Department of Petroleum

Engineering and Applied

Geophysics

Enhanced oil recovery using

natural gas in heavy oil fields
TPG4140 Natural Gas Project

Ferron, Virginie
Losi, Claudia
Moreno Herrero, Jess
Pia Dreyer, Manuel
Terradillos, Alba

Trondheim, November 25th 2010

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Abstract

The following report presents an overview of the relationship between natural

gas as an enhanced oil recovery (EOR) element in the production of heavy oil. A
definition of what heavy oil is and where it is found is introduced; this in order to know
where both the producer and the market are located. Heavy oil constitutes itself a
representative percentage of the production of oil nowadays and it is going to have an
even bigger share in the future, as the non-conventional reserves make up for about 70%
of the total worlds oil in 2006 (Oilfield Review). Moreover, conventional oil reserves
are becoming scarce with time, hence the need of new and improved techniques to
produce the unconventional fields, such as heavy oil ones. A compendium of these
technologies are regarded in the report; giving special emphasis to those involving
natural gas. Among them, Gas lifting, Gas injection and Vapor Extraction Process
(VAPEX) are extended in terms of cases of study; where production data, process
details and recovery improvements are presented for different fields throughout the
world. Environmentally talking, the use of these techniques represent a path to reduce
the footprint that the fossil fuels industry leaves; this regarding a possible option to
handle contaminants such as carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulphide present in sour
natural gas or to prevent flaring scenarios. The current trend obliges the energy industry
to improve itself, being the heavy oil EOR techniques with natural gas an expression of
this forwarding behavior.

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List of contents

Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... i
List of contents.............................................................................................................................. ii
List of tables................................................................................................................................. iii
List of figures ............................................................................................................................... iii
Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 1
1

HEAVY OIL ......................................................................................................................... 3

1.1

Definition ...................................................................................................................... 3

1.2

API gravity parameter, oil classifications ..................................................................... 3

1.3

Heavy oil in the world................................................................................................... 4

ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY METHODS ...................................................................... 5

2.1

Gas Injection and Gas Lift ............................................................................................ 5

2.2

Thermal methods........................................................................................................... 7

2.3

Chemical methods ......................................................................................................... 8

NATURAL GAS IN HEAVY OIL RECOVERY ................................................................ 9

3.1

Sour gas injection .......................................................................................................... 9

3.2

Gas Lift........................................................................................................................ 12

3.3

Vapor extraction process............................................................................................. 13

Discussion ................................................................................................................................... 15
Conclusions ................................................................................................................................. 17
References ................................................................................................................................... 18
Tables .......................................................................................................................................... 21
Figures......................................................................................................................................... 22
Appendices.................................................................................................................................. 28

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List of tables

Table 1: Classification of oil depending on API gravity............................................................. 21

List of figures

Figure 1: World market energy use by fuel type, 1990-2035 (quadrillion Btu).......................... 22
Figure 2: Localization of Zama field within Alberta, Canada..................................................... 22
Figure 3: Samples of heavy oil.................................................................................................... 23
Figure 4: Orinoco heavy oil belt in Venezuela............................................................................ 23
Figure 5: EOR methods now in current use ................................................................................ 24
Figure 6: Gas injection. ............................................................................................................... 24
Figure 7: Gas lift. ........................................................................................................................ 25
Figure 8: Steam injection ............................................................................................................ 25
Figure 9: In-situ combustion ....................................................................................................... 26
Figure 10: Polymer fluid method ................................................................................................ 26
Figure 11:VAPEX Process Scheme ........................................................................................... 27
Figure 12: Contact Phase occurring during the VAPEX Process................................................ 27
Figure 13: Heavy oil fields in Oman ........................................................................................... 28
Figure 14: facilities of the sour-gas injection project for Harweel field ..................................... 29
Figure 15: Time evolution of cumulative (all operations) a) injection rate; and b) injected
volumes, at the acid-gas injection operations in western Canada, showing also the fraction of
injected H2S and CO2 .................................................................................................................. 30
Figure 16: Typical operating conditions for acid gas injection showing the compression and
dehydration cycle, transportation from the gas plant to the injection well, and injection, in
relation to the acid gas phase and hydrate forming conditions ................................................... 30

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Introduction

The relationship between the development of our society and the growth of the
need of energy has always been almost symbiotic. Every empire, big civilization or
even the major events that occurred during the past time had a background in energy
matters. Nowadays, the trend is to reduce the consumption of energy as much as
possible; while trying to find resources that have leave less environmental footprints
than the ones related to fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the use of fossil fuels as the main
energy resource will still be the driving force in our development for, at least, the next
fifty years (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010).
If regarding the actual situation in matters of energy consumption (Figure 1), it
is clear that oil covers most of the demand in current time; while natural gas covers as a
less important but growing amount. Then, talking about the natural gas exploitation is a
must in matters of the energy sector.
The main producers of natural gas are located in the Caucasian Region, but there
are also heavy producers in other parts of the world (British Petroleum, 2010). One can
point out some names such as Russia, Azerbaijan, Middle East and Norway; for
example. This drives directly to the clients, being mainly the European Union and the
United States of America; where gas is used as heating, power generation,
transportation and domestic uses (British Petroleum, 2010).
In most cases, natural gas comes as an associated product with oil, and then the
producer can decide whether to obtain both or just get the most valuable product from
the reservoir. This decision is related to market prices, environmental reasons or other
factors such as distribution issues or competitors inside the region. Within these
measurements, there are some less known actions such as the injection of natural gas as
a recovery technique.
First of all, gas and oil are pretty similar. They both are mainly composed of
hydrocarbons and usually, in reservoir, they are found as a single phase mixture that
will separate once at surface or in the reservoir after some production time. In some
cases, the production of associated gas is not seen as profitable: it could even be

