skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Development of cost-effective surfactant flooding technology, Quarterly report, October 1995--December 1995

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/207070· OSTI ID:207070
 [1];  [2]
  1. Texaco Centennial Chair in Petroleum Engineering (United States)
  2. Nations Bank Centennial Chair in Petroleum Engineering (United States)

The objective of this research is to develop cost-effective surfactant flooding technology by using simulation studies to evaluate and optimize alternative design strategies taking into account reservoir characteristics process chemistry, and process design options such as horizontal wells. Task 1 is the development of an improved numerical method for our simulator that will enable us to solve a wider class of these difficult simulation problems accurately and affordably. Task 2 is the application of this simulator to the optimization of surfactant flooding to reduce its risk and cost. In this quarter, we have continued working on Task 2 to optimize surfactant flooding design and have included economic analysis to the optimization process. An economic model was developed using a spreadsheet and the discounted cash flow (DCF) method of economic analysis. The model was designed specifically for a domestic onshore surfactant flood and has been used to economically evaluate previous work that used a technical approach to optimization. The DCF model outputs common economic decision making criteria, such as net present value (NPV), internal rate of return (IRR), and payback period.

Research Organization:
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
DOE Contract Number:
AC22-92BC14885
OSTI ID:
207070
Report Number(s):
DOE/BC/14885-16; ON: DE96006351
Resource Relation:
Other Information: PBD: [1995]
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English