Introduction to Enhanced Recovery Methods for Heavy Oil and Tar Sands, Second Edition, explores the importance of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) and how it has grown in recent years thanks to the increased need to locate unconventional resources such as heavy oil and shale. Unfortunately, petroleum engineers and managers aren't always well-versed in the enhancement methods that are available when needed or the most economically viable solution to maximize their reservoir's productivity. This revised new edition presents all the current methods of recovery available, including the pros and cons of each. Expanded and updated as a great preliminary text for the newcomer to the industry or subject matter, this must-have EOR guide teaches all the basics needed, including all thermal and non-thermal methods, along with discussions of viscosity, sampling, and the technologies surrounding offshore applications. - Enables users to quickly learn how to choose the most efficient recovery method for their reservoir while evaluating economic conditions - Presents the differences between each method of recovery with newly added real-world case studies from around the world - Helps readers stay competitive with the growing need of extracting unconventional resources with new content on how these complex reservoirs interact with injected reservoir fluids

Recent oil price fluctuations continue to stress the need for more efficient recovery of heavy oil and tar sand bitumen resources. With conventional production steadily declining, advances in enhanced recovery will be required so that oil production can be extended and reservoirs last longer. A practical guide on heavy-oil related recovery methods is essential for all involved in heavy oil production. To feed this demand, James Speight, a well-respected scientist and author, provides a must-read for all scientists, engineers and technologists that are involved in production enhancement. In Enhanced Recovery Methods for Heavy Oil and Tar Sands, Speight provides the current methods of recovery for heavy oil and tar sand bitumen technology, broken down by thermal and non-thermal methods. An engineer, graduate student or professional working with heavy oil, upcoming and current, will greatly benefit from this much-needed text.

This book provides the current methods of recovery for heavy oil and tar sand bitumen technology, broken down by thermal and non-thermal methods. An engineer, graduate student or professional working with heavy oil, upcoming and current, will greatly benefit from this much-needed text. Recent oil price fluctuations continue to stress the need for more efficient recovery of heavy oil and tar sand bitumen resources. With conventional production steadily declining, advances in enhanced recovery will be required so that oil production can be extended and reservoirs last longer. A practical guide on heavy-oil related recovery methods is essential for all involved in heavy oil production. To feed this demand, James Speight, a well-respected scientist and author, provides a must-read for all scientists, engineers and technologists that are involved in production enhancement.

Hybrid Enhanced Oil Recovery Processes for Heavy Oil Reservoirs, Volume 73 systematically introduces these technologies. As the development of heavy oil reservoirs is emphasized, the petroleum industry is faced with the challenges of selecting cost-effective and environmentally friendly recovery processes. This book tackles these challenges with the introduction and investigation of a variety of hybrid EOR processes. In addition, it addresses the application of these hybrid EOR processes in onshore and offshore heavy oil reservoirs, including theoretical, experimental and simulation approaches. This book will be very useful for petroleum engineers, technicians, academics and students who need to study the hybrid EOR processes, In addition, it will provide an excellent reference for field operations by the petroleum industry. - Introduces emerging hybrid EOR processes and their technical details - Includes case studies to help readers understand the application potential of hybrid EOR processes from different points-of-view - Features theoretical, experimental and simulation studies to help readers understand the advantages and challenges of each process

As conventional-oil resources are depleted worldwide, vast heavy oil reserves available in various parts of the world become increasingly important as a secure future energy source. Brief but readable, Heavy Oil Production Processes discusses the latest improvements in production processes including; thermal methods (steam floods, cyclic steam stimulation, SAGD) as well as non-thermal methods (cold flow with sand production, cyclic solvent process, VAPEX). The book begins with an overview of the chemistry, engineering, and technology of heavy oil as they evolve into the twenty-first century. The preceding chapters are written to provide a basic understanding of each technology, evolving processes and new processes as well as the various environmental regulations. Clear and rigorous, Heavy Oil Production Processes will prove useful for those scientists and engineers already engaged in fossil fuel science and technology as well as scientists, non-scientists, engineers, and non-engineers who wish to gain a general overview or update of the science and technology of fossil fuels. The not only does the book discuss the production processes but also provides methods which should reduce environmental footprint and improve profitability. - Overview of the chemistry, engineering, and technology of oil sands - Updates on the evolving processes and new processes - Evolving and new environmental regulations regarding oil sands production

