Page 211 - Primer on Enhanced Oil Recovery

EOR on site implementation 199

Table 16.2 Technology readiness levels for EOR technologies.
Phase TRL

R & D TRL 1 3 Colloidal dispersion gels (CDG) injection
Performed particle gels (PPG) injection
In situ upgrading (heating/catalytic)
Delayed action polymers (DAP) injection
Hybrid processes
Demonstration optimization TRL 4 8 High pressure air injection (HPAI)
Thermo-active polymers injection
Low salinity waterflooding
Water alternate gas injection
Microbial
Polymer disperse systems (PDS)
Alkaline/surfactant/polymer
SAGD
Well established EOR processes TRL 9 Polymer flooding
Thermal simulation
Miscible gas processes
Steam injection

it easier for developers and customers to monitor the progress of research and the
choice of technologies that are most ready for industrial application.
There are nine levels of technology availability. Levels 1 through 6 are
technology developments that are carried out as part of research projects.
From the seventh level and higher, industrial development work begins, or
a demonstration of the performance of technologies on real developed
devices.
For the petroleum industry, the TRL approach to assess the maturity of software
technology was first applied by TOTAL.
In this approach, the maturity of technology has 9 levels too.
Levels 1 3 represent the “Research” stage (Research: Basic principles, Concept
and application formulation, Concept validation), 4 6 represent “Development”
(Development: Experimental pilot, Demonstration pilot, Industrial pilot), and grades
7 9 “Deployment” (Deployment: First implementation, A few records of imple-
mentation, Extensive implementation).
Many oil companies use this TRL methodology to assess the maturity of oil and
gas production technologies.
Table 16.2 shows the level of TRL for various enhanced oil recovery
technologies.
Before committing to an EOR project, all available EOR technologies need to be
carefully compared in view of the particular reservoir properties. Business consid-
erations need to be taken into the account too. The Table 16.3 provides but an
example of a structured decision undertaking process.