IPA11-E-024

PROCEEDINGS, INDONESIAN PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION Thirty-Fifth Annual Convention & Exhibition, May 2011 CO2 INJECTION TO ENHANCED GAS RECOVERY IN DEPLETED GAS RESERVOIR
R.M. Prayuda Azhar* Muhammad Yusuf* Guntur Susanto* Sutopo*

ABSTRACT Pure CO2 was injected to a depleted gas reservoir to increase gas recovery. The objective of this paper is to introduce a simple method from commercial simulator about the mechanism of CO2 injection to Enhance Gas Recovery (EGR) in depleted gas reservoir. This implementation can also decrease CO2 emissions to the atmosphere. It will usefull to prevent the incremental of green house gases due to oil and gas exploration activities. Five cases have been simulated, the first was comparing CH4 production using CO2 injection and without injection, the second was to inject CO2 at different perforation depth, the third was to inject CO2 at different reservoir condition, the fourth was to inject CO2 with several injection rate, and the fifth was to change bottom hole pressure at the production well. In this paper diffusion effect is neglected, the mixing of CO2 and CH4 will only depend on some features such as density, mobility ratio and solubility in water formation. In all cases, the project will be terminated when the concentration of CO2 in the produced gas stream reach 20% (breakthrough). Two injection of CO2 cases have been simulated for the five cases, the first was to inject CO2 at the beginning of gas production for pressure maintenance, and the second was to inject CO2 after years of production when the gas production rate started to decline. Higher methane recovery was achieved when injection of CO2 began when the gas production rate started to decline. At this case, 99,7% methane recovery was achieved at BHP was adjusted to 500 psi. Higher CO2 injection rate and lower production well bottom hole pressure, the breakthrough condition of CO2 become faster. The fastest breakthrough (64
* Institute of Technology Bandung

days) was achieved when the CO2 injection rate flown at 1,000,000 ft3/day and production well BHP was 500 Psi. If CO2 injection rate became lower and production well BHP became higher, the production mass rate of methane became lower too. Methane production mass rate is tremendously higher when the perforation of injection well took at above of GWC. The sequestration of CO2 is effective at higher production well BHP and high CO2 injection rate to load more CO2 into depleted reservoir. Highest recovery rate that achieved at breakthrough time was performed when injector perforation took at aquifer zone which the production bottom hole pressure was 500 psi and CO2 injection rate was 100,000 ft3/day. INTRODUCTION Global warming and climate change are some of the most important environmental issue today. Global warming causes: changes to the physical and biological earth systems such as melting glaciers in the north and south poles of the Earth, rising sea levels, extreme weather, increasing incidence of droughts and floods, and disruption of ecosystems. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), human activities like fossil fuels burning, land using, agriculturing, industry activities, etc. triggering global warming. Human activities lead to increase concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions such as CO2 (carbon dioxide), CH4 (methane), N2O (nitrous oxide), PFC (perfluorocarbon), HFC (hydrofluorocarbon), and SF6 (sulfur hexafluoride) in the earth's atmosphere. As a result, there are more heat energy is retained and trapped in the lower layers of the atmosphere, which increase the earth's surface temperature. To overcome the effects of global warming, many efforts and cooperations have been made by countries

