PRINCIPLES OF

ENHANCED OIL
RECOVERY

By Engr. Hassan Aziz

 Books:
• Enhanced Oil Recovery by Don W. Green and G. Paul Willhite, ISBN:
1555630774.
• Water Flooding by Don W. Green, G. Paul Willhite ISBN: 1555630057
• Enhanced oil Recovery by Marcel Latil, ISBN: 0872017753
• Enhanced Oil Recovery by Larry W. Lake, ISBN: 1555633056.
• Dynamics of Petroleum Reservoirs under Gas Injection, by Rafael Sandrea,
Ralph Nielsen, ISBN: 0872012190
 Introduction to EOR
• Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) is a term applied to methods used for recovering oil from a
petroleum reservoir beyond that recoverable by primary and secondary methods.
• OR
• Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is oil recovery by the injection of materials not normally
present in the reservoir.
• OR
• EOR will make unmovable Oil moveable.

• Primary recovery normally refers to production using the energy inherent in the reservoir
from gas under pressure or a natural water drive.

• Secondary recovery usually refers to injection of water or waterflooding.

• Thus, Enhanced Oil Recovery is often synonymous with tertiary recovery.

Introduction to EOR
 Introduction to EOR
• The definition does not restrict EOR to a particular phase (primary,
secondary, or tertiary) in the producing life of a reservoir. Primary
recovery is oil recovery by natural drive mechanisms: solution gas,
water influx, and gas cap drives, or gravity drainage. Secondary
recovery refers to techniques, such as gas or water injection, whose
purpose is mainly to raise or maintain reservoir pressure. Tertiary
recovery is any technique applied after secondary recovery. Many
thermal methods are commercial in both primary and secondary
modes. Much interest has been focused on tertiary EOR, but the
definition given here is not so restricted.

• Example heavy oil

Introduction to EOR
 Difference B/W EOR & IOR
• IOR ( IMPROVED OIL RECOVERY) typically refers to any process or
practice that improves oil recovery. IOR therefore includes EOR
processes but can also include other practices such as waterflooding,
pressure maintenance, infill drilling, and horizontal wells.

• Enhanced oil recovery (EOR) is oil recovery by the injection of

materials not normally present in the reservoir.
Difference between EOR & IOR
EOR METHODS
 Role of Reservoir geology in design and
operations of EOR projects
• The efficiency of an EOR method is a measure of its ability to provide greater
recovery of hydrocarbons than recoverable by natural depletion.

• The main factor involved in designing of an EOR project is production of HCS

at an economical rates.

• The efficiency of an EOR method depends on:

1. The reservoir characteristics

2. The nature of displacing and displaced fluid.
RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS
 RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS
B. DIP ANGLE

The reservoir dip angle directly affects the recovery of hcs by the affect of
gravity.
If for example, reservoir is inclined in which gravity opposes the sweep, in this
condition; EOR method will be effected by following;
Higher frictional pressure
Higher pumping pressure.
RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS
RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS
RESERVOIR CHARACTERISTICS
 LINEAR DISPLACEMENT
A linear displacement is one in which the fluid velocities have a constant
direction at every point and for all the time.
• Or
Linear displacement is movement in one direction along a single axis.

The study of linear displacement can be divided into two part.

• A. the theory of frontal displacement

• B. the theory of piston-like displacement
THE THEORY OF FRONTAL DISPLACEMENT
 THE THEORY OF FRONTAL DISPLACEMENT
• Equation of continuity or mass conversation
THE THEORY OF FRONTAL DISPLACEMENT
• Frictional flow
 THE THEORY OF FRONTAL
DISPLACEMENT
• Time of arrival of front at production well
 PISTON-LIKE DISPLACEMENT
Under this assumption, only oil flows ahead of the displacement front.
All recoverable oil is displaced by water leaving only the residual oil saturation
behind the displacement front.
When the displacement front in a given layer reaches the outlet face
(producing well), no more oil flows from that layer and the production is
completely water.
All the recoverable oil is produced from the layer at the time of water
breakthrough. This leads to a highly optimistic performance prediction, i.e.
higher fractional recovery and lower water cut. This become worse at high
(unfavourable) mobility ratios where early breakthrough occurs with
appreciable amounts of recoverable oil left behind the displacement front.
 WATER FLOODING
• Waterflooding is the use of water injection to increase the production from
oil reservoirs. Use of water to increase oil production is known as "secondary
recovery“.
OR
• A method of secondary recovery in which water is injected into the reservoir 
formation to displace residual oil. The water from injection wells physically
sweeps the displaced oil to adjacent production wells.
OR
• It is the injection of water into a wellbore to push, or “drive” oil to another
well where it can be produced.
OBJECTIVES OF WATER FLOODING /
INJECTION
• (i) Maintain the reservoir pressure,

• (ii) Displace oil (usually with gas and water) towards production wells
 WATER INJECTION
• For water injection operations, the injected water is discharged in the
aquifer through several injection wells surrounding the production
well.

