An Australian first initiative to re-develop the first commercial onshore oilfield into a CO2 miscible-EOR project
Stephanie Barakat A , Bob Cook A D , Karine D’Amore A , Alberto Diaz B and Andres Bracho CA Bridgeport Energy Limited, Level 7 / 111 Pacific Highway, North Sydney, NSW 2060, Australia.
B Rock Flow Dynamics, 11 Chapel Street, Aberdeen AB10 1SQ, United Kingdom.
C Rock Flow Dynamics, Suite 179, Level 5, Equus Building, 580 Hay Street, Perth, WA 6000, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: BCook@bridgeport.net.au
The APPEA Journal 59(1) 179-195 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ18095
Submitted: 1 November 2018 Accepted: 1 February 2019 Published: 17 June 2019
Abstract
The Moonie onshore oil field discovered in 1961, was the first commercial oil discovery in Australia. The field was purchased by Bridgeport Energy Limited (BEL) from Santos in late 2015. An Australian first initiative by BEL is to enhance oil production from the field using tertiary recovery CO2 miscible flood to maximise field oil recovery. The process involves an evaluation of well injection strategies for a miscible displacement process using reservoir simulation modelling. In addition, the project jointly addresses community concerns regarding the rise in greenhouse gas emissions by sourcing 60 000–120 000 tonnes/annum of CO2 from a nearby power station and/or an ethanol plant. Justified by laboratory experiments and reservoir compositional simulations, BEL’s project timeline to implement a CO2-enhanced oil recovery (EOR) pilot could start from 2020 followed by a 2–3-year full field oil production acceleration project if additional CO2 can be sourced. Based on incremental recovery and operational consideration, an injection well in the southern end of the field surrounded by six existing producers has been selected as a pilot flood. Positive indicative economics are achieved by the efficient displacement with CO2 of 8000 scf/bbl of incremental oil. Full field dynamic modelling predicts a further 8% oil recovery factor by injecting 60 Bcf of CO2 over five years, which could store in excess of three million tonnes of CO2. For the pilot, more than 90% of the injected CO2 will remain in the Precipice sandstone reservoir. However, the efficiency and viability of a CO2-EOR project is subject to successful implementation of the miscibility modelling, logistics and injection strategy and uncertainty quantification. To propel the project into the execution phase a fast-multiphase reservoir simulator has been implemented to complete a probabilistic range of results in optimal time.
Keywords: assisted, carbon, dynamic, enhanced, full-field, gas, greenhouse, history, hypercube, inject, latin, let, match, maximise, miscible, model, multi-dimensional, oil, onshore, optimise, Pareto, performance, pilot, prediction, recovery, reservoir, scaling, simulate, TNavigator, uncertainty.
Stephanie Barakat is a Chartered Professional, Senior Reservoir Engineer, employed with BEL. Barakat joined BEL in May 2014. Before BEL, she was a Petroleum Engineer for Drillsearch Energy (2009 – 2014). Her work assignments include east coast Australian Basins. Barakat has experience in both conventional and unconventional reservoirs and greenfield and brownfield assets. She has experience in building reservoir models for field development plans to exploit behind pipe opportunities, waterflood pressure maintenance, hydraulic fracture stimulation and EOR methods (material balance, pressure transient analyses, workovers and field testing operations). She has experience in building economic models for reserves and valuation, incremental projects and reserves certification. A registered engineer with International Professionals, Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation, National Engineers and Queensland Engineers. Barakat has 9 years of experience in the petroleum industry and has earned a Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of New South Wales. |
Robert (Bob) Cook has been involved in the oil industry for over 50 years, including 18 years with ExxonMobil (then Esso Australia), four years with Ampolex and eight years consulting to Mobil, Cultus and Roc Oil. More recently, he was responsible for the establishment of Australian listed company Elk Petroleum Limited where one of his positions was CEO and MD until 2014. In that role, he implemented the EOR project at Elk’s Grieve project in Wyoming, USA. The project involved negotiations for the supply of CO2 from ExxonMobil and its transportation through Anadarko’s CO2 pipeline and ultimately the farm out of an interest in the project to Denbury Resources, a significant USA oil company specialising in EOR production. Through his 10 years of involvement with Elk Petroleum, Bob has gained a wealth of experience in EOR technology as well as contacts in the oil industry where the benefits of EOR are understood and are being implemented. He is currently involved in BEL’s Moonie CO2-EOR project. |
Karine D’Amore is a Senior Reservoir Engineer with 15 years of experience in exploration, appraisal and development projects. She currently works in Vienna and has worked for different operators in the UK (Marathon Oil) and Australia (BEL, OilSearch, Respol/Talisman). She has an MSc in Petroleum Engineering from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh. |
Alberto Diaz is the European Technical Manager for Rock Flow Dynamics and is experienced in simulation, uncertainty quantification and risk mitigation. Diaz holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Computer Sciences, a Masters in Applied Mathematics and Masters in Reservoir Evaluation and Management, all from Heriot Watt University, Scotland. Work assignments include data analysis techniques, reservoir simulation studies and uncertainty analysis of sub-surface studies and its integration into economic and mitigation plans. |
Andres Bracho is a young professional working as an Engineer at Rock Flow Dynamics in Perth, Australia. He is experienced in reservoir simulation, integrated asset modelling and Australian commercial gas operations. Andres has a Bachelor’s degree in Petroleum Engineering from the University of Western Australia and a Master’s degree from Curtin University. His primary focus is on finding interesting applications to well established reservoir engineering techniques to improve existing workflows. |
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