in the world, including Indonesia. Indonesia has ratified the Convention on Climate Change in August 1994 through Act No. 6 of 1994 and the Kyoto Protocol through Act No. 17 of 2004. The Indonesian government is also have a committment to reduce GHG emissions by 26% in 2020 compared to current conditions (BAU = Business As Usual), and 41% with international assistance. Based on the Second National Communication, the Indonesian national emissions of 1.377 Mton CO2 in 2000 and 1.991 CO2 Mton in 2005. The sources of GHG emissions is a major forest fires and peat (56-60%), energy (1820%), waste (8-11%), agriculture (4 to 5.5%), and industry (2-3%). There are some kinds of greenhouse gases, but the most commonly known are carbon dioxide and methane. Most of carbon dioxide in air comes from hydrocarbon burning and vehicle exhaust gas, while methane can come from leakage of natural gas production, coal, or petroleum. Although small concentration of methane in the air, but the greenhouse effect (global warming potential) caused by methane 21 times greater than the effects of carbon dioxide (global warming potential). Indonesia is included in the five countries that become the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Table 1. shows the five countries that become the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and the amount of emissions produced in 2005. There are a lot alternative methodes to capturing carbon dioxide before its released to the atmosphere. For the example CO2 could be separated from the industrial process such an refineries processing, power plant that produced flue gas or from the production of decarbonized fuels. Carbon dioxide could be formed in liquid or gas stream which injected into the oil and gas reservoir, deep coal seams and beds, the ocean and deep saline aquifers. Recently, there are any technology that provides the CO2 sequestration into selected coal basins for Enchanced Coal Bed Methane. Unfortunately, CO2ECBM categorated as a high cost methode of capturing, compressing, and transportating the CO2. Saline aquifers also a kind of interesting methode as CO2 disposal reservoirs because they are relatively not used and available in a lot of area in the world. However, the problem that may affected by CO2 disposal into saline aquifers is that they cause hydrate formation.

CO2 injection into oil and gas reservoirs can give a lot of benefits in terms of Enhancing Production of oil and natural gas, prevent the subsidence of the soil, and also minimizing carbon dioxide that potentially increase in the atmosphere. One of the largest scale underground disposal is in the North Sea. A million tonnes per year of CO2 separatedout of the natural gas produced from the Sleipner Vest Field has been injected into the overlying Utsira aquifer. Right now, the same case are going to applicated for the Natuna Gas field in Indonesia which contains 50 TSCF gas and about 70% of its volume consist of carbon dioxide. Compare to depleted oil reservoir, a depleted natural gas reservoir which containing mainly methane superbly can store much more gas. As a notes, it must has the same initial pore volume.

The characteristics of gas reservoir, could recover 65% of initial gas-in-place, different with oil reservoir which recover 35% of initial oil-in-place. This is about twice larger if comparing ultimate gas recovery of gas reservoir with oil recovery of oil reservoir. Also, gas densitiy (e.g., an average in-situ gradient about 1.81 kPa/m (0.08 psi/ft)) is significantly less than that of oil, which is typically about 6.11 kPa/m (0.27 psi/ft). This is therefore less remaining hydrocarbon mass in a gas reservoir than in an oil reservoir. Beside of that, gas is 30 times more compressible than oil. At 2000 psia (13.8 Mpa), isothermal compressibility of natural gas is typically about 72.5x10-6 kPa-1 (500 x 10-6 psi-1) versus 2.2x10-6 kPa-1 (15x10-6 psi-1) for oil and 0.4x10-6 kPa-1 (3x10-6 psi-1) for water. The critical temperature of CO2 is 31C (88F) and the critical pressure is about 7.38 Mpa (1070 psia). Absolutely it can be figured out, at temperatures encountered in the field, CO2 will be formed as a supercritical fluid. In this paper, five cases which have been simulated are: 1. Comparing CH4 production using CO2 injection and without CO2 injection. 2. Studying the effect of location of perforation of the breakthrough time. Perforation done below Gas Water Contact (GWC) point and above the GWC. 3. Comparing the breakthrough time of injection of CO2 in the reservoir which has the GWC and who does not has the GWC. 4. Studying the effect of CO2 injection rate on the breakthrough time.