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regarded as a problem. Flaring, re-injecting or other minor uses are, sometimes, the only
solution. Being oil the currently most valuable product, it is clear why the industry aims
onto a better recovery of the oil originally in place. This goal is reached through, as
said, injecting the gas, gas lifting, among others.
In the particular case of heavy oil, it is believed to be the main form of
petroleum in production in the next future. This is related to the depletion of the
conventional oil fields during the last years; leaving the industry mostly with this less
traditional kind of reservoirs. Natural gas also takes place as an enhancer in the
exploitation of these heavier oils. In countries such as Canada, Oman, Venezuela and
Brazil where there are heavy oil fields, companies are working upon the help of natural
gas to obtain more out of the well (Schlumberger, 2010).
The aim of the project is to show the existence of enhance oil recovery (EOR)
techniques related to natural gas and heavy oil around the globe, while addressing
fundamental concepts such as what is heavy oil and what is EOR. Finally, a discussion
about the future and environmental impact of this industrial relationship is presented.

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HEAVY OIL

1.1 Definition

Heavy oil is one type of crude oil with high viscosity, meaning that it flows with
some difficulty (Figure 2). It is called "heavy" because it has heavier molecular
composition than light crude oil and, therefore, a higher density and specific gravity.
Heavy crude oil is defined as liquid petroleum with an API gravity lower than 20, and
a specific gravity greater than 0,933 (Dusseault, 2010).
The production, refining and transportation present different challenges in the
moment of working with heavy oil. First of all, the viscosity has to be reduced somehow
to assure flow form start until the end of the processing. To achieve this and to increase
the amount of oil that can be produced from the reservoir several techniques can be
used; these being called enhanced oil recovery techniques for heavy oil production. Gas
lifting, Gas injection and High Temperature Steam Injection are just a glimpse of what
it is available when handling heavy oil (Dusseault, 2010).

1.2 API gravity parameter, oil classifications

To really cope with the definition of heavy oil there must be an extended
definition of what API gravity is and when can an oil sample be called heavy oil. API
gravity (API standing for American Petroleum Institute) is a parameter to measure the
relative heaviness of an oil compared to water. The breaking value is 10, meaning that if
the value is greater than 10, the oil with float on water and if it is smaller it will sink. It
is a dimensionless quantity but, traditionally, it has assigned a degree of API gravity
as unit (Crude Quality Inc., 2010).
Oil can be classified between light, medium, heavy or extra heavy depending of its API
gravity value (Table 1), which value can be obtained either by direct measurement through

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a hydrometer instrument, or by relating the specific gravity of the fluid in question

through the following expression:

Inside heavy oil further classification can be made. Regarding the amount of
sulphur contained in the heavy oil it can be denominated as aromatic-asphaltic or
aromatic-naphthenic. When the sulphur content is higher than 1%, the case of aromaticasphaltic is present; if it is lower than that value the oil is called aromatic-naphthenic
(Mullins et al., 2007).

1.3

Heavy oil in the world

Heavy oil can be found almost anywhere throughout the world, but it has been
mostly found and produced in the Americas. The largest reserves of heavy oil in the
world are located in Venezuela, specifically north of the Orinoco River (Figure 3). This
deposit of oil itself represents 1,2 trillion barrels of oil, that to say the same amount as
the commercial oil reserves of Saudi Arabia. In this region, the oil being handled has a
viscosity over 10000 centipoises and 10 API gravity (Conoco Phillips).
Other places with heavy oil tradition are the Canadian Rockies provinces
(Alberta and British Columbia), Western United States (Alaska, California and Utah)
and Ecuador (Eastern provinces located in the Amazon Region). All together, the
amount of heavy oil in the Americas represents 80% of the total heavy oil in the world
(Herron & King, 2004).
Nowadays, the proportion of heavy oil resources compared to the conventional
oil ones is increasing. By 2005, it was estimated that the proportion was around five
times heavy oil vs. conventional oil; hence presenting a panorama in which the need of
heavy oil exploitation will increase following the current and predicted energy demand
for the next years (Herron & King, 2004).
Currently, the exploitation of heavy oil has a very large potential demand
because the light crude is running out and other resources have to be found. This type of
oil has not been widely exploited previously as this process is very expensive and

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because it has many environmental problems. Thus, many researches are focusing on
extraction improvement in order to find an economical method and involve as little as
possible the environment.

