CHOPS (Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand)

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CHOPS (Cold Heavy Oil Production with Sand)
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Alberta accounts for 55 per cent of Canada's oil
production, or roughly 893,000 barrels per
day.Natural gas heats about one-half of
Canadian households, and provides about 45 per
cent of the energy used by the country's
manufacturing industries.Alberta accounts for
just over 80 per cent of the natural gas
produced in Canada itself the world's
third-largest supplier of the gas and exports
about three-quarters of its production outside
the province's boundaries. About half of the
five trillion cubic feet of gas produced each
year in Alberta is exported to the United States,
and about one-quarter flows to other points in
Canada.
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LLOYDMINSTER OILFIELDS

• Lloydminster oilfields
• have been operating
• since the 1930s.
• Today there are well
• over 6,000 wells in the area
• producing in excess of
• 250,000 boepd.

Dina Well 1937
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LLOYDMINSTER OILFIELDS

• Some oil associated with gas
• Very clean formations
• Poorly consolidated
• Cretaceous sequence
• Deltaic sandstones
• Production almost always includes
• large amounts of formation sand

Dina Well (1937)
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Original heavy oil in place estimated to be over
20 billion bbls (3 billion m3). Primary
recovery is estimated to be between 10 and 20
some thermal EOR projects are achieving much
higher recoveries.
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A DELTAIC DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT
A satellite photo of the Ganges Delta in India
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Region Lloydminster, Canada
Area 10,000 sq.miles
Depth 400-600 m
Depositional Environment Cretaceous Deltaic Sand
Oil Density 960-990 kg/m3
Oil Viscosity Up to 131,000 mPa.s
Reservoir Porosity 25 - 35
Reservoir Permeability 0.5 8.0 darcies
Original GOR 100-150 scf/bbl
Original Sw 15
Reservoir Sorting Moderate to well
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COLD HEAVY OIL PRODUCTION WITH SAND

• Working Definition
• Aggressive production of sand along with heavy
  oil under primary production process
• Alternative Names
• Cold Flow
• Cold Heavy Oil Production (CHOP)
• Cold Production

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CHOPS

• Cold production theory states that continuous
  sand production is required to maintain and/or
  maximize oil production
• Initial sand production rates can be in excess of
  40 by volume this decreases over time and
  settles at about 1 by volume on a cold
  production well

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OPERATING COSTS
Source ARC
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RECOVERY EFFICIENCY
Source ARC
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COLD PRODUCTION
Field Oil Production Rates
Source Dr. Ron Sawatzky - ARC
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COLD PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE
Source Dr. Ron Sawatzky - ARC
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FOAMY OIL

• Large numbers of persistent gas bubbles in oil
• Generated by de-pressurization of live heavy oils
• Provide part of the drive for CHOPS

Photo courtesy Dr. Ron Sawatzky- ARC
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SAND PRODUCTION

• Reservoir Impact
• long wormholes in preferred, high permeability
  layers
• short lateral drainage distances to high
  permeability channels
• provide paths for CHOPS products to flow

Photo courtesy Dr. Ron Sawatzky- ARC
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MECHANICAL PRODUCTION TREATER
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WHAT IS THEHEAT DRIVEN LOOP?

• The Heat Driven Loop
• A new adaptation of existing thermosyphon heat
  pump technology
• Uses latent heat of evaporation from an
  evacuated, closed system to transfer heat
• Consists of an evaporator section and a
  condenser/exchanger section.
• Since the latent heat of evaporation is large,
  considerable quantities of heat can be
  transported quickly, efficiently, and safely.

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THE HEAT DRIVEN LOOP

• The vaporizer and heat exchanger are evacuated
• The water boils at a low temperature ( 43C)
• No air in the system reduces the risk of
  corrosion
• Operates at less than 15 psig and less than 120C
• Lower temperature means lower heat loss to
  ambient
• Heat added beyond the boiling point creates low
  pressure, low temperature, superheated steam
• The steam expands into the 45 long heat
  exchanger
• The steam condenses on the flow tube and gives up
  its heat to the oil in the flowtube
• Condensed, the steam collapses in volume and
  feeds by gravity back to the evaporator
• The expansion of the water into steam and the
  collapse of the steam into condensate provide the
  motive force

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WHAT ARE THE ADVANTAGES?

• Increased heat transfer efficiency so reduced
  fuel requirements
• Lower fuel pressure at burner (lt 14 WC)
• Eliminates direct firing of firetubes (controlled
  flux) no scale no hot spots
• Reduced hazards
• Reduced environmental risk and emissions
• Lower heat losses to ambient
• B-149.3 compliant

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HDL APPLICATIONS

• Heavy Oil Production Tanks
• Slop Oil Treating Facilities
• Heavy Oil Heat Exchangers
• Natural Gas Line Heaters
• Heavy Oil Wellsite Treating

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MECHANICAL PRODUCTION TREATER

• 45 heat exchanger (condenser) between well and
  tank
• 10 flowtube inside a 14 shell
• Auger/mixer/separator slowly turning in flowtube
  ( 1rpm)
• Heat supplied by the Heat Driven Loop
• Gas separated prior to the tank
• Chemical injection upstream of treater