5. Studying the effect of Bottom Hole Pressure (BHP) at the production wells on the breakthrough time. METHOD A 3D simulation model of one eighth of a 5-spot pattern was constructed to simulate injection of CO2 under several field conditions. First thing that was done was building the reservoir model itself. The pattern area at a depth 6950 ft were modeled, (150 ft thickness: 15 ft x 10 layers) , see figure 1 and figure 2. To model fluid flow more accurately, smaller grids were made near the injector and producer than far from the wells and grids are parallel to the diagonal between the injector and producer. The injector was perforated on the bottom most layer and the producer is perforated on the top most layer. Injecting CO2 at relatively deeper levels in a reservoir while producing from higher levels would allow an operator to decrease CO2 up coning and mixing. Mixing was inhibited by the strong density contrast that causes CO2 fill the reservoir from the bottom up, making an effective vertical and lateral sweep. There were many scenarios that had been built Table 3 and Table 4. RESULTS Natural gas and CO2 are mixable at any pressure but some features of CH4 CO2 can make the case of enhanced gas recovery favorable. These features can be summarized as follows: CO2 density is 2 to 6 times higher than CH4 density at reservoir conditions. Therefore, displacement cause of gravity can be achieved. Mobility ratio of CO2 is lower than CH4. It will cause a relatively stable displacement process. Solubility of CO2 in formation water is higher than solubility of CH4

the reservoir. The injection of CO2 will be shut in after breakthrough. Simulation was running for 50 years by neglecting the economical effect of the project. The simulation results shows that 99,4% methane recovery was achieved in the first case, whereas 99,7% was achieved in the second case. In both cases, BHP was adjusted to 500 psi. Summary of different injection scenarios for different CO2 injection rate shown in Table 3 and Table 4. Low methane recovery in first case may lead by mixing CO2 with CH4. This result agrees with that was shown by Clemens et al1 Breakthrough Time The injection well is performing slightly above gas water contact with 1, 6, 4 grid perforation (Figure 3). CO2 injection was shut-in when the mass fraction of CO2 in production well already achieved 20%. From the simulator barely shown that with higher CO2 injection rate and lower production well bottom hole pressure, the breakthrough condition of CO2 become faster. The fastest breakthrough (64 days) was achieved when the CO2 injection rate flown at 1000,000 ft3/day and production well BHP was 500 Psi. We can figuring out the breakthrough time in all condition include comparing the position of perforation in production well between perforation above GWC and below GWC (Figure 4). The longest breakthrough time (399 days) was reached when the perforation is took below GWC with CO2 injection rate as 100,000 ft3/day and production well BHP was 1,500 Psi.

CH4 Production Mass Rate The highest mass rate (208,825 lb/day) could achieved when the CO2 injection rate became 100,000 ft3/day and production well BHP was 500 Psi (Figure 5). If CO2 injection rate became lower and production well BHP became higher, the production mass rate of methane became lower too. Hence, that must be avoid to prevent the financial suffer. Comparing Methane production mass rate when the injection well took above the GWC or below the GWC is important to see how the mechanism of displacement works. At the same condition of CO2 injection rate, methane production mass rate is tremendously higher when the perforation of injection well took at above of GWC. It was because if the perforation took below the GWC, it takes a time to

Timing of CO2 Injection Two injection of CO2 cases have been simulated for the five cases, the first was to inject CO2 at the beginning of gas production for pressure maintenance, and the second was to inject CO2 after years of production when the gas production rate started to decline. CH4 production rate start to decline in january 2017. At that time, we start to inject CO2 to