ENHANCED OIL RECOVERY METHODS

The recovery techniques for heavy oil basically occur in three stages. At the first

stage oil is drained naturally into the wells, under the influence of pressure gradient
between the bottom of the wells within the reservoir. Then, when medium pressure is
inadequate or when significant amounts of other fluids (water and gas, for example) are
produced, starts the second phase, which involves injecting a fluid into the reservoir, to
maintain a pressure gradient (U.S Energy Information Administration).
After primary and secondary recoveries, an estimated 60-80% of original oil in
place (OOIP) remains trapped in the pores of the reservoir due to viscous and capillary
forces. Therefore, numerous enhanced oil recovery methods (EOR) have been studied to
produce this oil, essentially focusing on two things: reducing oil viscosity for easy flow,
or literally squeezing oil through the pores of the rock. The different tertiary recovery
methods for heavy oil are presented in Figure 4. In the following section of the project a
compendium of the main EOR methods have been selected, this regarding those that are
mostly related with the production of heavy oil.

2.1 Gas Injection and Gas Lift

These are the most typically used kind of methods in the oil industry and,
currently, they are being introduced in heavy oil exploitation more and more (Gmez
Cabrera, 2009). Although being highly effective in terms of recovery factors, this kind
of EOR are compromised by the need of a source of gas available for the injection; as
well as injection infrastructure.
Gas injection is the most popular EOR technique and involves carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, or natural gas being injected into a reservoir. The principle of this method is
shown in Figure 5 with CO2 as the injected gas. Once injected, the gas will subsequently

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dissolve into the oil and both lower the viscosity of the oil and improve the oils flow
rate. In many applications of gas injection, up to two-thirds of the injected gas will
return with the oil that is produced; re-injecting the recycled gas to release additional oil
will then minimize the operating costs (Maya Energy, 2009).
This process involves both control and price restrictions, given that the operating
pressures and depths are rather elevated. The minimum pressure for miscible
displacement of oil with gas is approximately 3000 psi, thus the depth of the reservoir is
limited to a minimum of 5000 feet (Vargas, 2009).
The second alternative used in oil wells to lift fluids to the surface is gas lift, of
which a general scheme is presented in Figure 6. This system uses gas at a relatively
high pressure injected in the production tubing to lighten the fluid column and thus
allow the well flow to the surface. There are two types of gas lift: continuous tire pump
and intermittent pneumatic pump (Azcona, 2002).
As the basic rationale is to produce as much oil as possible with a smallest
amount of injected gas, what is sought is to compare the theoretical volume of gas
against the real, and understand the behavior of the well according to it
characteristics. The amount of gas to be injected to maximize oil production varies
based on well conditions and geometries and is generally determined by well tests,
where the rate of injection is varied and liquid production (oil and perhaps water) is
measured. Although the gas is recovered from the oil at a later separation stage, the
process requires energy to drive a compressor in order to raise the pressure of the gas to
a level where it can be re-injected (Azcona, 2002).
As we talked about gas injection, also water injection has to be mentioned: the
process by which oil is displaced to production wells by the thrust of water. This
technique is not used in oil fields that have a natural water drive. The factors that are
favourable for high water injection recovery include: low viscosity oil, uniform
permeability and continuity of the reservoir (MK Tech Solutions).
Without forgetting that both gas injection and water injection used as a way of
pressure maintenance, being the oil too viscous, are of no use in heavy oil fields, we can
still compare the two techniques. To do that we have to take into account that water
floods leave more oil in the reservoir than gas floods; but the first one can recover oil
faster if the permeability of the reservoir is high. Usually, if the permeability of the
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reservoir is above 50 mD, a water flood will work well, whereas if the permeability is
below 25 mD, gas will recover oil faster than water because more gas can be injected
(MK Tech Solutions).

2.2 Thermal methods

Thermal methods provide some of the highest recovery factors, but they also
have the largest potential capital expenditure and operating costs. Nevertheless, they are
among the most commonly used methods in the heavy oil industry (Schlumberger).
Thermal methods typically involve the injection of steam or hot water into the
reservoir in order to decrease the oil viscosity. Therefore, they improve the mobility of
the heavy oil and provide a displacement mechanism. Another available technology is
commonly referred to as steam slugging and involves a mixture of carbon dioxide and
steam. This is shown in Figure 7 (Dolberry Oil & Gas Inc.).
The process of cyclic steam injection is sometimes called "huff and puff" or
"steam soak". This is a cyclical process in which the same well is used for injection and
production. The injection cycle followed by production will be repeated several times,
usually in each cycle will produce less oil than in the previous cycle. Some projects of
cyclic steam injection have been converted to continuous injection of steam after a few
cycles of injection. (Dolberry Oil & Gas Inc.)
In-situ combustion, on the contrary, is a way of letting the oil itself generates
energy to heat up the reservoir. There are two types of combustion processes in place:
combustion "forward" and burning "reverse. For the process "forward" the reservoir is
"burned" in one or more air injection wells and the combustion front propagates through
the reservoir to the nearest production well, as is shown in Figure 8. For the process
"reverse" the fire front moves from the production well to the air injection well
(Kristensen, 2008).
About the injection of hot fluids, we can say that, in general, the injected fluids
are heated on the surface. Those fluids vary from the more common water (liquid and
vapor) or air, to others, such as natural gas, carbon dioxide, exhaust fumes, and even
solvents and the choice is controlled by costs, expected effects on the response to oil