• The injected water creates a bottom water drive on the oil zone which
pushes the oil upwards.
 WATER FLOODING
• In this operation, displacing fluid is injected in the oil zone through the surrounding
water injection wells.

• Injected water displaces the oil towards the production well.

• For better efficiency, the pressure of the reservoir should be such that no secondary
gas cap is formed.

• Water flooding is generally more effective than water injection.

• Water flooding in other regards is similar to water injection, the only difference being
the displacing phenomenon. in the case of water injection, we inject the water in the
water zone of the reservoir, in the water flooding we inject it directly into the
hydrocarbon zone
 How Does a Waterflood Work?
1. Certain oil wells are converted to water injection wells

2. Other oil wells remain as producers

3. The injected water displaces, or “pushes” oil to the producing wells

EXAMPLE
EXAMPLE
 Selection criteria of water injection
Two main factors are considered in the selection criteria of water injection
• A. TECHNICAL FACTORS
1. As compared to gas injection, Water injection is generally considered to
be more suitable for highly under saturated oil reservoirs because low
gas-oil ratio would produce low volumes of gas to the surface making gas
injection inappropriate.
2. In reservoirs containing saturated oil, water injection can only be
preferred as long as reservoir permeability to water is high.
3. In heterogeneous water-wet reservoirs, water injection is more efficient
due to spontaneous imbibition of water.
 Selection criteria of water injection
• B. Economic factors
DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS
DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS
DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS
DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS
DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS
DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS
DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS
 DISPLACEMENT MECHANICS

• the use of water injection is common, but is limited by reservoir

heterogeneity. Differences in permeability can increase water production
and subsequently increase operating cost. 
•  Profitability of producing from heterogeneous reservoirs can be poor
because of premature water-breakthrough through high-permeability
layers. It seems possible to improve the profitability of producing from
heterogeneous reservoirs by diverting the injected water from
preferentially flowing through high to low-permeability zones.
SELECTION OF VARIOUS FLOOD PATTERN
CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL
CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL
CENTRAL AND PERIPHERAL
PATTERN FLOODING
PATTERN FLOODING
PATTERN FLOODING
PATTERN FLOODING
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS FOR WATER FLOOD DESIGN
IMMISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT BY GAS INJECTION
• If the two fluids do not mix in all proportions to form a single phase, the
process will be immiscible.

• while miscibility is defined as the ability of two or more substances to form a

single homogeneous phase when mixed in all proportions.

• In immiscible displacements in porous media an interface separates the

fluids.

• One fluid is never completely displaced by another, immiscible fluid. There

will be irreducible or residual saturations after the displacement.
 IMMISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT BY GAS INJECTION

• Immiscible gas injection concerns injecting the gas into oil reservoirs to
increase oil recovery by immiscible displacement.

• The re-injection of produced gas into the formation for Reservoir pressure
maintenance also plays a large role in secondary recovery.

• A variety of gases can be used for immiscible gas displacement, with lean
hydrocarbon gas ( contains mainly methane typically over 95%) used for most
applications to date.
 IMMISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT BY GAS INJECTION

• Gas injection projects are undertaken when there is a readily available

supply of gas. This gas supply typically comes from produced solution gas
or gas-cap gas, gas produced from a deeper gas-filled reservoir, or gas
from a relatively close gas field. 

• As gas is collected, it needs to be dried sufficiently either through a gas

plant or through a gas scrubber to remove enough distillate or
condensate to allow it to be re-compressed for injection
 IMMISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT BY GAS INJECTION

• A high dip reservoir structure is important in immiscible gas injection, as gas will
occupy the top of the reservoir above the oil zone, unlike when the reservoir is
flat.

• Immiscible gas injection can be combined with water injection to give improved
recovery compared to water injection only or immiscible gas injection only.

• Immiscible gas injection into oil reservoir can be taken place by employing any
of the following two techniques;
A) gas cap injection
B) oil zone injection
IMMISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT BY GAS
INJECTION
 IMMISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT BY GAS INJECTION

• In case, the oil reservoir does not contain any gas cap, the oil zone injection
technique is employed.
•
 IMMISCIBLE DISPLACEMENT BY GAS INJECTION
• The primary physical mechanisms that occur as a result of gas injection are;