displaced the methane, because the CO2 that already injected must be dispersed first in the aquifer. CO2 Sequestration Its already understood, that injected CO2 into subsurface system could give a lot of benefit. The potential cumulative mass (lb) of CO2 that could be sequestrated until the breakthrough achieved (XCO2 production = 0.2) shown very sophisticated results (Figure 7). If, the sequestration of CO2 is the main subject of the project, we can choose slight higher production well BHP and high CO2 injection rate to load more CO2 into depleted reservoir. About 10 million lb of CO2 could injected when production well BHP is 1500 Psi and the injection well must perforated below GWC (Figure 8). Gas Recovery Factor at Breakthrough Time After breakthrough achieved (production XCO2=0.20), the lower bottom hole pressure performed and the lower CO2 Injection Rate, its made the recovery factor become higher. Its because for CO2 that had injected more precisely to displaced the methane into the production well. In the case when production well was perforated at Gas Zone, clearly showed that at breakthrough time (which every case has different days to achieved the breakthrough), the recovery factor catched the higher value when production bottom hole pressure was 500 psi and injection rate was 100,000 ft3/day (Figure 9). Comparing with the condition if the injector perforation takes at aquifer zone, tremendously, it shows that the highest recovery factor at breakthrough time reach 91% (Figure 10). That condition happened when injector perforation takes at aquifer zone which the production bottom hole pressure was 500 psi and CO2 injection rate was 100,000 ft3/day. CONCLUSION Higher methane recovery was achieved when injection of CO2 began when the gas production rate started to decline. At this case, 99,7% methane recovery was achieved at BHP was adjusted to 500 psi. Higher CO2 injection rate and lower production well bottom hole pressure, the breakthrough condition of CO2 become faster. The fastest breakthrough

(64 days) was achieved when the CO2 injection rate flown at 1000,000 ft3/day and production well BHP was 500 Psi. If CO2 injection rate became lower and production well BHP became higher, the production mass rate of methane became lower too. Methane production mass rate is tremendously higher when the perforation of injection well took at above of GWC. The sequestration of CO2 is effective at higher production well BHP and high CO2 injection rate to load more CO2 into depleted reservoir. Highest recovery rate that achieved at breakthrough time was performed when injector perforation took at aquifer zone which the production bottom hole pressure was 500 psi and CO2 injection rate was 100,000 ft3/day. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thank to Amega Yudhistira who have helped us with his advise and experiences.

REFERENCES Clemens, T., and Wit, K., 2002, CO2 Enhanced Gas Recovery Studied for an Example Gas Reservoir : SPE Paper 77348. Al-Hashami, A., Ren, S.R., and Tohidi, B., 2005, CO2 Injection for Enhanced Gas Recovery and GeoStorage : Reservoir Simulation and Economics : SPE paper 94129. Sim, S.S.K., Turta, A.T., Singhal, A.K., and Hawkins, B.F., 2008, Enhanced Gas Recovery : Factors Affecting Gas-Gas Displacement Efficiency : Petroleum Society Journals , Paper 2008-145 Barrufet, M.A., Bacquet, A., and Falcone, G., 2009, Analysis of Storage Capacity for CO2 Sequestration of a Depleted Gas Condensate Reservoir and a Saline Aquifer: Petroleum Society Journals, Paper 2009-197. Oldenburg, C.M., Pruess, K., Benson, S.M., 2002, CO2 Injection and Enhanced Gas Production and Carbon Sequestration: SPE Paper 74367. Mamora, D.D., and Seo, J.G., 2002, Enhanced Gas Recovery by Carbon Dioxide Sequestration in Depleted Gas Reservoirs: SPE Paper 77347

TABLE 1 THE FIVE COUNTRIES THE LARGEST CONTRIBUTOR OF GREENHOUSE GASES AND THE AMOUNT OF EMISSIONS PRODUCED (IN 2005)

State / Regional Cina Amerika Uni Eropa Indonesia India

Total% of global emissions per year

Total GHG emissions per capita (tonnes) 5,8 24,1 10,6 12,9 2,1

17% 16% 11% 6% 5%

TABLE 2 RESERVOIR MODEL DESCRIPTION Property Five spot pattern area One eighth five spot area Thickness Layers Porosity X, Y-direction permeability Z-direction permeability Temperature Original Reservoir pressure Units acres acres ft fraction md md 0 F psia Case 40 5 150 10 0.23 50 5 152 3,045

TABLE 3 MATRIX OF SIMULATION SCENARIOS CO2 Injection Rate (SCF/day) Perforation at Injection Well BHP at Producing Well (Psi) 500 Gas zone 100.000 4 5 6 7 8 9 500.000 10 11 12 13 14 15 1000.000 16 17 18 Aquifer Zone 500 1000 1500 Gas Zone Aquifer Zone 500 1000 1500 500 1000 1500 Gas Zone Aquifer Zone 500 1000 1500 500 1000 1500 1000 1500

