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PROCEEDINGS, INDONESIAN PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION

Thirty-Third Annual Convention & Exhibition, May 2009

EXTENDING MINAS FIELD LIFE

THROUGH SURFACTANT-POLYMER FLOODING

Amin Setyawan*
Agus Masduki*
Dhani Daradjat*
Kris Pedersen*
Bruce Smith*

ABSTRACT Information (VOI) project to gather

sufficient,reliable and accurate information for the
Surfactant-Polymer (SP) flooding is a third effectiveness of SP flooding performance on field
generation of Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) scale pattern sizes versus the SFT-2 single small 4.5
technology that is being applied in the Minas Field acre pattern size.
to further enhance oil recovery and extend the
economic life of the field. This new applied INTRODUCTION
technology is targeting residual oil in the reservoirs
due to the inability of water flooding, currently used With an area 28 km long and 10 km wide (50,500
in the Minas Field as a secondary recovery process, acres), the Minas Field is one of the largest oil
to effectively recover remaining oil in place. fields in Southeast Asia with an original oil in place
(OOIP) of approximately 8.7 billion barrels. Since
The injected Surfactant formulation will mobilize initial production began during 1952, the current
oil by reducing the interfacial tension holding the recovery is estimated to be approximately 52%. As
oil to the reservoir rock. Polymer will improve the such, this giant field has produced 4.5 BSTBO
sweep efficiency of injected fluids by increasing the (billion stock tank barrels of oil) through primary
injectant’s viscosity. Core flood laboratory tests of and secondary recovery operations. Minas
the SP flooding recovered an estimated 98% of production currently exceeds 98.5% water cut
remaining oil after water flooding in Minas rock. indicating the field is in a late and mature phase of
The field scale potential for SP flooding technology secondary recovery water flood operations.
in the Minas Field is estimated to have a potential However, since almost half of the OOIP remains, a
incremental recovery as high as one (1) billion large quantity of oil will be left unproduced in the
barrels of oil. reservoirs due to the inability of water flood
operations to recover significant amounts of this oil.
A staged development concept is being pursued in The remaining OOIP after water flooding offers a
order to mitigate the risk of the high investment huge EOR prospect. Therefore, a third generation
required for SP flooding technology. The continued of recovery technology becomes a viable alternative
evaluation of SP flooding in Minas will be to be applied in the Minas field to further enhance
conducted in a single 4.5 acre pattern size as recovery and extend its economic life.
Surfactant Field Trial - 2 (SFT-2) and will
investigate the economic feasibility and chemical As part of the tertiary recovery development plan,
effectiveness of SP flooding in the Minas Field. efforts to identify possible EOR options applicable
The SFT-2 project has been approved and is being for Minas Field began during the early 1990’s.
executed and evaluated between the years 2008 and Figure 1 shows Minas Field production history and
2013. Following the SFT-2 project, a second SP applied recovery processes in the field. Several
project evaluation (Area A) is conceptually laboratory and field trials have been conducted to
envisioned to be conducted on a larger scale find the best tertiary recovery technology, including
(confined 18 acre patterns). The goal of the larger Surfactant-Polymer (SP) flooding. As part of this
Area A project after SFT-2 will be a Value of study, a small SP field trial was conducted in the
southern part of the Minas field during the year
* Chevron Pacific Indonesia 2000. This SP field trial was a value of information
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project called the Surfactant Field Trial (now Segment containing 1.5 BSTBO (see Figure 3).
referred to as SFT-1). SFT-1 was completed during Hydrocarbon accumulations within the Minas Field
February 2002 indicating promising results and the are found in the Petani Sand, the Telisa Sand, the
need to carry forward with further evaluation. “X” Sand and the Bekasap Sands. The largest oil
Further strategic decision analysis also indicated the accumulation within the Minas Field, and the main
SP flooding as the optimum tertiary recovery source of oil production, is from the Bekasap A-1
alternative for the Minas Field. through D Sands, with approximately 99.5% of the
total OOIP (see Figure 4). Production from the
Understanding SP flooding is an emerging Bekasap Sands is supported by a combination of
technology but requires a high capital investment. natural water drive and peripheral/pattern
As such, a staged development is planned for Minas waterflood operations. It is envisaged that the
including intensive research and studies addressing Minas Surfactant project will be applied to all
reservoir complexity, geological, and chemical commercial opportunities within the entire field
aspects needed to mitigate the risk of a high targeting remaining oil after waterflood.
investment (see Figure 2). The project team that
was chartered for the implementation of SP flood at Geologic zonal isolation between reservoirs in
a field development scale of 18 acre pattern sizes Minas is a concern for the SP project in order to
proposed a modified surfactant chemical system properly design chemical injection and to accurately
based on SFT-1 lessons learned. The project was monitor and measure its results. Geologic zonal
proposed as a VOI field trial prior to commercial isolation is achieved when reservoirs are vertically
field expansion of chemical flooding in Minas. separated by shale or impermeable rock and when
However, after discussions with BPMIGAS as the there is no apparent sand on sand connectivity
primary stakeholder of this project, decisions were between reservoirs due to faulting. In reviewing the
made to first run another small field trial in a single shale interval thickness between the A1 and A2
4.5 acre pattern size (similar size of SFT-1) prior to sands in the SFT-2 field trial area as well as the
committing to the larger Area A field scale project. absence of faulting, the test area for the A1 sand
The objective of the SFT-2 field trial is to test the demonstrates good geologic zonal isolation.
modified chemical in the field and further reduce
risks and uncertainties. The SFT-2 field trial has Project Location
been approved and will serve as a VOI project prior
to implementing the larger Area A field scale A strategy was selected to conduct the field trial
project. Therefore, the Minas Surfactant Project is VOI project in the “best” part of the field that has
being developed in a three stage process prime reservoir properties rather than a more
incorporating; 1) a first stage (chemical field “average” part of the field. Next, a rather rigorous
testing) SFT-2 which is a 4.5 acre SP flood, approach was taken to identify which areas of the
followed by; 2) a second stage Area A (field scale field would respond best to surfactant flooding.
testing) for a larger SP flood field scale test This approach involved conducting chemical flood
followed by; 3) a third stage (commercialization) simulation forecasts for 30 sectors across the field
for Minas full field expansion. and then developing a statistical process to extend
these 30 forecasts to a fine-grid description of the
RESERVOIR DESCRIPTION AND Minas. High-graded areas of the field were then
CHARACTERIZATION compared on the basis of geologic complexity,
faulting, surface conditions, land indemnification
Minas Reservoir Overview issues, safety perspectives, impact on local
community and environment in order to select the
The Minas Field is located in the Central Sumatra final location for the proposed SP flooding field
Basin on the island of Sumatra in western trial area. The selected SFT-2 field trial area is
Indonesia. The Central Sumatra Basin is a large located on the crest of the anticline structure in the
Tertiary basin bounded on the west by the Late southern part of the field, near Gathering Station
Miocene-Recent Barisan Mountain uplift and (GS) 1 and is in the proximity of the previous SFT-
volcanic arc, on the south by the Kampar-Tigapuluh 1 location (see Figures 3 and 5).
high, to the north by the Asahan arch, and to the
east by the Sunda craton. The location of SFT-2 was chosen to be in the
proximity of a potential 18 acre Area A testing
The field is informally divided into the Main location in order to have a better interpretation of
Segment containing 7.2 BSTBO and the Northwest the results and to potentially utilize same SP
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facilities. This area also has relatively good Wells Construction

