Building an Enhanced Oil Recovery Culture to Maximise

Asset Value

Marco Rotondi Stavanger, 28th April 2015

EOR Mindset

EOR Costs

Building an Enhanced Oil Recovery Culture: Action Plan

EOR Challenges & Solutions

eni Successful Case Histories

Introduction

3

2

4

1

Building an Enhanced Oil Recovery Culture - Agenda

2

2.2

EOR Time to Market 2.1

2.3

Conclusions 5

Meeting Future Production Demand

3

EOR Introduction

1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030

Mill

ion

Bar

rels

Per

Day

0

25

50

75

100

Natural depletion

IOR

EOR

Unconventional

Deepwater & complex environment

Source: IEA World Energy Outlook 2012

EOR 3% 8% 24%

Microbial Methods & Others

Chemical Injection

Thermal Methods

Miscible Gas Injection & WAG

Enhanced Oil Recovery

Global oil demand

EOR Projects Time to Market

4

Faster Deployments

Lab Analyses & Simulation Screening Phase

Y1 Y3 Y4

Pilot Test @ well scale

Interwell Pilot Test

Y5

Full Field Implementation

Y6-8

EOR Challenges

Lab Analyses & Simulation

Screening Phase

Pilot @ well

Interwell Pilot Test

Full Field Implementation

From a sequential to a quicker parallel approach

§  EOROGTM

§  IPSE §  in-house EOR labs

§  APA for EOR §  Streamlines §  High Resolution Simulator

§  Log-inj-log §  SWCTT

§  Standard procedures § Strategic contracts §  Monitoring best practices

WA SWCTT (Jan 2014)

NA SWCTT (Aug 2014)

NA Polymer Plant (2014)

NA Polymer Plant (2015)

5

Screening Tool for Optimal EOR Techniques & Analogues

CO2  MISCWAG  CO2  MISC

HC  MISC

WAG  HC  IMM

WAG  HC  MISC

polymer

surfactant

Magnus

CO2 Immiscible

CO2 Miscible

WAG CO2 Miscible

HC Miscible

WAG HC Miscible

N2 Miscible

Polymer

Surfactant

Algorithm searches for analogues within EOR database Optimal EOR Techniques List of references 1 2 3

1) “Development and Testing of Advanced Methods for the Screening of EOR Techniques” – EAGE IOR Symposium, April 2015 2) SPE-174315 – “A New Bayesian Approach for Analogs Evaluation in Advanced EOR Screening” – EUROPEC, June 2015

EOR Challenges

In house tool for quick screening phase and EOR analogues evaluation

6

Understanding & Reproducing EOR Mechanisms

Production Data Analysis for EOR

Material Balance

Streamlines

1

2

3

EOR Challenges

Janus Bifrons

3D simulation

§  Core Scale

§  Well Scale (SWCTT)

§  Sector & Full Field Scale

4

Coreflood N.1: High and Low Salinity Water

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0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42 44 46 48 50 52

time (hours)

oil r

ecov

ery

(%)

measured

STARS

Eclipse 100

UTCHEM

Eclipse Stars

UTChem

“Study the past if you would divine the future”

Optimizing Waterflood

Methane Bank

Faster & More Accurate EOR Simulations

7

Deployment of a high resolution simulator for full field simulation

Standard Case Study §  Low permeability oil reservoir §  Coarse grid: 139x122x56, 200k active cells §  46 Horizontal wells and LGR to simulate

horizontal wells + hydraulic fractures

Elapsed Time - Coarse Model

More accuracy, more simulations, additional time for res eng -> more solutions 1) SPE171965 – “Deployment of High-Resolution Reservoir Simulator: Methodology & Cases” – ADIPEC, Nov. 2014 2) http://www.slb.com/resources/case_studies/software/cs_eni_intersect.aspx 3) SPE175633 “Advances in Sim. Tech. for High-Resolution Models: Achievements & Opp. For Improvement”- SPE RCSC Sept. 2015

EOR Challenges

old simulator 15h

new simulator 12 min!

Pushing the limits §  Combining HPC2 hardware (30,000 cores, 6000 GPUs) and new simulator to run larger models and

capture geological complexity avoiding upscaling

eni Green Data Center 240M cell model

Outstanding results in terms of simulation time

Reducing EOR Costs

8

EOR Challenges

Sources: Resources to Reserves, IEA – 2013 World Energy Investment, IEA – 2014

MENA

Conv.Oil

EOR

Arctic

AlreadyProduced

Heavy Oil T

igh

t O

ilU

DW Oil Shale GT

L

CT

L

Finding & Development costs @ 2035

Oil Production Costs §  EOR generally perceived as

expensive, but comparable

production costs to other oil

resource exploitation

§  Finding & development

costs even lower if projected to

2035

§  Keep an eye on emerging

techniques

§  Low Salinity & ‘Smart’ Water

§  Considering existing surface

facilities & infrastructures

and seek for opportunities!

