RIASSUNTO
Abstract
The promise of nanotechnology becomes limitless with the possibility of having functionalized molecular agents to "illuminate?? the reservoir and intervene to alter adverse oil recovery conditions. The future reality of the reservoir nanoagents concept is herein lab and field demonstrated with the industry first building block nanoagents' template. The template is intentionally geared towards the harsh but prolific Arab-D carbonate formation of the giant Ghawar field of Saudi Arabia. The challenge is magnified by a condition of 100 ?C or greater temperature and 120,000 ppm or more connate water salinity. The industry's first proven reservoir nanoagents template is introduced and demonstrated via a push-pull field trial in an observation well. The testing objectives, processes, and results are outlined and further detailed in the paper.
Introduction
Nanotechnology brings new and different capabilities into upstream E&P. The industry desires strong, stable, friction resistant, and corrosion combatant materials in virtually all of its operations and processes (e.g. pipes, casings, drill strings, production tubings, and drill bits). These requirements are more favorably addressed with a bottom-up approach for material design and fabrication. Also, it is hoped that by employing nanofabricated particles in drilling, completion, stimulation, and injection fluids, one can drill faster, prevent or remove near wellbore damage, mine hydraulic fractures, plug water thief zones, reduce waterflood fingering, encourage or enhance oil production, and prevent water breakthroughs. The industry looks also to capitalize on a new set of high-pressure/high-temperature (HP/HT) small-scale sensors that are disposable and more reliable and economical than their predecessors. It is hoped that this may soon lead to the development and deployment of sensing and intervention devices that can help delineate the waterflood front, identify bypassed oil, and map super permeability
zones in-situ in the underground. The capabilities become limitless with the possibility of having functionalized molecular agents that "illuminate?? the reservoir and intervene to rectify adverse transport conditions in the medium. The prospect of nanodevices in upstream E&P ranges from mapping the extent of the asset to moving ahead of the drill bit to pre-identify trouble regimes [1]-[3].