Bekasap A-1 and A-2 sand development with little
or no other surface problems. Four well types will be completed for SFT-2
project. They are Producer, Chemical Injector,
Water Injector and Sampling wells. Sampling wells
PROJECT DESIGN CONCEPT will be utilized to determine the effectiveness of the
injected SP system. In order to cover different areas
of the reservoir and to penetrate the reservoir in an
Pattern Size and Configuration optimum direction, the well trajectory will have
vertical and directional S type profiles to
The SFT-2 project is a single 4.5 acre pattern accommodate surface facility and mitigate land
selected to resemble the pattern size of the previous indemnification issues.
SFT-1 field trial and represents half the distance
between injector and producer of required 18 acre The SFT-2 project will utilize 21 wells in three (3)
pattern field scale pattern spacing. The Minas field well development stages. A total of 16 wells
today is largely developed using 72 acre water flood consisting of one cored producer, six water
patterns with an inverted 7 spot configuration. injectors, six future chemical injectors, and three
During recent years, an infill water flood observation wells will be drilled ahead of the first
optimization (WFO) program has been progressing water flooding stage of the SFT-2 project (2008-
with inverted 13 spot pattern configurations. 2010). Also during this stage, one (1) existing
Beyond the 72 acre inverted 13 spot WFO program, producer inside the SFT-2 pattern will be
the next geometric progression for a smaller pattern recompleted to be a sampling well. Ahead of the
size would be 18 acre patterns which is proposed SFT-2 chemical flooding second stage (2012-2013),
for SP flooding in the future (see Figure 6). two (2) additional sampling wells will be drilled to
assess any saturation changes after the water
flooding period and will provide additional
The recommendation for SP flooding to select a
sampling points. One of these stage two wells will
regular 7 spot configuration is largely based on
also be cored. During stage three of the SFT-2
injectivity capabilities and simulation results. A
project (2013), another expendable well will be
regular pattern configuration accommodates
drilled and cored after SP chemical injection to
balanced injection rates of viscous chemical. For
again measure reservoir saturation and determine
field scale development the existing 72 acre pattern
the effectiveness of the injected SP system.
sizes, optimum for water flooding, are too large for
chemical flooding. The SP injected in to very hot
Chemical System Development
(200 F) Minas reservoirs will simply not survive
these reservoir conditions using this large of a
SP flooding improves oil recovery by lowering
pattern. For a field scale Minas SP development, a
interfacial tension between oil and water, increasing
smaller pattern size (18 to 24 acres) is required for
water wetability and enhancing solubility. The
two reasons; 1) to mitigate polymer thermal
residual oil released by SP flooding will yield
degradation and 2) reduce surfactant adsorption as
movable oil, which is then targeted for displacement
the chemical moves from injector to producer in the
by polymer. Polymer is used to displace the
reservoir.
movable oil because of its viscous forces and
enhanced excellent mobility. After a thorough
Reservoir Target evaluation using reservoir simulation and laboratory
study, the project team was able to modify and
In order to meet the primary objective to measure optimize the surfactant system that meets design
the chemical response in the field from the newly criteria and represents the best surfactant
modified chemical system, a single 4.5 acre pattern formulation for the Minas Field application.
size is selected with one layer injection into A1
sand. The A1 sand is considered the best reservoir Core flood tests were conducted in high
in the field by having the best chance for success permeability homogeneous reservoir rock using
and holds a significant portion of the field’s targeted refined SP formulations prior to using Minas core.
remaining oil. This small pattern will use a regular This surfactant system has demonstrated
7 spot configuration surrounded by six water satisfactory results in the lab with oil recoveries as
injector wells for chemical flooding confinement high as 98% from both Berea and Minas core
(see Figure 5). floods. Ahead of field trial SP chemical injection,
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the reservoir will be water flooded to ensure accurately metered to quantify incremental oil in