EOR… §  is still wrongly perceived as a “reservoir or lab” subject while requires a fully

multidisciplinary approach §  is still considered a technological frontier: “We have always done like this…” §  should not be exclusive to mature fields §  requires a strong top management support and long term vision / continuity

9

EOR Challenges Changing the Mindset – A new EOR ‘Culture’

EOR know-how dissemination

(WS, webinars, lectures, papers, etc.)

Internal guidelines & external collaborations

Reorganization and reinforced EOR team

Growing of a new generation of EOR professionals to generate new

ideas and support future EOR

implementations

start

EOR Systematic Screening & Opportunity Evaluation

10

EOR Action Plan

§  Many valuable studies and lab tests, very few field applications §  More time spent to understand “how it works” rather than “if it works in the field” §  A more pragmatic approach was needed to promote EOR applications within the

Company §  Reorganising and rationalising EOR initiatives and R&D portfolio

EOR Systematic Screening & Opportunity Evaluation

11

EOR Action Plan

Miscible GI & WAG

Low Salinity

Chemical EOR

Others

Evaluation of additional unconstrained EOR resources & RF

Additional

EOR oil

2 3 Optimal EOR Techniques

(Strategy revision) eni Portfolio Screening

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20000

0,1 1 10 100 1000 10000

Dep

th (

ft)

Viscosity (cP @RC)

Thermal

Polymer ASP

mGI Low Salinity

iGI

Oil field

1

Hig

h L

evel

Scr

een

ing

S

econ

d L

evel

Scr

een

ing

eni Field Analog Field

Current Dev MGI+WI

Porosity 14 %

Permeability 200 mD

Depth 8760 ft

MMP 3500 psia

Viscosity

Temperature 185 °F

Initial Pressure

OOIP

RF@2014

Current Dev WAG

Porosity 14 %

Permeability 243 mD

Depth 9840 ft

MMP 3002 psia

Viscosity

Temperature 207 °F

Initial Pressure

OOIP

RF@2014

4 Field by field opportunity evaluation (analogues)

Mid term opportunity implementations (building internal

competences)

Short term opportunity implementations

(quick deployment of mature techniques at low cost)

5b

5a

WAG

CEOR

eni EOR Projects

1) WAG 2) Polymer 3) Surfactant Polymer 4) Electrical Heating

Steam

CO2 Low Salinity + Polymer flooding

1) Polymer flooding 2) Low Salinity + Polymer 3) Bright Water

GI+mWAG

iWAG & FAWAG

GI

Pilot Study Full field implementation

Bright water + low salinity

GI

Thermal EOR Gas injection Chemical EOR

More than 20 new EOR initiatives launched…

12

EOR Action Plan

iWAG

Miscible WAG – Pushing RF

§  Onshore NA field §  Developed with WI and mGI §  Already high RF

§  Nearby field produced by means of WAG §  New reservoir model

§  Conversion of existing WIs §  WAG pilot started in Q2 2013 §  Impressive results, additional URF of 6%

§  Cost per EOR barrel < 0,5 USD/stb

EOR Case Studies

eni Field Analog Field

Current Dev MGI+WI

Porosity 14 %

Permeability 200 mD

Depth 8760 ft

MMP 3500 psia

Viscosity

Temperature 185 °F

Initial Pressure

OOIP

RF@2014

Current Dev WAG

Porosity 14 %

Permeability 243 mD

Depth 9840 ft

MMP 3002 psia

Viscosity

Temperature 207 °F

Initial Pressure

OOIP

RF@2014

North Africa mWAG Overview

WAG1

WAG2

Prod1

07/2009 06/2010 06/2011 05/2012 05/2013 04/2014 04/2015 03/2016

Qo

il [S

TB

/d

]

Prod1 WAG1 Start-up

WAG gain

Higher than initial plateau

Improving RF: Never give up! SPE174700, "On the Road to 60% Oil Recovery By Implementing Miscible HC WAG Injection in a NA Field” – SPE EORC, Aug. 2015 13

Downdip Immiscible WAG

§  Offshore UK, structurally complex reservoir §  Developed with WI (high WC = 91%) & crestal offspec gas disposal §  Change of operatorship in April 2014 -> APA, Streamline, New 3D Model §  Water injection is inefficient and attic oil bypassed §  WAG a feasible solution -> gas from issue to resource

§  WAG Pilot (conversion of two water injectors) foreseen for Q2/Q3 2015

§  Low cost opportunity

§  Additional 2% on URF §  Based on pilot results, other 3 water injector wells will be

converted to WAG injectors

WAG forecasts

UK iWAG Overview

EOR Case Studies

attic oil

water path

From study to pilot in 1y time, low cost per EOR barrel 14

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

01/2015 12/2018 12/2022 12/2026 12/2030

Oil

Rat

e

WAG pilot

Deepwater iWAG & Foam Assisted WAG Implementing EOR from Day 1

§  Deepwater WA field

§  Production start-up Q1 2015 (2 prod)

