The Wyoming Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute

(EORI)

Lon Whitman

Presented at the 13th Annual CO2 Flooding Conference

December 6-7, 2007

Midland, Texas

The EORI Mandate

To conduct research to develop new EOR technologies and to promote EOR through the

transfer of new and existing technologies in the state of Wyoming.

To actively seek the involvement of Wyoming owners/operators, to respond to their needs, and

meet their requirements through application of cutting edge science and technical know-how.

Jim SteidtmannDirector

StaffJulie HamiltonProject CoordinatorLaura RehmeierAccountantGlen MurrellAssistant to theCommissionAllen TannerComputer SupportSpecialist

EOR Commission

Information Assemblyand Acquisition

Peigui YinReservoir CharacterisationMark TomassoReservoir CharacterisationCarolyn CoolidgeGeo/HydrologyShaochang WoReservoir SimulationJohn LorenzFracture CharacterizationMohammed PiriReservoir CharacterizationHertanto AdidharmaReservoir FluidsXina XiePet. EngineeringNorman MorrowChem. EngineeringJill BuckleyChem. Engineering

Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute

TechnicalDevelopment

Owen PhillipsEconomicsVladimir AlvaradoPet. EngineeringGeoff ThyneCarbon Sequestration/GeochemistryMaciej RadoszCarbon CaptureYouging ShenCarbon CaptureMark LeslieGeochemistryBrian TowlerReservoir Engineering

Corporate Outreachand Strategic Alliances

Lon WhitmanCorporate Outreach andStrategic AlliancesGlen MurrellMarketing andBusiness Development

EORTechnicalAdvisory

Board

The EOR Commission

• Wyoming Governor Dave Freudenthal (Rob Hurless)• Charles Townsend (State Senator)• Ron Surdam (State Geologist)• Bern Hinckley (Consultant)• Lynne Boomgaarden (WY Office of State Lands)• Peter Wold (Wold Oil)• Gail Chenoweth (Marathon Oil)• Jim Neiman (UW Trustee)

• Eric Easton (Legal Counsel)• Glen Murrell (Assistant to the Commission)

The Technical Advisory Board

• Stephen Melzer (Melzer CO2 Consulting)• Randall Seright (New Mexico Tech) • Peter Hennings (ConocoPhillips)• Hank True (True Oil)• Gary Pope (University of Texas)• Charlie Carlisle (Chemical Tracers, Inc.)• George Hirasaki (Rice Univ.)• Paul Willhite (University of Kansas)• James Griffin (Texas A & M)

Personnel

Technical - 15Contractual - 5Students - 25

Non-technical - 2

Enhanced Oil Recovery In Wyoming

51.5 Million Barrels of oil produced in 2005

10-15% by EOR

8.5% by CO2 EOR

EOR In Wyoming (cont.)

According to WGS~8 billion barrels of oil remain in the ground

5-15% recoverable by EOR.

Only 5% recovery could mean $4 billion to the state of Wyoming over a period of 20

years at $70/bbl.

EOR In Wyoming (cont.)

• Challenges– Infrastructure: CO2 supply and transportation.

– EORI is investigating new sources within the state.– Working with other state agencies (Wyoming Pipeline Authority) and mid-stream companies to overcome infrastructure issues.

– Lack of pilot data. – Production price differential (related to infrastructure).

Jackson

Gillette

Pinedale Casper

Laramie

Cheyenne

Rock Springs

GREEN RIVER

WIND RIVER

POWDER RIVER

BIG HORN

Jackson

Gillette

Pinedale Casper

Laramie

Cheyenne

Rock Springs

GREEN RIVER

WIND RIVER

POWDER RIVER

BIG HORN

Jackson

Gillette

Pinedale Casper

Laramie

Cheyenne

Rock Springs

Madden/ Lost Cabin

Shute CreekJim Bridger Medicine Bow Fuel & Power

Coals to Liquids Plant

GREEN RIVER

WIND RIVER

POWDER RIVER

BIG HORN

Jackson

Gillette

Pinedale Casper

Laramie

Cheyenne

Rock Springs

Madden/ Lost Cabin

Shute Creek

Medicine Bow Fuel & PowerCoals to Liquids Plant

Jim Bridger

SaltCreek

Monell

Lost Soldier/Wertz

BeaverCreek

HartzogDraw

BigMuddy

Grieve

GREEN RIVER

WIND RIVER

POWDER RIVER

BIG HORN

Jackson

Gillette

Pinedale Casper

Laramie

Cheyenne

Rock Springs

Madden/ Lost Cabin

Shute Creek

Medicine Bow Fuel & PowerCoals to Liquids Plant

Jim Bridger

SaltCreek

Monell

Lost Soldier/Wertz

BeaverCreek

HartzogDraw

BigMuddy

Grieve

CHEVRON

ANARDARKO

EXXONMOBIL

EORI Strategy

• A mix of research and applied science shaped by the input and direction of Wyoming owners/operators, and in response to the needs of those owners/operators.