secondary recovery oil is quantified prior to making assessments if this tertiary recovery method
chemical injection. A primary goal of the SP field is a viable alternative for subsequent projects
trial is to assess incremental oil production due to leading to Minas full field development. The vision
chemical injection. Therefore, it is important to of success for the SFT-2 project is to be able to
distinguish between secondary movable and tertiary quantify an incremental oil recovery range due to
residual oil. the modified SP chemical injection and assess all
other logistic and operational challenges.
The project area to be swept by SP chemical
injection and resulting reservoir volumes are RESERVOIR PERFORMANCE AND
important to understand as the target recovery is PREDICTION
measured in incremental oil as a percentage of
OOIP. The SFT-2 incremental oil will be measured SFT-2 is located at the crest of the southern
using a dedicated tank. Therefore, incremental anticline structure of the field with better reservoir
production volumes will have a relatively high properties than other areas. The OOIP of the entire
degree of accuracy. However, the volume of Minas Field based is 8.7 BSTBO. The Minas main
reservoir swept by chemical will still have a degree Segment (MMS) contains approximately 7.2 billion
of uncertainty due to reservoir heterogeneity and STBO. At this time, the average OOIP RF from
not knowing exactly where reservoir injection water flooding over the MMS is approximately 52%
chemical stream lines are located. These swept OOIP
reservoir pore volumes will be history matched in
reservoir simulation in addition to running interwell Production Forecast
tracers. However, the resulting incremental
recovery percentage relative to OOIP will still have Extensive reservoir simulation experimental design
a corresponding amount of uncertainty after the (ED) studies for SP flooding for entire Minas Field
SFT-2 field trial since swept reservoir volume is were conducted. The resulting incremental
still a calculated estimate. This uncertainty will be recovery factor for SP flooding in Minas ranges
further reduced to an acceptable commercial level from 6 to 24% of Minas OOIP. Figure 9 shows the
upon conducting the larger field scale Area A projected incremental production forecast for the
project after SFT-2 and prior to Minas full field SP small 4.5 acre pattern SFT-2 project.
expansion.
Reservoir Surveillance and Data Gathering
Facility Concept and Flooding Scheme
Reservoir surveillance and data gathering, including
The basis of SFT-2 production and injection facility reservoir, chemical, and production, are critical
design is to deliver sufficient and accurate tasks that will heavily impact the success of
information which will be used to make a quality reservoir management efforts and quality of
decision for the next larger Area A project and decisions made during the Minas Surfactant Project.
subsequent Minas full field development. The SFT- Aligned with the primary objectives of the SFT-2
2 surface facility consists of providing equipment to project the reservoir surveillance, chemical system
blend the surfactant, polymer and soda ash with sampling and monitoring, and production data
produced water, inject in the reservoir then gather, gathering effort will be aimed at providing the
separate, treat and meter the resulting produced following data:
fluids.
a) Saturation Change/Incremental Production
The surfactant-polymer flooding scheme consists of This information will answer how effective the
4 stages (see figures 7 and 8). Stage 1) Inject a slug chemical systems are to recover incremental oil.
of surfactant formulation mixed with polymer as the This will include pre and post flood evaluation
main recovery agent for releasing oil. Stage 2) on cores, logs, fluid rates and water cut
Follow with a viscous polymer slug as a mobility measurements taken from individual wells and
agent to sweep the oil released by surfactant. Stage gathering points.
3) Inject a tapered polymer slug for transition to b) Chemical Behavior and Integrity
drive water and adjust reservoir conditions. Stage This information will evaluate the efficiency of
4) The last stage is to inject water behind the the chemical system and will be accomplished
polymer as a final driving fluid to the producing by sampling fluids from several testing points
well. Oil production from SFT-2 will be treated and including monitoring wells. Sampling
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evaluation will include measurement of conducted to evaluate the performance of a