• (1) partial or complete maintenance of reservoir pressure,

• (2) displacement of oil by gas both horizontally and vertically
• (3) vaporization of the liquid hydrocarbon components from oil 
• (4) swelling of the oil
 VAPORIZATION OF THE LIQUID
HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS
FROM OIL
• The other key compositional aspect of the immiscible gas/oil displacement
process is the vaporizing (or stripping) by the lean injected gas of some
hydrocarbon components of the oil, particularly the intermediate
hydrocarbon components (C3 through C8). In most cases, the injected gas is
very lean natural gas that is the residue gas from a nearby gas processing
plant and composed primarily of methane. At such gas processing plants,
the propane and heavier hydrocarbon components typically have been
condensed from the entering produced gas; in some cases, ethane is also
extracted from the gas. Such a lean injected gas will, when in contact with
the oil at reservoir conditions, vaporize various hydrocarbon components
from the oil until the gas and oil phases have reached compositional
equilibrium.
 VAPORIZATION OF THE LIQUID
HYDROCARBON COMPONENTS
FROM OIL
• The significance of the stripping effect depends on the oil
composition. Immiscible gas/oil injection projects have been applied
to reservoirs with oil gravities from 24 to 43°API or more. In all cases,
the stripping effect increases the recovery of hydrocarbons from the
oil reservoir, but lighter oils have a much greater percentage of their
components vaporized by cycling gas through the reservoir and
operating at higher gas/oil ratios (GORs).
 SWELLING OF THE OIL
• The most obvious compositional effect in the immiscible gas/oil
displacement process is that, if the oil is not saturated with gas at the
reservoir pressure or if the reservoir pressure is increased as a result
of the gas injection, the volume of gas dissolved in the oil will increase
until the oil is saturated at that pressure. At the same time and
because of the increased volume of gas in solution in the oil, the oil
formation volume factor (FVF) will increase. This phenomenon,
commonly called swelling, can increase the efficiency of the gas/oil
displacement process
 SWELLING OF THE OIL
• The significance of the swelling effect is dependent on the oil
reservoir situation. For an oil reservoir in which there is a gas cap, the
underlying oil column will already be fully or nearly saturated with gas
at the reservoir pressure. Hence, there will be very little impact on the
gas/oil displacement process as a result of the interaction between
the reservoir oil and injected gas. However, for an oil reservoir in
which there is no gas cap and where the oil bubble point pressure is
very low compared with the original reservoir pressure, the swelling
effect can be a very significant part of the gas/oil displacement
process.
Surface installations, compression and treatment
methods
Surface installations, compression and treatment
methods
Surface installations, compression and treatment
methods
Surface installations, compression and treatment
methods
Special application of gas injection
Special application of gas injection
 THERMAL INJECTION
• A general term for injection processes that introduce heat into a reservoir.

• Thermal recovery is used to produce viscous, thick oils with API gravities less

than 20.
•
• These oils cannot flow unless they are heated and their viscosity is reduced
enough to allow flow toward producing wells.

• During thermal recovery, crude oil undergoes physical and chemical changes

because of the effects of the heat supplied. Physical properties such as
viscosity, specific gravity and interfacial tension are altered.
 THERMAL INJECTION
• Thermal recovery is a major branch of enhanced oil
recovery processes and can be subdivided in two types:

1. hot fluid injection such as steam injection (cyclic steam injection)

and steam flooding. 

2. in-situ combustion processes
 CYCLIC STEAM INJECTION
• Cyclic steam injection (CSI) or Huff&Puff is usually done is 3 stages:
injection, soaking, and production.
• First, a predetermined amount of steam is injected into the well for 2-6
weeks to heat the oil in the surrounding reservoir (injection stage).
• Once the desired amount of steam is injected, the well is shut down for 3-6
days to allow the steam to heat reservoir around the well (soaking stage).
• In the last stage, the injection well is converted to a production mode until
the heat is dissipated with the produced fluids (production stage).
• This cycle is repeated until the response becomes insignificant and
economical limits are reached. Obviously, most of the oil is produced in the
first few cycles.
 CYCLIC STEAM INJECTION
• CSI is most commonly applied to the reservoirs with thickness greater than
30 ft and depth less than 3000 ft; high reservoir porosity and oil saturation
are desirable. Typical recovery factors for this method are in the range of
10-30%. It is very common for wells to produce for a few Huff&Puff cycles
before switching to a different thermal EOR method, namely steamflooding.
CYCLIC STEAM INJECTION
 Steam flooding
• Steam flooding is one means of introducing heat to the reservoir by pumping steam into
the well with a pattern similar to that of water injection. Eventually the steam condenses
to hot water; in the steam zone the oil evaporates, and in the hot water zone the oil
expands. As a result, the oil expands, the viscosity drops, and the permeability increases.
• For steam flood operations, some wells are used for injection and others are used for
production. During the steam flood, high-quality steam is injected into the heavy-oil
reservoir; steam heats the oil and pushes it toward a producing well. As opposed to the
CSI, during the steam flood, two mechanism are involved in the recovery process. the
first mechanism is viscosity reduction due to increase of temperature; the second
mechanism is a physical displacement of oil by steam and hot water. The recovery factors
for the steam flood operations are usually higher than one for the CSI and are in the
range of 40-60%.
• As steam flood matures, a large amount of heat is retained in the reservoir rock and it
may become uneconomical to inject steam into the reservoir. In this case the steam
flood project is usually stopped.