Extraction of Extra Heavy Oil Crudes in Venezuela Avdelingsmøte 19.06.08
by Pedro Baldó
Summary of Presentation • • • • • • • • • •
Introduction What makes an oil ”Heavy” ? Characteristics of Heavy Oils / Bitumens. On the ”Recovery” of Heavy Oil. Projects Extraction Methods. Production Technologies. Refining Technologies. Outsourcing The Barrel - Costs Conclusions
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The ”Heaviness” of Oil • What is heaviness defined as ?? • What causes the oil’s poor mobility and poor fluid properties? • What are the drawbacks of using heavy oil ? • What are the environmental pitfalls of mining heavy as opposed to light oils ? • What ultimate recovery factors can be expected ? • Is its development ultimately economically feasible ? Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Heavy Oil Facts • Currently less than 5% of the world’s crude oil supply comes from heavy oil. • As peak in conventional oil production is encountered within the next few years, this percentage will rise rapidly. • Rising oil prices make tapping of existing heavy oil reserves feasible, just as gold mines become explorable when the price of gold goes up . Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Characteristics • Heavy oil (and bitumen) is asphaltic. It is "heavy" (dense and viscous) due to the high presence of naphthenes and paraffins. Heavy oil has over 60 carbon atoms and hence a high boiling point and molecular weight. For example, the viscosity of Venezuela's Orinoco extra-heavy crude oil lies in the range 1000-5000 cP. • Asphaltenes are also present, though are not necessarily the primary cause for the heaviness of the oil. • It is extremely sour too, having a high sulphur Facilities & Flow Avdelingsmøte (som vanlig) content and dissolved CO2 (aq). Assurance
Characteristics • Orinoco extra heavy oil contains 3.5% sulfur as well as vanadium and nickel. • Heavy crude oils contain more carbon in relation to hydrogen, thus releasing more carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas) per amount of usable energy when burned.
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Heavy Crude Oil • Bitumen or Extra Heavy Oil is any type of crude oil which does not flow easily. It is referred to as "heavy" because its density or specific gravity is higher than that of light crude oil. Its API Gravity is normally taken to be below 10°. (SG > 1.0). • Heavy Crude Oil has been defined as any liquid petroleum with an API gravity above 10° but less than 20°, meaning that its specific gravity is greater than 0.933. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Light Crude Oil • Light crude oil is crude oil with a low wax content. The clear cut definition of 'light' and 'heavy' crude is hard to find, simply because the classification so made is based more upon practical grounds than theoretical. Since crudes with high viscosities are more difficult to transport/pump, those with apparently lighter wax content are referred to as 'light crudes' and the ones with substantially more wax are classified as 'heavy crudes'. • API Gravity > 31.1 ( S.G. <0.8702 ) for light crude oils. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Bitumen • Bitumen is a mixture of organic liquids that are highly viscous, black, sticky, entirely soluble in carbon disulfide, and composed primarily of highly condensed polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. • Naturally occurring or crude bitumen is a sticky, tar-like form of petroleum which is so thick and heavy that it must be heated or diluted before it will flow. At room temperature, it is much like cold molasses.
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Refined Bitumen • Refined bitumen is the residual (bottom) fraction obtained by fractional distillation of crude oil. It is the heaviest fraction and the one with the highest boiling point, boiling at 525 °C (977 °F). • Orimulsion™ is a 9° API emulsion (70% oil, 30% water) for direct combustion in thermal power plants. Unfortunately, it is very environmentally unfriendly. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Structure of Heavy Oils • Heavy Oils typically have quite low levels of paraffins (straight chain alkanes). • Paraffins act as solvent molecules for the mixed bag of high molecular weight compounds and tend to improve the overall flow characteristics of the oil. • Some but not all, heavy oils contain moderate-tohigh levels of asphaltenes. • Other high melting point (and high pouring point) Facilities & Flow Avdelingsmøte (som vanlig) compounds contribute significantly to the poor Assurance mobility of the crude oil.