viscosity, concentration, salinity, gravity and modified chemical and compared to laboratory
water/oil analysis. results.
c) Sweep Efficiency and Dynamic Fluid Behavior
A confined seven spot regular pattern will be
in the Reservoir: used for SFT-2 targeting the Bekasap A1 sand
This information will be obtained by reservoir.
performing pressure monitoring tests, pressure
Results of the SFT-2 and Area A projects will
transient test/well tests, injection allocation provide valuable information to history match
(spinner), production allocation, and reservoir and optimally tune the reservoir simulation
connectivity (interwell tracer testing and model that will be utilized to evaluate the
microgravity survey). Saturation log implementation of this EOR technology for
measurements and special core analysis will commercial expansion to the entire Minas Field.
also fall under this group to improve the
characterization of the reservoir.
REFFERENCES
All surveillance data obtained from the SFT-2 field
trial will be integrated in to the reservoir simulation Siregar, Arsyad., 2005, Area-A Surfactant Project
model and history matched to provide best Development Summary, an internal CPI
predictive capabilities for Minas full field SP unpublished report.
recovery analysis.
Minas Surfactant Project Team, 2007, Decision
CONCLUSIONS Support Package-Phase 2, an internal CPI technical
evaluation report.

The Minas Surfactant Project is planned as a
staged development process.

The 4.5 acre pattern SFT-2 project and larger Minas Surfactant Project Team, 2009, Project
field scale Area A projects are to be conducted Execution Plan-Early Phase 4, an internal CPI
as VOI projects prior to evaluating Minas full technical evaluation report.
field commercial SP expansion.

The SFT-2 project has been approved and is Daradjat, Dhani., 2007, Minas Surfactant Project
currently being executed. This field trial will be Overview, Chevron CPDEP Forum, Houston.
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10,000
Water Production Rate

Waterflood operation at ~ 98%WC

(mature phase of secondary
process)
MBOPD, MBWPD, MBWIPD

1,000

EOR
Oil Production Rate
Pattern Prospect
100 Waterflood
Waterflood
optimization natura
l decline

Primary Peripheral Injection Secondary Tertiary (?)