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production and the availability of fluids. The effective mobility ratio associated with the
injection of hot fluid is very unfavorable for the non-condensable gases, at least for the
injection of hot water, and less unfavorable (or favorable) for condensable gases and
water vapor (Prats, 1986). In the case of water injection, water is filtered, treated for
corrosion control, heated, and if necessary, treated to minimize swelling of clays in the
reservoir. The main role of the hot water injection is to reduce the oil viscosity and,
therefore, improve the efficiency by getting more displacement than it can be achieved
with conventional water injection (Prats, 1986).
Vapex process (vapor extraction) consists in a pair of horizontal wells one above
the other and also displaced horizontally, using a light hydrocarbon solvent in the range
of propane and butane (or some combination of light hydrocarbons) injected into the
upper horizontal well. The solvent diffuses into the heavy oil and, ultimately, reducing
its viscosity to allow it to drain by gravity to the lower horizontal production well. The
operating conditions are controlled in order to maintain the solvent in the vapor phase:
pressure is very close to its vapor pressure to maximize the effects of dilution of the
solvent (Das, 1998).

2.3 Chemical methods

These are the less used techniques: fluid inclusion system and microbial
injection. They are currently under development and they propose newer ways to handle
with the recovery of the oil in place without compromising quality and environmental
matters (Dolberry Oil & Gas Inc.).
Starting with the fluid inclusion systems, three chemical flooding processes can
be applied as enhanced oil recovery techniques for heavy oil fields: polymer, surfactant
or alkaline flooding. It is also common to mix these methods, namely injection of alkalisurfactant mixture (AS) or alkali-surfactant-polymer mixtures (ASP).
In the polymer flooding method, the water may become more viscous after the
addition of a water soluble polymer, which leads to an increase of the oil/water mobility
ratio. Therefore, the sweep efficiency is improved and a higher rate of recovery can be
obtained. At low salinities polymers have a higher mobility ratio by increasing the

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viscosity of water and decreased water permeability of the formation. The biopolymers
are less sensitive to the effects of salinity, but they are more expensive under the pretreatment processes that are required. This is shown in Figure 9 (Liquid Gold
International Corp.).
Concerning surfactant injection, this method aims to decrease the interfacial
tension between oil and water to move volumes of oil discontinuously trapped, usually
after the recovery process of water injection (Marquez, 2009). Alkaline injection on the
other hand involves the injection of caustic or alkaline solutions in the formation. These
chemicals react with the organic acids naturally present into the reservoir and thus
generate or activate natural surfactants. This situation results in direct improvements in
the mobility of oil through the reservoir and into producing wells (Marquez, 2009).
Microbial injection is a technology still under development. Laboratory tests
have shown that some microorganisms produce chemicals that can increase oil mobility
in the reservoir. These organisms may be displaced through the porous medium, and can
be adapted to live under a variety of environmental conditions (EuroAsia Industry).
Chemicals that may be produced by microorganisms include surfactants, acids, solvents
and carbon dioxide. Reservoirs with temperature below 160F, residual saturation
greater than 25-30% and permeability greater than 100 mD are considered as good
prospects for microbial injection (Giangiacomo & Mokhatab, 2006).

NATURAL GAS IN HEAVY OIL RECOVERY

In this section of the project, three natural gas enhanced oil recovery techniques

have been selected and displayed in terms of case scenarios around the globe where they
are being utilized.

3.1 Sour gas injection

First of all, the concept of sour gas injection is going to be introduced. This
technique belongs to the family of those called Miscible Gas Driven Techniques; which

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involve the putting in place a mixture or pure component stream that dissolves into the
oil and helps the production of it through a reduction of the viscosity of it.
Miscible Gas Driven Techniques are usually related to light oil reservoirs,
because it is easier to dissolve the streams into this kind of resource. Nevertheless, it is
being used in heavy oil reservoirs. With the right selection of components in the
injection stream, good results can be obtained in the reduction of viscosity ergo the
better production of the oil in place. The mixtures that are used are usually composed by
hydrocarbons or similar compounds that have affinity to the complex oil mixtures
(Green & Perry, 2007).
Gas injection, in general, involves a lot of substances that can be used apart from
hydrocarbons; the most commonly known case is that one related to CO2. But, when
using hydrocarbons such as those present in natural gas; the existence of other
components is a must, coming back to CO2, H2S, among others (Schlumberger, 2010).
In those places where heavy oil fields are closely located to natural gas ones the
possibility of using this gas in EOR is economically viable. But this is related to many
other factors, because one can say that exploiting both should be the best opportunity.
Extremely sour gas, lack of infrastructure or the absence of a market could be the
reasons why using the gas instead of producing it is preferred.
This is where sour gas comes into account. With this kind of gas, the injection
process is almost ready because there is no need to enrich it. Also, as it is more difficult
to treat, it is better to inject it in those cases where more money is going to be obtained
from the oil producing than from the gas producing.
Such panorama is presented in many locations. In countries with heavy oil
tradition, such as Canada, this kind of project is not rare and in western provinces, such
as Alberta and British Columbia, the production of heavy oil has been increased by the
injection of sour gas. This case is a little bit different, because the companies usually
treat the sour gas first and then they inject CO2 and H2S whether as dry or wet streams.
According to Albertas local government, it has been injected an approximate
amount of 4.5 Million Tons of Sour Gas (until 2003) in almost 50 different locations
throughout the province (Bachu & Gunther, 2004). Nevertheless, it is still a small scale
project compared to the total amount of fields in the area. The composition of the gas