• Based around three areas of activity:– Information Assembly– Technical Development– Technology Transfer

EORI Outreach Strategy

Information Assemblyand Acquisition

Fracture CharacterizationReservoir Characterization

Oil PropertiesWettability

Three Phase PermeabilityRocks and Oil

Technical Development

Carbon Capture and StorageScoping Tool

Chemical FloodingWater Flooding

CO2 ManagementReservoir Modeling

ScreeningDatabase Development

Corporate Outreach andStrategic Alliances

Cooperative AssociationsContractual ProjectsStrategic Planning

Information Transfer- Meetings- Conferences- Workshops

PresentationsPublications

Incremental OilProduction with EOR

Increased StateRevenue

EORI Outreach Activities• In 2007

– Joint Producers Meeting, Casper WY, June 26. 125 in attendance.

Sponsored by:

– “Nuts and Bolts of CO2 EOR” by Steve Melzer, Casper WY, October 25. 75 in attendance

Sponsored by:

– Chemical Flooding EOR by Dr. Gary Pope, UT Austin, Casper WY, October 26.– Single Well Chemical Tracer Testing by Charlie Carlisle, Casper WY, October 26.

• Future- CO2 injection

- CCS and EOR- Ongoing efforts related to CO2 infrastructure and supply.

EORI Capabilities

• Technologies – Carbon Capture and Sequestration– CO2 Enhanced Oil Recovery– Low-salinity water-flooding EOR– Chemical Enhanced Oil Recovery– Well Stimulation – Heat to Power

• Analyses – Screening Models– Scoping Models– Reservoir Characterization– Reservoir Modeling and

Simulation

• Technologies and analytical techniques that the EORI is working on directly, promoting or investigating in collaboration with others…

Assessing a CO2 Flood

• A process of Risk Reduction via a step- wise decision making procedure.

–Screen: “CO2Mac”, Fuzzy logic based screen–Scope: EORI scoping model–Reservoir Characterization–Reservoir Modeling and Simulation

Risk (Potential for reality to be somethingother than what is expected)

Precision(Reduction of predictive uncertainty)

Assessing a CO2 Flood

• Screening Models–“CO2Mac” provides a ‘first pass’ assessment of

the technical feasibility of a CO2 flood in a reservoir i.e. sufficient or compatible values for porosity, perm, fracture pressure and MMP

–Fuzzy logic screening provides semi- quantitative assessment of the likelihood of success of a CO2 flood.

Assessing a CO2 Flood

• Scoping Model–Similar to Kinder Morgan model–Uses Dimensionless Curves to evaluate the

economic feasibility of a CO2 flood.–Will be linked to a database of Wyoming

reservoirs.–Will have batch file and search function

capability

Assessing a CO2 Flood

• Reservoir Characterization– Seeks to replace reservoir scale averages

used in the previous decision making stages with much higher resolution (facies scale) data.

– Collation of pre-existing and newly obtained data into a static model of the reservoir.– Existing databases, outcrop studies, seismic, wireline logs etc etc).

Assessing a CO2 Flood

• Reservoir Modeling and Simulation– Uses the static model obtained from the

reservoir characterization stage. – Flow simulation (using ECLIPSE and PETREL)

is undertaken to determine the optimal flooding procedure.

Example Project (Contractual Study)

• Elk Petroleum– The EORI conducted an evaluation simulation of a gravity stable

CO2 flood of the Grieve Field - Muddy Formation. – A detailed reservoir model was constructed and 20 flood

simulations were run using the EORI cluster computing facility.– The model and simulation was history matched and validated

externally (e.g. residual oil saturation measured and compared with the simulation derived value).

– The results were confirmed by external consultants (Ryder Scott).– The study indicated that 23 million barrels was recoverable with

production rates of 8000 – 12,000 BOPD.

Lon D. Whitman Corporate Outreach and Strategic Alliances

307 760 0577 LWhitma3@uwyo.edu http://eori.uwyo.edu