Vol. 32 No. 1 (2019): Revista ION
Articles

Determination and statistical analysis of the composition of the gases produced in an Enhanced Oil Recovery Pilot

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  • José Manuel Díaz Molina,
  • Andrea Carolina Morales Toscano,
  • Marisol Fernández Rojas,
  • Nelson Briceño-Gamba,
  • Deicy Villalba Rey,
  • María del Rosario Sánchez
José Manuel Díaz Molina
Universidad de los Llanos
Andrea Carolina Morales Toscano
Universidad de los Llanos
Marisol Fernández Rojas
Universidad de los Llanos
Nelson Briceño-Gamba
Universidad de los Llanos
Deicy Villalba Rey
Universidad de los Llanos
María del Rosario Sánchez
Instituto Colombiano del Petróleo. Ecopetrol
DOI: https://doi.org/10.18273/revion.v32n1-2019006

Published 2019-09-03

Keywords

  • Air injection,
  • Gas Chromatography,
  • extra heavy oil,
  • Enhanced Oil Recovery.

How to Cite

Díaz Molina, J. M., Morales Toscano, A. C., Fernández Rojas, M., Briceño-Gamba, N., Villalba Rey, D., & Sánchez, M. del R. (2019). Determination and statistical analysis of the composition of the gases produced in an Enhanced Oil Recovery Pilot. Revista ION, 32(1), 63–73. https://doi.org/10.18273/revion.v32n1-2019006
Copyright Notice

Abstract

The oil industry in Colombia has the challenge of exploiting deposits with heavy and extra-heavy oil. For this reason, Enhanced Oil Recovery methods (EOR) have been implemented in the country, looking for high production rates. Air injection is one of the EOR methods that allows to achieve high production rates. The Air Injection Pilot (PIAR) at Chichimene (Meta) is a pioneer in the world for implementing this method in a reserve of extra heavy oil (API <10) in a high depth. The monitoring of the physicochemical properties of the fluids generated during this process helps to ensure the correct operational functioning of the pilot. In this work, the gas composition from 16 wells located in the pilot area was determined by gas chromatography (GC). Methane was found mainly (68.5 ± 7.1), followed by CO2 (11.4 ± 5.6) and N2 (6.7 ± 4.2). The composition of the gases was dissimilar throughout the area, so Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Cluster Analysis (CA) were made to assess the similarities between the gases of the wells. As a result, the wells were organized into three groups by similarity: a group with the highest methane levels (75.8%); the second group with N2 (11.9%); and a third group with the highest CO2 values (20.1%), consisting of three wells. These groups were plotted on a map and it was noted that they are in defined areas within the pilot.

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