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being injected has been, in average, between 83% H2S and 14% CO2 to 2% H2S and
95% CO2. The heaviest oil that has been subject of injection is around 16 API (Bachu
& Gunther, 2004).
To illustrate better the above situation a particular field, Zama, has been
selected. Located in the northwestern part of this Canadian province; it is a heavy oil
reservoir that has been operated by the Apache Canada Limited Company. In this field,
the operator has managed to increase around 180 000 and 276 000 barrels per year
compared to the normal production rate by the injection of an average of 81 ktons/year
CO2 and 31 ktons/year H2S (Smith et al., 2008).
In the case of Canada, the injection of this gas components has not only been
related to profit issues; but also to environmental ones. With the injection of this toxic
and greenhouse gases, the reduction of the environmental trails left by the local oil/gas
companies has been reduced (Bachu & Gunther, 2004).
There are also some locations where heavy oil is not traditional in which sour
gas injection into heavy oil fields is being used. This is the situation happening in
Oman. This Middle East country has had a typical experience of producing light oil, but
the amount of this kind of oil fields is reducing every time; giving space to the heavier
oil ones. The properties of the heavy oil in place in this country are usually around the
20-22 API; but there are some fields with heavier oils with values down to 16 API.
In the region, it is believed that in a few decades almost half of the production of oil is
going to be from heavy oil fields (Aalund, 2010).
This scenario drives the need of getting new techniques to develop such fields.
According to Petroleum Development Oman Company (PDO), one of the partially state
owned oil companies in the country, the use of sour gas injection is a fact in several
fields of the country. It is now a project that started in 2009 and it is believed to be
completed by the year 2012 (PDO, 2009).
The main reason to use this gas as part of sour gas injection is the high content
of acidic substances in the natural gas fields of the region. These values typically range
between the 3-4 % H2S and 10-15 % CO2 (PDO, 2009). In comparison to the before
mentioned Canadian case, in Oman the sour gas is being injected without previous
treatment, it means, the gas is taken directly from the reservoir of gas into the reservoir
of oil.
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One of the fields in question where the sour gas injection is taken place is the
Harweel field. In this particular place, the sour gas being injected has an average
composition of 4% of H2S and 15 % CO2 (Oil and Gas Journal, 2007). According to
Shell, one of the operating companies that it is developing the enhanced oil recovery in
this field, the aim is to increase the current 10 % recovery factor to approximately a 40
%. One thing to point out of this project is the high pressures of gas injection, these
values being close to the 500 atm. (Penney, 2010).

3.2 Gas Lift

As previously stated, this technique is related to the immiscible gas techniques;
in which the injection to the well of a gas current is used to transport oil out of the
reservoir in a two phase flow regime.
Gas lift can be found as an enhance oil recovery technique in many fields
throughout the world; especially in those where heavy oil is produced. The fact is that,
in many cases, the use of this technique is required not only to obtain more oil, but also
to assure flow from it (Schlumberger, 2010) by adding the gas directly into the
production pipe.
Such is the case found in the majority of the Venezuelan fields. This is a country
with a well-known heavy oil production history. In fact, Venezuela owns the worlds
biggest reserves of heavy oil (U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2010).
In the eastern part of the country there is the highest concentration of heavy oil
fields, especially north of the basin of the Orinoco River. In Monagas state in the San
Tom region there is a field called Morichal. With proved initial oil in place of 9945
Millions of Barrels with an API density around the 8 12 degrees, this field is consisted
of 306 wells that are or have been operating entirely with gas lifting systems. The
natural gas used for this activity is obtained from local fields in the state and it has been
injected since 1958. In this particular case, the use of gas lifting has been essential to
assure oil flow (Mrquez, 2008).
Similar production scenarios are happening in other locations, inside Venezuela
(Intercampo field, Maracaibo Lake Oil Basin) or outside of it; such as Brazil (Jubarte

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field, Esprto Santo Offshore Basin), Canada (Alberta Province Fields), among others
(Schlumberger, 2010).

