An EOR evaluation of surfactant flooding in the Norne E-segment based on applied reservoir simulation.

Abstract

The oil production at the Norne field has peaked and is now declining. To evaluate the potential to increase the oil production, an EOR screening of the Norne E-segment was performed,and surfactant flooding was chosen as a good candidate. Surfactant flooding is a promising EOR method, which is of modest experience on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. By injecting surfactant after water flooding the residual oil saturation can be reduced. The surfactant will mobilize the capillary trapped oil by reducing the interfacial tension between oil and water. A surfactant model was applied to the Norne reservoir simulation model by the usage of Eclipse 100. The surfactant was injected with different well patterns, mainly with the use of the injection well F-3H and production well E-2H which was evaluated as the most promising wells for a surfactant flooding. Based on the simulations results an economical evaluation was performed and the feasibility of surfactant flooding was discussed. The recovery was observed to increase with 2 % in the target area, and some positive Net Present Values was achieved. Due to the lowNet Present Values and problems regarding a surfactant flooding, a surfactant project is not economically attractive for the Norne E-segment with the use of the injection well F-3H at the moment.