EORTech Synthetic Energy Corporation



Conventional Technologies

Enhanced oil recovery is not a new concept, but conventional methods suffer from inefficient geometry and poor sweep efficiency. Despite evidence that there are billions of barrels of abandoned crude oil remaining in shallow reservoirs (2,000 feet or less), their recovery has not proved to be economically viable. The inefficiencies of the current systems stem from the following reasons:

• Shallow depths yield low reservoir temperatures and thus higher crude viscosities and restricted mobility. Conventional recovery technologies have not sufficiently accounted for this inversely proportional relationship between temperature and viscosity. Charco Redondo crude is 100 cp at 75 degrees Fahrenheit, and would be less than five cp at 175 degrees.
• Radial injection and production using vertical bores is an extremely inefficient geometric configuration that develops poor sweep efficiency.
• Shallow reservoirs are physically limited to low injection pressures. One-half pound per foot of depth is the maximum allowed by the Texas Railroad Commission. Consequently, shallow pay zones have extremely limited injectivity and productivity.
• Bore length is limited to the thickness of the reservoir.
• Abandoned, shallow reservoirs are typically pressure-depleted, and the residual crude oils contain very little, if any, solution gas. This reduces or eliminates the energy required to move the crude toward the producing well.
• Conventional vertical producing regimes require expensive down-hole equipment and prime movers to pump the crude up the bores and into storage.

Using proprietary EORTech processes tested on site at its Charco Redondo reservoir, Synthetic Energy Corporation has created effective, profitable solutions to these problems.