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PILOT 1 LASHBURN AREA WELL

• Pilot test in
• problem high sand,
• foamy well
• 30 m3/d _at_ 30 (2.5)
• Unable to heat past 60º
• Short loads due to foam
• Sales cut 25-30
• Sales cut 2 solids
• High solids cut required delivery to a more
  distant facility

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PILOT 1 LASHBURN AREA WELL

• Results
• Significant device modifications during test a
  learning process
• Tank is now consistently over 80º
• Foam problems resolved
• Sales cut 0.4 1.5
• Sales cut trace solids
• Fuel Consumption 84 of conventional system
  previously in use
• Oil to nearby facility
• Dependable
• Fluid Thermal Efficiency 58 versus immersion
  tube efficiency of 32

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PILOT 2 LONE ROCK AREA

• Pilot test in good well
• 20m3/d _at_ 30 (trace)
• Whole purpose of test was to determine if the
  device could consistently treat clean in a single
  tank

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PILOT 2 LONE ROCK AREA

• Consistently treats clean (lt0.5 BSW) in single
  tank
• Has been dependable and easy to operate but has
  had some problems with wet gas on location

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SINGLE WELL INSTALLS
Location Oil Production Wellhead Cut Tank Temp C Sales Cut
TWP - 46-27 12 30 80 0.3
TWP - 48-25 13 40 84 0.3 to 1.5
6-33-44-24 W3M 11 9 73 0.3
8-33-44-24 W3M 10 5 70 0.1
10-33-44-24 W3M 14 12 70 0.1
10-9-55-26 W3M 12 5 High Solids 75 0.1
1-5-56-27 W3M 15 22 High Solids 75 0.2
10-5-56-27 W3M 9 35 85 0.4
14-5-56-27 W3M 11 50 75 0.4
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ENCANA PROVOST

• Plant Evaluation Trial
• 2 MPTs installed at a field header on a
  test/interim basis while waiting for a cleaning
  plant to be completed
• Test ran for 90 days
• Typical Oil 74 m3/d
• Typical Water 65 m3/d
• Average input W/C - 46
• Demulsifier at 130 ppm
• The MPT consistently produced clean oil from
  sales tank

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ENCANA PROVOSTPROCESS LAYOUT
Mechanical Production Treaters
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CNRL EAST TILL

• Slop treating facility
• Continuous once through process
• Cleaning slop and cavern material to less than
  0.5 by volume
• Current rate is 35 m3/d (40 - 5 sand)

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CNRL EAST TILLSLOP MANAGEMENT
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WHY DOES AN MPT WORK?

• Very efficient heat transfer.
• Good chemical distribution
• Short vertical travel distance for oil, water,
  and sand droplets while in flowtube
• Removes the gas prior to the tank (reduced
  turbulence in tank)
• No firetube related convection in the tank
• Augured tank cleaning reduces cleaning turbulence
• 10 flow tube reduces fluid velocity entering the
  tank
• Quiescence in tank

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MECHANICAL PRODUCTION TREATERS

• High Efficiency
• Thorough Separation
• Reduced Fuel Costs
• Reduced Chemical Costs
• Reduced Emissions
• Reduced Maintenance Costs
• Safe
• Dependable and Simple to Operate

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SAND MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES

• Objectives
• Reduce waste volumes
• Reduce waste handling costs
• Reduce tank maintenance costs
• Minimize slop oil generation

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TANK CLEANING

• Sand is recovered from the production tank in one
  of three ways
• Manual
• Stinging
• Augering
• The recovered material is trucked to disposal

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SCS SERVICES

• Grithog Machine door pulls
• GRS Permanent Waste Recovery Systems in plant
  applications and large tanks
• PVA Penetrator Mobile Augering Technology
  various SWB and pads in the field

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GRS PERMANENT SAND REMOVAL SYSTEM

• Best option for large, flat bottom, process tanks
• Can clean tanks thoroughly without shutting down
  or contaminating the process

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GRS PVA PENETRATOR MOBILE AUGERING
TECHNOLOGY

• Economic means of tank cleaning for SWB and pads
• Reduces waste volume by recovering sand not
  water
• Reduces tank upset
• Increases firetube life
• Can operate with and remove scale on the tank
  floor

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EP COMPANY STUDY CONCLUSIONS

• 40 reduction in waste volumes due to augering in
  field locations
• Waste handling cost of 1.22/bbl versus 1.58/bbl
  with stinging (23 reduction)
• Better Water Quality less disposal problems
• Less Traffic
• Reduced Tank Failures
• Fewer cleanouts fewer loads

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TANK CLEANING IN HEAVY OIL

• Sand Control Systems tank cleaning results in
  significant reductions in operating costs
  relative to stinging.
• More sand is recovered per tonne of waste
• Less water is recovered and disposed of as sand
• Heavier payloads
• Less frequent cleanouts

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TANK CLEANING IN HEAVY OIL

• Sand Control Systems tank cleaning results in
  significant reductions in operating problems
• Less disruption of the tank separation process
• Less fines in the oil less slop
• Better water quality less problems at the SWD
  plant and wells
• Reduced cooling by agitation
• Less scale on firetubes less failures