10
65

70

75

80

85

90

95

00

05

10

15

20
n-

n-

n-

n-

n-

n-

n-

n-

n-

n-

n-

n-
Ja
Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja

Ja
CDOIL, MBOPD CDWATER, MBWPD

Figure 1 - Production history and applied recovery process in Minas Field. Natural decline in oil
production rate offers an EOR prospect to recover the remaining oil in the Minas Field.

Figure 2 - Staged development concept of the Minas Surfactant Project.

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SFT-1 Project
Location

Figure 3 - SFT-2 is located on the crest of the anticline structure in the southern part of the field. The map
shows top A1 sand structure map with wells location. The field is informally divided into the
Main Segment, which contains 7.2 BSTBO, and the Northwest Segment, which contains 1.5
BSTBO.
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Figure 4 - Reservoir evaluation focus is given on the Minas Main Segment and the Bekasap Sands,
particularly A1, A2, B1, and B2 sands. The largest oil accumulation within the Minas Field,
and the main source of oil production, is from the Bekasap A-1 through D Sands, with
approximately 99.5% of the total OOIP.
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Figure 5 - SFT-2 is a single 4.5 acre pattern size, selected to resemble the pattern size of the previous SFT-
1 and to represent half of the distance between injector and producer of the potential 18 acre
pattern spacing in larger field scale project.
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18 Acre Pattern
Today In Progress Regular 7-Spot
72 Acres Inverted 7 72 Acres Inverted 13 Spot
Spot PWF PWF (WFO Program)
(24 Acres Well Spacing) (12 Acres Well Spacing)
Injector= 1 Injector= 1
Producer=2 Producer=5
I/P = 1:2 I/P = 1:5

(6 Acres Well Spacing)

Natural I/P = 2:1
Geometric
Progression

18 Acre Pattern
Inverted 7 Spot

For natural Geometric

Progression,
24 acre pattern size
alternative only possible
from 72 ac. Inverted 7
(6 Acres Well Spacing)
I/P = 1:2

Figure 6 - Well pattern progression in Minas Field. The field today is largely developed using 72 acre
pattern water flood with an inverted 7 spot configuration. An infill water flood optimization
(WFO) program has been progressing with an inverted 13 spot pattern. The next geometric
progression for a smaller pattern size would be 18 acre patterns which will be used for
surfactant-polymer flooding in the future
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Injection
Fluids

Injection Production Well

Pump

Oil
Injection
Well

4 3 2 1

Figure 7 - The surfactant-polymer flooding scheme is consist of 4 scheme stages. 1) Inject a slug of
surfactant as main recovery agent for releasing oil. 2) Follow with a viscous polymer slug
injection as a mobility agent to sweep the oil released by surfactant. 3) Inject tapered polymer
slug for transition to drive water and adjust reservoir condition. 4) The last step is to inject water
behind the polymer as a final driving fluid to the producing well.

Surfactant and Polymer Injection Schedule

Water Surfactant Polymer Chase Water

0.50-1.0 PV 0.25 PV 0.50 PV ~1.0 PV

Production – injector distance ~167 meters

Injector Producer
Injector -water Pre and - oil
-surfactant Sampling Sampling - water
- water- Post-flood
-polymer well Well - chemical
core wells

• Injection Profile
• Injection Profile • Saturation log • Saturation log • Post-flood • Production rates
• Pressure
• Pressure • Fluid sampling • Fluid sampling core • Fluid sampling
• Rate
• Rate • Pressure
• Chemical QC

Figure 8 - Injection sequence and typical well placement in Minas Surfactant Project. Reservoir
surveillance and gathering of the data, including reservoir, chemical, and production data, are
the critical tasks that will heavily impact on the success of overall reservoir management efforts
and the quality of the decisions taken during the life of this project.
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1,200

SFT2 High
SFT2 Base
1,000 SFT2 Low

800
O il R a te, B o p d

600

400

200

0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Month

Figure 9 - Oil production rate profile forecast for SFT-2 project. The production profile is indicated P10,
P50 and P90 cases resulting from injecting surfactant and polymer.