Case 1 2 3

TABLE 4 THE OTHER CASES WERE ABOUT TO COMPARE RECOVERY FACTOR OF GAS IN SEVERAL SCENARIOS Case 1 2 3 4 5 Injection Rate Time (SCF/Day) Natural Flow Early Production 100.000 At Depletion Time Early Production 500.000 At Depletion Time

TABLE 5 SUMMARY OF THE DIFFERENT CO2 INJECTION SCENARIOS FOR CO2 INJECTION RATE 100.000 SCF/DAY No-Injection Early Injection of CO2 (1st case) Injection CO2 after CH4 production rate start to decline (2nd case) 55 days 221,02 lb 99,7%

Breakthrough Time Cumulative Injected CO2 Recovery Factor 99,3% *Original Gas in Place : 22.571.994 lb

128 days 51.790,67 lb 99,4%

TABLE 6 SUMMARY OF THE DIFFERENT CO2 INJECTION SCENARIOS FOR CO2 INJECTION RATE 500.000 SCF/DAY No-Injection Early Injection of CO2 (1st case) Injection CO2 after CH4 production rate start to decline (2nd case) 22 days 392,75 lb 99,8%

Breakthrough Time Cumulative Injected CO2 Recovery Factor 99,3% *Original Gas in Place : 22.571.994 lb

89 days 79.227,03 lb 99,6%

TABLE 7 COMPREHENSIVE RESULTS FROM SIMULATOR

InjectionRate TopGradient (SCF/day) Layer WellProducer BottomHole Pressure(Psi) 500 1,000 1,500 500 1,000 1,500 500 1,000 1,500 500 1,000 1,500 500 1,000 1,500 500 1,000 1,500 BreakthroughTime ProductionGasMassRate ProductionGasMass InjectionCumulative (days) (CH4)(lb/day) Rate(CO2)(lb/day) GasMass(CO2)SC(lb) 126 172 365 139 161 399 89 91 106 92 94 117 64 72 80 83 86 89 31,529 13,137 3,278 21,804 15,080 3,047 195,945 123,681 55,411 146,612 100,322 39,625 208,825 202,814 196,802 196,548 192,134 104,257 7,164 3,985 787 5,947 2,849 797 43,847 30,708 14,609 37,587 22,222 9,138 87,132 64,317 41,503 62,204 54,338 26,713 1,465,530 2,004,720 4,258,960 1,621,870 1,881,310 4,660,625 5,177,970 5,294,290 6,198,810 4,370,510 5,492,580 6,813,370 7,497,540 8,425,430 9,353,320 8,730,540 9,991,070 10,338,400 Production CumulativeGas Mass(CH4)SC(lb) 21,878,700 20,895,700 19,991,800 21,178,200 20,187,300 20,087,300 18,616,550 18,525,500 18,424,200 19,223,600 18,976,200 12,012,000 16,794,100 15,188,300 13,582,500 18,297,300 17,916,350 17,775,900

No 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

164 100,000 168

164 500,000 168

164 1,000,000 168

Grid Top (ft) 2011-01-01

0 100 200 300 400

K layer: 1
10 500 0 File: CMGCO2GAS User: Mohammad Date: 21/02/2011 Scale: 1:1092 Y/X: 1.00:1 Axis Units: ft

-100

-200

-300

-400

0 -100 -200 -300 0.00 0.00 0 100 200 300 70.00 25.00 400 140.00 feet 50.00 meters 500

7,040 7,031 7,022 7,013 7,004 6,995 6,986 6,977 6,968 6,959 6,950

PROD

Figure 1 - Reservoir Model

Figure 2 - Injector and Producer wells location

BreakthroughTime ForInjectorPerforationConditionat GasZone

1200000

1000000

CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3 /day)

