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Core Laboratories is introducing technology to boost IRR and EUR for unconventional recovery

Many conventional technologies have been developed in the pursuit of increasing the overall amount of hydrocarbons that can be produced from any given well.

Among the most commonly used is Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR), in which an injection well is used to pump gases like Natural Gas, CO2, Nitrogen or a combination of gases into a reservoir to move crude oil to a producing well. Core has determined that the EOR techniques most effective in unconventional reservoirs will differ greatly from EOR methods used in conventional reservoirs worldwide.  The injection of miscible gases and the application of gas-adsorption techniques developed at in situ reservoir pressures and temperatures have proven far superior to the pressurized physical movement of hydrocarbons using flood fronts typically employed in conventional fields.

Core Laboratories (ticker: CLB) is looking to change that though with a new technology that allows operators to increase their ultimate recoveries in unconventional plays through EOR. Core Lab has developed cutting-edge laboratory technologies and protocols to evaluate the complex properties of unconventional reservoirs.

These collaborative efforts have resulted in the deployment of one of the most technologically advanced flow-studies instrumentation with ultra-low volume measurement capabilities at full reservoir pressure and temperature conditions.  An example of the technology recently created by Core Lab scientists is High Frequency Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR).

“NMR technology started off in the food sciences and medical imaging,” Core Laboratories Vice President of Corporate Development and Investor Relations Gwen Schreffler explained to Oil & Gas 360®. “The food scientists need to differentiate amounts between oil and water in seed products such as a kernel of corn. That was interesting to us because we want to know how much oil and water are in a reservoir.”

By setting up laboratory conditions that mirror those found in an unconventional reservoir, Core Lab is able to use high-frequency NMR to identify what is believed to be immovable heavy hydrocarbon and lighter hydrocarbon left behind in the reservoir.   Once the hydrocarbons are identified, the appropriate combination of in situ light hydrocarbon gases are determined using proprietary reservoir condition testing.  Cycling of in situ light hydrocarbon gases and the absorption and capture of longer-chained hydrocarbons in unconventional reservoirs are leading to significant improvements in oil-recovery factors.

On average, unconventional reservoirs currently yield a recovery factor of approximately 9%.  Light hydrocarbon gas cycling and adsorption efficiencies have yielded recoveries greater than the 9% average under laboratory-based, reservoir-condition testing parameters.  Increased recovery factors from unconventional tight-oil reservoirs significantly raises client ROIC, FCF, and the net present value of their producing assets.

Core Laboratories unconventional EORs

“The average recovery in an unconventional well is approximately 9%, so helping our clients achieve a greater ROIC, FCF and the net present value of their producing asset by using unconventional EOR science to increase their incremental and ultimate recovery rates,” explained Schreffler.

No one technology will ever be a be-all, end-all solution for improving well results, said Schreffler, but Core remains focused on technologies which increase the incremental and ultimate recovery for its clients, which, Schreffler said, is why Core continues to be the most successful innovative oilfield services technology company.

Core Laboratories presenting at EnerCom Dallas

Core Laboratories will be presenting its story at the Tower Club Downtown Dallas on Wednesday, March 1, as part of EnerCom Dallas, an investor conference which is modeled after EnerCom’s The Oil & Gas Conference® in Denver.

The Dallas conference is designed to offer investment professionals a unique opportunity to listen to a wide variety of oil and gas company senior management teams update investors on their operational and financial strategies and learn how the leading independent energy companies are building value in 2017.

The forum offers healthy dialogue and informal networking opportunities for attendees.

To sign up for EnerCom Dallas and hear Core Laboratories, or to find out more information about presenting companies at EnerCom Dallas, click here to visit the conference website.

Buyside institutions wishing to have one-on-one meetings with Core Laboratories and other presenting company executives may login at the conference website and request meetings.

 


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