Recoverability • Of the world’s known <20° API, the largest deposits of Canada and Venezuela together may account for about 55-65 % of the total OOIP heavy crude oil of the world. • Only 10-30% of this total OOIP (oil in place) figure is now recoverable, which means 25% of current world consumption, or 21,000,000 bbls/day (in the case of Canada), or between 27 to 81 years of oil. & Flow Avdelingsmøte (som vanlig) •Facilities 25% recoverability will mean 68 years. Assurance
Recoverability • This figure of is always increasing, as new extraction methods and peaking oil prices make oil exploration and extraction day-by-day, barrelfor-barrel, more economically feasible. • The amount of oil that is recoverable is determined by a number of factors including the permeability of the rocks, the strength of natural drives (the gas present, pressure from adjacent water or gravity), and the viscosity of the oil (in a nutshell: the conditions of the reservoir). Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Recoverability Worldwide
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Taking Cuts Out of Crude • Small vs. Large molecules in Crude • Effect on Volatility, Viscosity and Colour • The principal difference between the various hydrocarbon products is the size of their molecules. • Highest valued petroleum products are the ”white” products (gasoline, diesel, J-A1, heating oil)- ”middle of the barrel products”. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Taking Cuts Out of Crude • Heavy Oils typically have relatively low proportions of volatile compounds with low molecular weights (MW), and quite high proportions of high MW compounds. • ”The Heaviness” of oil is primarily the result of a relatively high proportion of high molecular weight, non-paraffinic compounds and a low proportion of volatile, low molecular weight compounds. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Orinoco Belt’s Projects • Orinoco Oil Belt Faja (Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt) in south east Venezuela has an extension of about 55,000 km2. At the moment about 11,000 km2 is under exploration and exploitation activities with participation of international oil companies worldwide. • The estimated oil reserves (OOIP) of the area are of the order of 316 MMMBBLS (2007). Proved P10 reserves are approximately 12,4 MMMBBLS higher Facilities & Flow Avdelingsmøte (som vanlig) at 100 MMMBBLS. Assurance
Orinoco Belt’s Projects • The four (4) mayor developments in heavy oil extraction since 1996 are as follows: • Cerro Negro Project (OCM), operated by Exxon Mobil. (BITOR for Orimulsion) -Petromonagas • Ameriven Project (Hamaca), operated by Phillips and Texaco.- PetroAnzoategui • Sincor Project, co-operated by Total Fina Elf, StatOil and PDVSA.- Petrocedeno • Petrozuata,(VEHOP) operated by ConocoPetropiar Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Orinoco Belt’s Projects
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Orinoco Oil Belt’s Designated Areas By Contractor
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Orinoco Belt’s Projects • The projects upgrade heavy, tar-like crude into more marketable oils and are considered Venezuela's most promising. • As older fields elsewhere go into decline, development of the Orinoco Belt is seen as crucial to Venezuela's future production. • Orinoco is one of the world's largest reserves and high oil prices allow oil companies to return profits despite their loss of majority control over (existing) shared ventures with the state-ownedoil-company PDVSA. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Extraction Methods Primary Recovery • If the underground pressure in the oil reservoir is sufficient, then this pressure will force the oil to the surface. Gaseous fuels, natural gas or water are usually present, which also supply needed underground pressure. In this situation, it is sufficient to place a complex arrangement of valves (the Christmas tree) on the well head to connect the well to a pipeline network for storage and processing. • About 20% of the oil in a reservoir can be extracted using primary recovery methods. Facilities & Flow Avdelingsmøte (som vanlig) Assurance
Extraction Methods Secondary Recovery • Secondary oil recovery uses various techniques to aid in recovering oil from depleted or lowpressure reservoirs. Sometimes pumps, such as beam pumps and electrical submersible pumps (ESPs), are used to bring the oil to the surface. Other secondary recovery techniques increase the reservoir's pressure by water injection, diluent injection, natural gas reinjection and gas lift, which injects air, carbon dioxide, methane gas or any other gas into the reservoir . • Between 25-35% of the reservoir’s oil can be recovered with primary and secondary recovery. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Extraction Methods Tertiary Recovery • Enhanced Oil Recovery,( EOR), improved oil recovery or tertiary recovery can be achieved through, gas injection, thermal recovery, or chemical injection recovery. Tertiary oil recovery reduces the oil's viscosity to increase oil production. Thermally enhanced oil recovery methods (TEOR) are tertiary recovery techniques that heat the oil and make it easier to extract. Steam injection is the most common form of TEOR, and is often done with a cogeneration plant. • Tertiary recovery allows another 5% to 15% of Facilities & Flow Avdelingsmøte (som vanlig) the reservoir's oil to be recovered. Assurance
Production Technologies • • • • • • • • •
HWD (Horizontal Well Drilling). CHOPS (Cold Heavy Oil Production With Sand). SAGD (Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage). PPT (Pressure Pulse Flow Enhancement Technology. VAPEX (Vapor Assisted Petroleum Extraction). THAI (Toe-to-Heel Air Injection). CF/CP (Cold Flow/Cold Production). Diluent Inyection Hybrid Approaches.