800000

600000

ProductionWellBHP = 500Psi ProductionWelBHP = 1000Psi

400000 ProductionWellBHP = 1500Psi 200000

0 50 100 150 200 Time (days) 250 300 350 400

Figure 3 - Breakthrough Time for Injector Perforation Condition at Gas Zone

BreakthroughTime forAllInjectorPerforationCondition
1200000 ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 500 Psi 1000000 ProductionWelBHP (Gas Zone)= 1000 Psi
CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3 /day)

800000

ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 1500 Psi

ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 500 Psi 600000 ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 1000 Psi 400000 ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 1500 Psi 200000

0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 450

Time (days)

Figure 4 - Breakthrough Time for All Injector perforations Condition

CH4 ProductionMassRateforInjectorPerforationatGas Zone

1200000 ProductionWellBHP = 500 Psi 1000000 ProductionWellBHP = 1000Psi ProductionWellBHP = 1500Psi

CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3 /day)

800000

600000

400000

200000

0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000

CH4 Production Mass Rate (lb/day)

Figure 5 - CH4 Production Mass Rate for Injector Perforation at Gas Zone

1200000

CH4 ProductionforAllInjectorPerforationCondition

1000000 ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 500 Psi 800000 ProductionWelBHP (Gas Zone)= 1000Psi 600000 ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 1500Psi ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 500 Psi ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 1000 Psi 200000 ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 1500 Psi

CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3 /day)

400000

0 50,000 100,000 150,000 200,000 250,000

CH4 Production Mass Rate (lb/day)

Figure 6 - CH4 Production Mass Rate for All Condition

CumulativeCO2 SequestrationforInjectorPerforationat GasZone

1200000

1000000

CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3/day)

800000

600000

400000 ProductionWellBHP = 500Psi 200000 ProductionWelBHP = 1000Psi ProductionWellBHP = 1500 Psi 0 2,000,000 4,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,000 10,000,000 12,000,000

CumulativeCO2 InjectionMass (lb)

Figure 7 Cumulative Mass CO2 Sequestration

CumulativeCO2 Sequestration ForAllInjectorPerforationCondition

1200000

1000000

CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3/day)

800000

600000

400000

ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 500 Psi ProductionWelBHP (Gas Zone)= 1000Psi ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 1500Psi ProductionWellBHP (AquiferZone)= 500 psi

200000

ProductionWellBHP (AquiferZone)= 1000Psi ProductionWellBHP (AquiferZone)= 1500Psi

0 2,000,000 4,000,000 6,000,000 8,000,000 10,000,000 12,000,000

Cumulative CO2 InjectionMass (lb)

Figure 8 Cumulative Mass CO2 Sequestration for All Condition

RecoveryFactorforInjectorPerforationatGasZoneat BreakthroughCondition
1200000 ProductionWellBHP = 500 Psi 1000000 ProductionWelBHP = 1000 Psi ProductionWellBHP = 1500 Psi

CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3/day)

800000

600000

400000

200000

0 10 20 30 40 50 Time (days) 60 70 80 90 100

Figure 9 Recovery Factor for Injector Perforation at Gas Zone

RecoveryFactorforAllPerforationConditionatBreakthrough Condition
1200000

1000000 ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 500 Psi

CO2 InjectionRate (ft 3 /day)

800000 ProductionWelBHP (Gas Zone)= 1000 Psi 600000

ProductionWellBHP (Gas Zone)= 1500 Psi

400000

ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 500 Psi

ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 1000 Psi 200000 ProductionWellBHP (Aquifer Zone)= 1500 Psi 0 10 20 30 40 50 Time (days) 60 70 80 90 100

Figure 10 Recovery Factor for All Perforation Condition

Figure 11 Gas Saturation Distribution at Initial Reservoir Condition

Figure 12 Gas Saturation Distribution at The End of Production (Injected CO2 after depletion)

Figure 13 CH4 and CO2 Mass Rate in Some Scenarios.