3.3 Vapor extraction process

The third and last technique described in this paper, the vapor extraction process
using an hydrocarbon mixture as a solvent (VAPEX), has been studied and developed
only recently, following the great improvements in horizontal drilling and Steam
Assisted Gravity Drainage process. This method consists in injecting steam into the
reservoir from a horizontal well, situated some meters above the production casing
(Figure 11), letting the viscosity of the heavy oil to be reduced thanks to the increased
temperature. Many problems are associated with the SAGD method, though. The most
important are the energy consumption and the need to treat the water before disposal,
once it reached the production well and starts being produced simultaneously with the
oil.
That is where and when the possibility of a vapor solvent injection has evolved.
The already mentioned huff and puff had been tried with hydrocarbon mixtures, and
the same had been done with vertical injection wells (Das & Butler, 1997), but the real
value and potential of this technique was acknowledged when the horizontal drilling
had been made possible and economically viable. The research process has given quite
promising results, even though a proper field implementation still has to be evaluated.
Vapex process works in a similar way to the steam assisted drainage. A mixture
of vapor hydrocarbons, which will be mainly pure propane or butane (Luo et al., 2007),
is injected through the upper well, creating a vapor chamber and a contact zone where
the dissolution of the solvent in the bitumen will take place. This is the first mechanism
that allows us to reduce the viscosity of the oil and gradually produce it as it moves
down to the second well (Figure 12). As long as the gas is below his saturation pressure
at reservoir temperature, the production rate will increase with increasing pressure, but
when we get close to this point another important process, which is the asphaltene
deposition, begins.

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De-asphalting, the second important step in reducing the heavy oil viscosity, as
the C50+ part of the oil separates and adheres to the rock, is frequently called in-situ
upgrading (Luo et al., 2007). A minimum concentration of solvent gas is also required
for this process to take place, in the case of propane injection this means that only with
a percentage in weight above 20-32% the asphaltene will separate and stick to the pores,
upgrading the oil. The production rate mainly depends on the diffusion velocity of the
solvent in the heavy oil still, but a significant increase can be observed when deasphalting starts (Das & Butler, 1997).
It was thought that this precipitation would cause problems with the production,
reducing the porosity of the formation and creating an irreversible bond with the rock
material. That last conclusion is in fact true but, being the occupation of void space no
more than 20% even if all the asphaltene would separate (Das & Butler, 1997), this
allows yet the gas to flow through the pores and meet fresh bitumen, so that the
dissolution can continue and the asphaltene will simply be left behind in the zone where
no more oil could be recovered.
Many researches are being carried out on this type of process, expecting that, as
Das (1997) mentions, the applicability of the Vapex process may even surpass SAGD
in thin reservoirs, reservoirs underlain by aquifer, offshore operations.

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Discussion
As stated in previous sections, the relationship within natural gas and heavy oil
in terms of EOR is a fact. It is known that it helps in the production of these
unconventional reservoirs and that many companies are taking the option to do it.
Nevertheless, saying that it is positive or negative to the future of the industry is not as
easy as the fact.
First of all, the environmental issues take place into this discussion. In many
cases, companies or countries select the use of natural gas related techniques in order to
stop and reduce the flaring of the gas associated to conventional oil fields. This natural
gas is then used to enhance the production of a neighbour heavy oil field instead of
being burned; contributing with the reduction of greenhouse gases generation. In many
countries, such as Nigeria, the introduction of natural gas injection was not an option
but part of the law (Climate Justice Programme, 2005). Even though, improving the
production of oil means improving the amount of less clean fossil fuels being used,
ergo increasing the pollution factor. Hence, the situation is not easy to handle. The
energy demand still depends on fossil fuels, so decreasing the flaring will at least help
to make cleaner the production stage.
Another issue that has to be pointed out is that one related to sour gas emissions.
When handling natural gas rich in acidic components the environmental alarm is also
set up. The use of sour natural gas in gas injection projects provides a useful path to
handle the contaminants. It is obvious that this situation is only presented where the
natural gas in place is considered rich in sour components.
A different approach that can be regarded is the economic one. There are
countries where natural gas resources are found but they currently cannot be produced
in an easy way; this regarding to the local market and competitors or the lack of
infrastructure and money to invest in them. Also, some of these nations have an oil
oriented industry, leaving no place to natural gas exploitation. Then, the use of natural

Page|15

gas a helper in the oil production is a more profitable option rather than building a new
industry for it.
In addition to the above said, the growing of the natural gas demand foreseen for
the next years has to be commented. It might seem contradictory that natural gas is not
being exploited for energy purposes when the market is demanding so. Although
building a local industry for exploiting natural gas looks expensive at first glance,
putting in place techniques such as the ones mentioned in previous sections of the text
also require representative investment. In the case of gas injection, compression and
injection wells have to be installed; these two representing a lot of capital expenditure.
Giving a fixed statement in response to this discussion is not possible; this linked
to the fact that every case is different. In each scenario several factors have to be
weighted to decide if more money is going to be saved or obtained by exploiting gas or
producing more oil.
As said before, the future in the energy sector is apparently heading to a cleaner
and more natural gas oriented industry. As seen in the Canadian case, the use of sour
gas components instead of the natural gas per se is an option where both the gas and oil
industry are being beneficiated as the same time than the environment is being so. The
techniques before discussed on natural gas EOR are only a fraction of the available
options. Also, new ones will be generated and then the use of both resources is going to
be optimized. To finish, the natural gas should not be only used as a helping hand to the
oil production but also as a parallel path to satisfy the current and future energy needs.