Introduction to Petroleum Biotechnology introduces the petroleum engineer to biotechnology, bringing together the various biotechnology methods that are applied to recovery, refining and remediation in the uses of petroleum and petroleum products. A significant amount of petroleum is undiscoverable in reservoirs today using conventional and secondary methods. This reference explains how microbial enhanced oil recovery is aiding to produce more economical and environmentally-friendly metabolic events that lead to improved oil recovery. Meanwhile, in the downstream side of the industry, petroleum refining operators are facing the highest levels of environmental regulations while struggling to process more of the heavier crude oils since conventional physical and chemical refining techniques may not be applicable to heavier crudes. This reference proposes to the engineer and refining manager the concepts of bio-refining applications to not only render heavier crudes as lighter crudes through microbial degradation, but also through biodenitrogenation, biodemetallization and biodesulfurization, making more petroleum derivatives purified and upgraded without the release of more pollutants. Equipped for both upstream and downstream to learn the basics, this book is a necessary primer for today's petroleum engineer. - Presents the fundamentals behind petroleum biotechnology for both upstream and downstream oil and gas operations - Provides the latest technology in reservoir recovery using microbial enhanced oil recovery methods - Helps readers gain insight into the current and future application of using biotechnology as a refining and fuel blending method for heavy oil and tar sands

This book aims at presenting, describing, and summarizing the latest advances in polymer flooding regarding the chemical synthesis of the EOR agents and the numerical simulation of compositional models in porous media, including a description of the possible applications of nanotechnology acting as a booster of traditional chemical EOR processes. A large part of the world economy depends nowadays on non-renewable energy sources, most of them of fossil origin. Though the search for and the development of newer, greener, and more sustainable sources have been going on for the last decades, humanity is still fossil-fuel dependent. Primary and secondary oil recovery techniques merely produce up to a half of the Original Oil In Place. Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) processes are aimed at further increasing this value. Among these, chemical EOR techniques (including polymer flooding) present a great potential in low- and medium-viscosity oilfields. • Describes recent advances in chemical enhanced oil recovery. • Contains detailed description of polymer flooding and nanotechnology as promising boosting tools for EOR. • Includes both experimental and theoretical studies. About the Authors Patrizio Raffa is Assistant Professor at the University of Groningen. He focuses on design and synthesis of new polymeric materials optimized for industrial applications such as EOR, coatings and smart materials. He (co)authored about 40 articles in peer reviewed journals. Pablo Druetta works as lecturer at the University of Groningen (RUG) and as engineering consultant. He received his Ph.D. from RUG in 2018 and has been teaching at a graduate level for 15 years. His research focus lies on computational fluid dynamics (CFD).

Unconventional heavy crude oils are replacing the conventional light crude oils slowly but steadily as a major energy source. Heavy crude oils are cheaper and present an opportunity to the refiners to process them with higher profit margins. However, the unfavourable characteristics of heavy crude oils such as high viscosity, low API gravity, low H/C ratio, chemical complexity with high asphaltenes content, high acidity, high sulfur and increased level of metal and heteroatom impurities impede extraction, pumping, transportation and processing. Very poor mobility of the heavy oils, due to very high viscosities, significantly affects production and transportation. Techniques for viscosity reduction, drag reduction and in-situ upgrading of the crude oil to improve the flow characteristics in pipelines are presented in this book. The heavier and complex molecules of asphaltenes with low H/C ratios present many technological challenges during the refining of the crude oil, such as heavy coking on catalysts. Hydrogen addition and carbon removal are the two approaches used to improve the recovery of value-added products such as gasoline and diesel. In addition, the heavy crude oil needs pre-treatment to remove the high levels of impurities before the crude oil can be refined. This book introduces the major challenges and some of the methods to overcome them.

Sustainable In-Situ Heavy Oil and Bitumen Recovery: Techniques, Case Studies, and Environmental Considerations delivers a critical reference for today's energy engineers who want to gain an accurate understanding of anticipated GHG emissions in heavy oil recovery. Structured to break down every method with introductions, case studies, technical limitations and summaries, this reference gives engineers a look at the latest hybrid approaches needed to tackle heavy oil recoveries while calculating carbon footprints. Starting from basic definitions and rounding out with future challenges, this book will help energy engineers collectively evolve heavy oil recovery with sustainability applications in mind. - Explains environmental footprint considerations within each recovery method - Includes the latest hybrid methods such as Hybrid of Air-CO2N2 and Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS) - Bridges practical knowledge through case studies, summaries and remaining technical challenges