The first phase of a pilot plan to inject nanofluids into oil reservoirs started on Sunday in Belal Oilfield near Lavan Island in Hormozgan Province off the Persian Gulf, the plan’s manager said.
“The initiative, which incorporates an enhanced oil recovery method, is aimed at increasing production from the oilfield and entails injecting as many as 18,000 barrels of nanofluids into the field’s reservoir over the next month,” Nosrat Izadi was quoted as saying by the Oil Ministry’s news portal.
If the first phase were to yield desired results, close to 60,000 more barrels of nanofluids will be injected into the reservoir in the second phase, he added.
Iranian oil and gas fields are experiencing their second half of life and taking advantage of secondary recovery methods or improved oil recovery (IOR) techniques and tertiary recovery methods or enhanced oil recovery (EOR) are on the Oil Ministry’s agenda.
According to the official, nanofluids have been receiving great attention in recent years due to their potential usage, not only as an enhanced thermophysical heat transfer fluid but also because of their great importance in applications such as oil recovery.
“Injecting water into hydrocarbon reservoirs will result in irreparable ecological damage, which is minimized with the help of nanofluids,” he added.
Izadi noted that the National Iranian Oil Company is implementing the project for the first time in cooperation with the Research Institute of Petroleum Industry.
Discovered in 2002, Belal Oilfield had a production capacity of 40,000 barrels of crude oil per day, which has gradually declined.
To raise the field’s output, four wells were dug at the site and nanofluids are being injected into the main reservoir.
“Given the fact that newer reservoirs with large quantities of crude oil could not be explored at a faster pace, it will be inevitable to produce crude oil from matured reservoirs at an affordable cost.”
Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that has profoundly changed the course of different applications in various fields. In petroleum engineering, this modification can be attributed to the nanomaterials’ unique properties, including high surface-to-volume ratio, wettability control and interfacial tension reduction.
To this end, the use of nanomaterials to enhance oil recovery is a very attractive.
Officials say raising the rate of recovery from Iran’s largest oilfield, namely West Karoun, by 1% (via EOR and IOR technology) will increase recoverable reserves by 670 million barrels and add $33 billion to the treasury based on $50 oil.
NIOC has been ramping up production over the past few months following the change of guard in Washington and the gradual recovery of global oil markets from the devastating impact of the coronavirus pandemic.
In its latest report, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries put Iranian crude output in March at 2.3 million barrels per day, indicating a 137,000-bpd increase compared to the previous month.
Based on OPEC data, Iran’s average crude output in the first quarter of 2021 was near 2.2 million barrels per day, almost 197,000-bpd higher compared to the last quarter of 2020.