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Conclusions

Heavy oil production will have a major role in the oil industry of tomorrow.

It is possible to enhance the production of heavy oil through the use of natural
gas.

Natural gas has to be produced as an individual resource.

Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) of heavy oil is needed now and will be needed in
the future.

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References
1.

AALUND, L.R., Technology, Money Unlocking Vast Orinoco Reserves, Oil and
Gas Journal, Volume 96, Number 42, pages 49-50, 1998.

2.

AZCONA, Juan Pedro, Petrleo, article published in July 2002,

http://www.monografias.com/trabajos11/cuadun/cuadun.shtml?monosearch,
consulted on October 2010

3.

BACHU Stefan, GUNTER William D., Overview of Acid-Gas Injection

Operation in Western Canada, Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Alberta
Research Council, 2004.

4.

British Petroleum, BP Statistical Review of World Energy June 2010, BP

Statistical Review of World Energy, 2010.

5.

Climate Justice Programme and Environmental Rights Action/Friends of the Earth

Nigeria, Gas flaring in Nigeria: a human rights, environmental and economic
monstrosity, 2005.

6.

Conocco Phillips Refinery, Alaska gas pipeline, www.conocophillips.com,

consulted on November 2010.

7.

Crude Quality Inc. Website, www.crudequality.com, consulted on September 2010.

8.

Dar Energy website, www.darenergy.com, consulted on November 2010.

9.

DAS Swapan K., BUTLER Roger M., Mechanism of the vapor extraction process
for heavy oil and bitumen, Journal of Petroleum Science and Engineering, Volume
21, Issues 1-2, pages 43-59, Elsevier Science B.V., 1997.

10. DAS, Swapan K, Vapex: an efficient process for the recovery of heavy oil and
bitumen, SPE journal, Volume 3, Number 3, Society of Petroleum Engineers,
1998.
11. Dolberry Oil & Gas Inc., www.dolberryoil.com, consulted on October 2010.
12. DUSSEAULT M. B., Comparing Venezuelan and Canadian Heavy Oil and Tar
Sands, Canadian International Petroleum Conference June 12-14 2001, Calgary,
Alberta, Petroleum Society of Canada, 2001.
13. EuroAsia Industry, www.euroasiaindustry.com, consulted on October 2010.

Page|18

14. GIANGIACOMO Leo A., MOKHATAB Saeid, Microbial enhanced oil recovery
techniques improve production, World Oil 2006, Volume 227, n10, pages 85-93,
Gulf, Houston, TX, ETATS-UNIS, 2006.
15. Grades Heavy Oil , 2010, http://www.crudemonitor.ca:8080/quickfacts/misc/,
consulted: October 2010
16. GREEN Don, PERRY Robert, Perrys Chemical Engineers Manual, 8th.
Edition, Mc Graw Hill, Chapter 2, U.S.A., 2007.
17. HERRON Hunter, KING Stuart, Heavy Oil as the Key to U.S. Energy Security,
Petroleum Equities Inc., 2004.
18. KNIGHT Jim, Enhanced oil recovery, March 2010,
www.articlesbase.com/business-articles/techniques-enhanced-oil-recovery2024958.html, consulted on October 2010.
19. KRISTENSEN Morten Rode, In-situ combustion EOR, 2008.
20. Liquid Gold International Corp., www.liquidgoldinternational.com, consulted on
October 2010.
21. LUO Peng, YANG Chaodong, GU Yongan, Enhanced solvent dissolution into insitu upgraded heavy oil under different pressures, Fluid Phase Equilibria, Volume
252, Issues 1-2, pages 143-151, Elsevier B.V., 2007,
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6TG2-4MTK95F2&_user=586462&_coverDate=03%2F01%2F2007&_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=
search&_origin=search&_sort=d&_docanchor=&view=c&_searchStrId=15250685
81&_rerunOrigin=google&_acct=C000030078&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_use
rid=586462&md5=6d1fbd5b67d0a8d4a5a92cfc2610348e&searchtype=a.
22. MRQUEZ Claudio, Distrito Venezolano de San Tom, PDVSA, Venezuela,
2008.
23. Maya energy, 2009, www.cnmaya.com, consulted on October 2010.
24. MK Tech Solutions, EOR options, www.mktechsolutions.com, consulted on
October 2010.
25. MOHAMED GAMMAL Moustafa, Subsidizing the oil reserves and increasing
reserve production, 2010, article published on the website: www.oilandgasiq.com,
consulted on October 2010.
26. MULLINS O.C., SHEU E.Y, HAMMAMI A., MARSHALL A.G., Asphaltenes,
Heavy Oils and Petroleomics, Springer Editions, 2007.

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27. Oil and Gas IQ website, www.oilandgasiq.com, consulted on November 2010.