§  iWAG start-up Q2 2015 (2 inj)

§  Analogue field produced by WAG showed gas BT in 1.6 km away producer in 75 dd

§  FAWAG R&D project launched

Project Overview

WAG & FAWAG Forecasts

EOR Case Studies

§  Foam Assisted WAG is aimed at:

§  Reducing gas mobility in reservoir

§  Increasing sweep efficiency

1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15

Oil

Rat

e

FAWAGWAGNatural Depletion

GO

R

WI WAG

Surfactant Injection

years

WAGFAWAG

After 7 years of injection

OP1WAG2

WAG FAWAG

OP1WAG2

0.03

0.5

0.9§  WAG + 30% on RF

wrt natural depletion

§  FAWAG less than 1% on additional recovery but – 53% on produced gas

Moving to more complex techniques to maximise RF & mitigate subsurface risks 15

Maximising Sweep Efficiency in Waterfloodings

16

Lab Analyses & Simulation Screening Phase Pilot Test @

well scale Interwell Pilot

Test Full Field

Implementation

§  2 NA Low Salinity Projects §  Alaska Low Sal + Polymer §  ME low salinity §  WA offshore polymer

§  Egypt Bright Water §  NA Polymer flooding §  NA Low Salinity + Polymer flooding

WA SWCTT (Jan 2014) NA Polymer Plant (2014)

EOR Case Studies

1) SPE171794 – “Low Salinity Water Injection: eni’s Experience” – ADIPEC, 2014 2) SPE17951 – “SWCTT to Assess Low Salinity Water and Surfactant EOR Processes in West Africa” – IPTC, 2014 3) “Low Salinity Waterflooding for EOR: Stochastic Model Calibration and Uncertainty Quantification” – EAGE IOR 2015

Exploiting & combining water

conformance, low salinity &

chemical EOR techniques

WA Low Sal+Surfactant SWCTT (Jan 2014)

NA Low Salinity SWCTT (Aug 2014)

§  Tunisia BW

Areal sweep efficiency

Vertical Sweep

Efficiency

Microscopic Displacement

Water Conformance

oilwater

sandgrain

~ 10-4 m

inje

ctor

prod

ucer

Polymer Flooding

Low Salinity

Surfactant

§  Thermally activated polymer that improves waterflooding sweep efficiency by in depth reservoir conformance i.e. plugging thief zones and forcing water to follow new paths

§  Ultra mature field, 94% WC §  Target bypassed oil (inefficient WI by APA & Streamline analysis) §  2010: successful pilot test §  2013: extension to 2 water injectors and 7 producers

Bright Water Pilot & Field Deployment Results

Bright Water Deployment

Field Results

+60 kstb

+130 kstb

Extension Pilot

EOR Case Studies

SPE154042 – “Thermally Activated Particle Treatment to Improve Sweep Efficiency: Pilot Test Results and Field Scale Application Design in El Borma Field” – IOR Symposium, April 2012 17

Well A (Pilot) Well B

Bright Water Field Deployment Results

EOR Case Studies

Well C Well D

Gain continuing with time, well life extension > 5y, Low treatment costs

18

North Africa Polymer Flooding Pilot

EOR Case Studies

19

Polymer Plant

“Polymer Injection: EOR Application in a North African field from Lab Analyses to Project Start-up”, OMC 2015

0

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e [b

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ay]

WC

T [%

]

Liquid Oil

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WC

T [%

]

Polymer Inj.

Increase in oil production (Well A)

Polymer Inj.

WCT reduction (Well B)

North Africa – Maximising Waterflooding Efficiency

EOR Case Studies

20

23 average

18 average

14 max

0

5

10

15

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25

30

sea water low salinity

So

rw (

%)

SWCTT - Results

Oil Gain +38%

BW Results

3 monthswater

preflush

1st polymerslug 3 cP

2nd polymer slug6 cP in Low Sal Water drive

Dispersed WI+ Polymer

1) “History Match and Polymer Injection Optimization in a Mature Field Using the Ensemble Kalman Filter”, EAGE IOR 2013 2) “Chemical EOR project for a Giant NA Field”, OMC 2015

Low Salinity Results

1985 - Peripheral WI

2009 – Bright Water pilot

Q2 2015 – Dispersed WI + Polymer Pilot

Combination of different

Technologies

2016 – Low Salinity Pilot

Q3 2014 – Low Salinity SWCTT

EOR Case Studies

§  Reducing EOR time to market & costs is feasible

§  Take advantage of previous experience

§  Be proactive in seeking for opportunities to improve RF (existing

infrastructures)

§  Still open technical challenges:

§  Going deepwater

§  Carbonates

§  Standard procedures for monitoring phase

§  Keep investing in people and technology even in this low oil price

scenario

§  Promote a more collaborative environment among IOCs, NOCs, SCs

and universities

21

Conclusions Conclusions

Team

marco.rotondi@eni.com