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Refining Technologies • • • • •
Conventional Atmospheric Distillation. Vacuum, Thermal or Catalytic Cracking. Conventional Hydrocracking. Alkylation, Catalytic Reforming, Blending Heavy Oil Hydrocracking Technologies (HDHPlus™). • Sequence Hydroprocessing (SHP ™). • Gas Oil Ultra Deep Desulphurization Process. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Refining Technologies • • • • • •
Integrated Hydrogen Desulphurization. ORIMULSION™ (Neosurfactants). Fluid Flow Inhibitors, Viscosity Inhibitors. Catalytic Re-Conversion. Hydrogen / Naphtha Cracking (De-Coking). Any combination of these processes.
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Outsourcing Of The Barrel Costs Associated With Producing One Barrel of Oil, • • • • • • • • •
Exploration Production Refining and Pre-Treatment Chemicals / Viscosity Inhibitors Blending Retailing,Distribution and Marketing Storage Transportation Government Royalties/Investments Net Cost
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25 $/barrel 10 $/barrel 10 $/barrel 5 $/barrel 5 $/barrel 13 $/barrel 2 $/barrel 13 $/barrel 40 $/barrel 123 $/barrel
Split Costs of a Barrel of Oil
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Conclusions • Seems that as oil prices sour high, heavy oil exploration and production becomes a viable energy alternative, in spite of all the possible shortcomings that may occur. • Oil has a definite role to play as a future energy source, as Saudi Arabia’s light crude claimed reserves are still bound to last for at least another 30 years at current rates Facilities & Flow Avdelingsmøte (som vanlig) of consumption. Assurance
Conclusions • At least 10 % of Heavy Crude Oil (OOIP) reserves of API < 20° are now considered recoverable worldwide by existing (and developing) extraction technologies, which represents another 27 years at current rates, based on an average consumption of 84,000,0000 bbls/day (2004). • In Venezuela, the predicted recovery ratio ranges from 8% to 12% due to the excellent conditions of the reservoirs, for 35-40 years. Facilities & Flow Assurance
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Conclusions • The viable long term benefits of using new reservoir development technologies far outweigh the present short term production rates achieved with conventional (CF) production technology. • Peak in Venezuelan Heavy Oil Production is envisioned to occur between the years 2014 – 2017, according to a PDVSA’s 20 year Business Strategic Development Production profile of wells in the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt (2005). Facilities & Flow Assurance
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World’s Known Reserves
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Typical Multiple Well Manifold
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Gas/Crude/Water Separators
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Typical Flow Station (EEF7)
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Yopales Flow Station YEF5
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Storage Tank Facilities
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Heavy Crude Oil Transference Pump (Gas Operated)
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Heaters and Furnaces
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Battery of Reciprocating Compressors
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4-Stroke Gas Compressor for AGL Capacity 7 MMCFND @ 2000 HP
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Flow Well Gathering Manifold
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Multiport Selecting Valves
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MSV With Std Positioner
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Multiphase S.V. - Meter Set Up
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Multiphase Meter
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Water Injection Pumps To Wells
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Water Spill At Recovery Facility
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Piping Arrangement at WIP
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Beam Pumps For Secondary Recovery
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Series of Flow Stations at SND-1
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Open Pit Pumps at Gathering Station
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Thermal Viscosity Reduction Facility
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Water Treatment Unit at SDN-1
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Gravity Separator Tanks BUEF2
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Water Injection Pumps
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Solid Settlement Tanks For WIP
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Diluent Injection Pumps at EED6
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SLUTT TAKK FOR OPPMERKSOMHETEN !!
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