Saskatoon鈥� Petroleum scientist Ian Gates relies on the humble soda bottle to explain the huge issue of foamy oil.
鈥淚t鈥檚 just like when you open a Coke bottle鈥he bubbles come out,鈥� said Gates, head of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering at the Schulich School of Engineering, University of Calgary.
鈥淲e open (an oil) reservoir, the bubbles come out. The bubbles are really small, and because they remain small, they form this foam.鈥�
He goes on to explain that the process of cold heavy oil production with sand (CHOPS) leaves gaps, or wormholes, in the reservoir, which create a drop in pressure. Similar to a can of shaving cream, the foam then arises from natural gas mixing with oil as the well depressurizes.
鈥淔oam has low viscosity. As you produce it, you produce the finely-grained sand. It depressurizes (the well) and stops. It鈥檚 stuck. There鈥檚 no more energy to get it out. You鈥檙e looking at getting 10 per cent of oil out of the reservoir.鈥�
Remarkably, after decades of oil extraction, no one really understands why this foaming happens in CHOPS. What Gates does know is that foam plus sand equals low recovery, and he is determined to change that, with help from a new collaborative research project.
His new weapon in the search for a better oil recovery system is a powerful beam of light. The light comes from the Canadian Light Source (CLS) Synchrotron on the University of Saskatchewan campus in Saskatoon. Funding for the research was announced Nov. 20 at a news conference held on a platform in the middle of the scientific facility.
Innovation Saskatchewan is providing $160,000 for the project, with $100,000 coming from the Petroleum Technology Research Centre (PTRC) in Regina. The CLS and the University of Calgary are providing in-kind support, bringing the project鈥檚 total cost to $303,000.
The scientific team will build a miniature reservoir containing oil, gas and water, and put it in a beamline at the CLS Synchrotron. The synchrotron鈥檚 beam is created by using radio-frequency waves and magnets to accelerate electrons close to the speed of light within a massive ring. Beamlines come off the ring, and produce a variety of light wavelengths that can 鈥渟ee鈥� matter at the molecular level.
鈥淎s the X-rays go through (the reservoir) we鈥檒l see the bubbles, we鈥檒l see how they evolve, how the sand grains move, and then as we add the additives we can see, 鈥極h, this is what this did,鈥欌�� said Gates.
Gates thinks a polymer or a carbon dioxide additive may assist in cold heavy oil recovery, but the team first must do detailed experiments to make sure their ideas actually work in reality.
The research reservoir is only eight inches long by about an inch in diameter. If the scientists can figure out the foaming mechanism, they will scale up the experiment to a larger reservoir, and hopefully bring it to field trial sometime in the future.
鈥淎fter decades of production, we can finally understand what鈥檚 going on,鈥� said Gates.
鈥淲hen you look at the economic value鈥ven two per cent, from 10 to 12 per cent, you鈥檙e looking at billions of dollars of income,鈥� Gates added. 鈥淣ot just millions, billions. What we鈥檙e going to try to do is increment it by looking at how does the foam form? How do we elongate (the well鈥檚) life? It鈥檚 not clear to us yet, but if we can improve how we understand it, we can then do the design work to basically manage it. And in managing it, we can hopefully extend the life (of a well.)鈥�
In Saskatchewan and Alberta, there are tens of thousands of wells sitting idle that have produced the 10 per cent, 鈥渁nd we don鈥檛 know what to do with them,鈥� said Gates. 鈥淎nd we don鈥檛 abandon them, because all the companies are thinking a follow-up process will arrive.鈥�
Ken From, CEO of the PTRC, said the research project is a potential game-changer and extremely important in a low price oil environment, such as the one hurting the industry today.
鈥淲hat typically happens is people really cut back on their capital expenditures,鈥� said From in an interview. 鈥淲hen you cut back on your capital, how can you increase or maintain your oil production? Well, that can come from your existing wells. You don鈥檛 have to drill any more; you鈥檙e not adding to any environmental footprint; your (capital expenditure) is way down.
鈥淓nhanced oil recovery is, in many people鈥檚 opinion, the most economic way of producing that incremental oil. In periods of low prices, enhanced oil recovery becomes more important.
鈥淲hat is challenging, though, is funding to do the research because prices of oil are low. It鈥檚 that Catch-22. If you鈥檙e a large company you can afford that; if you鈥檙e a smaller company, you might be a late adopter for the technology that comes out of the research. It鈥檚 almost counter-intuitive that when prices are low, that鈥檚 when you want to do the most research.鈥�
In Saskatchewan, heavy oil makes up 55 per cent of production, making it the largest contributor to the province鈥檚 industry.
From noted that companies using thermal techniques can heat oil and improve its viscosity through SAGD 鈥� steam assisted gravity drainage. However, with CHOPS, there is no thermal element to production.
鈥淚t is not expensive, but when you鈥檙e producing it cold, you can鈥檛 really get as much out,鈥� he added.
鈥淲e have a particular problem with our cold wells, in that the sand is not consolidated; it鈥檚 not like a rock. Those sand grains will move. As the oil comes out, it鈥檚 like foam. That foam鈥raps the sand.
鈥淭hese things stop at about somewhere between five and 10 per cent of oil production. The question is, how do we get more out?鈥�
The experiment will take place on the CLS beamline called BMIT, short for Biomedical Imaging and Therapy. While that may seem counter-intuitive, since oil foam is not biomedical, the line provides three-dimensional imaging that will be useful to this experiment.
The project marks a first for the CLS, as well. It鈥檚 the first time a synchrotron has been used to visualize a heavy oil system.
鈥淲e are pleased to invest in this project that has the potential to increase oil production in heavy oil reserves with very little investment in new equipment,鈥� said Jeremy Harrison, Saskatchewan鈥檚 minister responsible for innovation.
Continued research is key to the long-term viability of the province鈥檚 oil and gas industry, he added
