) is narrow. In these critical formations, the ECD is used to control the formation pressure and prevent kicks. Recent approaches in oilfields to determine ECD depend mainly on using expensive downhole sensors for providing real-time values of ECD. Most of these tools have operational limitations such as high pressure and high temperature which may prevent using these tools in downhole conditions. The objective of this paper is to develop a new approach for predicting ECD using artificial intelligence (AI) techniques from surface drilling parameters [mud weight, drill pipe pressure, and rate of penetration (ROP)]. 2376 data points were used to develop the AI models. The data were collected during the drilling of an 8.5″ vertical hole section. Two AI models were used to estimate the ECD: artificial neural network (ANN) and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). An empirical correlation for ECD was derived from the optimized ANN model by extracting the weights and biases. The developed ANN and ANFIS models were able to calculate ECD with a correlation coefficient (R) of 0.99 and average absolute percentage error of 0.22% for ANN and ANFIS models, respectively. The developed empirical correlation for the ANN model can be used during well design to choose a correct mud weight to safely drill the well based on the expected drilling parameters. It will also minimize the drilling problems related to ECD such as losses or gains especially in critical situations where the margin between the pore and fracture pressure is very narrow. In addition, using this technique will save cost and time by reducing the need for expensive, complicated downhole tools.

Modified seawater EOR fluid for carbonate reservoirs

Low salinity of water flooding was studied as EOR fluid for carbonate and sandstone utilising its ability to interact with the rock surface. In this study, we introduced a chemical that can be applied in carbonate reservoirs to increase the oil recovery as alternative to low salinity or seawater flooding. A new method was employed the ability of a chelating agent to sequester metal ions in solution and prevent any solid precipitates in the reservoir. Seawater was used without desulphonation without any tendency to interact with the formation brine. The effluent samples from coreflooding were analysed to determine the dissolution caused by the chelating agents and its impact on the oil recovery. The increased recovery during coreflooding is attributed to dissolution of carbonate rock surface, liberation of oil, and IFT reduction due to the high pH injected fluid (pH > 11). Other mechanisms contribution was proved as well. [Received: August 24, 2015; Accepted: March 19, 2016]