28. Oil and Gas Journal, article Special report: PDO initiates various enhanced oil
recovery approaches, November 2007,
http://www.ogj.com/index/login.html?cb=http://www.ogj.com/ogj/enus/index/article-display.articles.oil-gas-journal.volume-105.issue-41.drillingproduction.special-report-pdo-initiates-various-enhanced-oil-recoveryapproaches.html, consulted on October 2010.
29. Oilfield review, Highlighting Heavy Oil, Volume 18, Issue 2, January 2006,
http://www.slb.com/~/media/Files/resources/oilfield_review/ors06/sum06/heavy_oi
l.ashx, consulted on November 2010.
30. PENNEY Rick, Heavy Oil Developments in the Middle East, 2010, Article
published in the Schlumberger website http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/, consulted on
October 2010.
31. Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Fact File - June, 2009, Oman, 2009.
32. PRATS M., Thermal Recovery, Monograph Series, SPE New-York, 1986.
33. Rentex website, www.rentexgulf.com, consulted on October 2010.
34. Schlumberger, http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/, Schlumberger related webpage
regarding heavy oil information, consulted on October 2010.
35. Shell, www.shell.com, consulted on October 2010.
36. SMITH Steven, SORENSEN James, STEADMAN Edward, HARJU John.
JACKSON William, NIMCHUK Doug, LAVOIE Rob, Zama Acid Gas EOR, CO2
Sequestration and Monitoring Project, Energy and Environmental Research
Center-University of North Dakota, Apache Canada, Ltd. CalPetra Research and
Consulting, Canada, 2008.
37. STOKKA Sigmund, Enhanced oil recovery, The Oil and Gas Review, Issue 2,
November 2007, www.touchoilandgas.com, consulted on October 2010.
38. U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2010,
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting,
U.S.A., 2010.
39. Underground Energy Inc, 2008, www.ugenergy.com, consulted on October 2010.
40. VARGAS, Gas miscible inyectado, 2009.

Page|20

Tables
Table 1: Classification of oil depending on API gravity

Type of Oil

API gravity

Viscosity

Light Crude

> 31,1

< 100 cP

Medium

Between 22,3 -31,1

~100 cP

Heavy

< 22,3

> 100 cP

Extra Heavy

< 10

>> 100 cP

Source:Crude Quality Inc. 2010

Page|21

Figures

Figure 1: World market energy use by fuel type, 1990-2035 (quadrillion Btu)
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, International Energy Outlook 2010, U.S.
Department of Energy Office of Integrated Analysis and Forecasting, U.S.A., 2010.

Figure 2: Localization of Zama field within Alberta, Canada.

Source: SMITH, S., SORENSEN, J., STEADMAN, E., HARJU, J., JACKSON, W.,
NIMCHUK, D., LAVOIE, R., Zama Acid Gas EOR, CO2 Sequestration and Monitoring

Page|22

Project, Energy and Environmental Research Centre-University of North Dakota, Apache

Canada, Ltd. CalPetra Research and Consulting, Canada, 2008.

Figure 3: Samples of heavy oil

Source: Conocco Phillips refinery, Alaska gas pipeline

Figure 4: Orinoco heavy oil belt in Venezuela

Source: DUSSEAULT M. B., Comparing Venezuelan and Canadian Heavy Oil and Tar
Sands, 2001

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Figure 5: EOR methods now in current use

Source: Oil and Gas IQ, 2009

Figure 6: Gas injection.

Source: Rentex, 2009.

Page|24

Figure 7: Gas lift.

Source: Schlumberger. Oilfield review winter 2006

Figure 8: Steam injection

Source: Oil Explorer, 2007

Page|25

Figure 9: In-situ combustion

Source: Schlumberger, Heavy oil info, 2010

Figure 10: Polymer fluid method

Source: Dar Energy Inc., 2009

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Figure 11:VAPEX Process Scheme
Source: Das & Butler, 1997

Figure 12: Contact Phase occurring during the VAPEX Process

Source: Das & Butler, 1997

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Appendices
Appendix A: Heavy oil fields and sour gas injection in Oman

Figure 13: Heavy oil fields in Oman

Source: Oil and Gas Journal, article Special report: PDO initiates various enhanced oil

recovery approaches, November 2007

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Figure 14: facilities of the sour-gas injection project for Harweel field
Source: Oil and Gas Journal, article Special report: PDO initiates various enhanced oil

recovery approaches, November 2007

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Appendix B: Sour gas injection in heavy oil fields in Canada

Figure 15: Time evolution of cumulative (all operations) a) injection rate; and b) injected
volumes, at the acid-gas injection operations in western Canada, showing also the fraction of
injected H2S and CO2
Source: BACHU Stefan, GUNTER William D., Overview of Acid-Gas Injection
Operation in Western Canada, Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Alberta Research
Council, 2004

Figure 16: Typical operating conditions for acid gas injection showing the compression and
dehydration cycle, transportation from the gas plant to the injection well, and injection, in
relation to the acid gas phase and hydrate forming conditions
Source: BACHU Stefan, GUNTER William D., Overview of Acid-Gas Injection
Operation in Western Canada, Alberta Energy and Utilities Board Alberta Research
Council, 2004

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