A Successful 18%STOOIP 4-Injector Polymer Pilot Expands To 80 New Injectors In 6 Years Adopting A Modular Concept In Grimbeek Fluvial Reservoirs

After the successful pilot (18%STOOIP incremental oil, Juri et al. 2017 and utility factor of 1,76 kg polymer/bbl) of two technologies, continuous polymer injection 0.3PV followed by high frequency water-alternate-polymer 0.3PV, a series of multiple simulations cases indicated an optimal extension of 3-year cycle -0.4 to 0.6PV- factory mode development. Despite all advantages of polymer injection, few full-field expansions emerge from many challenges in integrating multiple disciplines -lab studies, subsurface reservoir modelling, engineering, energy, procurement, logistics, storage, project management- all parties find it difficult focusing on a common goal and streamline the decision process. Because it has long been thought that the EOR road map means planning for large scale EOR. However, that is false because there are very few full-field injections. The past strategy in EOR has led to a few pilot extensions implemented. Planning for large-scale EOR suffers from having the incremental oil, uncertainty in oil price, uncertainty in economic drivers and uncertainty in technical solutions for the expansion on the same time frame, which undermines economics. What it seems to be the only way to make progress with EOR, in reality, is that EOR should align with planning for quick oil response. We present here the steps to accelerate EOR in Grimbeek field from a 4-injectors pilot to 80 new injectors in a fast, less than 18 months deployment. We compare the capital and operating cost of multiple expansion scenarios. The scope is to accelerate EOR deployment opposite to the slow typical EOR workflow. We have seen the opportunity in accelerating the oil focusing on a simple modular strategy rather than iterating multiple possible engineering solutions to distribute the polymer across the field. NPV of the overall project is higher than the costs of delaying the injection or having to redo parts of the implementation along the deployment. Future optimisation is necessary for options of logistics, storage, in-situ skid connection and mounting along with by-pass remote control valves and remote control of skid injections. The building blocks of the strategy are containerised mobile skids containing ten pumps, polymer dispersion unit, and 30-metric ton silos. The mobile skids plug-in the waterflooding manifolds in an easy and fast connection. This injection scheme distributes polymer using the already implemented waterflooding in-situ installation. We focus on having a simple, standard and mobile system targeting fast implementation and fast oil response rather than large facilities.