Evaluation of Target Oil in the 50 Major Oilfields of the Permian Basin for Enhanced Oil Recovery

摘要

This investigation is to determine the target oil available for enhanced oil recovery (EOR) from 50 major producing oilfields in the Permian Basin. Five enhanced oil-recovery methods were considered and a screening process was used to determine which was most suitable for each of the fields. The criteria used in the screening process were published on pages 98, 116, and 144 of the National Petroleum Council's (NPC) 1976 report on Enhanced Oil Recovery (3). The 50 major Permian Basin fields have an estimated 27.6 billion barrels of oil unrecoverable under present operating conditions. The screening process indicates that none of the fields have an outstanding potential for thermal recovery or surfactant polymer methods. However, 16 fields have carbon dioxide potential and 11 have polymer waterflooding potential. According to the screening process, none of the five methods considered was suitable for the remaining 23 fields. (ERA citation 04:012353)